Seeing our investment $$ at work

The great thing about investing locally is being able to see first-hand how our investment dollars help a community improve its quality of life. EIG members had this experience recently on the occasion of a return visit to Bâtiment 7, a project owned by the non-profit Collectif 7 à Nous, in Pointe-St-Charles. Bâtiment 7 is a 90,000 square-foot former CNR maintenance building progressively being converted into a shared community space.

EIG first invested in this project in May 2017 and members enthusiastically participated in a guided tour of developments a year later by financial director Kevin McMahon (see An Inspiring Visit to One of Our Community Investments, 10 May 2018). Having renewed our investment this year for another 4 years, we were offered a peek at the current state of things and a sneak preview of what’s to come. Over a dozen of us gathered in late August outside Bâtiment 7, eagerly awaiting a tour of the work-in-progress, with Kevin once again as our host. 

The tour began with a look at some of the "side initiatives" that have been developing outside the building: 

• The “blue-green alley” along the side, adjacent to public lands that they’ve fought to have converted into parks rather than into condo territory. 
  

• The plot of land just beyond the far end of the building. A number of repurposed shipping containers now form an extension to the main structure there, creating a type of courtyard effect. Filling that inviting space is what has become known as the “fermette” – the preliminary stages of a small urban farm that already includes many raised beds in which various crops of robust-looking tomatoes, squash and root vegetables are growing, along with an enclosure for a number of small free-range barnyard animals. In the containers themselves, projects ranging from food upcycling to a music recording studio have been in operation for several months, and we were given a peek at one of the food processing modules. 

Backtracking to the approximate mid-point of the long main structure, the tour then moved to the interior for a look at the ongoing work on Phase 2 of the project, the main features of which are creation of a daycare facility and restructuring of the workshop and related activities already in operation. We were amazed at the size of the space that remains to be renovated and its potential for the future (about 3 times the area that’s currently open to the public).

The tour wound up back in the premises that are already open, to see how things have progressed. We learnt that the biggest success story through the pandemic has been the grocery store, Le Détour, which has done so well that it is being expanded into larger premises. Another neat feature was the repurposed doors and wood trim rescued from the Couvent des Soeurs des Saints-Noms-de-Jésus-et-de-Marie in Outremont.

Finally, and possibly the most welcome moment of all, the opportunity to sit and chat *in person* with our fellow EIG members over beer and pizza, on the buzzing terrasse of the brew pub, Les Sans-Taverne (yes, they have their own microbrewery), on a warm summer evening – for the first time in over a year and a half.

   

We look forward to continuing to follow the evolution of Bâtiment 7 over the years to come.