Shuttered Montreal Gazette print plant to be converted to data centre

MONTREAL—Presses at the Montreal Gazette print plant in West Montreal churned out their last newspaper in summer 2014, marking another page in the slow decline of traditional media.

Three years later, a Quebec telecommunications company has disclosed plans to push the 156,000 sq. ft. site on Saint-Jacques Street, not far from the city’s downtown, into another era.

eStruxture Data Centers said Dec. 6 it has acquired the former print plant and plans to convert the facility into a state-of-the-art data centre with a 30 megawatt power capacity. With retrofits and expansion work at the facility, as well as a fiber connection to the company’s existing Montreal data centre, eStruxture said the investment in the new site totals $150 million.

“As part of our strategy to expand and acquire data centers nationally, we are thrilled to breathe new life into this historic building, whose size and strategic location offer the perfect site to better serve the growing IT services industry in Montréal and around the world,” Todd Coleman, the company’s president and CEO, said in a statement.

eStruxture also pointed to Montreal’s climate, which will limit cooling costs, and its access to cheap, clean power as factors in the decision to expand in the city’s west end.

The data centre is scheduled to open in spring 2018.