- What Cadillac Fairview launches marketing for two adjacent buildings in Montréal
- Why The sale could mark the largest office trade in Québec
- What next CBRE and RBC Capital Markets have the joint marketing assignment
Cadillac Fairview is seeking bids of up to $400m for Tour Deloitte and Windsor Station, adjacent Montréal office properties that if sold at that price would set a record for Quebec and rank among the largest office trades nationally, Green Street News can reveal.
Bids for the two towers, totaling 839,000 sq ft, are expected to come in between $350m and $400m, or up to $476/sq ft. No office deal in Quebec has ever been valued at more than $325m, according to Green Street’s Sales Comps Database. Only three office trades in Eastern Canada have ever eclipsed $350m, and all were in Ontario.
CBRE’s National Investment Team and RBC Capital Markets Real Estate Group are representing Cadillac Fairview, the Toronto-based property arm of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
It’s unclear if separate bids would be accepted on each building. Ownership of Windsor Station includes a 37% stake in Bell Centre Parkade across the street. The parking revenue generates a significant share of the property’s net operating income, bidders have been told.
The 513,000-sq-ft Tour Deloitte, at 1190 Avenue des Canadiens-de-Montréal, was built in 2015. The 26-storey tower is fully leased and anchored by Rio Tinto, which occupies 190,000 sq ft on the top eight floors as its national headquarters; and Deloitte Canada, which rents 160,000 sq ft for its Montréal headquarters.
The Class-AAA tower has a weighted average lease term of 9.8 years and floorplates of 22,000 sq ft, which marketing materials pitch as highly functional. The building, known for its glass façade and 32-ft-high lobby, was the first high-rise office property in Montréal to be designated LEED Platinum.
The 326,000-sq-ft Windsor Station, at 1111 Rue Saint-Antoine Ouest, served as Canadian Pacific Railway’s Montréal terminal and headquarters until 1996. When CPR relocated, the 15-storey building was converted to commercial use. It is now 73% leased, with an average tenant size of 16,000 sq ft and a weighted average lease term of 4.3 years. Among its largest tenants is Salle des Pas Perdus, which operates a 25,000-sq-ft event venue described as iconic by marketing materials.
The terminal was constructed between 1887 and 1889 in the Romanesque Revival style, and expanded in phases through the early 20th century. It features limestone facades, round-arched arcades, turrets and steeply pitched gables – and was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1975 and a Heritage Railway Station in 1990.
In 1996, when CF purchased the property, its status changed to a Provincial Heritage site as rail operations would cease permanently. Since 2014, some $79m has been spent on capital improvements and upgrades.
Overall, the two buildings are 89% leased to 23 tenants, with 61% of the space occupied by credit-rated tenants. Amenities include 220 underground parking stalls, a public courtyard, an outdoor skating rink, a gym, a bike room, showers, a daycare facility and direct connectivity to the Bell Centre. The 4-acre site is also connected to RÉSO Montréal and Montréal’s Metro and REM networks.
Part of the sales pitch is that that the vacancy rate for Class-AAA office towers built after 2000 in the downtown core is just 6.4%, with no new supply in the pipeline. In addition to the strength of the leasing market, a buyer could capitalize on Windsor Station’s location and historic status by repositioning it to include retail, hotel or residential use.
The largest office acquisition in Québec appears to be the $322.5m purchase of 700 De La Gauchetière Street West in 2022. Allied Properties REIT was the buyer of that 986,000-sq-ft building. The largest acquisition since summer 2024 closed last month when KingSett Capital paid $100.6m for a complex at 1200 McGill College Avenue and 900 rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest.
CF, with $29bn in assets, is headed by president and chief executive Salvatore Iacono. Among the firm’s other active property listings are the offering of Promenades St-Bruno, a Québec mall where guidance is approximately $450m; 700 and 750 West Pender Street in Vancouver, offices it jointly owns with Investment Management Corp. of Ontario that are expected to fetch $135m; and Yonge Corporate Center in Toronto, which could draw bids of $170m.
