The City of Montreal announced on Wednesday that it had reached a deal with a company to protect a plot of land home to wetlands and rare birds on the western part of the island.
Hypertec, a Montreal-based technology company, had planned to build its headquarters on the land, which is located just north of Trudeau International Airport.
But the city says it has reached a deal with the company. The city paid Hypertec $30 million — the amount Hypertec initially paid for the land — to repurchase it and sold Hypertec a $12-million lot of land in LaSalle where the company will build its new headquarters.
“We’re protecting the environment and biodiversity and we’re protecting a business that we like and that creates jobs,” Mayor Valérie Plante said at a press conference about the Technoparc.
The move will increase the size of the Parc Nature des Sources, a protected greenspace, by 11 hectares — approximately the size of 14 soccer fields, according to the city.
If you use the city’s parks, you’ve probably seen transformations like the one at Benny Park in NDG. All those changes are part of something local officials are paying close attention to, as the population densifies and people’s interests evolve.
Elliott Ahdoot, the chief of innovation and sustainability at Hypertec, said the company was happy with the agreement. They plan to renovate an old industrial building near the Lachine Canal for their new headquarters.
“Today Hypertec saves a greenspace, converts a grey industrial space into a greenspace and creates quality jobs,” he said.
Hypertec will invest “tens of millions” into the new building, he said, and he hoped it would be finished by next year.