YMCA sells St. Laurent Center to Social Services Coalition

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Quebec's YMCAs have sold another facility in Montreal, but say the social function of the building, located in a disadvantaged neighborhood in the Saint-Laurent district, will be preserved and strengthened.

The Y, at 1745 Decary St. in the neighborhood known as Norgate, was sold for $3.4 million in 2023 to Collectif 1745, a nonprofit formed by a group of local community organizations. The purchase was financed from several sources. , including loans from the City of Montreal and two social investment funds.

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“This is the best possible scenario,” Stéphane Vaillancourt, president and CEO of the YMCAs of Quebec, said in an interview Thursday about the sale.

“This is a great example of redevelopment because it takes the burden off us as an organization to manage the building, while allowing us to continue programming for youth, specifically St. Laurent.

“Also, it has a multiplier effect, because we found a great partner, which is a collective of local organizations, so we multiply the impact of the site.”

Collectif 1745 plans to use the building as a community center that will house several organizations and services for a neighborhood with high needs but a shortage of public space. Y will remain in the building as a tenant, leasing approximately 1,500 square feet of space.

“The idea was to create a multi-service community center,” said Nicolas Lachance-Barbeau, board member of Collectif 1745 and director of Horizons Tatamis. The latter uses martial arts to engage young people between the ages of 12 and 25 in order to prevent offending and promote healthy lifestyles.

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“There was no community center in St. Laurent,” Lacans-Barbeau said. “We are all in commercial spaces and commercial areas. The Norgate neighborhood is very disadvantaged and has a very young population. That's why it needs service. It will allow us to bring community services closer to the people of Norgate.”

Nine organizations will move into the building, he said. “For youth organizations, we're talking about 2,000 young people directly served in the building.”

Collectif 1745 also received support from Atelier Habitat Montréal's technical resource group to consolidate funding and handle acquisitions, he said.

The coalition wanted to serve families in the area, Lacans-Barbeau said, and also wanted to keep the building's community kitchen and gym. The latter is the only gym in the area.

According to the plan, the sports hall will be renovated and made for the benefit of the groups, he said.

However, there are no short-term plans to reopen the building's pool, which has been closed since the pandemic and is expensive to maintain, Lacans-Barbeau said.

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St. Laurent Mayor Alan DeSouza said he will provide $100,000 a year for the next four years to fund renovations to the building.

“We've worked very hard, and I have to say, worked hard to keep the Y building in the hands of the community,” he said, adding that he's lived in the neighborhood for more than 50 years.

The neighborhood takes its name from Norgate Mall, DeSousa said. Apartment buildings with about 1,100 units have sprung up around it since the 1950s.

“It's an area with a lot of families, a lot of seniors, a lot of immigrants,” he said. “It's an area where a lot of people start their lives in Canada.”

According to him, when he was a child, in 1745, the Decary building was called the Saint Laurent Neighborhood Association. Y bought the property in the 1970s.

“It kept kids off the streets and brought the community together,” DeSosa said.

The sale, which was completed March 25, will allow the YMCA to continue offering youth programs in the building, including a safe space for ages 12-17 called TeenZone, an urban ecology and leadership development program for 14- to 14-year-olds. Support program for 16-year-old children and adolescents suspended from school.

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YMCAs of Quebec said proceeds from sales will go into its investment fund, which funds activities related to its mission.

The sale comes as the community organizations debate the fate of the downtown YMCA.

Quebec's YMCAs closed the downtown Y and some other centers during the pandemic and announced they would not reopen until they find financial partners for the properties.

The city of Pointe-Claire responded immediately by purchasing the YMCA building on its territory for $9 million and signing a 10-year partnership with the YMCA of Quebec in 2021.

Last October, the YMCA of Quebec announced that the downtown Y on Stanley Street was up for sale. The organization has selected a real estate broker and is preparing a call for proposals, Vaillancourt said Thursday. He said the building should be up for sale this fall.

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