The American real estate giant Silverstein Properties is setting up in Montreal. The company behind the World Trader Center complex in New York will establish itself in the Quebec metropolis to set up its largest software development center there.
After opening offices in Israel and Ukraine, the organization capitalized at more than 10 billion dollars has finally chosen to root its technological branch in Quebec, explains to the To have to Noam Weisman, Vice President, Client Products, at Silverstein Properties. “Montréal is first and foremost a city very close to New York geographically; it is in the same time zone. English is one of the languages spoken there. There is also a very nice mix of universities, with great computer science programs, and therefore a lot of talent. It’s very interesting. And then there are tax credits that you can get. All of this makes Montreal an ideal choice. »
This investment was unveiled during an official trip by Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante to the Big Apple.
The choice of Silverstein Properties is likely to snowball, enthuses Stéphane Paquet, CEO of Montreal International, who played a role of matchmaker in this investment. “When a leader who has the means to go anywhere on the planet thinks that his research and development center should open in Montreal, logically, there are other companies that will say to themselves that they don’t have no choice but to put Montreal among their cities to be considered,” he says enthusiastically from New York.
For good reason, the greater Montreal area has more than 84,000 workers trained in software development and can boast of having the largest number of technology graduates in Canada.
Real estate services
Ultimately, 30 computer engineers will be hired to program two applications. One of them — Inspire — already allows Silverstein to manage its 50,000 tenants spread over 40 million square feet. Future Montreal employees will need to “transform this tenant management application into a full-service platform,” says the company.
Then, the second part of the research center must set up “the RTSP project”. This new application should be used by other building management companies to rent their vacant space to other companies in order to optimize their office space. “With COVID-19 and the rise of remote working, there’s definitely an increase in demand for business solutions like this,” Weisman said.
The decision to choose Montreal to recruit developers there was concluded in barely two months, underlines Stéphane Paquet. “Normally, it takes a year and a half of incubation before having an agreement. For us, it’s very exciting: they are fast and efficient people. »
The exact location of Silverstein’s new center in Montreal is to be revealed in the coming weeks.