Canucks owner wants to invest millions in Montreal

The name Francesco Aquilini may not be very familiar to you.

We’re talking about the owner of the Vancouver Canucks, and also the principal shareholder of the Aquilini Group.

Groupe Aquilini is currently at the heart of the redevelopment of Montreal’s Îlot Voyageur, and Aquilini would like to invest millions of dollars by adding three floors to the construction project.

To do so, an application will have to be submitted to “increase the maximum height permitted by the urban planning by-law by nine metres”:

Currently, the urban planning by-law provides for a maximum height of 16 metres. Aquilini would like to obtain authorization to derogate from the initial bylaw by constructing one or more buildings up to a maximum height of 25 metres. – Martin Jolicoeur

As stated in the Journal de Montréal article above, this could “reconcile the developer’s profitability concerns with the crying need for affordable housing in this battered sector of the city”.

Francesco Aquilini, like every other NHL club owner, is a businessman looking to make a profit. So it’s not necessarily surprising to see him involved in such a project…

Although, generally speaking, it’s pretty rare to see an owner invest millions of dollars in another big city. Anyway.

Aquilini, it should be remembered, made headlines a few years ago when his children claimed in court that he had molested them.

The NHL and Gary Bettman are still keeping an eye on the legal proceedings involving him. At the time, Francesco Aquilini denied accusations made by his ex-wife, Tali’ah Aquilini, of child abuse.

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– He’ll certainly help the Lightning.

– Who are the best young American goalkeepers?

– Really?

– I like the mentality.