The CF Fairview Pointe-Claire mall is already undergoing a series of renovations. The property will also soon see significant new development. (Courtesy CF)

Cadillac Fairview will develop a new suburban downtown area around its CF Fairview Pointe-Claire mall in Pointe-Claire, on Montreal’s West Island.

Project Fairview will surround the 52-year-old shopping mall at the corner of Highway 40 and St-Jean Boulevard, which itself is already getting a makeover.

“The idea there is that we’re not repurposing what Fairview Pointe-Claire was. We’re advancing it,” said Terry Fraser-Reid, vice-president, development at Cadillac Fairview. “It was always the downtown and it’s going to be the new downtown – responding to what people are looking for and what people want from their suburban downtowns.”

The project will include a mix of condos, stacked townhomes, townhomes, hotels and other uses on land surrounding CF Fairview Pointe-Claire. It will be a TOD (Transit Oriented Development) as the property will be the site of a new REM light-rail train station.

CF Fairview getting facelift

It was just one of several mixed-use projects discussed at a session on mixed-use and intensification projects underway in the city at the Montreal Real Estate Forum on April 17.

Fairview Pointe-Claire’s vocation “was always to be the centre of activity in Pointe-Claire,” said Fraser-Reid. “This isn’t going to be a repositioning; this is going to be an extension.”

Cadillac Fairview and mall partner Ivanhoé Cambridge have already announced a $30-million renovation of the shopping mall that will include new lighting, floors and exterior entrances.

In addition, the former three-storey Sears store will become a two-storey Simons store, with the ground floor being transformed into a new food hall. The current food court will be demolished and replaced with new stores.

The mall renovations should be completed by next summer.

Quad Windsor includes 4.1M square feet

Fraser-Reid added Cadillac Fairview is about halfway through development of its 4.1-million-square-foot Quad Windsor project in downtown Montreal. He said the development provides an “exceptional’ opportunity to build a major, mixed-use land assembly project in an urban environment.

Quad Windsor consists of historic Windsor Station, three Tour des Canadiens high-rise condos, the 510,000-square-foot Deloitte Tower and the still-to-be-developed 600 Peel and 750 Peel.

600 Peel is projected to comprise three towers with 1.5 million square feet of high-rise condos, townhouses and stores. 750 Peel will consist of two class-AAA office buildings with 1.2 million square feet of space.

“I think what’s exciting about a project like this is you’re not starting with a blank slate,” Fraser-Reid said of Quad Windsor.

“You are trying to install something, a grand vision, a lot of complex uses, into an environment that’s already very much established. If you’re doing it right, you’re making a lot of connections (with) everything around you.”

Update on Square Children’s

Francis Charron, president of Batimo, discussed his 1111 Atwater development, the latest component of the Square Children’s mixed-use development on the site of the former Montreal Children’s Hospital.

The mixed-use project includes three developers who are developing condos, rental apartments, a community centre, community housing, a park and commercial and office space.

The 38-storey 1111 Atwater, at Atwater Avenue and René Lévesque Boulevard, includes 22 luxury condos on the upper floors, 322 units for independent seniors and a commercial component.

The condos average 2,400 square feet and have an average price of $1,600 per square foot.

Charron noted a penthouse condo sold last month for $2,000 per square foot.

“If somebody in the room told me a year ago that one day you would sell at $2,000 a square foot for a project in Montreal . . . I’m an optimistic guy by nature, but I don’t think I would have believed you.”

Charron said the seven towers that make up Square Children’s are being built together, which proves the current dynamism of Montreal. “We know that Montreal is on fire right now in the good sense of the term.”

He noted 1111 is 95 per cent in Montreal and five per cent in Westmount which has added to the project’s complexity as it means dealing with regulations, permits and committees in two cities.

“My grey hairs that are starting are from the five per cent,” he said.

Victoria sur le Parc

Adam Martelli, director of residential real estate development at Broccolini, noted his firm is building the mixed-use Victoria sur le Parc on St. Jacques Street.

It will include a 58-storey residential tower and 10-floor commercial podium with 330,000 square feet of office space and 23,000 square feet of commercial feet.

Mixed-use projects with proper mixes and uses “really make for a solid long-term and diversified investment portfolio,” Martelli said.