A real estate developer has been quietly lobbying Montreal’s municipal government to authorize condo construction at the former Canada Malting Company site, and enlisting the help of a previous city councillor to that end.

The derelict plant of the Canada Malting Company in Montreal has been the subject of local controversy for the past decade. Renwick Development, which now owns the site, has been lobbying Montreal’s municipal government and the city’s Southwest borough since 2024. Lobbying under company name 9279-6283 Québec Inc., Renwick seeks to rezone the industrial site and obtain a construction permit for a condominium.

Starting last December, former city council member François William Croteau has been representing Renwick Development in its lobbying efforts. Croteau previously held office as the mayor for Montreal’s Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie borough from 2009 to 2021. He now works with consulting firm Ryan Public Affairs.

The former Canada Malting plant was erected in 1905 and is situated along Montreal’s Lachine Canal, a designated National Historic site of Canada and home to many breweries that once relied on Canada Malting Company’s facility to process barley into malt for products like beer or whisky.

Although the plant’s silos and machinery were decommissioned in 1961 and the site has been abandoned since the 1980s, the landmark bore new life in 2019 after unknown artists installed Pink House, a guerilla art project, atop one of its grain silos.

In 2015, Renwick Development signed an agreement to acquire the long-abandoned site of Canada Malting Company for $5.5 million from then-owner Quonta Holdings. Seven years and a dispute over nonpayment later, a Quebec judge upheld the purchase agreement in 2022. Quonta Holdings filed an appeal against the decision and lost in 2024.

In addition to legal battles, Renwick Development has faced backlash from community collectives native to Saint-Henri, where the malthouse is located.

Saint-Henri was historically a working-class neighbourhood where predominantly Irish and Black blue-collar residents worked at the railroad, the Lachine Canal or the industrial plants that thrived in Montreal’s Southwest borough until the 1960s. Some breweries are still active in the neighbourhood, but in the past decades, locals have been decrying and mobilizing against rapid gentrification.

In 2023, Noam Schnitzer, Renwick Development’s president, told CBC his proposal includes around 100 social housing units, or approximately 25 to 27 per cent of all condo units. The details of the proposal for which the company seeks authorization are unclear. Schnitzer agreed only to an off-the-record conversation with the IJF and said he cannot respond to questions by deadline.

A community collective called “À nous la malting” — which roughly translates to “the malting for us” — has been mobilizing against any private development at the former landmark. In collaboration with community development group Solidarité Saint Henri and housing advocacy initiative Le P.O.P.I.R. Comité Logement, the group has made a counter proposal for a 100 per cent social housing unit complex.

In a statement to the IJF which has been translated from French, Solidarité Saint-Henri assistant co-ordinator Sarah Hadjou said the collective’s counterproposal includes the creation of 250 social housing units, a museum dedicated to industrial and working-class history, the establishment of urban agriculture on the rooftops and local shops.

“The goal is to transform this iconic site into a genuine, human-scale living environment, fostering social diversity in a neighbourhood severely impacted by gentrification,” Hadjou wrote.

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