Hydro-Québec says it won’t build a new substation on a green space in Montreal’s Quartier Latin after all.
Instead, the state-owned electricity company will build its substation at the old Misericordia Hospital, a largely vacant building at the corner of Saint-Hubert Street and René-Levesque Street East.
The new substation, which Hydro-Québec has described as a necessary replacement for the aging Berri substation, had been the subject of controversy because it would have taken away one of the only green spaces in the Quartier Latin: a field south of the Grande Bibliothèque.
But now, Hydro-Québec says it has found the right solution. The company says the new substation at the hospital will be a two-for-one, combining the Berri substations and planned Dorchester substations into one.
Hydro-Québec says it was able to combine the two projects, distributing electricity to the downtown core and the Quartier Latin using a single substation thanks in part to new technology.
The Berri substation is aging and needs to be replaced to ensure downtown Montreal and the Quartier Latin continue to receive electricity, Hydro-Québec says. (Radio-Canada)
But the new substation will only be up and running by 2034, the company said.
Hydro-Québec said it would consider the patrimonial value of the Misericordia Hospital in its plans. There will be an architectural contest to develop a plan that integrates the substation “harmoniously” into the urban landscape, the company’s news release said.
The company also said it intended to consult experts and people in the community to look at ways to incorporate other community uses and affordable housing into the project.
The Misericordia Hospital, run by the Sisters of the Misericordia, was largely built in the mid-1800s to serve orphans and single mother’s in Montreal’s east end. It was used as a long-term care hospital between 1975 and 2012, but was abandoned in 2013, according to Héritage Montreal.