This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
In Outaouais, a local entrepreneur is revitalizing a tourist destination on the edge of Gatineau Park. A destination to add to our address books for a weekend getaway… or more!
A pub, a café, a holiday home, lofts, a shop, a distillery under construction… No, businesswoman Manuela Teixeira is not idle, and for good reason: she is in the process of creating a whole hamlet in the heart of of Chelsea, a village located 20 kilometers from Ottawa.
“Chelsea has always been a tourist destination, she says, but it had a little side to it since it was people from Ottawa who came there to ski, who had a chalet there. »
In 2008, the daughter of Portuguese immigrants, already established in the region, bought the Chelsea Pub with the idea of turning it into a microbrewery. Only then, municipal regulations require that it also acquires neighboring land to ensure a sufficient number of parking spaces for the business. And so, over the years, Manuela Teixeira buys, in the same area within walking distance of Gatineau Park, decrepit or abandoned buildings to give them a little, a lot, a lot of love. One becomes the Blue House, offered for rent; the other, Biscotti coffee cie. Another still houses the village bakery and La Petite Grocerie, both a general store offering local artisan products and a reception desk for Lofts du village. In 2024, this building should be replaced by a new one, which will house a grocery store and a small hotel with 20 rooms.
Brand new and available either as an aparthotel or for medium and long-term rental, the two phases of the Lofts aim to ensure that tourists rub shoulders with residents. Because, to create a real experience of a sustainable stay in a place, people still have to live there, right? , says the native of the Azores.
Art of living and heritage
Today valued at more than 30 million dollars, its superb residential, commercial, cultural and recreational tourism development has snowballed, giving the village a new lease of life. “People have started to follow the movement and to embellish their property”, underlines the one who says she is sensitive to beauty, history and heritage enhancement. Its Square is also inspired by a particularly successful redevelopment in Toronto, the historic district of The Distillery, which has given new life to a former distillery, once one of the largest in the world.
Although the microbrewery at the start of the entrepreneur’s story never saw the light of day, a distillery is under construction and should be ready to receive visitors in the fall. Flagship building of a large square in the making, already surrounded by businesses bearing the Teixeira label, it will be combined with an eco-museum which will focus on Chelsea.
“There are so many great stories to tell! exclaims Manuela Teixeira. For example, I have in hand a 1918 petition launched by women in the village to stop selling alcohol to their husbands, who drank too much! And then, at the time of Prohibition, Chelsea was a real little Chicago…”
The future central square will have a stage, where artists can perform, and it will be a gathering place, where to bond with the community, like the whole project, in fact.
Experiences to live through Chelsea
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, relating to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.
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2023-05-06 04:00:26
#Rediscover #Chelsea
