Devimco Immobilier is one of Montreal’s busiest developers right now and in February things just got busier.
On Feb. 21 the City of Longueuil northeast of Montreal announced it selected the firm to help develop and plan a $500-million transit-oriented mixed-use development to be located on top of the Longueuil-Universite-de-Sherbrooke metro station.
The new work is in addition to two other major developments announced by Devimco in the past couple of years — the Square Children’s project on the site of the former Montreal Children’s Hospital, which will feature condominiums, rental apartments and social housing to be spread across six towers, and the $1.3-billion sustainability-oriented Solar Uniquartier project.
It will offer 2,600 housing units, 1.2 million square feet of commercial and office space, two hotels, a conference centre and a European-styled recreation complex near the intersection of Autoroutes 30 and 10.
Devimco, which undertakes a spectrum of functions on its builds, including conception and design through to full project construction, continues building in District Griffintown, where it has created thousands of residential units and other mixed-use spaces since 2005, and at numerous other sites across the city.
The firm has expanded its workforce since 2012 to handle the growth in its workload, said Marco Fontaine, a Devimco consultant and president of Premius Conseil.
Keys to Devimco’s success include its multidisciplinary strengths; its heavy reliance on research and development, including constant surveying of users to determine latest preferences and needs; and its willingness to travel around the world studying best practices, said Fontaine.
“Devimco is structured to get a lot of new projects,” he said. “We have a construction team inside the company so it is easier for us to do projects, we have architects inside Devimco.
“We can work faster and better on projects.”
Fontaine was reluctant to go into detail about the Longueuil project, given planning is in the early stages. The one-million-square-foot plan includes a hotel, a residential component with 525 condos and rental units, traditional office spaces and co-working spaces that could serve as incubators for start-ups and SMEs, said a city statement.
Groundbreaking for phase one of the Solar Uniquartier project was held last August. The Fonds immobilier de solidarite FTQ is a major partner along with Fondaction in what is said to be Quebec’s largest mixed-use real estate project.
Fontaine said a major piece in project planning is the coming build of an LRT station onsite as construction of Montreal’s new Reseau electrique metropolitain (REM) system ramps up.
“You will be able to take a flight to Florida in the winter without a coat,” he said, pointing out the Magellan Condos at Solar will connect via tunnel to the new REM station, which will then link to Montreal’s Trudeau airport.
Among builds in the first phase is a 184-room Marriott Courtyard hotel. The hotel will be connected to an office building and conference centre.
The six towers of Square Children’s in the Peter-McGill district of Montreal have been designed by Menkes Shooner Dagenais LeTourneux Architectes. The project includes redevelopment of a significant heritage building, a former nurses residence. The Fonds immobilier de solidarite FTQ is also investing in this project as is Fiera Private Lending.
Other projects Devimco has underway in Montreal include the Commercial Quartier DIX30, a shopping centre located on the south shore of Montreal, touted as a “Lifestyle Centre” and already home to 200 businesses; and the 21-storey Shaughn, with 294 apartments, located in Shaughnessy Village in the borough of Ville Marie.
Meanwhile the build-out of Griffintown continues with two condo towers totalling 500 units underway. After that, said Fontaine, will come two buildings with rental residences available.
Devimco looks to Denmark, Sweden for inspiration
QUEBEC — Devimco consultant Marco Fontaine spent a few moments during a recent interview ruminating on the future of mixed-used developments — and for him it’s in northern Europe.
He spoke with evident excitement about putting into practice concepts he and Devimco colleagues had gleaned from recent project visits to Copenhagen and Stockholm.
“The most important thing is the conception of the project,” he said. “You have to be very creative. In Copenhagen they are very good in design and architecture. It’s incredible the designs there. And Stockholm, they are very good in development, they are far ahead of us in ecology, we learned a lot from Stockholm.
“We take the best ideas and best practices from every country we are visiting, and we bring all the ideas around the table with our construction team to make a very good mixed-use project,” he said.
In Copenhagen, Fontaine said, humans are at the centre of every construction decision. Planners analyze how people transit inside and outside of a project, he said, watching to see if, for example, they take shortcuts.
“They don’t have a problem making a hole through the side of the building because people want to cut corners when they walk, because it is faster. And they invite people to cut corners, they make an arch, and they have an experience, and you will see flowers, plants, a coffee shop.”
This is a game changer for Devimco, said Fontaine.
“In Quebec, we make the architecture and tell the human, go there. But our thinking will now be different,” he said.
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