Montreal reaches deal with Hypertec to preserve Technoparc green space

The City of Montreal announced on Wednesday that it had reached a deal with a company to protect a plot of land home to wetlands and rare birds on the western part of the island.

Hypertec, a Montreal-based technology company, had planned to build its headquarters on the land, which is located just north of Trudeau International Airport.

But the city says it has reached a deal with the company. The city paid Hypertec $30 million the amount Hypertec initially paid for the land to repurchase itand sold Hypertec a $12-million lot of land in LaSalle where the company will build its new headquarters.

"We're protecting the environment and biodiversity and we're protecting a business that we like and that creates jobs," Mayor Valrie Plante said at a press conference about the Technoparc.

The move will increase the size of the Parc Nature des Sources, a protected green space, by 11 hectares approximately the size of 14 soccer fields, according to the city.

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Elliott Ahdoot, the chief of innovation and sustainability at Hypertec, said the company was happy with the agreement that provides them with an industrial property near the Lachine Canal.

"Today Hypertec saves a green space, converts a grey industrial space into a green space and creates quality jobs," he said.

Hypertec will invest "tens of millions" into the new building, he said, and he hoped it would be finished by next year.