A group of investors is spending $52 million to give new life to a vacant, century-old, castle-like building in old Quebec City.

Le 401 will have 142 rental units and about 5,500 square feet of ground floor commercial space when the renovated space is delivered in spring 2027. Construction at the 125,000-square-foot building at 401 Saint-Paul St., which has been vacant since 2021, is to begin this fall.

“Le 401 has become our most ambitious project,” said architect Jérôme Côté, who is president of C76 Investissements, the firm behind the project.

Côté along with his brother and sister are also behind the architectural firm Régis, which has offices in Quebec City, Montreal and Trois-Rivières.

In the mid-2010s, the three decided to invest in and develop real estate projects in addition to their architectural work. They’ve since developed condo projects, including a 51-unit development at the Le Massif ski resort in Charlevoix and another at Mont Orford in the Eastern Townships.

Along with the Côté family, partner investors in C76 are Groupe Canam, Placements FH and Placements PCA.

The Le 401 renovation project

C76 acquired 401 Saint-Paul St. in 2021, after Lauberivière, a centre for homeless people, moved to new quarters. (The C in C76 stands for Côté and 76 signifies the year in which the architectural firm was founded by his father.)

“We know the neighbourhood well,” Côté said, “and we saw a great opportunity to transform a good existing building” and to provide rental residences in the old city.

Most of the four-storey building, which has architectural elements that echo the city's historic Château Frontenac and was built in phases in 1924 and 1927, will be preserved. The building was originally known as the Hôtel Château Champlain.

As a rental development, Le 401 “will have a positive impact and will bring more people” to the old city, about 200 to 250 new residents. 

It will help the city achieve its goal of adding 500 people to the "old city", which has lost residents in recent years.

Rents in the building, which faces the Gare du Palais train station, will vary from $1,100 to $3,000, for studios to three-bedrooms. Ninety per cent of units will have rents under $2,000 per month and 25 to 30 per cent of units will qualify as affordable under CMHC guidelines.

Parking and other amenities

One level of underground parking with 57 spots will be built. Côté hopes residents will also be able to make use of existing parking lots nearby.

There will be two large interior courtyards and a rooftop patio for residents’ use. A small gym is also envisaged.

Côté hopes the retail component will house a mix of neighbourhood and service-oriented stores that meet the needs of old city residents.

The building is in good shape overall but parts of it pose structural challenges, he said. Asbestos removal was done last year.

The renovation is receiving $545,000 from Quebec City as part of its sustainable housing projects fund, the Programme pour les projets durables en habitation.

It could also receive a maximum of $3.5 million over 10 years in tax credits from the city as part of a program for the renovation of heritage buildings in the old city. Côté, however, expects to obtain $2.5 million from the program.

 A "focus on sustainable development"

“We’re putting a serious focus on sustainable development,” he said of Le 401, noting C76 is “investing more than the minimum” on the project on initiatives such as geothermal energy and high-quality electrical and mechanical systems.

Opting for rental housing will allow for the investment in the building to be amortized over the long term. “Having a long-term perspective was favourable for us,” he said.

C76 is also conducting a circular economy-style pilot project on Le 401 in which steel removed from parts of the building during deconstruction will be reused elsewhere in the building.

“We’re trying to reduce our carbon footprint by reusing the steel that’s already there. That’s something that hasn’t ever been done before in Quebec” and possibly in Canada. He hopes to also develop a method that would make it easier to reuse steel in other projects.

Côté said he will seek zero-carbon building certification for Le 401, something that will lend the development more community acceptance and resonate with partners and future tenants.