When Montreal developer Groupe HD builds a residential project, it usually seeks proximity to public transit.

But for its latest project, the developer, which has built a spate of new residential developments since its formation five years ago, has taken a different approach.

Groupe HD is going ahead with a $65 million multifamily building in the Pierrefonds-Roxboro borough with more than 175 rental units due its strategic location, according to Isabelle Drolet, Groupe HD’s vice-president, marketing and commercialization. 

To be built at 14700 Pierrefonds Blvd., the development will rise in a mature and well-served area of Montreal’s West Island with strong residential rental appeal, Drolet said.

“There is a lack of new residential development in the area” which is close to schools, cultural amenities and other services, she said. 

Construction to begin in the summer

Construction of the five-storey purpose-built rental project will begin this summer and take 18 months. The development, which is on a 125,000 square foot site, is being built in partnership with Société Financière Bourgie, a private family wealth management firm founded by businesman Pierre Bourgie.

It will be built next to the Pierrefonds Sportplexe on land that currently serves as the sport complex’s parking lot.

The Sportplexe “subdivided the land into two separate lots, and we acquired the lot that is currently on the parking lot side,” Drolet told RENX.

Groupe HD was founded in 2020 during the pandemic by Thomas Dufour, a former Cogir and Devimco employee and Jean-Philippe Hébert, formerly of Ivanhoé Cambridge and Cogir. The HD name is a combination of the founders' last names.

Although the company has yet to celebrate its sixth year, it’s been involved in more than 20 projects comprising over 9,500 units and manages more than $3.5 billion in assets.

Most of its projects have been on the island of Montreal and the city’s north and south shores. One project is planned in Sorel-Tracy, about 90 kilometres from Montreal.

Groupe HD concentrates solely on residential and, in recent years, on purpose-built rental apartments.

Groupe HD plans return to condos

However, despite the weak condo market, Groupe HD is actively planning condo projects in the Montreal area, Dufour said. 

Drolet said the company’s analysis has found there is some demand for new condo construction, which has almost come to a halt in the Montreal area.

Groupe HD and financial partnmers partners Kastello Immobilier and Société Financière Bourgie are planning a combination of rental and condos in an almost-1,000 residential unit development in the Montreal borough of Anjou. It will be located at a former Ford dealership at 7000 Louis-H.-La Fontaine Blvd., near the terminus of the Montreal metro’s blue line extension, which is currently under construction.

Saying there is a need for high-quality housing for seniors, Groupe HD is also expanding into the private senior residences sector.

Groupe HD will work together with operators of seniors’ residences that will oversee management and operation of the private seniors’ residences it develops.

Five seniors’ housing projects with more than 2,000 units in various municipalities are in the planning stages.

Dufour says Groupe HD has the resources needed to be successful in the senior residences sector. She adds the 2022 failure of retirement home developer and operator Groupe Sélection was “an issue of management” and not of demand for high-quality seniors’ residences.

Groupe HD's other recent announcements

Among Groupe HD’s other recently announced projects is a $200 million, eight-storey, 525-unit development on the South Shore of Montreal. Slated for construction in summer 2026, the development at 550 Roland-Therrien Blvd. in Vieux-Longueuil (Old Longueuil) is on the site of a small shopping centre with several closed stores and unrenewed leases.

Dufour says the site is close to major employment such as a Pratt & Whitney plant which employs over 5,000 people, and the Édouard-Montpetit CEGEP (junior college). Capital Property Developments (CPD) and Kastello are the financial partners for the project, which will have a buildable area of more than 450,000 square feet.

Last June, Groupe HD and Fondaction announced a $425 million-plus investment to deliver 1,200 homes through a multi-phased project at a nearly five-acre property in Montreal's Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough. The more than 210,000 square foot site at 5600 Sherbrooke St. E. is primarily vacant land.

More than 15 per cent of the units are to be affordable housing, and the development will pursue LEED Gold certification for its environmental sustainability.

Groupe HD and Fondaction have also teamed up for a planned 155-unit purpose-built rental apartment at 1855 Dollard Ave. in LaSalle to be built on a 72,000-square-foot former auto dealership.

In addition, Groupe HD announced in June it is partnering with Kastello Immobilier and CPD Immobilier to build a six-storey residential and commercial complex in Montreal's Saint-Michel neighbourhood with 380 rental units and more than 20,000 square feet of commercial space. Redevelopment of the site at 2601 Jarry St. E. represents an investment of over $150 million.