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It’s called the Quartier des Grands Jardins, but residents say green space is exactly what’s lacking in the downtown district between Atwater Ave., Sherbrooke St., Bishop St. and the Ville-Marie Expressway.

So when a former Franciscan chapel and monastery onRené-Lévesque Blvd. just west of Fort St. burned down in 2010, citizens pressed the city to turn the site into a park.

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But the hopes of that happening are looking slim as Montreal’s consultation bureau opens public hearings Thursday evening on developer Prével’s plan to erect two 20-storey condo towers on the site.

“We hardly have any green spaces,” said Stéphane Febbrari Vermette, coordinator of the Peter-McGill Community Council, as he surveyed the grassy site between two heritage houses on the south side of René-Lévesque Blvd.

Photo by Graham Hughes / Montreal Gazette

It’s the only remaining piece of land that could accommodate a small soccer field for neighbourhood kids, Vermette said.