Canada/Downtown revitalization continues in Malartic
Malartic's downtown revitalization program enters its second phase. On Tuesday, the Société de développement économique de Malartic (SDEM) presented sketches of the four projects planned for 2025.
The program launched in autumn 2023 offers up to $60,000 to homeowners wishing to renovate the exterior of their building on Rue Royale. Owners must invest at least an equivalent amount. The goal is to strengthen the economic role of the downtown area.
It's really about breathing new life into our downtown, making it more dynamic. We want people to feel proud of their downtown.
A quote from Vicky Neveu, President of SDEM
It's several phases spread out over time, but they'll really add up to a complete and dynamic result for our downtown," says SDEM president Vicky Neveu.
The sketches for the renovations are produced by the Service d'aide-conseil en rénovation patrimoniale.
This service, which has a strong presence in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region, ensures visual harmonization and compliance with the City of Malartic's site planning and architectural integration plan.
Noble, durable materials are also favoured for the facade.
First phase of $500,000
The first phase of the revitalization program is nearing completion. The Town of Malartic has injected $180,000 into three projects, for a total investment of nearly $500,000.
These are the renovation of the CJMS convenience store, the future Malartic Sports Centre and the building at 641-643 rue Royale.
For Mayor Martin Ferron, this is an important first step in making the downtown area more attractive.
We could also have done something about the urban design of the downtown area, the street furniture, the cobblestones. We'll have to do that too, and it'll be on the drawing board in the next few years, but we feel it's more important to focus on the buildings," he points out.
It was a real eye-opener to see how people were willing to invest their money to improve our downtown and their buildings, their property.
A quote from Mayor Martin Ferron
For him, it's important to restore the downtown area, which has been neglected in recent years.
We focused on priorities like waterworks, sewers and pumping stations. We rebuilt our networks, not all of them, but everything that was urgent or obsolete. We've brought them up to standard, and there's still more to do. We've invested at least $20 million over the past 10 or 12 years. We knew we had to tackle the downtown area with our partners, SDEM and the owners," says Mr. Ferron.
Time for phase two
Four projects have been selected for the second phase, which will get underway next spring.
The first project, at 761-763 rue Royale, has already been completed.
The Rona Bois Turcotte hardware store, the ASDR Canada head office and a residential building at 570 rue Royale will be renovated in 2025. The latter project includes an artistic mural, the first to be created in Malartic.
Estimated at around $250,000, the ASDR Canada project will receive $60,000 in funding. It includes a green wall, with the planting of vines.
We were already thinking of doing something with the building, that's for sure. It's a generous program. It creates the opportunity for a major renovation of the building. We've redone the interior, but not the exterior. That's where we were," says Stephen Authier, president of ASDR Canada.
Owners wishing to register for the third phase of the downtown revitalization program must do so by December 1.
Source: ici.radio-canada.ca
