Royalmount opens in Montreal’s new ‘Midtown’

The first phase of developer and retailer Andrew Lutfy’s 10-year dream to build a colossal “Midtown Montreal” mixed-use development has come true.

Royalmount opened its doors Sept. 5 with dozens of both high-end and general retailers of what is expected to be an almost 80-acre development in the suburban town of Mount Royal.

Phase one, or the retail component, represents only 10 per cent and $1 billion of buildable density. Still to come are office and residential buildings at the location, the junction of several major traffic arteries in what had been a manufacturing and warehouse district.

Lutfy calls Royalmount “luxury for all.”

And despite featuring some of the world’s most exclusive brands like Tiffany & Co., Versace, Louis Vuitton, Breitling and Jimmy Choo, his firm, Carbonleo, wants the complex to be a destination even if people don’t shop. With a linear park, and a skating rink in winter, massive sculptures, food hall and an outdoor entertainment venue, he says “it’s more about the experience than it is about the products.”

Royalmount, entirely privately financed, has suffered criticism for its location in a dense urban nexus and perennially clogged traffic web known as the Décarie Circle where three major expressways and two heavily trafficked streets meet. One criticism is that it will suck shoppers away from downtown Montreal, about 15 kilometres south. Another is that it is adding to traffic and will be difficult to access.

But Carbonleo has built 2,000 parking spaces on two underground levels.

More important, the developer has built a $50 million pedestrian bridge over the Décarie expressway to the De la Savane metro station on the city’s busiest underground “Orange” subway line.

Lutfy is confident most of the public will use the metro, especially younger people who are more comfortable with transit in a city whose subway ridership is second only in North America to New York City.

But even he admitted it was at first difficult “to get past the fact this area has been an industrial destination for so many years, how and why could it be any kind of epicentre of anything.”

The proof is obviously in the type and quantity of retailers who have signed leases — 170 including 60 restaurants and cafes. Besides luxury names, more mainstream brands include Aldo, Coach, Canada Goose, Nike, David’s Tea, BMO and A&W.

“There was a real appreciation from the global luxury brands about what we were doing,” Lutfy said.

Now it’s time for Montrealers to follow suit.

“Once we clear out biases and start looking at the data 87 per cent of all millionaire households live within 20 minutes of this site in all directions,” he said, and 1.2 million people live within a 15 minutes’ drive. And there are “far more” allophones in the market, a demographic that has “a greater propensity to appreciate global brands.”

Lutfy, who calls himself a “serial entrepreneur,” is CEO of Groupe Dynamite with hundreds of Dynamite and Garage retail stores.

He returned the Four Seasons hotel to downtown and says he is one of the “biggest” investors in the city’s core. He’s adamant Royalmount won’t be a threat to the downtown.

“The more the merrier,” he says. “The problem with Montreal is we end up spending a lot of our dollars out of Montreal.”

He estimates Royalmount will generate $150 million in sales taxes alone.

The mall, which will serve as the centre of the future mixed-use multi-phase complex, features a first floor “luxury row” of high-end stores including Rolex’s biggest North American outlet. It’s marked by an elongated skylight roof, natural planter shrubbery and combination natural-artificial trees to create a breezy open experience in this “eco development” built to the LEED Gold standard, he adds.

Lutfy said Carbonleo wanted to combine the best of retail spaces into one.

“I’ve seen every shopping centre, every high street, every commercial street at least once,” he says. “And this represents the sum of every best practice that I have seen around the world.”

The local Town of Mount Royal municipality has cast doubt about future residential but that doesn’t deter the developers. Lutfy says over the past 10 years he encountered “an endless amount of ‘nos’ that somewhere along the way became a ‘yes.’”

Royalmount’s architects are Benoy, Lemay and Sidlee and the general contractors are Pomerleau, QMD, McGill/Tisseur and JCB.