Update on MUHC properties sale process

As part of the MUHC redevelopment project, the government authorized the MUHC and Health Ministry to proceed with the sale of the Montreal Chest Institute and Montreal Children’s Hospital. The MUHC has recently received offers for the purchase of these properties.  Discussions are now taking place with various developers in order to move to the next step of the sale process which is the conclusion of binding offers to purchase in August 2015.  No further comments will be made at this stage.

As a reminder, in March 2013, the MUHC Board of Directors had indicated that buildings at the Montreal Children's Hospital, Royal Victoria Hospital and the Montreal Chest Institute would be “surplus immovable property” after their moves to the Glen site.  In an effort to recognize the value of the MUHC and CHUM buildings, the Quebec government announced the creation of an interdepartmental committee whose mandate was to provide a plan detailing how the buildings could be reused or sold. While it was recommended by the committee that the Montreal Chest Institute and Montreal Children’s Hospital be offered for sale immediately, the future of the Royal Victoria Hospital property is still being assessed by the Quebec government. The public and transparent sale process of the Montreal Children’s Hospital and Montreal Chest Institute properties is managed by the Société québécoise des infrastructures (SQI) in conjunction with the MUHC. 

“The conclusion of the moves to the Glen site means the MUHC must make sure our vacated properties do not constitute a heritage liability for our community.  We must also devote our full attention to the ongoing transformation of our academic health centre and the modernization of the Montreal General and Lachine hospitals, said Normand Rinfret, President and Executive Director of the MUHC.  This is why back in August 2012, I took the difficult decision to withdraw from the development of 1750 Cedar.  While the latter represents a costly mistake for the MUHC, the cost of completing the project would have been considerably greater.”

Last year, a subsidiary of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) reached an agreement with the owners of the land to put the property up for sale via a mutually acceptable real estate broker. The sale process was completed earlier this summer.  Though the MUHC is comfortable that the sale process conducted by the real estate broker was thorough, it did not produce bids acceptable to the land owners.  As a consequence, the loss incurred for that property will remain the maximum amount of $27 million already booked in our 2012-2013 financial results.  The MUHC is thus released from the agreements of 2011 and from any future liability associated with the 1750 Cedar Avenue project. 

For more information contact:
MUHC Public Affairs, 514-843-1560