Cadillac Fairview Betting Big on Downtown Montreal

Cadillac Fairview has invested $150 million buying land around the Montreal Bell Centre and plans on building a similar style development to Maple Leaf Square in Toronto (See here). Maple Leaf square, following in the footsteps of LA Live in LA and Victory Park in Dallas, is a hugely successful development that capitalizes on the brand of pro franchises in Toronto. This bodes well for the proposed Montreal development since there is no stronger brand there than the Habs.

Here's a quick Comparison to the Actual Maple Leaf Square and proposed development in Montreal:

Transit
Maple Leaf Square: Next to Union Station
Proposed Montreal: Lucien-L'Allier Station

Office Component
Maple Leaf Square: 10 Storey
Proposed Montreal: 27 Storey

Residential:
Maple Leaf Square: 872 units between two buildings (54 and 50 Storeys)
Proposed Montreal: 700 units between three buildings (Two 44 Storey buildings and one 25 Storey building)

Cost:
Maple Leaf Square: $500 million (2005)
Proposed Montreal: $400 Million

Prices at Maple Leaf Square started at about $450 psf with a 25% deposit structure. This was much higher than competition from nearby Montage at Cityplace. Montage was about $300 psf with a more flexible deposit structure. Expect this project to charge a premium over others as well.

Worth it?

While Montage topped out at about $500psf....Maple Leaf Square approached $700psf this year.

People saw good value living at Maple Leaf Square and units were sold quickly. I expect to see the same thing when Cadillac Fairview starts the sales in Montreal later this year.

Anecdotally, from the Real Estate agent community, i've been told that a huge component of the buyers at Maple Leaf square were overseas investors. Wonder if the same will hold true in Montreal.

Greatest Real Estate Marketing Video Ever

EMBED-Epic Home Sale Commercial - Watch more free videos


Thanks to the folks at BuzzBuzzHome and CondoChris for bringing this video to my attention.

The principals of Neo Property, Ian Adams and Adrian Jenkins invested a huge production budget into making an action packed real estate marketing commercial...and it's damn well entertaining.

To create this video here are some of the line item for costs:

• Producer's Fee
• Director's Fee
• Actors wages
• Production crew fee (including equipment, make up and production team)
• Props and costumes (helicopter, guns, uniforms, lingerie)
• Permits to the city
  
• Catering for production crew
• Post production costs (editing, music and graphics)

The high costs make it a dangerous game to continue making more, but if they have a solid marketing plan behind it, I can definitely see it working out.

Despite the critics from Thought Catalog calling it a "terrible ad" this video will be sure to go viral. Already with 14,000 views on Youtube (16 days after uploading), this video will make Neo Property the number one luxury brokers in the mind of Australians.

To me, it also illustrates the point of how people sell real estate. It's all sizzle and no steak.

The production company, Platinum HD, definitely understands how real estate sales works. They purposely eliminated all silly adjectives (awesome, stunning, etc) , numbers, and cliche's ("in the heart of the best neighborhood").

To them, it's all about creating an experience to the buyer and sellers.

In Memory of Paul Oberman

I'm sure we've all met people who we knew were world class. For me, Paul Oberman was that special type of person.

I’ve known Paul for almost 6 years. I first met him while I was teaching his nephews physics and math at a private school. After some time talking to the family about how much I love real estate, they finally introduced me to him.

Since then, he always treated me like family. I'd make it a point to have lunch with him every quarter to talk about opportunities in the city, how to structure deals, and where Toronto was going.

Toronto was Paul's favorite subject. Paul was extremely passionate about making the city look and feel world class. His never ending motivation was inspiring. I fondly remember that after I won the audition to host Inside Toronto Real Estate, Paul was one of the first people I told. We immediately brain-stormed different topics we could discuss on air.

Sadly, Paul only appeared once.

On his appearance, Paul's passion for urban design was so powerful, he was the one questioning the other guest, Councilor Adam Vaughan. Even though I was the actual host of the show….who actually should be leading the discussion, I let him go. How could you stop him?

I always asked him, these debates you have are not income generating, and most of these properties you want to see changed you don't even own, why do you care? He told me it was too much of an injustice to let things stay the way they are and he wanted to set an example if you build a city the right way, it is actually profitable.

Simply put, Paul was a pit-bull. He will fight for what’s right and won't stop until it happens....and he wanted a better Toronto.
It’s ironic that the day we had that conversation was during the time of the airshow. A CF-18 flew by his office, we stopped talking instantly. I found out that we had something else in common: we both loved planes. It’s devastating to know that he was actually killed flying one.

The whole city of Toronto, myself included, will dearly miss him.

http://pauloberman.ca/obituary/

Paul Oberman's Memorial Service

Memorial Service:
The Design Exchange
234 Bay Street,Toronto
Friday March 11, 2011 @ 11:00 AM

REal Experts Condo Report December 2010

The numbers are in for December 2010.


Top 5 projects selling projects

5. Garden Villas 3(Stacked) by Great Gulf Homes (Eglinton and Winston Churchill - Mississauga)

Total: 94 Units
Sales: 23 (including those in the 10 day rescission period by the end of Dec '10)
Average Price $239 psf

4. DNA3 - Tower A & B by Canderel Stoneridge (King St W and Dufferin)

Total: 536 Units
Sales: 24 (including those in the 10 day rescission period by the end of Dec '10)
Average Price $560 psf



3. Stonebrook II by United Lands (Lake Shore and Southdown - Mississauga)

Total: 225 Units
Sales: 25 (including those in the 10 day rescission period by the end of Dec '10)
Average Price $369 psf




2. Limelight - North Tower by Daniels (Mississauga City Centre)

Total: 353 Units
Sales: 31 (including those in the 10 day rescission period by the end of Dec '10)
Average Price $454 psf


1. Treviso Condos by Lanterra (Lawrence Ave W and Dufferin - North York)

Total: 411 Units
Sales: 41 (including those in the 10 day rescission period by the end of Dec '10)
Average Price $471 psf




Observations:

• With 20,349 sales, 2010 is the 2nd best year in record for sales (next to 22,408 in 2007)
• December sales within historical range of 600-700 units
• Year over year price appreciation is 13.4%

REal Experts Conclusion:

• Fastest selling units are in the former City of Toronto shows a "flight to quality" as investors focus near transit
• Affordability will soon push first time buyers outside areas heavily served by transit
• Will see more woodframe style products being built to maintain affordability

Sources: Realnet and The Lyon Report