The Concordia Student Union is calling on the university and the city to stop a condo project in the midst of the school’s downtown campus, saying the building could squash any last hopes of a student building.
“We were speaking to one of our real estate consultants and we asked about this building,” said CSU President Christopher Kalafatidis. “We’re really hoping to get this one and he was like ‘Oh, that’s going to get demolished in a few weeks.’ We freaked out.”
The building that currently stands on the corner of Mackay and de Maisonneuve once was home to a restaurant but also rented out space to at least one Concordia club.
CSU Internal Coordinator Marin Algattus said student groups have been starved for space, a problem that a dedicated building could solve.
“I manage all the clubs on campus and we have clubs living in fire escapes, in closets,” she said.
The CSU said that rather than student space, they’ve been told a 20-storey condo building will go up.
“This is literally building a wall in the middle of our campus,” said Kalafatidis.
The condo project has already been approved by the City of Montreal. City councillor Cathy Wong, who represents the district, was not available for comment.
“This really shows that the city really doesn’t care about Concordia students,” said Kalafatidis, who added that he was told the school wanted to buy the land but the deal didn’t work out. With construction not yet started, Kalafatidis said he still hopes Concordia can take action.
“Escalate it to the municipal government. That’s where we think we need to go now,” he said. “We know we’re definitely going to do that and we want Concordia University to join us in that endeavor.”
When reached for comment, a Concordia spokesperson declined to comment.
