Canada/Cooperative grocery store project revived in downtown
The cooperative grocery store project just got a new lease on life in downtown Gatineau.
The Coopérative de solidarité de l'Épicerie de l'Île-de-Hull and the Logements Outaouais organization would like to develop a construction project together that would include two towers of five and eight storeys housing 55 social housing units and whose ground floor would host the first food market in 20 years in the downtown area.
Councillor Cédric Tessier advised council on Tuesday that he is proposing to reserve the land currently used by the Société de transport de l'Outaouais (STO) for the Robert Guertin Park-and-Ride on Saint-Redempteur Street for the construction of the project. Council will be asked to formally decide in May or June on the terms and conditions for transferring the land to the two community partners.
Mr. Tessier does not believe that the revival of the co-op grocery store project coupled with social housing will put a damper on the other grocery store project led by the Heafey Group at the corner of Wellington and Eddy streets. "First of all, we have no control over the private grocery store project and I still hope that a grocery store with a big banner will come to downtown," he said. The business model for the project the Heafey Group is working on is completely different. The co-op grocery project is smaller in size and will target a very different market."
In fact, the co-op grocery store would use about 9,000 sq. ft. on the ground floor of the building, while Groupe Heafey wants to host a supermarket with a floor area of up to 35,000 sq. ft.
Tessier believes the co-op project would not interfere with the future development of the Robert-Guertin Centre site. "It could even become an incentive that would give value to the Guertin site for potential developers," he says.
Source: www.ledroit.com
