Borough approves 1,200-unit housing project in Namur-Hippodrome

Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce issued a last-minute written guarantee of affordable housing as the borough council voted to approve the first housing development in the Namur-Hippodrome sector on Tuesday night, but community groups say they remain skeptical that the project will benefit vulnerable households in the city’s west end.

The project, by developer DevWAH, calls for construction of four buildings in four phases containing just over 1,200 rental units, a municipal sports complex, parking spaces accessible to tenants and the public, corridors for bikes and pedestrians and a possible public footbridge over the adjacent railway tracks. The site, currently occupied by low-rise commercial buildings at 5150-5160 Namur St. and 7301 Décarie Blvd., is 150 metres from Namur métro station.

The project’s components, as well as guarantees that 20 per cent of the units — about 240 apartments — will be affordable for the next 20 years and that 10 per cent of the total number will be oriented to families, are part of a development agreement with DevWAH that was fast-tracked by the borough using a municipal “superpower” recently legislated by the provincial Coalition Avenir Québec government.