Groupe Medway is investing $75 million to build a mixed-used medical clinic and six-storey multiresidential complex in Quebec City in what will be one of the provincial capital's largest health-focused developments.

The 210,000-square-foot development at 1075 Wilfrid-Hamel Blvd. will include 197 multires units and 70,000 square feet of space for medical uses. It will be completed in summer 2025.

Combining medical clinics with multires has become a trademark for 12-year-old Lévis, Que.-based Groupe Medway, which now has 11 mixed-use projects combining medical uses and multres under its belt. It also has 12 stand-alone medical clinics in the Quebec City area, Chaudière-Appalaches, Rivière-du-Loup and Trois-Rivières. 

The developer launched mixed-used medical and multires projects four years ago.

“Medical clinics have an enormous amount of volume,” Yan Boudreau, president and founder of the 130-employee Groupe Medway, told RENX.

The traffic in the clinics attracts tenants, Boudreau said, noting that “our commercial buildings have more traffic per square foot than shopping centres during busy periods.”

Medical buildings compatible with multiresidential

Boudreau adds there is strong demand in the medical sector for modernization and expansion and that medical clinics are compatible with multiresidential dwellings.

Medical clinics are mainly open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays while residential units are primarily occupied in the evenings and weekends, so “it’s a combination that fits well.” 

In addition, tenants in the multires buildings receive the Accès Medway program, which gives them priority access to bookings for dentists and physiotherapists.

For family doctors, Medway has a partnership with a private clinic at which residents can make an appointment with a doctor within 24 or 48 hours. 

“We have a lot of tenants who feel secure that they have access (to the program),” Boudreau said.

The family medicine group Clinique Pierre-Bertrand will be moving into the Wilfrid-Hamel Boulevard development, doubling its space and adding 20 family physicians.

Called Complexe Santé Rivière-Saint-Charles, the medical centre will have 40 family doctors as well as dermatologists and orthopedists, a dental clinic and the banners Lobe Hearing Health and Communication Clinics, PCN Physio and Vasectomie Québec.

Medway is teaming up on the development with Groupe Santé Expert, which specializes in the management of medical clinics, pharmacies and in the distribution of medication for seniors’ residences.

Financing is being provided by Home Trust.

Boudreau said most of Medway’s medical tenants are family doctors in the public sector who have a tremendous volume of patients. “That’s what creates the traffic.”

Other Groupe Medway developments

Aside from the current Quebec City development, Groupe Medway has similar-sized projects underway in Rivière-du-Loup and in Lévis on the South Shore of Quebec City. 

Construction began last fall on the Rivière-du-Loup development, which will have 75,000 square feet of medical clinic space and 150 multires units. It’s slated for completion next year.

The Lévis development will have 165 apartment units and a medical clinic. 

Groupe Medway manages the multires buildings.

“Our goal is to obtain 95 per cent (occupancy) after the first year,” he said, adding that “we’ve been reaching it for the last few years.”

While financing is always a challenge, “we think it’s the best time to do real estate,” Boudreau said. 

Construction costs have stabilized, and while building values in the Quebec City region have declined due to high interest rates, “we expect the values will increase in two years (when Medway’s newer developments are completed)."

Future expansion plans

Boudreau said the Medway name was chosen because it works in both French and English – and that Groupe Medway plans to expand into English Canada in the coming years. 

The first step is to expand in eastern Quebec and Groupe Medway is also looking at projects outside Montreal. This, he hopes, will be followed by expansion to the Maritimes in three to five years.

“The public system in the Maritimes needs real estate developers or private managers to grow,” Boudreau said, noting this where Medway plays a role.

Expansion could follow in Ontario in 10 years.

He notes similar trends are underway in several provinces in which provincial governments are trying to get doctors to leave publicly operated hospitals and house their public practices in privately run and privately developed buildings.

This is creating opportunities for developers like Groupe Medway, Boudreau said.