Longueuil will be the new home to Molson Coors as the beer brewing behemoth has settled on a location near St-Hubert Airport and the Canadian Space Agency for its new production facility.
Several sources confirmed the plans in a La Presse report, saying the new plant will require a $600 million investment and that the locale was decided on due to its proximity to highways.
The City of Montreal had reportedly proposed a site in the eastern part of the island which were found unsatisfactory due to traffic possibly disrupting the transport of raw materials and finished product. According to one source, one of the proposed sites was contaminated and didn’t contain enough space for the proposed project.
A spokesperson for Molson said no decision had been made and a meeting had been requested in recent days between company leaders and incoming mayor Valerie Plante.
Plante said she has not given up on keeping Molson in Montreal and plans to meet with Geoff Molson on Saturday at a Montreal Canadiennes’ hockey game at the Bell Centre.
In July, Molson Coors announced its intention to build the new facility rather than upgrade the 231-year-old facility near the Jacques-Cartier Bridge. That site will be home to a beer museum, highlighting the contributions of the Molson family to Montreal’s history.