Montreal seniors score deal to keep beloved bocce club open until 2025

After months of uncertainty, an agreement has been reached to keep a bocce club in Montreal's Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough open until 2025.

The Acadie Bocce Club has 450 members, about half of who play bocce, a sport that combines elements of bowling and curling.

Many fought to keep the facility open after the borough said it would not renew the club's lease.

This past November, members protested outside city hall, hoping to nudge the borough and the city into reaching a deal.

At the time, borough mayor Emilie Thuillier said the $211,000 price tag per year for the lease was too steep. The borough had been paying rent for the club for more than two decades.

Then on Saturday, the borough announced it reached a deal with the Regional Council of Italian-Canadian Seniors and agreed to lease the club for just over $333,000 until December 2025.

"This renewal will allow the Club de Bocce de l'Acadie and the Club de l'âge d'or Marcelin-Wilson to continue their activities, which for 20 years have attracted a large number of seniors," it said in a release.

The long-term future of the club remains uncertain, as the borough says this is the last time it will renew the lease.

With files from CTV Montreal's Max Harrold and Angela Mackenzie