Another religious building in town has been sold to a developer, who says he intends to turn the property into condo units.
The Mountainside United Church, an imposing, neo-Gothic church building, has stood on The Boulevard between Roslyn and Lansdowne Aves. in Westmount since 1914. The building has heritage status, but like many other religious buildings, the congregation that calls it home has been shrinking, and its trustees announced last month that the building was sold to Daniel Revah of Corev Immobilier.
Revah has experience converting religious buildings into living spaces — his firm is currently working on restoring an old convent in Outremont, at 1420 Mont-Royal Blvd.
He's now coming up with plans to convert Mountainside — though they won't come to fruition for a while, since the congregation won't be moving out for good for another three years.
For now, though, he's looking at the possibility of converting the church into anywhere from one to five condo units, and possibly building some individual homes on the property — while at the same time, preserving the structural integrity of the building.
"The land is about 50,000 square feet, and the church is sitting on 15,000 square feet," Revah said. "So, the facade on The Boulevard and the facade on Lansdowne should be protected, and I think they're gorgeous."
Any development plans would have to go through Westmount's town council. A spokesperson for the city's urban planning department says the site is zoned for one single-family residence, and a zoning change would be needed before he proceeded with any project.