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Montréal is confirmed as the top host city for international events in America
un sujet a posté IluvMTL dans L'actualité
http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1016933/montreal-is-confirmed-as-the-top-host-city-for-international-events-in-america MONTREAL, Aug. 6, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - A great victory for Montréal! The city was named the top destination in America for hosting international association events, according to the official 2011 rankings set out by the Union of International Associations (UIA). As the principal host location in Québec for major international meetings, and as a 2011 finalist for the APEX award for World's Best Convention Centre, the Palais des congrès hosts thousands of conference-goers every year and generates major intellectual and economic spinoffs for Montréal and Québec. "We are very proud of our ranking, which is testimony to the efforts made by our team and by the Tourisme Montréal team to make Montréal a top conference destination for international associations seeking an exceptional experience for their participants," said Marc Tremblay, President and CEO of the Palais des congrès de Montréal. "This title, combined with our recent 90% score for customer service quality, indicates that Montréal and the Palais remain among the world's best-loved destinations. In addition to having top-notch staff, the Palais is recognized for our city centre location, the quality of our multifunctional spaces, and our quality/price ratio," he added. The Honourable Charles Lapointe, President and CEO of Tourisme Montréal, said: "Montréal's high ranking is a fitting demonstration of our city's excellence and our capacity to meet the needs of major international associations in terms of infrastructure, hosting and entertainment, to say nothing of the unique joie de vivre our city is known for. I'd like to congratulate the Palais des congrès and Tourisme Montréal teams, who earned this success through their strong work." With this victory, Montréal has taken first place among all destinations in America, beating out the continent's other major cities, including Washington, New York and Boston, as well as Toronto and Vancouver. Final 2011 rankings for America: 1- Montréal 2- Washington 3- New York About the UIA The Union of International Associations (UIA) is a research institute and documentation centre specializing in the research, monitoring and provision of information on international organizations, international associations and their global challenges since 1907. In its ongoing efforts to facilitate understanding of the nature and complexities of the international community of organizations, the UIA has become a cutting-edge technical centre with high standing in the academic, governmental, and business domains. http://www.uia.be/ About the Palais des congrès de Montréal The mission of the Palais des congrès de Montréal is to attract and host conventions, exhibitions, conferences, meetings and other events. A public institution with a commercial vocation, the Palais generates major economic spinoffs for Québec and has contributed proudly for over 28 years to sharing knowledge and enhancing Montréal's international reputation as a first-rate destination. For more information: http://www.congresmtl.com. About Tourisme Montréal Tourisme Montréal is responsible for providing leadership in the concerted efforts of hospitality and promotion in order to position the destination on leisure and business travel markets. It is also responsible for developing Montréal's tourism product in accordance with the ever-changing conditions of the market. For more information, please visit http://www.tourisme-montreal.org. SOURCE: Palais des congrès de Montréal For further information: Source: Chrystine Loriaux, Adm.A., B.A.A. Director, Marketing and Communications Société du Palais des congrès de Montréal Tel.: 514 871-3104 -
https://blog.cogecopeer1.com/why-montreal-is-fast-emerging-as-canadas-cloud-hub?utm_campaign=FY16%20Inbound%20GLOBAL%20Mar%20Colocation%20Digital&utm_content=32715745&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin
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Revitalizing Calgary's core: Some possibilities for rebirth
un sujet a posté Maisonneuve dans L'actualité
Revitalizing Calgary's core: Some possibilities for rebirth 'Calgary has reinvented itself before ... from a ranching/agriculture-based economy to oil and gas' By Richard White, CBC News Posted: Jun 17, 2016 While it is shocking that Calgary's downtown skyscraper vacancy rate skyrocketed to 20 per cent at the end of March, and that it could soon surpass the vacancy record of 22 per cent set in 1983 (twice what it was a year ago), we should keep some perspective. These numbers are not unheard of in major corporate headquarter cities. Back in the 1970s, New York City was in decline. By the mid-70s, the city came close to bankruptcy and its office vacancy rate hit 20 per cent. In 1993, Toronto's downtown office vacancy rate hit 20.4 per cent. Vancouver's rose to 17.4 per cent in 2004. And these may not even be records, as data only goes back to 1990 for those cities. Today, New York City, Toronto and Vancouver's downtowns are booming. All downtowns go through periods of growth, decline and rebirth. Montreal's decline and rebirth In the '60s, the case could still be made Montreal was Canada's business capital. Its downtown was a major office headquarters for Quebec's natural resource industry as well as a thriving financial industry, including the head offices of the Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada and insurance giant Sun Life. In 1962, when the Place Ville Marie office designed by iconic architects I.M. Pei and Henry N. Cobb opened, it symbolized Montreal's arrival as a world-class city. This was further reinforced with the hosting of Expo '67, the arrival of Montreal Expos baseball team in 1969, and the 1976 Olympics. However, the '70s brought the threat of separation, which prompted many corporate headquarters and their executives to move to Toronto. By 1971, Toronto's population surpassed Montreal's. The 1976 Montreal Olympics, the most expensive in history, plunged the city into a legacy of debt and decline for decades. Today, Montreal has reinvented itself as an international tourist destination and a major player in the gaming and music industries. New York's return from the brink In 1975, New York City was on the brink of bankruptcy. The gradual economic and social decay set in during the '60s. The city's subway system was regarded as unsafe due to crime and frequent mechanical breakdowns. Central Park was the site of numerous muggings and rapes; homeless persons and drug dealers occupied boarded-up and abandoned buildings. Times Square became an ugly, seedy place dominated by crime, drugs and prostitution. Today, New York City is back as one of the world's most successful cities, economically and culturally, and Times Square is again one of the world's most popular urban tourist attractions. Calgary's future Perhaps Calgary has already begun to reinvent itself. Despite the growing vacancy rate downtown, the CBRE's First Quarter 2016 Report says, "Not all commercial real estate in the city has been affected, though. Suburban office space held steady from the last quarter, and the industrial real estate market is still robust because it's not tied to oil and gas." Indeed, Calgary has become one of North America's largest inland port cities, including two state-of-the art intermodal rail operations. Calgary is now the distribution headquarters for Western Canada, a position once held by Winnipeg. And so Calgary's industrial sectors employ more people than the energy sector. Calgary Economic Development is working with the real estate community to implement a "Head Office/Downtown Office Plan" with three action items. One idea is the repurposing of smaller older office spaces as incubators and innovation hubs to attract millennials and/or entrepreneurs. A good example of this is in West Hillhurst, where Arlene Dickenson has converted an old office building at the corner of Memorial Drive and Kensington Road that was once home to an engineering firm into District Ventures, home to several startup packaged goods companies. Another repurposing idea would be to convert some older office buildings into residential uses. In the U.S., programs like Vacant Places Into Vibrant Spaces have been successful but mostly for office to residential conversions of older buildings with smaller floor plates. They don't work for offices buildings with floor plates over 7,500 square feet (which is the case for most of Calgary's empty high-rise office space), as it is expensive and difficult to meet residential building codes, which are very different from commercial ones, making it tough to compete with new residential construction. In an ideal world, Calgary could become a global talent hub, where skilled workers who have been displaced from the energy and related industries continue to live in Calgary but become a remote workforce for energy projects around the world. Temporary and permanent satellite offices could be established in Calgary with teams of engineers, geologists, accountants, bankers etc. working on projects around the world. The obvious strategy would be to woo international companies in the finance, insurance, transportation, agriculture, digital media and renewable resources to set up a Canadian or North American office in Calgary, maybe even relocate here. With cities like San Francisco, Seattle and Boston facing major affordable housing crises for millennial workers, Calgary could become a very attractive place for a satellite office for companies in those cities. One "off the wall" idea postulated by George Brookman, CEO of West Canadian Industries, would be to promote Calgary as an "International Centre for Energy Dispute Resolution," similar to the Netherland's TAMARA (Transportation And Maritime Arbitration Rotterdam-Amsterdam), which offers an extrajudicial platform for conducting professional arbitration for settling disputes. However, one wonders: Could Calgary compete with London and New York, which are already leaders in the international arbitration business? Incentivize rebirth Calgary has reinvented itself before, evolving from a ranching/agriculture-based economy to oil and gas in the middle of the 20th century. Indeed, the downtown core, which is an office ghetto today, would benefit immensely if incentives could be made to convert a dozen or so office buildings into condos, apartments or hotels to foster a rebirth of the core as a place to live. Calgary at a Crossroads is CBC Calgary's special focus on life in our city during the downturn. A look at Calgary's culture, identity and what it means to be Calgarian. Read more stories from the series at Calgary at a Crossroads. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-core-kickstart-richard-white-1.3638276 -
I have it from a very good source. My cousin who works for a major glass curtain wall company in Monteal was at my home last week and he gave me a scoop.The company is presently working on windows for the new additions at P.E.T. and apparently sometime in 2016 a new project to replace the 50 + year old windows on the main building will be launched. I am hoping that he is right. :shhh:
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New York City at top of the list for this year according to Economist's FDI magazine. Toronto at no.5, Montréal at no 9 for major American cities. Source: http://www.fdiintelligence.com
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11 Hotly Anticipated New Montreal Restaurants for 2015
un sujet a posté IluvMTL dans Divertissement, Bouffe et Culture
http://montreal.eater.com/2015/1/7/7503509/the-most-anticipated-new-montreal-restaurants-2015 by Ian Harrison Jan 7 2015, 1:00p @Blumsteinboy SHARE(54) TWEET(4) Projet Europa Jérémie Bastien's new home DON'T MISS STORIES. FOLLOW EATER MONTREAL × A look at what's on the horizon. 1. Monarque Location: 417 Notre-Dame Ouest, Old Montreal Major Playesr: Richard and Jérémie Bastien Projected Opening: Late summer The Story: Bastien père et fils (Leméac) will open a "Gramercy Tavern-style" restaurant in the Penny Lane mixed development. Slated for April, the project has been beset by typical construction delays. One result of the holdup, however, was a complete rethink of the space. Monarque will be almost twice as large as originally planned, with a bar area that seats 65 to 70 and a main dining room with room for 100. Two separate kitchens will serve the entire restaurant. · More on Monarque [EMTL] Photo: Project Europa 2. La Petite Maison Location: du Parc, Mile End Major Player: Danny St-Pierre Projected Opening: End of summer The Story: St-Pierre, familiar for his work on Qu'est-ce qu'on mange pour souper? and stints at Derrière les Fagots, Laloux and Auguste in Sherbrooke, calls his first Montreal venture a "traditional restaurant" with a casual vibe but without casual food per se. The chef wants to keep the exact address under wraps for now but calls it "a beautiful space, under 200 square metres." The key, says St-Pierre, will be to find that bang-for-the-buck sweet spot where he can "send out quality food made with quality ingredients at a reasonable price." Expect plates to share on the app side of the menu (spreads, a lot of vegetables) and mains that will stand alone and "have an identity." St-Pierre will soon decide whether to implement a reservation system (maybe) and install a deep-fryer (probably not). A head chef will be hired for the day-to-day management of the kitchen but the overall vision will be St-Pierre's alone. · More on La Petite Maison [EMTL] Photo: Danny St-Pierre 3. Maison Sociale Location: 5386 Saint-Laurent, Mile End Major Player: Dave Schmidt Projected Opening: End of January The Story: Schmidt, the impresario behind such spots as Maïs, Kabinet, Datcha, Le Mal Nécessaire, Thazard and the bygone Café Sardine, partners up with the likes of Na'eem Adam, Philip Tabah, Christophe Beaudoin Vallières, Marc-Antoine Clément and James Benjamin to reboot the old Green Room as a café/restaurant/cocktail bar/new wave social club. Dan Geltner, the former chef at L'Orignal, is no longer involved in the project. Tom Allain, now at Hôtel Herman, will make the move to Maison Sociale's kitchen. · More on Maison Sociale [EMTL] Photo: Maison Sociale 4. Soubois Location: 1106 de Maisonneuve Ouest, Downtown Major Players: Francine Brûlé, Alexandre Brosseau Projected Opening: April The Story: This new restaurant, in the old Copacabana, is from the mother-son duo of Brûlé, the owner of Les Enfants Terribles, and Brosseau, of Flyjin. Other principals include chef Guillaume Daly (Les Enfants Terribles, Grinder, XO), JP Haddad (Globe), Philippe Rainville (Flyjin, Le Filet, Les Enfants Terribles), Thomas Hatzithomas and Christopher Karambatsos. Brosseau calls Soubois "a French-Canadian bistro" inspired by an "underground enchanted forest." · More on Soubois [EMTL] Photo: Google Street View 5. Fiorellino Location: Quartier International/Downtown Major Player: Buonanotte Projected Opening: Mid-March The Story: Partner Massimo Lecas calls the new spot from the Buonanotte group modern, authentic Italian in the best possible sense—no throwback red sauce menus, in other words. Fiorellino translates as "little flower"; a nod, says Lecas, to the lullaby "Buonanotte Fiorellino" (which, incidentally, is also where the Main supper club got its name). Erik Mandracchia (Le Bremner, Impasto) is in as chef. The restaurant will feature a wood-burning oven for pizzas but, take note, will not be a pizzeria (Lecas is quick to point this out). On the beverage side, look for more of a cocktail emphasis. Bottom line: a concession to the times and "what Buonanotte would have looked like if we had opened it today instead of 23 years ago." The group, incidentally, may also have plans for the old Globe space. · Globe Closes After 21 Years [EMTL] Photo: Buonanotte Photo: Buonanotte 6. Ichi Go Ichi E Location: 360 Rachel Est, Plateau Major Player: Kevin Fung Projected Opening: Any day now The Story: The popular Westmount izakaya Imadake opens a second restaurant on Rachel between Drolet and Saint-Denis. Photo: Google Street View Photo: Google Street View 7. New Charles-Antoine Crête Restaurant Location: Unknown Major Players: Charles-Antoine Crête, Cheryl Johnson Projected Opening: Unknown The Story: Toqué!'s prodigal son, recently seen at Majestique and on À table avec l'ennemi, returns with a restaurant of his own. Partner Cheryl Johnson: "We are excited to be opening a place that we don't know quite what it's going to be. But one thing is for sure, it will be playful and down to earth. A place for people 0-100 years old. Oh, and we won't be serving dinosaur." · Charles-Antoine Crête Tore Up Omnivore Paris [EMTL] Photo: Omnivore Photo: Omnivore 8. Perfecto Location: 20 Duluth Est, Plateau Major Player: Eric Rice Projected Opening: Soon The Story: The chef from Mile End's Fabergé and Roux food truck opens his own place in the old Triangulo. · More on Perfecto [EMTL] Photo: Google Street View Photo: Google Street View 9. Le Red Tiger Location: 1201 de Maisonneuve Est, Village Major Players: Phong Thach and Emilie Nguyen (co-owners of Kaiji Restaurant in Villeray), Dan Pham Projected Opening: Late February/March The Story: Nguyen describes Le Red Tiger as an ode to Vietnamese street and soul food: We love our culture, but Vietnamese food isn’t all pho, noodles, and soups. We see pho places everywhere in Montreal, but when we crave grilled skewered meats, Õc (sautéed sea snails in tamarind sauce), or Thịt Kho (caramelized pork and eggs braised in carbonated juice) they are hard to find, (unless we're in Vietnam, at our mom’s house, or someone else’s mom’s house). The menu will embody our 'street food' experiences in Vietnam that solely require your fingers to eat, and also home cooked meals that we grew up eating at home. More intel on Le Red Tiger: Lawrence Picard from Nectar & Mixologie is behind the beverage program and Guillaume Menard from Atelier Mainor is in as designer. You can see Menard's work at the likes of Joverse, Mme. Lee and Voskin. Photo: Le Red Tiger 10. San Gennaro Location: 69 Saint-Zotique Est, Little Italy Major Players: Mauro, Massimo and Fabrizio Covone Projected Opening: Soon The Story: The family that gave Montreal (and Laval) Bottega Pizzeria opens a caffè and pizza al taglio spot. Photo: San Gennaro 11. New John Winter Russell Restaurant Location: Unknown Major Player: John Winter Russell Projected Opening: Unknown The Story: Ex-Van Horne chef Winter Russell, 2014's prince of pop-ups and a frequent collaborator with Gaspésie Sauvage, has imminent plans to open a restaurant with a "small vegetable/plant driven menu." Photo: Maxim Juneau sent via Tapatalk -
Imaginez, même Le Globe and mail trouve des bon points sur Montréal c'est temps ci. Source: Globe and mail Montreal's murder rate reaches record low With 29 homicides recorded for 2008, police argue city one of the safest in North America MONTREAL -- In the 1970s, 80s and into the 90s, Montreal was saddled with scores of murders each year, a bloody battle that kept police busy and the crime tabloids happy. This year is closing out with a different kind of Montreal crime story: Homicides have hit record lows. Police report that, provided there are none today and tomorrow, 2008 is ending with 29 homicides, the smallest number recorded since the creation of the force in 1972. Since murder is considered a reliable barometer of social violence, police cautiously argue that Montreal is one of the safest major North American cities. Attempted murders are down, too. "Montreal is becoming like the suburbs," said Clément Rose, police commander of the major crimes division in Montreal. "People have this impression that Montreal is violent. That impression is false, really false, and these figures are real." Cdr. Rose said homicides have dropped so sharply, his 30-odd investigators have been devoting themselves to cold cases dating back as far as 1969. For the past four years, Montreal has recorded the lowest homicide rate among Canada's five biggest cities - the others are Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary. Toronto and Calgary, meanwhile, each recorded their highest homicide rate last year since the early 1990s. By way of comparison, Phoenix, a U.S. city of similar to size to Montreal, recorded more than 200 homicides last year. Philadelphia, with close to Montreal's population, had nearly 400. Several causes are cited for Montreal's drop. Police say efforts targeting street gangs have helped radically cut gang-related deaths; they fell to seven this year, half last year's total. Cdr. Rose said police have actively worked with leaders in immigrant and minority communities, who act as effective liaisons to resolve problems. "We've developed a better understanding of the street-gang phenomenon. It has let us develop informants and a better information network," he said. "In the long term, when you develop partnerships and friendships with these groups, it can't hurt." Homicides have also dropped since an anti-biker operation in 2001 put many organized-crime figures behind bars. Few homicides are committed by strangers, the kind of random crime that most frightens city dwellers. The overwhelmingly number of homicide victims in Montreal, as elsewhere, knew their attackers. Criminologists point to larger social shifts for the drop in homicides in Montreal. An aging population helps, something credited with bringing down the homicide rate across North America. "By the age of 40, you just don't have the guts to shoot people," Cdr. Rose said. "Everyone at 40 is more rational. Even crooks are more rational." But criminologists say that relative stability may help explain in part why homicide rates are consistently higher in Western Canada than in the east. The fast-growing cities of the West tend to be magnets for a younger, more mobile population. "An older society is a society in which people learn to live in peace with one another over time," said Maurice Cusson, a criminologist at the University of Montreal. Experts say it's noteworthy that a province with a dipping homicide rate - homicide in Quebec as a whole hit a 40-year low last year - is known for taking a distinctive approach toward dealing with offenders, favouring rehabilitation over harsh punishment. Quebeckers' attitude has placed it at odds with the tough law-and-order approach promoted by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives. Quebec City, the province's second-largest urban centre, didn't record a single homicide in 2007 - a first for a large Canadian city since Statistics Canada began keeping figures in 1981. "Quebec is one province that has placed an emphasis on diverting people from the justice system and finding alternatives to prison," said Margaret Shaw, a criminologist at the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime in Montreal. Sometimes, even police acknowledge that luck can play a role in keeping down crime. Cdr. Rose says there's no way of knowing what a new year will bring; some say an economic downturn can have an impact on crime. "Right now, people love one another in Montreal," he said, half jokingly. "There is love in the city. All we can hope is that the same is true in 2009." Murder in major cities Criminologists say the Western Canadian cities have higher murder rates because of younger, more mobile populations. Homicides per 100,000 population 3.28 Edmonton 3.14 Calgary 2.41 Vancouver 2.01 Toronto 1.80 CANADA 1.58 Montreal
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I noticed that this building is under going major renovations, anyone know what's going on?
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August 7 to September 29, Quartier des Spectacles hosts an exhibition by Gabor Szilasi, a major figure in Canadian and Quebec photography. His elegant portrait of Sainte-Catherine Street in the 1970s includes 27 photos. At the corner of Clark and Ste. Catherine W. -
Urban shift is reshaping Montreal Montreal will be a much greyer city 20 years from now, and the aging of our populace will influence everything from home design to urban architecture to public transportation. It will also be a more multi-coloured city, measured in terms of skin tone, and multi-linguistic, too, as new legions of immigrants flow in, altering its face, flavour and sound. It will be more condensed, with condominiums overtaking expensive single-family homes as the lodging of choice for first-time homebuyers. And it will be a poorer city mired in a heavily indebted province, forcing it to focus on necessities like rebuilding roads and paring down bureaucracies and services rather than investing in grand designs like megaprojects or metro extensions. Economic imperatives will force Montreal to focus on what it’s good at to survive — namely, being itself. The city will endure by hosting festivals and conferences, promoting its flourishing arts scene, throwing successful, peaceful street parties for hundreds of thousands at a time and inviting the world to come. It will market itself as a vibrant, fun, creative place to live, and a coveted vacation destination for legions of retired baby boomers with time on their hands and savings to burn. This in turn will lead the city to become more accommodating to pedestrians and cyclists, with stretches of thoroughfares like Crescent and Ste. Catherine Sts. becoming pedestrian-only enclaves. This is the Montreal 2033 vision of McGill University architecture professor and housing expert Avi Friedman. Author of 12 books on housing and sustainable development, he is called on by cities throughout the world to consult on urban development and wealth generation. He sees in Montreal’s future a metropolis that will be poorer, still paying for past transgressions of inept infrastructure design and inadequate maintenance. But at the same time, it will be buoyed by its four major universities and its cachet as one of the cool hangouts in the vast North American neighbourhood, a magnet for tourist dollars, immigrants and creative minds. “Montreal is a brand. We’re not talking about Hamilton or Markham or Windsor. Montreal is a brand. But we need to learn how to use our brand better,” he said. Statistics Canada released figures in the fall that indicated Montreal was becoming a city of singles. Nearly 41 per cent of its residents who reside in a private dwelling live on their own, as compared to 30 per cent in most large Canadian cities. Our aging population, large number of university students, exodus of families to the suburbs, low immigration numbers and high percentage of apartments are largely the cause. The numbers spurred Friedman to ponder where the city he’s lived in for more than three decades will be in 2033. Major urban shifts, he notes, generally take about 20 years to evolve. “I wasn’t looking for pie-in-the-sky ideas, not Jetsons-type futuristic predictions, just reasonable assumptions based on trends we are already seeing today.” The greatest influence will come from the aging of the huge demographic wave that is the baby boomer generation, which will be between 70 and 87 years old in 20 years. Most will no longer be working, or paying as much in taxes. “Montreal, like other eastern cities, is going to be a poorer city than it is today, which is likely to force greater efficiency of all operations and institutions,” Friedman said. “We will have to learn to do more with less.” As families shrink (the average family size has gone from 3.5 individuals in 1970 to 2.5 in 2006), and house prices rise, demand for smaller living units will increase. The era of the single-family house as a starter home within the city limits will be a thing of the past for most, as it has been in many European cities for a long time, Friedman said. First-time buyers, many of them young families, will move into the many condominium projects sprouting downtown. Older boomers will shift from their suburban homes to condominiums. The ratio of family homes to condominiums, now at a roughly 60-40 split, will probably reverse during the next two decades, he predicted. Already densely populated neighbourhoods like Notre Dame de Grâce will see residents and developers building upward, putting additional floors on houses or commercial buildings to add residential space. (In congested Vancouver, developers have already started stacking condominium complexes on top of big-box stores like Walmart and Home Depot.) Homeowners will transform their basements into separate apartments, and the division of single-family homes into separate units to take in two or more families will proliferate. Houses will be transformed as more people opt to work out of home offices, or as retirees alter their living spaces to pursue their hobbies or their work. And seniors will make room for live-in nannies and nurses to help care for them. There will also be more grab-bars, ramps and in-house escalators. Technological advances will allow many routine hospital procedures to be done at home via computer. Patients will be able to check their blood pressure and other health indicators at home and send the information to their caregivers over the Internet, all the while chatting with nurses or doctors face-to-face via Skype. “Aging in place will be on the upswing,” Friedman said. “There will be less and less reason for hospital visits.” The new superhospitals going up downtown and in N.D.G. will also spur residential development as thousands of hospital workers seek housing nearby. Condominiums have started sprouting already near the hospitals, and close to the métro stations and train stations that serve them. Private medical clinics, for locals and foreigners alike, will be built around and even in hospitals, as the cash-strapped government off-loads more services to the private sector for wealthier clients not willing, for example, to wait three years for a hip replacement. The condominium boom, well underway in Montreal and reaching the saturation point, will continue, although at a slower pace. Montreal is on the verge of a condo crash, Friedman predicted, part of the normal ebb and flow of residential construction that regenerates every five years. “You will hear about bankruptcies, about people going under, all sorts of bad stories. This is common. Then there will be a burst of energy and another wave.” Condominium developers will start incorporating more family-friendly features like larger units, terrace gardens and parks on their properties. Condo towers with shops and restaurants on the ground floor will become more common, as will the SOHO concept (Self-Office, Home Office) common in China, where residences are located on upper floors and small offices on lower floors, and people commute by elevator. Many boomers, liberated from their children and their jobs, will give up their suburban homes to live closer to services and entertainment and downtown. Their influx will spur elderly-friendly changes seen in other cities, such as automatic doors at unwieldy metro entrances. Métro stations will become poles of residential development, followed closely by commercial properties to serve the influx of people. Suburbs like the West Island will see more low-level condominiums of four to six storeys, and available land between municipalities will be slowly colonized, making for one continuous metropolis. The densification, with housing projects like those in Griffintown bringing tens of thousands of residents into the downtown core, will result in an even more active and vibrant city, with offshoots of more shops, restaurants, services and life downtown. Neighbourhoods like St-Henri, Rosemont and Park Extension, relatively close to downtown and well-served by public transit, will be the next regions to see a slow gentrification, Friedman predicted. In a sense, we will mirror Toronto’s growth, but on a smaller scale and with a Montreal twist. “In 20 years, downtown Montreal will be populated by many more people who will bring their flavour, their lifestyle and their unique Montreal brand, with things like after-hours clubs, which is not Toronto,” Friedman said. “This is a fun city, with restaurants and pubs and clubs. I believe it will be a fun place.” Friedman sees Montreal’s four major universities and an increase in immigration quotas to make up for low birthrates as other major drivers of change, with immigrants coming from burgeoning regions like Asia and Latin America and settling in the north and east of the city. Already, roughly 10 per cent of the students in Friedman’s bachelor’s-level architecture classes are from mainland China. Montreal needs to do more to attract the droves of computer engineers from places like China, India and Pakistan who currently see California as their first choice. And tourism, with the many jobs it brings, will be Montreal’s bread and butter. At this phase in its history, Friedman sees Montreal as a city bogged down by the sins of its past, fixated on corruption and mismanagement and with no sense of a grand vision coming from city hall. Things will get more difficult from an economic standpoint, and “poorer cities do nothing. If you have wealth, you can change things,” he said, pointing to bike and public-transit friendly European cities like Copenhagen, Helsinki, Amsterdam and Berlin as examples. There is hope for Montreal’s future, Friedman said. It is articulated in the plethora of condominium towers and cranes on its skyline, in Montreal’s reputation for its joie-de-vivre attitude, open-mindedness and its artistic energy, a magnet for the young, adventurous and creative. But the hope is tempered with this caveat: the successful cities that Friedman has observed, are those whose citizens are willing to enforce change, as opposed to hoping city councillors will do it for them. “Do-it-yourself cities are the successful cities. We have to ask ourselves ‘Are we a forwards city, or a backwards one?’ ” Developments already underway provide an indication of the answer. “The densification of the core we’re seeing here will bring life,” he said, gazing up at the condominium towers growing like mighty redwoods of metal and glass in Griffintown. “This city will be a hopping place.” Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/Urban+shift+reshaping+Montreal/8071854/story.html#ixzz2NF8glXu5
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Tour a condos sur des laurentides entre la 440 et st-Martin. Vraiment pas un coin résidentiel, mais peut être un signal pour le futur. 1914-2046 Rte 335, Laval, QC H7M 1T7, Canada
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By Brian Ker, Special to The Gazette The Gazette's panel of experts answer your questions on real estate. To ask a question, please email alampert@montrealgazette.com. There has been a lot of discussion recently regarding the bonanza of construction taking place in Montreal and certainly on these pages an inquisitive analysis of the quantity of condominium construction. We also hear about “the hot land market” and there are lots of questions as to its sustainability. I recently attended the Land and Development Conference in Toronto to determine the optimism in North America’s largest condominium market and compare that with what we have been witnessing here in Montreal as land values have rapidly increased over the past five years. In a hot market, land is not an asset but is priced more like a commodity: a raw material that is just one part of a final constructed product, including concrete, steel and labour. In a weak market, land values are more likely tied to its short-term income-producing potential, such as parking revenues less off-setting taxes. The rapidly diminishing land supply and a cultural shift toward urban living have lead to changes in the commercial land market. First, commercial land sales are principally divided between high- and low-density sites. High-density sites intended for office, hotel, mixed-use and multi-unit residential projects, while low-density sites incorporate retail, industrial and single-family home developments. The value of land is based on the total amount of density permitted on its property – a site permitting an office tower is considerably greater than a walkup row-house or an industrial facility – and the total volume of potential sales in a given year, which allow for larger projects. Restrictive zoning can adversely affect the site’s value, as can social-housing inclusions and lengthy, complicated and sometimes “out-of-control” zoning application processes that jeopardize a project’s economic vitality. On Montreal Island, the prevailing trend is that high-density sites are taking a larger market share of total land transaction sales volumes because of the increasing prominence of sales of larger development sites permitting significantly greater density, and higher pricing for each unit of density, also referred to as the price per square foot Buildable. Over the past five years, the value for each unit of density has doubled to an average price of approximately $30 per square foot buildable. This is primarily based upon the rapid increase (up to 50%) in values for condominiums during the same time period, and as such, sales of sites for residential projects have outpaced all other sectors. Developers will be happy to note that Montreal was the third-largest condominium market in North America in 2010, albeit in an aberration year for the U.S. housing market, and only trailing Toronto and Houston in overall condo starts. This buoyancy has been growing for some time as major developers have acquired land holdings to fuel future projects. Since October of 2008, there have been a 11 high-density development land transactions in the greater Montreal area that have traded above $5 million, with a total value of $148 million in high-density land sales. Major sales included the land for the Project Griffintown project, Angus Development in the Quartier des Spectacles, the Marianopolis site, the site for the Altoria project and most recently Prevel and Conceptions Rachel-Juilien acquiring the rights from Canada Lands to develop Les Bassins du Nouveau Havre for $20 million. These major land transactions were purchased by well-known, well-respected and well-capitalized condo developers, with the exception of the Angus Assembly and Altoria, both of which will feature a mix of office and condominium use. Mixed-use projects are becoming the new normal, as developers put forth projects that feature greater overall site density to decrease the effects of higher land prices or kick start existing larger projects with an exclusively residential component. For land values to continue their ascent, Montreal developers and buyers need to develop an attitude shift with regard to larger projects. The traditional condo developer logic is that it is nearly impossible to sell more than 150 units for a project in one sales year. The rationale for this is, typically, that Montrealers will not pay a deposit for a condo unit until substantial pre-sales have been achieved or it is under construction, as they are not willing to wait two to three years for delivery. Recent project launches, though, are challenging this traditional thinking, with buyers (or their agents) waiting in line overnight and first-day sell-outs occurring with regularity, or buyers are asked to place a “deposit” to reserve a unit without seeing final plans. Buyers can no longer sit back and cherry-pick the best unit, as it will probably be reserved before they arrive on the scene. In addition, unless condominiums continue to experience strong price increases, Montreal condo developers will be facing increasing pressure for prime sites from alternative uses, such as office towers, hotels, or institutional (Healthcare, Educational, Student Residence) projects, where demand is steadily growing. Finally, our municipal government needs to develop a more flexible zoning application process with regard to major urban projects and the need for public consultations. Politicians should rely on the counsel of independent experts, but are elected to make decisions, and voters should judge them on these decisions, good or bad, at the ballot-box. Montreal home and condo owners have benefited from the rapidly rising values of their residential real estate over the past five years. Although rising interest rates are on the horizon and will clearly dampen demand for condos for home ownership and as an investment vehicle, demand is increasing for alternate site uses. Land values have also seen a rapid ascent, particularly for high density sites, and the economic fundamentals support continued growth and greater liquidity in this particular market. Brian Ker is associate vice-president, National Investment Team, at CB Richard Ellis Limited. He can be reached at 514 905-2141 or by email at brian.ker@cbre.com. Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/sustainable+Montreal+construction+bonanza/4889700/story.html#ixzz1OFFSPeAz
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(Courtesy of The Financial Post) G-O-L-D
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Board of Trade presents its fifth Strategic Forum on major projects in Montréal
un sujet a posté GDS dans L'actualité
MONTREAL, March 29 /CNW Telbec/ - Mr. Michel Leblanc, President and CEO of the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, is pleased to invite media representatives to the Strategic Forum of the Board of Trade, which will focus on major projects in Montréal, on Wednesday, March 30, 2011, at 7:30 a.m. With the Mayor of Montréal, Gérald Tremblay, to be on hand, along with a number of experts and nearly 500 participants, this unique event will enable to learn more about how various key and shaping Montréal projects are advancing. The major development projects will be on-hand: The Montréal of tomorrow, an overview of the city's major projects Emilio Imbriglio, Partner, Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton TOWARDS MAJOR PRIVATE PROJECTS The impact of condo development on the Montréal landscape Jacques Vincent, Co-President, Prével Urban renewal, from Angus to Quadrilatere Saint-Laurent: The need for a territorial approach Christian Yaccarini, President and CEO, Angus Development Corporation The Windsor sector: Major developments for the Bell Centre and its surrounding area Salvatore Iacono, Senior Vice President, Development, Eastern Canada, Cadillac Fairview Corporation Ltd. LARGE-SCALE HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURES Sainte-Justine UHC - Grandir en santé: Innovation in personalized medicine for mothers and children Dr. Fabrice Brunet, Executive Director, Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center MUHC Normand Rinfret, Associate Executive Director and COO McGill University Health Centre The Jewish General Hospital Dr. Hartley Stern, Executive Director, Jewish General Hospital and Philippe Castiel, Director of Planning and Real Estate Development, Jewish General Hospital CHUM Christian Paire, Executive Director, Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal MAJOR INSTITUTIONAL PROJECTS A space for life Charles-Mathieu Brunelle, Executive Director, Montréal's Nature Museums The UdeM's Outremont Campus Guy Breton, Rector, Université de Montréal The Innovation District: Progress report and guidelines for its implementation Yves Beauchamp, Director General, École de technologie supérieure and Heather Munroe-Blum, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, McGill University The redevelopment of the CBC/Radio-Canada site Maryse Bertrand, Vice-President, Real Estate, Legal Services, and General Counsel CBC/Société Radio-Canada The Quartier des spectacles Jean-Robert Choquet, Director, Department of Culture and Heritage, Ville de Montréal and Stéphane Ricci, Coordinator, Quartier des spectacles project, Ville de Montréal The Silo No. 5 and the Bassins du Nouveau Havre: Major revitalization projects for Montréal Cameron Charlebois, Vice-President, Real Estate, Quebec, Canada Lands Company Date: Wednesday, March 30, 2011 Time: From 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Where: Palais des congrès de Montréal 1001 place Jean-Paul Riopelle Room 710 The Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal has some 7,000 members. Its primary mission is to represent the interests of the business community of Greater Montréal and to provide individuals, merchants, and businesses of all sizes with a variety of specialized services to help them achieve their full potential in terms of innovation, productivity and competitiveness. The Board of Trade is Quebec's leading private economic development organization. Contacts RSVP with Sylvie Paquette Advisor Media Relations by phone at 514 871-4000 ext. 4015 or by email at sylvie.paquette@ccmm.qc.ca. -
(Courtesy of The New York Times) Holy crap! The new AT&T going to have 129.23 million customers. It would be like Bell buying out Telus.
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Montreal : popular with touring bands!
un sujet a posté MtlMan dans Divertissement, Bouffe et Culture
http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/start+something+good/3750237/story.html -
Broccolini wins two tenders for LEED Gold office towers from the federal government Canada NewsWire MONTREAL, May 7 MONTREAL, May 7 /CNW Telbec/ - Broccolini, a recognized leader in the Canadian construction industry for over sixty years, has recently won two major tenders from the federal government to construct two LEED® Gold office towers, with work slated to begin in late summer. The firm has been awarded the contract to design, develop and build these towers totalling more than 900,000 rentable sq. ft. of Class A office space for the Department of Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) in Gatineau, Quebec. Having successfully developed TELUS House, a 9-storey, Class A, 160,000 sq. ft. LEED® Silver certified office building in Ottawa, and with Export Development Canada's (EDC) 575,000 sq. ft. headquarters under construction, the new mandates confirm Broccolini's significant position in development and construction in the National Capital area. The new buildings will provide space for federal government departments and organizations and will attain LEED® Gold certification. This represents the tenth time that Broccolini will have delivered a LEED® certified project to the marketplace. "We are very proud to have won the mandate for these groundbreaking projects," said Anthony Broccolini, Managing Director at Broccolini. "We believe it reflects our reputation for strong development and construction capabilities, as well as the quality of the work we've previously undertaken in the Ottawa market." The 12-storey, 484,000 sq. ft. office tower, located on Carrière Boulevard in Gatineau, features architecture promoting a healthy balance between efficient planning and the preservation and restoration of natural green space. It will enhance the site's attractions, taking advantage of the extensive mature tree coverage and superb view overlooking Lac Leamy. The building's timeless architecture and cutting-edge technology will be an eye-catching reflection of Broccolini's environmental commitment, as well as its ongoing concern for the quality of its developments. The second building, a 15-storey, 690,000 sq. ft office tower, will overlook Promenade du Portage Street in the heart of downtown Gatineau, adjacent to the PWGSC's existing premises. With architecture combining heritage features and high-tech efficiency, its design will allow the building to optimize the usage of space while restoring and improving a significant element of the city's urban fabric, at the same time incorporating PWGSC's existing facilities. The know-how, experience and passion for development and construction, cornerstones of the company's success, were no doubt major factors in the decision to award the mandate to the firm. With a pristine litigation record and an enviable reputation for integrity, quality of work and flexibility, Broccolini has demonstrated its ability to deliver similar signature properties to the market. "We have major experience in a wide range of projects from office buildings and manufacturing facilities to big box stores and industrial complexes," explained Mr. Broccolini. "Our team is enthusiastic and welcomes the challenges of delivering these exciting and demanding projects on time and on budget."
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(Courtesy of The Financial Post) It is pretty easy you sign up with your credit card or debit and few days later you get your gold delivered to your front door I read somewhere else you can buy up to $6000 CDN worth of Gold per day so almost 6 ounces. Scotia Mocatta
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Source: http://www.frillseekerdiary.com The Next New York City… MONTREAL Want it all? Want it now? Hop off that subway and charter your jet to Montreal. With heavy sophisticated French influence, plenty of amazing eats, and shopping for days, Canada’s finest if nearing it’s heyday. Day trips to major cities and quiet ski destinations included, you could spend a week or a year learning all there is to know from savvy insiders and locals, who have been waiting for the shining light for decades.
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I haven't seen this article posted anywhere. Given the challenges presented with putting up the Mackay project I suspect this doesn't bode well for future tall development. Megaproject proposals put Montreal at 'major crossroads': founder Lambert http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/think+tank+will+conscience+mayor/2104533/story.html
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Office space: Restraint is the right tonic for Montreal market
un sujet a posté GDS dans L'actualité
In past recessions, city's developers learned the effects of overbuilding the hard way. Caution is paying off this time around ELEANOR BEATON Globe and Mail Update Two years ago, Yves-André Godon was scouring Montreal for an anchor tenant for his company's proposed 400,000-square-foot downtown office tower. At the time, Montreal's office market was looking rosy. The vacancy rate was a healthy 9.3 per cent and 6 per cent of the city's available office space was being leased each quarter – a record absorption rate, Mr. Godon says. The time looked ripe for the managing director of SITQ Canada, an international real estate investment company based in Montreal, to forge ahead with the development. But Mr. Godon hesitated. Even though it had been years since the city had seen new Class A office space built, he says many large-scale tenants seemed content to stay put; SITQ was having trouble attracting an anchor tenant quickly enough. “We didn't want to do anything on a speculative basis,” he says. Given the economy's subsequent downturn, Mr. Godon's instincts appear to have been right. It's a cautionary stance that was learned the hard way. During past recessions, overbuilding caused Montreal's office market to suffer more than in other parts of the country. But today, as other major cities contend with rising vacancy rates and the simultaneous delivery of millions of square feet of new office space, the kind of discipline that Mr. Godon displayed is helping to shield Montreal from the same drastic effects of the downturn. Montreal developers “lived through a lot of pain,” says Jean Laurin, president and chief executive officer of real estate advisory Devencore Ltd. “Few developers are going ahead until they find tenants.” As a result, “we have not had any exposure to overbuilding,” adds Robert Mercier, president of real estate services firm DTZ Barnicke (Quebec). The dearth of new developments is not the only factor. Also contributing is continued strong demand from tenants who are not players in the industries hit hardest by the downturn, such as energy, experts say. The combination means that Montreal now has one of the most stable office markets in the country. Even though at 9.7 per cent, Montreal's vacancy rate is higher than Toronto's (8.4 per cent) or Vancouver's (7.8 per cent), according to second-quarter figures from real estate firm CB Richard Ellis, downtown office vacancy rates in Montreal have risen less than in other major Canadian cities. Montreal's sublet space as a percentage of overall vacancy – a leading indicator of the health of the office leasing market – is, at 11 per cent, far lower than in other major cities, a sign that most tenants are holding onto their space, rather than putting it back on the market. The city is contending with a much smaller rise in sublet space than other cities. Insiders estimate that 10,000 to 15,000 square feet of sublease space comes back on the market each week. Unlike Calgary and Toronto, what little sublet space Montreal does put back into the market isn't competing for tenants with a glut of brand-new supply. Other than a recently constructed 840,000-square-foot Bell Canada Campus, the city has seen virtually no new office construction in recent years. In contrast, Toronto's central business district is facing the delivery of up to 3.1 million square feet of new office space, according to CB Richard Ellis. With little new development in the downtown in recent years, large-scale tenants in Montreal have few rental options, and therefore tend to stay put, further stabilizing the market. “Leasing is very strong on the renewal front,” Mr. Laurin says. Montreal also benefits from a diverse user base, says Brett Miller, executive vice-president of CB Richard Ellis in Quebec. He points out that the city's major employers represent solidly performing industries from the engineering, IT and video gaming industries. While Montreal may be performing well in comparison to other major cities, industry veterans aren't forgetting the lessons learned from the past. Developers such as Mr. Godon aren't planning any new developments until the economy recovers. “We're back to Real Estate 101,” he says. “That means focusing on serving the tenants we have, rather than looking for new projects.” -
Quebec could make $9.5B a year selling water to U.S.: report
un sujet a posté ErickMontreal dans L'actualité
Quebec could make $9.5B a year selling water to U.S.: report By NINA LEX, ReutersJuly 16, 2009 3:50 PM Quebec could raise as much as $9.5 billion a year by reversing the flow of three northern rivers to generate power and export water to the United States, according to a report made public yesterday. The Montreal Economic Institute said Quebec could divert floodwaters from the three rivers in the spring, pumping the excess water higher, and then letting it flow south through the Ottawa River to the St. Lawrence. The rivers - the Broadback, Waswanipi and Bell - currently flow into James Bay and then into Hudson Bay. The report said that diverting the floodwater from north to south would boost levels on the St. Lawrence River and let U.S. and Canadian authorities increase their use of freshwater from the Great Lakes without any risk to St. Lawrence - a major international seaway. "The revenue generated by exporting freshwater would be the result of complex negotiations between state, provincial and federal governments," said the report, compiled by former hydroelectric power engineer Pierre Gingras. "Whatever the outcome of negotiations, and given the probable increase in the value of water in the coming years, this revenue from the sale of water would contribute significantly to the financial health of the Quebec government and the general prosperity of Quebecers." The idea of bulk water exports from Canada has always been controversial, for political, environmental and security reasons. But Gingras said the scheme could net the province about $7.5 billion a year - assuming that the extra water supplied some 150 million people who paid a "very reasonable" $50 a year for the water. The project, which Gingras calls Northern Waters, would also build 25 hydroelectric plants and dams along the Ottawa River, generating electricity worth $2 billion a year. He put the cost of the project at $15 billion and said it could be completed by 2022. "It should be a very profitable project for Quebec," he said. But environmental group Great Lakes United said a project like Northern Waters could be devastating to the environment. "The seasonal runoff is not surplus water. The rising and lowering of the rivers and lakes is critical to protecting the marsh which is home to so much wildlife," program director John Jackson said. He said the project was contrary to legislation that forbids the bulk export of Canadian water from any of the five major basins, including the Hudson Bay Basin. "There would be huge legal fights. There is no way you could win those battles," Jackson said. The report - available at http://www.iedm.org - said the environmental impact would be relatively small because the project would only capture "seasonal surplus waters." © Copyright © The Montreal Gazette -
Think big, Tremblay urges Montrealers People are too ready to slam projects: mayor By JAMES MENNIE, The GazetteMay 23, 2009 Citing a high-profile scheme for a $1-billion downtown casino and entertainment complex that spectacularly crashed and burned after it couldn't shake off public criticism, Mayor Gérald Tremblay has challenged the city's business community and Montrealers in general to support projects that can offer the city "unlimited returns." "You remember the Cirque du Soleil project?" Tremblay asked an audience of about 400 businesspeople who yesterday attended an overview meeting organized by Montreal's Board of Trade of the city's major development projects. "How many of you, individually or collectively, have said: 'I should have written something (in support); I should have taken a stand'? "If that had happened, perhaps we would have ended up with a different project that would have brought people together and created wealth. "The problem is that we only, or almost only, hear from people who are against something; we rarely hear from those in favour." Tremblay's remarks, coming in the middle of a five-hour presentation extolling the virtues of such projects as the Quartier des Spectacles, the 2-22 project slated for St. Laurent Blvd. and the development of the Université de Montréal's science centres, were a stark reminder of how major projects can collapse because of an apparent lack of public support. The Cirque du Soleil entertainment and casino complex had been the object of public criticism and government study ever since the idea was broached in 2004. When a provincially commissioned report found in 2006 that even more study was needed, both the Cirque and Loto-Québec pulled out of the scheme. A year later, Tremblay found himself in the usual position of asking Montrealers to put aside their "negative attitudes" as he announced the $1-billion Griffintown development project, the single biggest private investment in the city's history. But that project, too, was beset by criticism and has since been put on hold because of the economic downturn. Saying he's "fed up of hearing that we're doing nothing in Montreal," Tremblay yesterday told his audience there are still plenty of other projects out there. "Go visit the city of Montreal's website, you'll see 130 projects with a total value of $60 billion. They told me not to talk about them because it's too ambitious. "But too many people continue to look at the $60 billion as an expenditure rather than an investment with unlimited returns." Speaking to reporters afterward, Tremblay said he challenged his audience because "it's easy to work behind closed doors, but it's something else to say, loud and clear, that you're proud of Montreal, that there are good projects out there for the city and that we want to be a part of it. "It's important that citizens have their say, but once they've done so, a decision must be made, and when that time comes, it's nice to hear occasionally from the private sector." jmennie@ thegazette.canwest.com © Copyright © The Montreal Gazette
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Montreal has a hot brand City should plug culture: minister By LYNN MOORE, The GazetteFebruary 21, 2009 Montreal should be "branding" itself as a major cultural and creative capital using institutions such as the Canadiens, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Montreal International Jazz Festival, Quebec's minister of economic development told a gathering of business leaders. The global finance crises has exasperated setbacks such as the loss of the Grand Prix Formula 1 racing event while continuing job and production cuts by major companies have shaken citizens and business leaders alike, Raymond Bachand told a Metropolitan Montreal Chamber of Commerce luncheon. "I want to tell you that the solutions (to shaken confidence and setbacks) are staring us in the face ... and are under our feet, if only we would see them," Bachand said. Bachand's reference to the Canadiens as a "one of the best-known trademarks in the world" prompted a wave of laughter from the audience. A front-page article in yesterday's La Presse linked three Canadiens players with one of the suspects arrested last week in a police operation targeting organized crime. "When one journalist makes a mistake, we don't condemn all media (outlets). And just because one player makes a mistake, we don't forget about 100 years of history," Bachand said. lmoore@thegazette.canwest.com © Copyright © The Montreal Gazette
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Economic turmoil halts glitzy condo project FRANCES BULA Special to The Globe and Mail November 14, 2008 Tony Pappajohn's Greek immigrant parents spent half a century building up a modest empire of apartment and commercial buildings in Vancouver. After taking that business into big-time development, Mr. Pappajohn this week had to sit down with contractors and tell them that his latest project - a cutting-edge new condo tower - has become another casualty of global economic turbulence. Working with his two brothers, he had taken his parents' empire to an ambitious new level in the past decade. They built a couple of small, attractive apartment buildings in Kitsilano and South Granville that sold or rented immediately. Then, five years ago, they decided to climb even further up the ladder in Vancouver's booming development world. They bought property downtown and, as plans progressed, found themselves the developers of a 37-storey, London-architect-designed glass tower with condos priced between $500,000 and $5.3-million. Print Edition - Section Front Section S Front Enlarge Image The Globe and Mail Mr. Pappajohn loved the project, the Jameson House, which combined cutting-edge environmental architecture by a team from the prestigious Norman Foster firm with the chance to restore two heritage buildings next door. Although it was in the city's business district - an unusual location for a condo tower - and not on the waterfront, it had the cachet of being on the same block as two of the city's most exclusive private clubs, and brochures promised stylish Italian fittings. But on Wednesday, he told his contractors he was stopping construction because one of his key lenders from a syndicate of three had backed out of the $180-million project. The lender, a major Canadian bank that Mr. Pappajohn declined to identify, pulled out Oct. 28, telling the Pappajohns only that "market conditions" weren't good. There was no reference to any doubts about his ability to sell remaining condos and Mr. Pappajohn said their presentation centre had still been getting steady business. He has spent the past two weeks looking for another lender and been unable to find one. While he's still frantically working with his lead lender to fill in the missing major piece, he decided he couldn't keep people working when he might run out of cash with which to pay them. "We made the hardest decision to stop," Mr. Pappajohn said yesterday in an interview at the downtown office of his family's company, Jameson Holdings. "But I had to ask myself, 'Is that fair to keep them working when you don't know if you can pay the bills? What if it doesn't work out and I can't get the financing and I can't pay these people? They have families.' " About 40 people were working on the site, and had just finished digging a 21-metre hole. Mr. Pappajohn now has to decide what to do for the people who bought 105 of the 144 condos. His marketer, Bob Rennie, said he's waiting to hear the results of Mr. Pappajohn's efforts at financing before figuring out what to do for the original purchasers, who had to provide deposits of 15 to 25 per cent of the price. The Jameson House is one of a growing number of condo projects in the Vancouver region that have been hit by a storm of bad economics: high construction costs, an abrupt condo sales slowdown that started in June, and a global financial crisis that has resulted in some lenders collapsing entirely while remaining banks are reluctant to lend. Two projects in Surrey have been halted, while the Olympic athletes village has been making headlines because of its difficulties in getting additional financing for cost overruns. And major developers like Concord Pacific, Westbank, ParkLane and others say that they are simply putting projects on hold until the market steadies. "It's not a project failure," Mr. Pappajohn said about his situation. "It's a market failure." Analysts say it could be months before the condo market becomes stable. That's a long time for a developer to hold expensive land and outstanding construction loans from a project halfway done. Mr. Pappajohn said he'd like to find a solution sooner than that. "Would I sell the project? In a heartbeat. I need to do what's prudent for everybody. If I could pay everybody's bills and be back to where I was five years ago, I'd have the world's most expensive MBA and be happy." In the meantime, "I'm out there. I'm looking for an angel. I'm looking for help to finish a beautiful project."
