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Russell

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Tout ce qui a été posté par Russell

  1. Russell
    The total of $150 million is correct. It includes the acquisition of Gare Windsor ($80 million), as well as the two parking lots on peel street ($35 million), and the assembly of lands and building along St-Antoine ($35 million). With these acquistions, they have the right to build approximately 6 million square feet of density, or $25 per SF buildable with holding income.
  2. Russell
    This project is situated on the commercial centre behind Place Cremazie at the corner of St-Laurent & Cremazie. the office tower seen behind is the tower of Meloche Monnex. evidently they will be tearing down the existing commercial strip and replacing it with this density...it will be interesting to see how they address the parking needs, the office properties already have a lack thereof.
  3. Russell
    the buildings between king and queen were acquired by yale properties last year, so they will remain an eyesore for a while as they sit on them, like every other property they own around old montreal and griffintown. anyone know who nougenco immobilier is?
  4. Russell
    i drove by this project yesterday, it is in the middle of nowhere with a beautiful view of industrial parks and moose pasture. one would certainly be a pioneer to buy here, as were those who bought into the quai de la commune project at the outset.
  5. Russell
    I have been told that the sales office will not open until the end of summer with construction only starting with 50% sales, so likely no construction until 2012. the developers estimate that the average sales price per square foot will be in the $1000-$1200 range. if the market can sustain those pricing levels on that large a project that will be quite a statement on the health of the montreal residential market.
  6. Russell
    i have heard that devimco and co now have accepted offers to purchase both the hotel de la montagne and wanda's in an effort to extend ogilvy all the way to de maisonneuve, with luxury condos above. anyone seen any early renderings?
  7. Russell
    both projects by ANGUS are economically viable, however this strategy really hurts cleopatra's long-term real estate value as it is almost impossible to build with any cost efficiency on a lot size less than 4,000 SF, especially a matching 12 storey building. cleopatra is over-playing their hand in negotiations to sell, and this should force a more expedited resolution.
  8. Russell
    as a former mcgill student...i am fully aware of the damage created by the most atrocious projects of the 60s and 70s. that being said, not all projects were terrible, some actually have held their own (La Cité, Place Alexis Nihon, etc). For this area, we are not replacing victorian mansions or 19th century row-houses, but decrepit 50s and 60s project housing. the collateral damage of poorly designed projects would be isolated, and invariably a cross-section of projects would be constructed, each catering to a different market segment. there are not enough luxury buyers to make it all luxury, nor will it all be focused on the mid to low affordable market. hopefully the projects that are least successful will fail, and be replaced, or acquired by those willing to invest in renovations to increase its appeal. in any event, the overall principal is that some urban planner or city hall cannot precisely understand what project will be successful in each location and this would allow some creativity to flourish in an under-invested and run-down ghetto adjacent to the City's highest profile public investment.
  9. Russell
    Cadillac Fairview owns the Gare Windsor site. Their plan would be to demolish the low-rise brick building fronting Saint-Antoine and have in-place zoning to construct an almost 50 storey tower in its place. Signage, access and amenities would be major advantages for this site.
  10. Russell
    Cadillac has the cheapest cost of capital and the CEO is a former montrealer who really loves the city and wants to get this overall project moving. As the most experienced developer with a custom project and greater overall financial partner to Rio Tinto and RCA, they have to be the favourite for this deal. The wildcard is Desjardins as a partner to Magil Laurentienne. They can influence this through their own occupation of space to achieve better economies of scale and provide cheap capital for RCA's many projects across Quebec.
  11. Russell
    this is a typically weak office market where rents for Class B assets are at best $10 psf deriving values of $125-$150 psf. if you can relocate your existing tenants to other properties (this owner also owns 4150 Ste-Catherine West), and demolish this building and construct luxurious condos with exit sale prices of up to $600 psf, that sounds like a solid business plan.
  12. Russell
    this is the perfect opportunity for montreal to realize new development and urban planning models. montreal all-too-often puts itself too tightly in a box. we have a history of building rowhouses and medium density projects for the middle class as well as getting francine daoust to plan a really pretty square with excellent design parameters around existing heritage buildings. not that montreal will not continue to foster this type of development, with small walk-up projects re-energizing old used car lots and former gas stations around the island. this site is a like a blank slate as there is almost nothing worth retaining in the immediate area. the city should create one central public square and then sell off the remaining land on a fixed price basis but place scaling development charges for any density constructed greater than a certain FAR and higher charges over that threshold plus provide off-setting credits for anyone who builds social housing on-site. to maintain total transparency and provide opportunities to smaller developers and cut out real estate brokers, the land should be initially sold via a lottery system in variable parcel sizes and then let the monopoly game begin. let anyone build anything they want, no architectural review boards, no PPUs, no dinu bumbaru, just a little laissez-faire economics and see what happens. this would be the most exciting redevelopment project ever in montreal, the gamesmanship would be fascinating and likely the best projects would be the ones that get constructed. or we can keep 700 decrepit social housing units ensure that downtown east remains a ghetto.
  13. Russell
    this project will be very hard and extremely expensive to build as the site is hardly 6,000 SF in dimension and would require at least 5 or 6 levels of underground parking with minimal availability for owners and at least 3 elevator banks plus fire exits. that being said, it is now possible to demand up to $600 psf for a luxury condo project of limited scale. at 30 storeys, the maximum suites per floor would be 4-5 up to the penthouse level where you may find one or two suites per floor. so this is likely a project of 100 units or less. the economics are possibly there but the owner will need to bring on an experienced developer to sell this vision. if they can, this would be a beautiful addition to montreal's most prestigious square.
  14. Russell
    If the penthouse at the ritz sells for $1625 psf, and average units in the simpson sell north of $700 psf...it is clear that montreal citizens and foreign investors are prepared to pay up for luxury. the question is whether there is true depth at the top end of the market? vancouver sustains pricing at the top-end due to a continuous influx of top quality projects and bottomless asian capital and toronto due to high levels of immigration pushing up the bottom end, plus investment banking salaries and some foreign investment. old montreal money will only take us so far, so it will be interesting to see what the buyer profile is for this project. this is the biggest luxury development in montreal and the Kotler family is typically very conservative, so i cannot blame them for holding off until the summer and grand prix weekend to launch the project to ensure that it sells hard and fast. nonetheless, if any of us have a spare couple million to buy a unit, do us all a favour and step up as a buyer.
  15. Russell
    Anyone seen any renderings of this project? Rumour is that developpement mcgill is behind it. http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/ARR_SO_FR/MEDIA/DOCUMENTS/DOCUMENT%20INFO%20PIXCOM.PDF
  16. Russell
    Cataclaw, i think that although those are worthy aims for greenfield development, the municipalities that have the hectares of land required for a major regional mall are likely too desperate for the investment and simply do not have the backbone to negotiate these elements into the required zoning change. This may have to come from the provincial gov't if it involves changing zoning from agricultural but whatever additional costs are added must be effectively passed through to the eventual tenants and then the consumer. this is probably more likely to happen to the struggling older generation malls, such as cavendish mall or les galeries laval or for major redevelopment sites such as the alstom yards in pointe-st-charles or the turcot yards. in addition it is no secret that first capital wishes to add density to core holdings without disrupting existing tenants but the countervailing trend is primarily walmart anchored power centre developments and the occasional lifestyle centre.
  17. Russell
    This project has been in the works for as long as Monit has owned the land which it is now selling to the Caisse. Whether it is right or wrong from a sustainability perspective to construct these monstrosities, the average rents and economic benefits that are generated are enornmous in comparison to office towers, industrial properties or condominium projects. They are business centres that create huge amounts of wealth for small entrepreneurs, mid-size provincial chains as well as attracting larger national or international chains into our marketplace who additionally lease flagship stores in downtown montreal or the plateau to increase brand awareness. Quebec is under-retailed versus every province on a GLA per capita basis and the construction of this project, westcliff's in chateauguay, as well as Lac Mirabel in the near future will all be of benefit, even if that means suburban sprawl is the result. What these municipalities regional authorities need to do is ensure that enough green space is set aside, solar panels erected, and transit routes established to off-set the creation of parking lots that radiate heat without compromising the economic rationale for making this type of investment. We cannot pretend that we do not need these major investments on the basis of saving the plateau or the environment or what not. The plateau needs to compete as much as Taschereau now effectively competes with Dix/30. More importantly the owners and tenants occupying the crappy retail along Corbusier and St-Martin will need to step up their game and invest in their assets to compete versus this new threat, which will be of benefit to all.
  18. Russell
    AMT has already chosen to relocate to 700 de la Gauchetiere and this will be for the interior of their space.
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