A look at real estate | Behavox brings its spacious offices back to the market

Announced with pomp in 2020, the Montreal innovation center of a young shoot combining cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI) was discreetly put on the sublease market last December.

The information on Behavox comes from the most recent market study of the Montreal office market by the real estate agency Colliers.

The offices were designed in 2021 by the firms Issadesign and A+. They are located on the top two floors, the 26^e and 27^e, from Maison Manuvie, at 900 De Maisonneuve Boulevard West, in downtown Montreal. The offices of 4550 m^⁠2 able to accommodate 250 workers have been fitted out with as few walls as possible in order to allow employees to enjoy the spectacular view of downtown.

Another distinctive feature, a bar-café welcomes visitors. A staircase, at the foot of which a tree has been planted, allows employees to move from one floor to another without leaving the office.

Behavox did not respond to requests for The Press. According to our information, the company is still in operation but no longer needs such spacious premises in this era of teleworking. The JLL agency obtained the subletting mandate.

According to the company’s site, Behavox uses AI to enable companies to organize their data into actionable insights while protecting businesses.

Founded in 2014, Behavox has offices in New York, London and Singapore. It has been present in Montreal since 2018. In 2020, it announced its expansion and the move of its operations and innovation center to Maison Manuvie.

Employing 75 people in 2020, the center was to increase this number to 400 employees in the following two years. At the time, the company was talking about a long-term commitment worth $35 million. Soon after, its founder and CEO Erkin Adylov moved to Montreal.

SoftBank injected $100 million into Behavox in February 2020.

Laurentian has found a taker for its head office

Laurentian Bank has found occupants for half the area of ​​its Montreal head office.

For some time now, the bank had offered for sublease five floors of its head office, located at 1360 René-Lévesque Boulevard West. The area at stake was 10,800 m⁠^⁠2or 116,000 ft⁠^⁠2. Of the five floors, only half of the 8 remains.^e floor on the market for subletting, reports Merick Séguin, head of media relations for the financial institution.

Laurentian intends to keep approximately 12,000 m^⁠2 or 130,000 ft^⁠2 eventually.

The companies ADP, Pomerleau and the logistics company Axxess International became the bank’s sub-tenants.

“There are transactions that are being concluded, which is encouraging, observes Mathieu Turnier, senior partner at Colliers, in an interview. But most transactions involve reductions in area. Companies, for example, will go from 5000 m^⁠2 at 3000m^⁠2. I expect the vacancy rate to continue to rise in 2023.”

Second start for Daniel Fournier

Former Ivanhoé Cambridge boss Daniel Fournier is back at the helm of Oxford, the real estate company of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement Fund (OMERS). 1^er next April, he will replace Michael Turner, who held this role for five years.

Mr. Fournier was the head of real estate at the Caisse de dépôt from 2010 to 2019. Since his retirement, he has notably advised the companies BTB, Claridge, Groupe Maurice and Simons as a director.

He was educated at Princeton and Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar. He also played professional football in the Canadian league.

It was impossible to speak to Daniel Fournier.

Major owner of downtown Montreal in the early 2000s, Oxford has gradually withdrawn from the Quebec market in recent years. In Quebec, Oxford is left with only its 50% stake in Galeries de la Capitale, as we understand it, and multi-let properties, such as the La Cité apartments on Parc Avenue north of downtown. .

Lion obtains 28 million for its Mirabel plant

As soon as finished, immediately sold! The Lion Electric Company has sold its battery manufacturing plant in Mirabel to the BTB real estate trust in a sale-leaseback transaction for 28 million.

The transaction relates only to the building and excludes the land. The lot belongs to Aéroports de Montréal, which leases it by emphyteusis to the owner of the building.

The 16,700 m factory^⁠2 is located at 9900, rue Irénée-Vachon, in the Aérocité YMX Internationale industrial sector, near the Mirabel airport.

“At the same time as the sale, Lion entered into a lease agreement with BTB for the battery manufacturing building located in Mirabel, with an initial term of 20 years and options for subsequent renewal”, explains the occupant in an email. The nearby Innovation Center remains the property of Lion.

Listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, BTB Trust owns and manages 74 properties, representing a total leasable area of ​​approximately 560,000 m^⁠2.