With capital addressed, personnel lined up, strategic partners signed on, and the city increasingly engaged, I am now clearly focused on the hardest variable of all: land, location, stadium.

Two excellent plots of land — Molson Breweries and Peel Bassin — are effectively no longer available. But since people keep asking me about them, let me break it down as Chief Catalyst and yes, Chief Instigator.

The Montoni Group is now developing condos at Molson Breweries and, from what I understand, construction may already be underway. Good for them. Montreal needs housing. I reached out to Mr. Montoni directly and never heard back. And honestly? I get it. From their perspective, I’m probably a nuisance trying to disrupt a residential project that had already advanced significantly.

Peel Bassin was also a very strong location, especially under the now-defunct sister-city split-season concept. Once that collapsed, however, it became unrealistic to expect the city, Canada Lands, Devimco, Claridge, Stephen Bronfman, or anyone else to indefinitely freeze development opportunities while baseball uncertainty lingered.

I contacted numerous Devimco executives, including their CEO, and similarly never heard back. Fine.

But I will say this: if some of these people had more wisdom and common sense, they would actually engage in conversation. There is an implicit confidentiality and professionalism that exists within the business community. Ignore me privately, however, and eventually I become what I naturally am publicly: an analyst, advocate, activist, and journalist willing to challenge the comfortable assumptions and sycophantic treatment often afforded to Montreal’s business elite.

At first, I assumed much of the hesitation was tied to establishment loyalty toward Stephen Bronfman. But he has effectively bowed out, and realistically, there is no clean path for him to re-enter without enormous reputational risk. Imagine convincing the city to support another bid only to fail again. That becomes legacy-defining. I addressed is on The Corner Booth podcast

As I’ve said repeatedly: he is welcome to join our effort.

But at some point, the city itself needs to wake up, grow up, and behave professionally. Without projects like 4C and the return of the Expos, Montreal risks continuing its slow march toward stagnation and obsolescence.

And while I do not believe Montreal’s condo market will experience the same level of correction Toronto saw, it is naïve to assume there won’t be softening. Which is why I encouraged these developers to at least pause long enough to ask a larger question:

Would a 4C Cultural, Creative and Commercial Campus — integrating a stadium, museum, entrepreneurship school, restaurants, hotels, housing, entertainment, and public gathering spaces — not ultimately create something more valuable, more ambitious, and more community-minded?

We live in a capitalist society. I am not shaming anyone for pursuing profit. But what I find absurd is that the media often seems to hold me — a volunteer trying to catalyze something transformational for the city — to a higher moral standard than billion-dollar institutions and professional developers.

That’s farcical.

So if we look at the remaining realistic options:

  • Old Port
  • Jarry Park
  • Royalmount / Blue Bonnets
  • Dix30
  • Charlevoix / Lachine Canal area
  • and others I won’t publicly mention yet

…another location increasingly filling my inbox is Habitations Jeanne-Mance.

I alluded to this yesterday by drawing a parallel to Toronto’s Regent Park.

Now, let me be crystal clear:
there is roughly a 2/3 of 0% chance that I would ever lead a movement designed to displace vulnerable people from their homes.

But in light of the discussions, analysis, and financial logic presented to me, it is reasonable to ask difficult questions honestly.

Does it make sense to leverage private investment capital to:

  • relocate roughly 800 aging social housing units into newer and improved housing;
  • potentially increase the total number of affordable housing units citywide;
  • give families access to ASE (the Academy & Study of Entrepreneurship) and broader opportunity;
  • while simultaneously creating one of the most ambitious mixed-use campuses in North America adjacent to Quartier des Spectacles?

I break down the financial logic elsewhere, but fundamentally, this is one of the rare situations where capitalist-minded private investors could potentially be induced to support low-income housing because it becomes one line item within a broader portfolio of higher-yield real estate, entertainment, hospitality, and commercial assets.

That model is neither irrational nor unprecedented.

Anyone who wants to challenge the numbers or assumptions is welcome to do so.

And to be clear: I am not the principal here. I am not a politician, developer, or landowner. I am an agent, an architect, a conceptualizer. But I am highly qualified to think through systems, incentives, media, branding, financing structures, and city-building narratives.

Still, none of this can happen alone.

Every movement in history may have started with a motivated individual, but no meaningful transformation has ever been achieved by one person acting alone.

Come hell or high water, we will submit a financially compliant MLB bid anchored by a new stadium because the league itself already understands the strength of this market.

The question now is whether Montreal itself believes in Montreal.

And while we could simply wait for natural tenant rotation to gradually reduce displacement pressure over time, that also means losing years.

So another legitimate question emerges:

Instead of filtering every conversation exclusively through city councillors, political operatives, and perpetually trigger-shy institutions, does it make sense to directly engage the residents themselves? If you live there, here is a form.

Not pressure.
Not coercion.
Not manipulation.

Just honesty.

“If replacement housing, improved living conditions, expanded opportunities, and genuine community participation existed, would you at least be open to learning more?”

A form.
A conversation.
An open process.

Nothing more. Thank you.