MARKET GARDENERS TO LEAVE MARCHÉ CENTRAL
The Association des producteurs maraîchers du Québec (APMQ), the association for our province’s market gardeners, has reached an agreement in principle with the owner of Marché Central to buy out their lease, which the APMQ has held for close to 35 years.
The owner, the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCIMC), BC’s counterpart to the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, will pay the market gardeners $30 million to vacate their premises at Marché Central by September 30, 2019.
Early last December, 77 out of the AMPQ’s 100 members voted in favour of selling off the lease, according to the association’s executive director, André Plante.
The market gardeners are holding priority discussions with Groupe Montoni on a possible relocation to the former Sears distribution centre on Rue Thimens, opposite the Place Vertu Shopping Centre in Ville Saint-Laurent. “Nothing is settled, just yet,” says Plante. “Negotiations with Montoni are ongoing.”
