Family forced to leave home for STM's new ventilation station

A family in Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie is facing an emotional upheaval as the STM moves forward with expropriating their home for a new mechanical ventilation station to serve the Orange Line.

Trivi Ly, who has lived in the duplex on Bellechasse Street with his elderly parents since 1983, says the family's hopes of passing down the home to the next generation have been shattered.

“We are very, very upset. My parents are depressed because they never had the intention of selling the house,” Ly says.

The STM wants to build a mechanical ventilation station on the property, located between Chateaubriand Avenue and Saint-Vallier Street.

The public transit agency says its essential work that will allow proper air flow in the metro's Orange Line.

In exchange, Ly says the STM has offered the family $569,000.

“We can almost say it's impossible to find something that we can afford with that amount unless you were buying something to demolish and to rebuild completely,” he explained.

People living in the borough say they learned about the project on Nov. 12.

“They have been working on that site for at least six years and we only learned about it last week. That's unacceptable,” says borough resident Tristan Desjardins-Drouin.

Construction is expected to begin in the fall of 2026 and last until 2030. Residents have started a petition against the project.

“It would be a really hard four years, a lot of work, a lot of dust, sounds, vibrations, dynamite,” Desjardins-Drouin says.

The agency told CTV News the Bellechasse lot is the one that best met the STM’s needs.

The STM is holding another public information session on Dec. 3, where residents are invited to share their opinions on the future ventilation station.