(The following press release was circulated by Canadian Pacific Railway.)
MONTRÉAL — For the first time in their histories, the Solidarity Fund QFL and Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) have partnered to build 450 condominiums and rental units with services on the Angus site. To be carried out in five phases, this construction project will cost $90 million over the next five years. SOLIM, the Fund’s real estate arm, will be the developer, together with the CPR Real Estate Group. At its meeting on January 13, the Rosemont-La Petite Patrie borough council approved the first phase for 45 condominium units, valued at $10 million.
Pierre Genest, president of the Solidarity Fund QFL, and Marc Lapierre, regional manager, CPR Real Estate Group, announced the details of this major residential project that will break ground this month in the presence of Rita Dionne-Marsolais, the Minister responsible for Energy and MNA for Rosemont, Michel Prescott, vice-president of the City of Montréal executive committee and head of housing, and Denise Larouche, chair of the Rosemont-La Patrie borough.
“This partnership with Canadian Pacific is in keeping with our commitment to be involved in large-scale core real-estate projects, whether in Montréal or in any other region of Québec,” affirmed Pierre Genest, president and chief executive of the Solidarity Fund QFL. “Besides contributing to Rosemont’s economic vitality by allowing many people to enjoy city life, our investment will create nearly 800 construction jobs over five years.”
“Canadian Pacific is pleased to partner with SOLIM to complete the development of the south-east portion of the site with a residential development that complements the existing offer,” stated Marc Lapierre. “We are very pleased to join forces with an experienced organization that shares both our vision of urban development and our desire to create economic spin-offs for the neighbourhood. Moreover, the opening of the parc des Locomotives by the City of Montréal in summer 2003 on a parcel of land adjoining the project will create a top quality urban landscape.”
A major addition
An economic pillar in the Rosemont-Petite Patrie neighbourhood from 1904 to 1992, the old railway site of over 500,000 square metres (5,400,000 square feet) has been redeveloped by Canadian Pacific since 1998, and with the construction of several hundred housing units to date, has become a major asset to Montreal housing.
Nearly 600 families have purchased a townhouse or a condominium on the Angus site, and about 200 more residences will be built in the coming months. With its 450 units, the SOLIM/CPR project will bring the total number of residential units in this project to 1,250.
A mammoth construction project
Nearly $190 million have been invested to date in the Angus site, creating over 860 jobs and making it one of the largest construction sites in the metropolitan area. The City of Montréal has also conducted feasibility studies on this site, and CPR has built seven neighbourhood parks. Société de développement Angus (SDA) is handling the industrial development while Loblaws is managing the commercial side. Finally, last year the Centre d’études et de coopération internationale (CECI) acquired and converted the former CPR administrative building into a head office, and in so doing, added an international dimension to the Angus project. Specializing in real estate investments and development, limited partnership SOLIM is a fund created in 1991 by the Solidarity Fund QFL. Its mission is to forge partnerships in Québec with institutions, corporations and managers in the real estate sector in order to stimulate economic development and the creation or preservation of jobs. SOLIM endeavours to build a real estate portfolio of office buildings and commercial, industrial and institutional properties that will generate a satisfactory return while limiting risk.
With over $4.0 billion in net assets in 2002, the Solidarity Fund QFL is an investment fund that relies on the savings of Quebecers, primarily through its RRSP, to help create and maintain jobs in Quebec companies and to further Québec’s economic development. The Fund currently has over 536,000 shareholders and has helped, on its own or with other financial partners, create, maintain or support over 97,000 jobs to date.
Canadian Pacific Railway’s 22,000-km network serves the principal centres of Canada, from Montreal to Vancouver, and the US Northeast and Midwest regions. CPR feeds directly into the Chicago hub from the East and West coasts. Alliances with other carriers extend CPR’s market reach beyond its own network and into the major business centres of Mexico.