jdrinboston

When I last visited Montreal - albeit in winter - I noticed that much of the retail/restaurant activity downtown seemed to be funneled into the RESO. I also noticed that most of the Metro stops downtown appeared to force you to walk through the RESO in order to access a street. I'm curious how you see the RESO impacting outdoor street life/outdoor retail activity in the city. In the US, the concet of indoor urban shopping malls has been scrapped in the last 20 years as most urban planners here see them as damaging to streetlife. Do you feel that this has been the case in Montreal?

Can someone explain to me the concept of the "construction holiday." My understanding is that all construction workers in the province of Quebec are mandated to take the last two weeks of July off for vacation. Was there a specific reason that the government felt the need to mandate specific dates for all workers to take a holiday and why were these two weeks chosen? Also, do construction workers receive a set number of weeks that they can take off on their own? For example, in the U.S., workers typically receive 2 to 4 (sometimes 5 depending on seniority) of vacation a year and they schedule that time on their own through their supervisors/human resource departemnt? Is there a similar setup among Quebec construction workers, or will these two weeks be the only vacation they get over the course of a year? Has there ever been a discussion regarding the impact of shutting down a worksite for two weeks visa vis construciton schedules, cost, security at the sites?

I wonder if the developer might consider making the second tower a rental. It might be a good way to hedge their bets as typically the rental market heats up as the condo/house market softens. Is there precedence for mixed condo/rental in Montreal?

I'm bringing an American perspective to this, but I will try my best. From what I can tell, Canadian condo projects typically must sell a designated number of units in order to convince banks and lenders to provide the loan funding needed to construct these buildings. This is different from the U.S., where most real estate projects are built "on spec" or "speculation." Meaning, a developer convinces a bank about the viability of a project based on market research and local income data. A bank then chooses to finance or not finance a project - not based on prior sales - but based on their confidence in a specific developer. Marketing for units in some cases may not begin until construction actually begins, though some do start earlier. My guess is that the sales figures we see in Montreal ( and Toronto, Vancouver etc.) are actually based on binding contracts, which require a buyer to lay down a non-refundable deposit, probably in the 10 to 15 percent range. The balance of the purchase price of the unit would be due upon completion and delivery of the unit. This means that even if a building is 100 percent sold - like the Tower des Canadiens - the developer only has about 10 to 15 percent of his/her liquid proceeds in hand. The rest has to be financed, with the loan to be paid off as the buyers close on their units. Based on their start of construction, I am assuming Rocabella and Icone have secured financing. But that is only an assumption. Worst case scenario, if L'Avenue or any of these projects don't have their financing completed, and are unable to close on the loan, construction could stop pending the developers ability to secure the money to finish the projects. The results would be unfinished buildings/holes in the ground. This does happen occassionally in the U.S. We have an infamous project in downtown Boston right now that is just starting up again. Reputable developers typically will not start a project unless they are confident they can finish. Let's hope that's the case here!

So they started construction without financing? Yikes. Fingers crossed.

Will the L'Avenue front the entire Av des Canadiens or will there still be an empty lot left after the construction is complete?

I'm assuming the wooden wall to the rear of the site is the Rocabella construction site. Will the Rocabella and L'Avenue be "back to back" on each other or will there be some sort of street/access road in between?

If I can offer some advice, based on experience. It seems that if your contract has a defined deadline for delivery, you should be given the opportunity to exit the contract without penalty once the developer confirms the deadline won't be met. The flipside of that is you will have to start your search for a condo over again. Presumably you really liked the condo and this building, otherwise you would not have bought here. It appears that the developer hasn't actually started work yet. If you really like this development and can wait until 2015, I would advise the seller -in writing - that they are in breach of your contract, but that you are willing to stay in, but demand they provide a date from which construction will start. Frankly, they are quickly running out of time to deliver your condo in 2015. If that date passes, and there is no sign of construction, I would just move on. I've bought in new condo developments in Boston before. New developments can be tricky to deal with, but if you really like the place/developer, the wait is usually worth it. Good luck!

Hi MtlMan I'll try to keep this brief so I don't derail the conversation away from Rocabella. The aquarium's main exhibit is closed for renovation. The rest of the facility is open, but that is indeed the main event, so you may want to hold off. The Museum of Fine Arts and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum just finished major renovations/expansions over the past year, so if you like art, those would be good bets. The Red Sox are also in town, so if you're looking for an authentic "American" sporting experience, you can't go wrong there. We are going through a bit of a boom here, but it is mostly rental apartments. We have three rental high-rises going on right now downtown - ranging in height from 290 ft to 340 ft (apologies, I don't know the metric equivalent) Another project is just starting on Stuart Street. We have a 15-story condo project wrapping up in the city's old "Combat Zone" red-light district, which has since gentrified signfiicantly. Meanwhile, construction is about to begin on the 625-foot Millennium Tower, which will be part of the redevelopment of the old Filene's department store in downtown crossing. There are also some smaller projects being built in the up and coming "Seaport/Innovation District." The buildings here are capped at 200-feet because they are almost directly on line with one of Logan Airport's runways. I came to Montreal for the first time in February and was left with an overwhelmingly positive impression. I'm someone who generally loves walking through cities and looking at buildings and their interactions with streets and people. I could spend two whole days walking through Vieux Montreal if I had the time. I am also a transportation junkie, so I could spend another couple of days riding your Metro. I'm planning on coming back later this summer or in September so we can enjoy the city more in the warmer weather. In terms of bars/restaurants, we planned our last trip very poorly and struggled to find places to eat. (I know they are plenty of great restaurants in Montreal, I think we stayed in a poorly located hotel and kept walking in the wrong directions). Any recommendations you have would be appreciated. Merci for taking the time to respond!

Thank you/Merci Olivier2160 for the kind words! Things are slowly getting back to normal around here and they are slowly beginning to reopen the affected areas back to businesses and residents. Boylston Street is one of our great "Mains," and I can only hope that it will return that way as the healing process progresses. It's exciting to see the new developments occurring in Montreal. They mostly seem to be residential and I'm curious if you or anyone can talk about what's driving these developments. My limited understanding of the housing market in Quebec and Canada is that it is largely soft, much like the US market. (Though we have started to rebound). However, the Canadian cities like Montreal (and Toronto/Vancouver) seem to be booming with condo developments. Is there really that much demand for these condos? Also, is there a reason why these are condo developments and not rental? (Boston is going through a bit of a rental boom at the moment, which was said to have been caused by the tight mortgage market) Also, I apologize for writing in English. My French is embarassingly limited, but I intend to change that.

Good morning all. Longtime lurker and first time poster. I'm actually from Boston, but love Montreal. My understanding is that each tower of this project is going to be its own phase. Do you know if the underground parking/podium for the second tower wil be constructed as part of the first phase, or will they leave that portion of the site empty until phase 2? Thanks!