Caisse populaire Desjardins de la Matanie will invest $7 million to build a new headquarters in downtown Matane.

The Caisse has finally made its bed after a pre-pandemic deliberation began. The new building will take the place of the Desjardins building on rue Bon-Pasteur.

The presentation of the project took place last week. Architects Goulet and Lebel have designed a two-storey building with a frame made of glued laminated timber.

Wood, steel, aluminum and glass are used. The Director General of the Caisse, Lynn Francoeur, explains that the demolition of the current building is scheduled to take place in the autumn and the construction site is expected to last around 18 months.

The Desjardins team, who work in the city center, will temporarily move to the customer service center on rue Thibault. However, explains Mr. Francoeur, the aim of our new building is to bring everyone together under one roof to achieve better synergies and offer all services, be it for Desjardins companies, Services, Signature Desjardins, Desjardins Securities and Desjardins Private Management. All under one roof.

Lynn Francoeur recalls that the split between services on rue Bon-Pasteur and those on rue Thibault was not well received by some members. It caused a stir among our customers, we listened carefully, it’s part of the deliberations.

In this way, according to the director of the Caisse de la Matanie, the members no longer have to wonder whether they should go to Saint-Rédempteur or to the city centre.

The building is state-of-the-art and was also designed with the increase in teleworking and the provision of long-distance services in mind. It allows us to drive that cultural evolution, that technological evolution, with our members and our customers.

The building will therefore be less imposing as the number of square meters required will decrease with the increasing use of these new technologies. Just over 70 employees will work in the new headquarters.

Desjardins has not yet estimated what will happen to the building on Rue Thibault. A sale is not excluded.