Old Montreal building where seven people died in fire listed for sale

The site of a fire in Old Montreal that killed six people staying in unlicensed short-term rentals is seen on March, 27, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

The heritage building that burned down in Old Montreal last spring, killing seven people who were inside, has been listed for sale.

"LOCATION! LOCATION! LOCATION!" reads the real estate listing for 224 Place d'Youville with an asking price of $2,950,000.

The seller says the building "sustains severe damages following the fire that broke out on March 16, 2023. The cleanup of the site and the reconstruction of the Immovable are required."

According to the listing, the lot is 5,158 square feet and can be used as residential or commercial dwellings, or both. GST and QST will be added to the sale price.

The building's owner, Emile Benamor, purchased the building in 2009 for about $1.6 million.

Benamor is suing the City of Montreal for $7.6 million and alleges in a lawsuit that the city's rules and regulations for heritage properties made it impossible to make some changes or repairs to the building. He also alleges firefighters didn't deploy adequate resources to the fire and didn't listen to him when he told them minutes after the fire started that there were very likely people inside.

Benamor's legal action comes after families of some of the fire victims have launched their own separate lawsuits against him and other defendants.

Montreal police have deemed the deadly fire a criminal act. Court documents have identified the person whom police suspect started the fire, but no charges have been laid.

With files from The Canadian Press