The Rakotta Group has just completed a new tower of 280 apartments, at the corner of René-Lévesque Boulevard West and Guy Street, in downtown Montreal.
Posted at 4:51 p.m.
The 36-story skyscraper is the second phase of Dorchester Apartments, housed in the former Maritime Plaza Hotel, next door on the same site.
The building will not have any social housing. The developer obtained its building permits in 2016, well before the new regulation of April 2021 obliging developers to build them in their new projects.
A stone’s throw from Concordia University and the business sector, Rakotta nevertheless relies on affordability for some of its units, with studios at $900, all-inclusive.
“That includes electricity, heating, high-speed internet, access to the gym and study room and 24-hour security,” says Joseph Nezri, the owner of the business. It is extremely reasonable for the location. »
Larger units, which have two bedrooms, cost up to $2,400.
The first tenants moved in in April and the apartments are going like hot cakes. “We are at 50-60% rental,” he said. Normally a building like that takes 18 months to rent, ”said the businessman, founder of the clothing retailer Mexx, which he sold in 2002.
The first phase of the project in the former hotel houses 215 apartments and tenants began moving in in 2017. The full Maritime Plaza site now has 495 apartments.
The promoter has retained the glazed rotunda adjacent to the hotel. This is what gives the whole a particular cachet, according to Joseph Nezri. “The beauty of the project is the mix, the marriage with the old hotel. »
The former owner of the Maritime Plaza, promoter Tidan, closed it in 2013 during an employee strike.
It was then to build a 39-story condo tower on the site, but the company eventually sold the building back to Rakotta for 15.3 million in 2015.