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Canadians can be hockey crazy. The Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs have one of the longest-standing rivalries in hockey history.
It seems they have taken this rivalry off the ice, and are now competing in real estate too. Well, maybe that is an exaggeration, but there is an interesting parallel happening in the world of residential condominiums.
Montreal is getting ready for its tallest residential condominium—Tour des Canadiens.
Rising to 48 stories, Tour des Canadian is directly adjacent to the Bell Centre. It will be a sports and entertainment condominium complex par excellence. With the Metro at its feet, this project will be the first of its kind in Quebec.
It is a partnership between the Montreal Canadiens, commercial real estate developer Canderel Residential, real estate investment giant Cadillac Fairview, and FDQ, one of Quebec’s largest pension plans.
Though Canderel has been a huge name in commercial real estate development since the 1980s in Quebec, for the past decade it has been doing big things in the Toronto residential condominium market as well.
Tour des Canadiens is Canderel’s first residential project in Quebec.
Stealing the puck from the Leafs
Canderel decided to start with a proven concept. Project partner Cadillac Fairview is behind Toronto’s Maple Leaf Square, one of the city’s greatest condominium success stories.
Located right next to Air Canada Centre, the home of the Maple Leafs and the Raptors, it has retail space that includes a massive sports bar with room for 900 people, as well as a hotel and high-end grocery store. It also has direct access to Union subway station.
People who bought into Maple Leaf Square at the beginning paid around $475 per square foot. Units are now selling at upwards of $650 per square foot.
The project was an astounding success, even though the Maple Leafs haven’t touched the Stanley Cup since 1967 and the Raptors have never won a championship.
