Residents Face New Towers as Ville De Gatineau Plans Major Downtown Change
In an autumn 2024 interview, Jean-Philippe Lavallée of the CCN outlined the mandate behind a redevelopment of the former Servantes de Jésus‑Marie convent on rue Laurier, a project that sits at the center of debate over the future of ville de gatineau. The sketch presented by Civic Developments and the CCN will be shared publicly this Friday, and it joins other large proposals that could reshape downtown.
Residents around the rue Laurier convent and Ville De Gatineau
Downtown streets such as rue Laurier and the block between Verdun, Saint‑Étienne and Notre‑Dame‑de‑l’Île are where the changes will be felt most directly by neighbours and businesses in Ville De Gatineau. The centre‑ville currently averages about 30 inhabitants per hectare, a figure well below the 80 to 200 inhabitants per hectare seen in many dynamic urban cores, and Gatineau ranks 20th out of 21 large Canadian cities on density with roughly 12% of residents in moderately dense zones. Mayor Maude Marquis‑Bissonnette has highlighted rising municipal infrastructure costs—up to 90% in some sectors—which is a factor officials cite when weighing infill and redevelopment strategies in the city.
CCN and Civic Developments at the rue Laurier convent
The first public outline of the CCN and Civic Developments proposal calls for a mixed complex on the 2. 5 hectares the CCN bought in 2016 for 7. 8 million dollars, directly along the Ottawa River between parc Jacques‑Cartier and the Cartier‑Macdonald bridge. The plan as revealed includes a 200‑room hotel, 600 residential units with 20% designated as affordable for a minimum of 25 years, three towers of 29, 19 and 6 storeys, and 13, 000 square feet of commercial space. The convent building itself would be conserved and restored, with an annex proposed to house a boutique hotel and a 5, 000‑square‑foot museum; an eventual “Musée canadien de l’histoire des femmes” has been evoked. The proposal is not currently compliant with municipal regulations, and project backers say construction could begin as early as autumn 2027 if approvals proceed.
Oktodev, Brigil and zoning questions in Ville De Gatineau planning
Beyond the convent site, two other major proposals would further transform the same city blocks. Oktodev has presented a scheme for the quadrilateral bounded by rue Laurier, Verdun, Notre‑Dame‑de‑l’Île and Saint‑Étienne that would place three towers of roughly 30, 26 and 21 storeys on the ilot Laurier, totaling about 950 to 1, 000 residential units atop a commercial podium. Oktodev already owns about a dozen to fifteen buildings in the block and plans to preserve three identified “maisons allumettes”—153 and 157 rue Laurier and 155‑157 rue Saint‑Étienne—by relocating them on rue Notre‑Dame‑de‑l’Île as architectural anchors. The project, presented in a preliminary form to local residents last Wednesday, would require roughly two years of planning and substantial changes to zoning that currently allow only four and six storeys on parts of the site. Separately, Brigil has again proposed towers of 45 and 30 storeys opposite the national history museum, a scheme that would add more than 600 housing units and about 200 hotel rooms to the corridor near 35 rue Laurier. Together, these three proposals amount to more than 2, 000 new dwellings on Laurier and adjacent blocks.
For now, municipal rules and a Program particulier d’urbanisme under revision remain the gatekeepers for whether these projects proceed at the scale proposed.
Jean‑Philippe Lavallée framed the redevelopment of the convent site as part of a federal aim to repurpose Crown properties for housing; the CCN’s chosen partner would hold an emphyteutic lease of up to 99 years. The immediate next step is clear: detailed plans will be presented to downtown organizations and citizens this Friday at the end of the day, and project proponents have signaled a potential construction start in autumn 2027. The convent on rue Laurier, slated for careful restoration and an added annex, will remain the fixed point as towers rise around it and as Ville De Gatineau decides which regulations and densities will define its centre‑ville in the decades ahead.
