A church, future après-ski place in Murdochville

Murdochville Church will have a new face starting next winter. The Chic-Chac team, a company specializing in the off-piste skiing experience with mechanized lifts, acquired the building earlier this year with the aim of making it a pole of attraction including in particular a restaurant-bar and a performance hall.

Posted on December 9, 2020 at 12:28 p.m.

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Valerie Simard
Press

With this investment of 1.2 million, Chic-Chac wishes to offer “an après-ski and resort experience of international scope,” the company said in a press release on Wednesday. The current church will be transformed by the Montreal architectural firm Lemay to create a 160-seat restaurant-bar, a 400-seat performance hall, a shop and a space for equipment rental. Saint-Paul Church is located a stone’s throw from Mount Miller, a ski resort acquired by Chic-Chac a few years ago.

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IMAGE PROVIDED BY LEMAY

A terrace that will be set up outside the building will be accessible year round.
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IMAGE PROVIDED BY LEMAY

The interior of the old church will notably host a restaurant-bar and a performance hall.

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“We wanted to preserve the church, its volume and its bell tower, which will act as a lighthouse and headquarters for visitors and the entire community of Murdochville,” said Simon Lemay, creator at Lemay, a firm that notably designed the new summit chalet in Bromont and the Four Seasons hotel in Montreal (with Sid Lee Archictecture). “We will work with sensitivity, prioritizing the social link of the church with the population. ”

A large terrace will also be set up since it will not be just a winter location, Chic-Chac offering four-season recreational tourism activities.

The first phase of the work, which consists of the interior redevelopment and the repair of the roof, should be completed next March. The place will thus be accessible to the public if the sanitary rules allow it. Note that the Gaspé region is currently located in the orange zone.

The second phase, which will affect the aesthetics and the exterior frame of the building, should be finalized during next summer.

Chic-Chac offers off-piste ski packages in the Chic-Chocs mountain range, one of which includes transport by plane, from Saint-Hubert or Québec airports, with Pascan Aviation.