Construction

13 office buildings are currently under construction in Greater Montréal (including five located downtown) for a total area of 3,353,970 square feet. According to initial projections, five buildings are scheduled for delivery by the end of 2021, including the new Gare Viger development at 700 Saint-Hubert Street for 147,000 square feet as well as 1720 Canal Street for an area of approximately 148,000 square feet. The pharmaceutical firm Novartis has recently signed for approximately 35,000 square feet at the upcoming office tower at Gare Viger.

Although the availability of office space continues to increase in Greater Montréal, the appetite is still present for new construction projects. Prével’s Esplanade Cartier is well underway and should begin the final phases of the project which will be home to 2,000 housing units, office spaces and retail on the ground floor.

A new energy-efficient business district project was also announced by real estate developer MET-HB in Montréal-East. The site covers six million square feet of land and is bordered by Henri-Bourassa Boulevard to the north, the Metropolitan Expressway to the south, the Esso Imperial lands to the east and Auger Street to the west. Known as 40NetZERO, this project is intended to be a hub that would bring together businesses from various sectors such as the food industry, clean technology, health, transport, logistics and e-commerce. The business park would be partially or fully self-sufficient in energy thanks to a potential agreement with Hydro-Québec to benefit from their "net metering" option.

It should be noted that the level of activity in the construction industry has been at an all-time high for some time now. This makes it even more important to allow for a longer timeframe for construction and redevelopment projects due to longer construction delays compared to previous years. A longer planning period is now an absolute must.