In this episode of the Espace Montreal Podcast, Axel Monsaingeon sits down with Lloyd Cooper, Executive Vice Chair at Cushman & Wakefield, to unpack the new era of downtown Montreal's office market. With 40 years in the business and over 4,000 transactions under his belt, Lloyd explains why 2025 is a record year for office leasing, why work-from-home and hybrid models are being pushed back, and how a powerful "flight to quality" is reshaping which buildings win or lose. They dig into how law firms and banks are using high-end buildouts and rich amenity packages to attract top talent, why there is a critical shortage of true Triple-A space, and where the best redevelopment and mixed-use opportunities are emerging downtown. Lloyd also shares his take on Montreal's new administration, the importance of density and zoning flexibility, and how regulatory shifts, homelessness, and political uncertainty all play into investment decisions. If you want a clear, on-the-ground read of what's really happening in Montreal's office core—and where the next big towers should rise—this conversation is packed with insight.

Topics & Timestamps

⏱️ 00:01:03 – Lloyd's background & track record

📊 00:01:53 – 2025 deal volume & market activity

🏠 00:03:09 – Post-Covid office comeback & RTO

🧬 00:04:11 – Culture, mentoring & why WFH is slipping

🏢 00:05:27 – Flight to quality in office buildings

🧺 00:06:04 – Amenities as a magnet for talent

🏛️ 00:07:05 – Upgrading "old" Triple-A towers

⚖️ 00:09:29 – Law firms, big TI spend & slick offices

💸 00:14:09 – Triple-A rents, incentives & tenant leverage

📑 00:15:51 – Renewal strategy while waiting for new product

🏙️ 00:18:28 – New city administration & development tone

📐 00:21:16 – Zoning, density & mixed-use requirements

📍 00:26:00 – Key downtown development sites to watch

🧨 00:29:49 – Politics, uncertainty & "wait and see"

🎙️ 00:30:40 – Final takeaways on frustration & opportunity

Lloyd's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mtlofficespace/

Web: https://www.cushmanwakefield.com/

If this conversation brought you value, share the episode with a colleague or friend in real estate who would benefit from Mike's insights. It helps the show reach more people in the Montreal CRE community.

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Over the last year, Montreal's industrial market has gone from uncertainty to cautious Former pro hockey player turned top investment broker, Joe Rullier (Executive Vice President, Colliers), shares how he went from the NHL grind to building the #1 investment team in Canada and navigating one of the toughest markets Montreal has seen in years. In this episode, Joe breaks down how New York's high-pressure investment world shaped his work ethic, why land deals have slowed, how he underwrites like a banker to make deals actually financeable, and where he sees real opportunity right now in Montreal's multifamily and land markets. From CMHC delays to older stock repositioning, Joe explains the mindset, structure, and creativity investors need if they want to win in today's environment instead of buying into "dream" pricing that never materializes.

Topics & Timestamps

⏱ 00:01:03 – Welcome back to the Espace Montreal Podcast & intro to Joe Rullier

🏒 00:01:41 – From pro hockey career to New York commercial real estate

🏢 00:03:04 – Old-school New York training: 500 cold calls a week & outworking everyone

💼 00:06:54 – Moving back to Montreal, opening Cushman's investment team & starting from zero

📉 00:09:25 – Why land transactions are down: rates, costs, CMHC and the "perfect storm"

🏗 00:10:56 – Apartment crisis vs. construction reality: why building is getting harder

📊 00:12:24 – Underwriting like a banker: structuring deals that lenders will actually finance

🎯 00:15:12 – Telling the truth on value vs. "selling the dream" and disappointing vendors

🔁 00:17:06 – Shifting asset classes: from land to multi-res and reading where the market is going

🏚 00:19:00 – The big opportunity in older multi-res (30–100 units) with upside & poor management

🔍 00:20:21 – Repositioning, optimization and dealing with private owners and messy paperwork

🏙 00:21:46 – Where Joe sees the next 3–5 years in Montreal: rentals, government support & density

📈 00:24:00 – Example of a 50-unit building reposition and why patience and team matter

👋 00:25:07 – Final thoughts, staying patient in Quebec's sub-2% vacancy market & closing

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joerullier/

Web: https://www.collierscanada.com/

If this conversation brought you value, share the episode with a colleague or friend in real estate who would benefit from Mike's insights. It helps the show reach more people in the Montreal CRE community.

Visit https://www.e5pace.com for more resources, market guides, data, and advertising opportunities

Over the last year, Montreal's industrial market has gone from uncertainty to cautious optimism. In this episode, Axel Monsaingeon sits down with Mike Jager, co-founder and co-president of Rosefellow, to break down how one of Quebec's most active developers is navigating higher vacancies, tighter financing, and shifting tenant expectations—while quietly scaling into large-scale multi-residential projects.

Mike explains why Class-A industrial still wins in soft markets, how Rosefellow stayed disciplined when everyone else was chasing deals, and what it really takes to raise and deploy multiple funds while keeping investors, banks, and tenants aligned. He also shares Rosefellow's growing push into multi-residential in Quebec, Ontario, and the U.S., their data-driven approach to site selection, and why they've built a lean team that partners with "the best of the best" instead of trying to do everything in-house. The conversation wraps with Mike's vision for giving back to the next generation, promoting women in construction, and staying grounded through market cycles.

Topics & Timestamps

📌 01:10 – How the last 7 months reshaped Montreal's industrial market

🏭 02:30 – Building on spec and designing for 80% of tenant demand

📉 03:45 – Early signs the cycle is turning: rates, tariffs & tenant confidence

🏗️ 07:15 – What modern tenants actually want (efficiency, clear heights, OpEx savings)

💸 08:00 – Tax incentives in Montreal & Laval—and how they reduce tenant costs

⭐ 09:50 – Why Class-A industrial still outperforms in softer markets

📊 10:35 – How Rosefellow structures its funds and targets 30% IRR conservatively

🏦 12:10 – Construction financing challenges and why banks still back their spec builds

🏙️ 15:25 – Returning to multi-res: land prices, construction costs & new opportunities

🌍 23:45 – Rosefellow's next chapter: expansion across Canada, the U.S., and beyond

Mike Jager on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-jager-6678355/

Rosefellow web: https://www.rosefellow.com/

If this conversation brought you value, share the episode with a colleague or friend in real estate who would benefit from Mike's insights. It helps the show reach more people in the Montreal CRE community.

Visit https://www.e5pace.com for more resources, market guides, data, and advertising opportunities

Is Montreal really "in decline"… or are we just stuck in a negative narrative?

In this episode of The Espace Montreal Podcast, host Axel Monsaingeon talks with Luciano D'Iorio, Regional President of CDNGLOBAL Québec, about why he's so relentlessly positive about Montreal's future – and what he sees on the ground every day in commercial real estate.

They dig into:

• The real stories behind downtown landmarks like Peel Street and the Sun Life Building

• How local landlord families went from one building to owning major downtown portfolios

• Why relationship-based ownership still matters more than AI, data and distant asset managers

• What makes it so hard to lose a good tenant—and so easy if you neglect them

• How small and medium businesses drive the downtown ecosystem

• Elections, policy, safety, homelessness and cleanliness as core CRE issues, not side topics

• The tension between heritage preservation and development (from churches to silos and conversions)

If you're in commercial real estate, urban planning, brokerage, investing or entrepreneurship and you care about downtown Montreal, this conversation will give you a nuanced, optimistic and practical perspective on where the city is headed – and how to create value in it.

📌 Timestamps
0:00 Montreal's negativity problem & why Luciano started telling positive stories
3:45 Peel Street, the NHL, Sun Life Building legends & downtown fun facts
8:00 Local landlord families, long-term portfolios & relationship-based leasing
13:30 Tenants, employees and the "upmarket" office race
17:10 Elections, downtown priorities & building a business-friendly Montreal
21:40 Pride, cleanliness, safety and the "broken windows" effect
24:30 Heritage vs development: churches, silos and conversions
25:50 Why real estate is the most dynamic "static" asset class
29:00 Final thoughts: why you should still bet on Montreal

Get in touch with Luciano D'Iorio on Instagram and LinkedIn.

Visit https://www.e5pace.com for more resources, market guides, data, and advertising opportunities.

Self-storage in Montreal is changing fast. Robert Vineberg, president of Pandora Self-Storage, breaks down the model behind their Class-A facilities—drive-thru access you can literally pull a cube truck into, humidity-controlled environments that protect high-value goods, and security that actually feels safe. We unpack how Pandora picks markets (population, storage per capita, rate comps), what zoning and stabilization really take, and why small facilities often fail on fixed costs. Plus: co-working near your unit, commercial-friendly lockers, and a national growth roadmap from Quebec to Ontario and beyond.

Highlights:

• Drive-thru storage & commercial-ready unit mix (3/6/900 sq ft flexibility)

• Market math: ≥100K people in 3 km, comp rates, and saturation guardrails

• Build & lease-up truth: 11–14 months construction, ~40-month underwriting for stabilization

• Green design & financing: zero-carbon targets, climate + humidity control, security as product

• Operator realities: marketing spend, unit-mix discipline, and why "all small units" kills NOI

• Expansion strategy: why you need at least two sites per new city for ops redundancy
  
  

Perfect for: CRE investors, developers, operators, and SMBs who need flexible, near-home space.

Follow & Share: New episodes weekly. Follow the show and share with a colleague who's eyeing storage or light-industrial strategies in Greater Montreal.

Visit https://www.e5pace.com for more resources, market guides, data, and advertising opportunities.

The real estate world is shifting — and Quebec is at the center of it.

In this episode of the Espace Montreal Podcast, host Axel Monsaingeon sits down with David Cervantes to unpack how power teams are transforming brokerage, why Quebec's green power advantage is attracting global data-center investment, and what's next for commercial real estate in the AI era.

🎯 In this episode:

• How the brokerage business evolved — and who's thriving now

• What makes Quebec the perfect hub for data-center growth

• The rise of office "campuses" and wellness-driven design

• Why collaboration beats competition in modern brokerage

• How to position yourself for the next big market shift

Visit https://www.e5pace.com for more resources, market guides, data, and advertising opportunities.

Retail is back — and stronger than most expected.

In this episode of the Espace Montreal Podcast, Axel Monsaingeon talks with Ian Quint (President, Brasswater) about the renewed momentum behind retail real estate across Quebec and the U.S.

They explore how population growth, limited new construction, and rising land and building costs have created a tight, high-performing retail market — and what that means for investors.

What you'll learn:

• Office: How boutique, amenity-driven buildings outcompete Class-A towers — and why renewals now cost as much as new leases.

• Industrial: What's driving the rent reset (~$12–$14 vs. $16–$17 before), the oversupply of 100k+ sq. ft. spaces, and how to position quality assets.

• Retail: Why service and grocery-anchored retail continues to outperform despite construction headwinds and limited new supply.

• Investment Strategy: When to go build-to-suit instead of spec, and how to define a buy box focused on cash flow and below-market rents.

• Relationships: How cultivating trust and long-term partnerships can still beat institutional competition.

Visit https://www.e5pace.com for more resources, market guides, data, and advertising opportunities.

Montreal's Sherbrooke conversion is a masterclass in adaptive reuse: keeping the pink-granite look, re-engineering the windows for fresh air and exhaust, and turning a 1962 steel-frame office into bright, efficient apartments with 9-ft ceilings. George Armoyan explains the strategy—buy right, move fast, over-prepare for "unknowns," and win on cost without sacrificing quality.

We also cover LaSalle's 1,274-unit community, a 732-unit tower by the Bell Centre, 3.5M sq ft of Alberta office, a Kansas City acquisition, and a 7,000-door master plan in Atlanta—plus why he's confident office is coming back.

What we cover

🏗️ The family playbook: 41 years of value-driven CRE and public markets activism

🏢 Why 1960s floorplates are ideal for conversions (light, efficiency, rectangular cores)

🪟 Window system innovation: modern performance without losing the granite façade

⏱️ Permitting speed: demo (Sept 2023) → full permit (Feb 2024) → first move-ins (Sept 2025)

💰 Cost discipline: terms with trades, contingency for "unknowns," vertical integration

🌎 Montreal, Calgary/Edmonton, Kansas City, and Atlanta—where the opportunities are now

👥 Who's leasing downtown: downsizers, consular staff, professionals, and students

💡 Why office is rebounding: culture, learning, and in-person problem-solving

Visit https://www.e5pace.com for more resources, market guides, data, a