Djentmaster001

Wages are higher there as a way to incentivize people to work there. One of my buddies got a job offer there, starting $130,000 a year, vs Québec where the same job was $55,000.

According to Colliers. Downtown Montreal has a vacancy rate of 14.3% and saw a positive absorption rate of 207,000 sq ft in Q3, 54.5M sq ft overall for downtown CBRE has the opposite, 17.4% vacancy rate, negative absorption, 45M sq ft for downtown. Take it for what it's worth, but I definitely believe the Colliers numbers are closer to reality than CBRE.

Avalanche studios has expanded to Montreal https://news.cision.com/avalanche-studios/r/avalanche-studios-group-expands-to-montreal,c3854246

As expected, Sony opened a new office at 700 St. Hubert. When I broke the news, I said 50K sq ft, it's actually 60K

So I'm out of town still, but construction prep has begun from what my friend told me. Did slme deliveries today, no crane just yet.

Once projects close by fully finish, the recession is over, prices stabilise and red tape is reduced, then the next round should start. Demand is there, market conditions are not at the moment, however.

I'm seriously considering a go fund me to buy land and develop it here lol. Only need a few hundred millions, though lol.

I passed by, no action on site. It'll probably be like this for a while.

Rentals can start right away but they'll still need approval from the city. I heard the same thing, rentals but mix use, multiple towers. Smart considering no GST tax on newly built rentals and the condo market is flat.

CCE is 118m I think

Can't wait until Agora takes my scoop about Sony and says "BREAKING SCOOP" lol.

To be honest, I do want to help getting this site to have the scoops first, so trying my best here. Hope to have many more soon!

I'm just hoping market conditions stabilize, there's a lot of exciting players coming into Montreal or want to expand, but the markets are just all over the place atm. I would like to see this bumped up too, but they're gonna stick with 102m for now.

So, not to get anyone hyped up (and please, do not get hyped up) but there are still intentions for a project to happen. Do not expect it anytime soon, though, especially with the high vacancy rates, interests rates and we have officially entered a soft recession. Other factors to look out on - Anything can change at anytime, they can add residential, hotel, change the design, maybe even cancel the project as I'm typing this lol. But there is intention to move ahead with the project when conditions are right, since HBC wants to maximise its portfolio and this is in a strategic area. - With vacancy rates increasing due to new to market office spaces (BN HQ, VSLP offices), the priority for new to market tenants will be around the International Quarter. There are a lot of new players about to enter the Montreal market and will be located in this area specifically. What I'm hoping for is more competition for quality class A-AAA offices, which means more projects. Class B and C's should be vacated and turned into residential, so I think if cards are played right, this project could get fast-tracked. - This building in particular, would be good for AI/Tech or anyone in the sciences/pharmaceuticals, they prefer larger floorplates. I know a few have looked into expanding or relocating to Montreal, but not necessarily this building. Am I optimistic that this will be built soon? No, I'm not. However, the fact that there is still interest for a project to be built shows that there is still confidence in the Montreal market. With downtown booming in terms of population and retail leasing, it could have a positive spinoff. We just have to wait for economic conditions to improve, along with seeing leasing trends, mobility trends, opening of the REM in 2024, etc..

As promised, sidewalk closed off. Activity should start shortly

Rushed by the area to a client meeting, did not see anything. Will try and circle back to see if I missed anything.

I'm around here daily, no work has started yet, just relocation of a bus stop. I'll pass by today to see if anything new happened.

It's either subsidies or, the American way which is no taxes and full power on their territory for 20-100 years, or for life. You think companies move or open up locations without any financial help or tax breaks? You're deaming! Quebec and MTL are becoming a world leader for renewable energies and it's worth the investment. That's the name of the game in a competitive world, my friend we get 4K jobs (high paying) and a new HQ, which in turn will attract more HQs to open up here, huge win.

Huge Win for the GMA. A new HQ, billions of investments and 4,000 jobs.

Lol classic P.M admin, I'll start a crowdfund so we can all buy this land and build a tower in 2027 😜 (and with, hopefully, a new admin in place by then)

Yeah, we are not gonna see another major office project for a while, it would need a miracle to happen (think a major HQ relocation and all class A-AAA office spaces being at 4-5% vacant). If we see office space, it will be incorporated in a mix-use project and will be something like 25-50K sq ft at most. But with downtown having office vacancy rates between 13-17% (depending on which broker data you're using) and with 1.4M sq ft coming on the market, office projects are dead for a good 5-10 years. Most of my contacts are all residential, the ones I know in the office market are all leasing existing class A office space and it's not major leases (15-30K sq ft).

Just to name a few... Higher taxes, more red-tape, labour shortages, condo market is (and never was) as strong here vs rental market. On top of that, weak dollar, inflation, supply chain issues, war and the city is very slow approving projects. Again, gotta look at the big picture, it's not just Plante and Projet Montreal causing the slowdown. The provincial government should also step up and do what I have been seeing in the U.S and Canada, incentivise developing more, but Quebec has always been allergic to big pro business governments, so I do not expect this to change soon.