Building collapse in Saint-Henri came as no surprise to some tenants

Jean-Philippe Langloishad just arrived home and was chilling in bed when a loud bang resounded throughout his apartment building in Montreal's Saint-Henri neighbourhood Monday evening.

Langlois, 32, said he didn't think much of it at the time because there had been relentless construction in the area. He and his roommates had gotten used to the frequent bangs that shook the building. He sent CBC News a video from two months ago of a machine driving a large pole into the ground metres away from his home.

Then a knock came on the door. Outside, a police officer told Langlois and his two roommates to leave the building immediately. Langlois grabbed his laptop and ran out.

"When I saw the collapsed wall I wasn't even surprised," Langlois said over the phone.

For months, every morning that Langlois left to go work at his stage technician job on events like Osheaga and Lasso, he'd noticed the intense construction next door.

"I told myself something was going to happen," he said.

The century-old building at the intersection of Cazelais and Walnut streets sits next to the Highway 136, which was refurbished in recent years as part of the Turcot Interchange project.

Aerial images now show its three floors exposed and caved-in downwards, as if some giant hand had pressed a finger into its roof. A red bicycle with a milk carton as a basket somehow hung vertically among the debris.

The owner of the triplex that collapsed, which is attached to the one Langlois lived in, said in an interview that her tenants are in shock at the loss of their belongings.

"To arrive home and to realize that all you have left is what is on your back, and to have all your things exposed to the world like that it's been really sad," said Shaday Lavalle. "You see it happen on the news, but it's nothing like living it or seeing it up close."

Construction on vacant lot

Lavalle said she bought the triplex and nearby vacant lot in 2021, but when it became too complicated for her to build on the empty lot, she decided to sell it.

She says the new owner of the lot had been building a foundation and had received permits from the City of Montreal to do so.

"Everything was being done in good and proper form," saidLavalle.

Lavallehelped find two of her tenants a furnished apartment to live in until they found a more permanent place to live. She said there will be months of paperwork to deal with in the aftermath, but is thankful no one was hurt. She said her tenants were both out of the house when the collapse happened and her grandmother, who used to live on the bottom floor, had recently moved out.

"Otherwise, she would have been in the rubble," saidLavalle.

Meanwhile, Langlois and his two roommates are struggling to find their footing. The Red Cross is putting two of them up in a hotel in Pointe-Claire, Que., for three nights and gave them prepaid credit cards with $345 on them. But soon they'll be back to square one.

WATCH| St-Henri residents shocked by building collapse:

Montreal triplex collapse leaves tenants searching for new place to live

19 days ago

Duration 1:53

The wall of the building at the corner of Cazelais and Walnut streets in Montreal's Saint-Henri neighbourhood fell to the ground during the excavation of a construction site next door on Aug. 26. No one was inside when it happened. Quebecs workplace health and safety board is investigating.

Langlois had been living in the apartment since 2017. Earlier this year, he and his roommates had repainted the place to their liking.

"Everything was top notch. We had all the furniture we wanted. There wasn't anything else to do," he said.

They don't yet know if they will be able to regain their belongings, which luckily weren't caught in the collapse. Langlois is hoping he'll be able to get back the vinyl and film collections he'd been carefully putting together for years.

Lavalle, the owner of the collapsed triplex, said an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the collapse.