Towards a new art center on rue Port-Royal

At its last public meeting, the Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough council authorized an application to transform and occupy the industrial building located at 333 rue de Port-Royal into a commercial building used for art center.

The building will therefore be able to go from two to four floors and adopt a commercial use linked to the production and dissemination of the arts. A multifunctional room, an art gallery, a restaurant-café, workshops and offices are planned for the project proposed to the Borough.

This requalification is part of the transformation of the sector, which historically has a manufacturing vocation but which is destined to adapt to the exodus of several industries as well as the arrival of new public transport infrastructures.

« The building in question, vacant for a few years, and the transformation that is proposed here, illustrate the change in character of the places that is desired and that is beginning to take place, like what can be observed in neighboring sector of Chabanel”, one indicates in the decision-making documents of the Borough.

The land in question belongs to the company Consultants en art ACI, owned by businessman Joseph Battat. A company in his name named Center d’art Battat is also registered at this address. Mr. Battat has already owned an art gallery, the Battat Contemporary, which closed in 2017.

At the time of publication, Joseph Battat had not responded to our interview request on this subject.