Tech company aiming to finalize agreement to protect land in Technoparc

After months of negotiation, environmentalists hope the city will soon announce a deal to buy and preserve Technoparc land from tech firm.

After almost a year of negotiations, the vice-president of Hypertec is hoping that by the end of this week, the city of Montreal will agree to buy the ecologically valuable plot of land north of the Trudeau Airport where the technology company had planned to build its headquarters and main plant.

When she ran for re-election in 2021, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante promised to work with the federal and provincial governments to create a nature park almost as big as Mount Royal Park in lands adjacent to and within the Montreal Technoparc. She also promised to rezone and conserve all of the city’s own undeveloped holdings in that industrial park to add them to the new nature park.

In April of 2023, Hypertec purchased 11 hectares in an undeveloped part of the Technoparc that was and is zoned for development. Despite the company’s promise to make its headquarters as environmentally friendly as possible, the project was passionately denounced by environmental groups.

After public outcry that included a letter-writing campaign and an open letter published in Le Devoir signed by 200 members of Montreal’s scientific community decrying the company’s plan, Hypertec announced last August it had found another potential location and would sell the land to the city of Montreal for about the same amount it had paid: $30 million.

Talks have dragged on for months, with the city appealing to the provincial and federal governments for help to purchase the land.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Green Coalition warned that politicians at all levels as well as Hypertec will bear the blame if Montreal can’t or won’t buy the land and preserve it and if the company goes ahead with its plan to build there. While the group credited Hypertec for offering to sell the land to the city for preservation, it warned the company and the city that “failure is not an option”.

“Negotiations over the Hypertec sale to the City of Montreal are ongoing but unsuccessful so far,” the Green Coalition says. “If these efforts fail, and if Hypertec reverts to the original plan for their new headquarters in the wetlands … the public backlash is certain to be ferocious, eloquent and unforgiving. There will undoubtedly be plenty of blame to go around that will stick to our elected politicians at all three levels of government and it is unlikely that Hypertec itself will go unscathed.”

But André Lamarre, executive vice-president of Hypertec, said his company has been acting in good faith. He has said in the past that the company, which has been headquartered in Montreal for 40 years, does not want to take the project with its 700 jobs off Montreal Island. The company also seems ready to compromise on the $30 million price for the land, according to a written statement Lamarre provided to The Gazette on Tuesday.

“Hypertec has been actively discussing the sale of our Technoparc property with the City of Montreal for close to a year now and is very appreciative of the involvement of the Government of Quebec in wanting to help resolve this issue.

“After many discussions, we have proposed yet another solution to city officials in a meeting last week, which respects Montreal’s financial capacity through a mix of funding and land donation. While this offer involves substantial concessions from Hypertec, we believe in doing the right thing for our community and the environment. We are expecting a final answer to this proposal from the city of Montreal by the end of this week.”

Responding to a request for comment, a spokesperson for the mayor and the executive committee said: “We are continuing our discussions with (the Hypertec lot’s) owners to ensure that as much of their land is protected as possible. However, the city alone cannot ensure the acquisition of natural environments for their protection, both in the Technoparc and elsewhere in Montreal. We are therefore continuing our collaboration with partners and other levels of government to achieve this.”

She added that “no other administration has done as much to protect and create green spaces and wetlands and we continue to make it a priority.”

The provincial government, meanwhile, has been participating in talks with Hypertec and city of Montreal officials on the issue, and a spokesperson for Environment Minister Benoit Charette said the minister is open to the idea of his department contributing to the purchase of the lands.

“Yes, there are discussions underway with the city and the owner of the company,” said Charette’s press attaché, Mélina Jalbert. “The discussions are advancing pretty well but for the moment there is nothing new.”

She said the federal government has not been participating in those discussions.

A source close to the discussions regarding the Hypertec land said the federal government has formally refused to contribute funds to the city’s project to purchase the land from Hypertec.

The Gazette requested comment from the office of federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault and from media relations at Environment and Climate Change Canada, but neither responded by Tuesday evening.

The Montreal Metropolitan Community and the federal government have made international commitments to protect 30 per cent of their territory by 2030. Only 23.6 per cent of the Greater Montreal territory remains in a natural state.

mlalonde@postmedia.com