Royalmount | Like a magic wand

In TV cooking competitions, when there’s only a minute left before the bell, there’s always food that’s not cooked yet. And while the stress level is at its peak, the competitors manage to assemble beautiful, impeccable plates in the last 12 seconds.

That was the feeling that emerged Tuesday morning during the guided tour of Royalmount for the media.

About 1,000 workers were busy laying asphalt, planting plants, cleaning windows, finishing floors, hanging signs. In the shops, clothes, furniture and beauty products were being placed. It was bustling, as it has been day and night for weeks.

But by Thursday morning, I bet everything will be spotless to welcome customers.

The trio that has been piloting the Carbonleo project for 10 years (Andrew Lutfy, Claude Marcotte and Nicolas Désourdy) is too proud of its achievement and too proud, period, to present an imperfect shopping centre to the general public. And above all, it has put too much effort into it since the beginning, despite some pretty strong headwinds, to risk disappointing.

It is evident everywhere, even in the spectacular toilets, that attention to detail and aesthetics and eco-responsibility were at the heart of all decisions. Well before costs.

This is particularly evident in the food area. Called Fou Fou, the place is filled with small restaurants and chic bars that will close after midnight. The materials are refined, the latest lighting and sound systems have been installed, and a vast terrace has been built that overlooks a park. The landscaping of the green spaces alone is said to have cost 50 million.

Unlike the DIX30, all the shops are only accessible on foot, either by entering through the park, by the footbridge over the Décarie Expressway or by the indoor paid parking lot. The space is closed, but the light is omnipresent, thanks to a glass roof. The chic of the place is reminiscent of The Oculus, this shopping center in the shape of a majestic bird a stone’s throw from the World Trade Center in New York, but less cold thanks to many maple trees in all the aisles. If they are fake, it is because the trees lose their leaves in the fall.

Both inside and out, works of art purchased from around the world contribute to the atmosphere. In winter, the park will be transformed into an ice rink.

It was here that Andrew Lutfy, president and CEO of Carbonleo, presented his megaproject to 55 journalists, a crowd that had not been seen for ages.

“What a day, what a week, what a month, what a decade even!” he said, a smile on his face. One could feel that the pressure of the last few years was gradually dissipating as he spoke about the future of Royalmount. Because after the first phase, which has already cost more than 1 billion, there should be 19 more.

Carbonleo has already started building a hotel, there will also be office towers, a spa, a huge aquarium and an adult entertainment concept imagined by Cineplex called The Rec Room. They also hope to accommodate thousands of residents who could work on site, or go downtown by metro, and who would have access to all services on foot.

The Town of Mount Royal is against the idea. But Claude Marcotte is convinced that it will eventually listen to reason. Let’s hope so. We need to promote density and create modern living environments that don’t revolve around cars.

Clearly, the last decade has given Carbonleo time to think, to do things right and to find solutions to silence the critics, who have been very numerous since the beginning. The LEED Gold certification, the link to the metro, the addition of lanes on Côte-de-Liesse and geothermal energy are just a few examples. What will be the impact of the sites on highway congestion? Only the future will tell.

Royalmount expects to welcome 25 million visitors per year, 30% of whom will come by public transport. Sales are expected to reach $1 billion. Carbonleo will collect rents of $100 million per year from its tenants who have committed for 10 years, on average.

I asked Claude Marcotte, executive vice-president and partner of Carbonleo, how he was able to convince banks to invest in the project, given that downtown Montreal businesses have already had better years and that online commerce continues to grow.

“What gave us credibility were the brands that committed themselves, that signed firm leases. We had Vuitton, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Alo, Sports Experts, Zara. And also the fact that there is a flagrant lack of luxury stores in Montreal. We are filling a need that exists. The market studies are clear, the data don’t lie. The Bank of Montreal manages the banking syndicate, they brought Desjardins, National and others. The six or seven banks did their due diligencewhich shows the quality and depth of the project.”

BMO, he added, “never had any doubts,” even during the pandemic.

When Montreal is mentioned, it is often to evoke its uncleanliness, the homeless people who have taken up residence in its parks, the orange cones, the burst pipes, its lack of ambition and unifying projects. My colleague Marie-France Bazzo also signed a text at the end of August entitled “Magic Wand”, in which she wondered what it would take for Montreal to change its image and regain its former pride.

“We are used to the botché, the tinkered, the hay-spit, the unfinished, and this, at all levels of intervention,” she wrote.

Reread Marie-France Bazzo’s column

At Royalmount, nothing is botched. It’s nice to see something new, quality, elegance worthy of great capitals. Even if we can doubt the need for such a place in Montreal, even if we can criticize the choice of land, even if we have no particular interest in shopping centers, we must recognize that this project gives a little wave of the magic wand to a city that needs it.