Hudson Mansion Back On The Market

John Hooper’s Hudson mansion, called Oakleigh, has eight bedrooms on 5.4 acres of land, a two-storey indoor pool and spa, guest house, geothermal heating and cooling and even a charming, if clichéd, secret passage behind a bookcase. Hooper tried unsuccessfully for two years to sell the property through conventional means.

Hudson Mansion Buyer Not Returning Calls -- Montreal Gazette

MONTREAL - Desperate for a final sale, John Hooper was willing to accept an auction result that he felt undervalued his Hudson estate by millions of dollars.

But with the highest bidder no longer returning his calls, Hooper has been forced to put the luxury estate back on the market for the $3.4 million it won in Quebec’s first absolute auction last month.

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My Comment: I guess the buyer is not going to get her $100,000 back.

Expect Boost In Montreal Property Values

Montreal Skyline

From The Montreal Gazette:

It's "way too early to tell" how big the boost in Montreal Island's municipal evaluations will be in a new tax roll to take effect Jan. 1, 2011, Montreal city spokesperson Patricia Lowe said Tuesday.

The current roll values all buildings and land across the island at $195.7 billion.

Preliminary work began last summer on the upcoming three-year roll. To be unveiled next September, it will provide the basis for municipal taxes levied through the end of 2013 -- –from the western to eastern tips of the island.

Michel Benoit will be keeping an eagle eye on the process.

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My Comment: Here comes the ENORMOUS tax increases.

Outlook Rosy For Montreal Realestate

From The Montreal Gazette:

Indicators point to a robust real estate market in 2010 in the Montreal region, according to a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. outlook released yesterday.

While lower prices for homes and condos are still luring people to the suburbs and outlying areas, interest in Montreal Island properties, particularly downtown condominiums and multiplex units is high, according to CMHC analysts. And a lower vacancy rate will tighten the rental market.

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My comment: We certainly have not been hit as hard as the Americans .... in fact the market has been very hot.

Pauline Marois Wants $8 Million For Her House

Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois has put her Ile Bizard home on the market for $8 million.
Photograph by: LCN

From The CTV:

Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois has put her house in Ile Bizard up for sale, and says she plans to move to her riding in Charlevoix.

Marois and her husband, Claude Blanchet, are asking $8 million for their luxury mansion and its 1.7 million square foot property.

The waterfront home in Ile Bizard, with eight bedrooms and seven bathrooms, was built in 1994.

Marois says she wants to be closer to her constituents and plans to build a new home on another waterfront property she and her husband own in Ste-Irenee.

Marois says she will maintain an apartment in Montreal.

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Update: Marois offers Île Bizard home for $8 million -- Montreal Gazette

Montreal Housing Market Rebounding

From The Montreal Gazette:

MONTREAL - The housing market in Montreal is the most balanced between buyers and sellers it has been in decades, according to the Quebec director of Royal LePage Real Estate Services.

As a result, Dominic St-Pierre predicts the average house price will rise a moderate 2.1 per cent this year to $263,500.

“Between 2001 and 2007, it was a seller’s market and buyers had to act very quickly or they would lose the property they were interested in and at the end of 2008 and early 2009, we experienced a shift to a buyer’s market,” St-Pierre said. “Today, we have reached a more balanced state where supply and demand are more in line.”

That should result in a “win-win situation for sellers and buyers for the second half of 2009,” he added.

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Home Sales In Montreal Jump In May

For sale signs. Photograph by: Dave Sidaway, Gazette file photo

From The Montreal Gazette:

MONTREAL ­ Sales of existing homes in the Montreal area jumped in May, for the first time in seven months, lead by sales of single-family homes, the Greater Montreal Real Estate Board said Tuesday.

The number of homes sold through the board’s multiple listing service rose eight per cent compared with May 2008, to 4,839. Single-family homes rose 13 per cent to 2,959, while plexes (two to five units) rose three per cent to 529 and condominiums rose two per cent to 1,350.

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There's Still Room To Move In Montreal

From Canada.com:

MONTREAL -- In an urban world running out of room, Montreal offers relief. To be sure, the past decade has seen the city go condo crazy, with home buyers flocking to trendified districts such as Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG) and Saint-Henri to the west and Plateau Mont-Royal to the east. But, unlike other cities of similar or larger scale, there’s still room to manoeuvre.

The recession has not had a dramatic effect on housing prices, but it has changed the dynamic of a market that has long favoured sellers. Astrid Joseph, analyst at the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC), says that listings in the city and its outlying suburbs will go up by 19% this year.

Despite the expected glut, prices will only go down by 1%.

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Montreal's Red-Light District Going Dark

The Café Cleopatra strip club on St. Laurent is one of the last businesses in Montreal's once busy red-light district. John Mahoney/Canwest News Service

From The National Post:

MONTREAL -- With its sign promising "strip-teaseuses " and "danseuses à go-go," Café Cleopatra is one of the last vestiges of what was once a bustling red-light district on St-Laurent Boulevard, Montreal's Main. Now, most of the storefronts on the block are boarded-up, and if a city-backed developer gets its way, the red light will soon flicker out. Cleopatra's strippers and drag queens will make way for office workers.

Demolition is slated to start in January, clearing the ground for a 12-storey office complex and trendy street-level shops. The building facades, dating back to the late 1890s, will be preserved, but little else will remain of what once defined the street. Johnny Zoumboulakis, owner of the Cleopatra, has been told his land will be expropriated by the city if he refuses to sell to the developer, and he is not happy. "Do we connect with our past and our history, or do we just bulldoze it down and keep the facade, and everything is forgotten?" he asked in an interview.

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2-22 Developers Defend Vision

Vacant lot where the 2-22 project is to be built at the corner of Ste. Catherine St. E. and St. Laurent Blvd. Photograph by: Marie-France Coallier, Gazette file photo

From The Montreal Gazette:

Gateway to arts district doesn't wow everyone.

Developers of the new gateway building to the city's entertainment district defended their vision last night amid concerns from residents it won't fit in to the neighbourhood.

The Société de développement Angus presented its vision for a seven-storey building on the southeast corner of St. Laurent Blvd. and Ste. Catherine St. to the Office de consultation publique de Montréal last night at a public information session held at the Holiday Inn Select in Chinatown.

The $16.5-million building would be called 2-22, representing the civic addresses on Ste. Catherine St. East it would occupy.

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Housing In Montreal Bucks Trend

Home prices in Montreal rose 3.2 per cent
Photograph by: Marcos Townsend, The Gazette

From Montreal Gazette:

Montreal bucked the national trend in February with home prices rising 3.2 per cent while the Canadian average dipped 4.1 per cent from a year ago, according to the Teranet-National Bank National Composite House Price Index that measures the rate of change of prices for single-family homes in six metropolitan areas.

The latest survey results released today also show prices were down 7.4 percent nationally from the peak hit in August last year.

Ottawa was the only other major Canadian city to experience an increase with 2.8 per cent over February 2008.

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Future Of Old Marianopolis Site Up For Debate

Public hearings on the future redevelopment of the old Marianopolis College site will start May 4, the city of Montreal said Wednesday morning. Photograph by: Allen McInnis, Gazette file photo

From The Montreal Gazette:

The city of Montreal announced a detailed plan Wednesday morning for a series of public-consultation meetings on a plan to redevelop the old Marianopolis College site on Côte des Neiges Rd.

Under the plan, hearings will begin May 4.

The hearings will look at a plan by a developer to convert the property on the southern slopes of Mount Royal into a residential complex with 325 units and 671 underground parking spaces.

Marianopolis CEGEP moved to a new building in Westmount in 2007.

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New Hotel On Old Ben's Site

From CTV:

A Montreal developer will build a 16-storey hotel on the site of the old Ben's Deli on de Maisonneuve, says an official with the downtown Ville-Marie borough.

The borough gave a construction permit to the developer on Wednesday, said the official.

Work on the hotel has already begun and when it's completed there will be 122 rooms and interior parking for 42 cars.

The old Ben's building will be completely demolished, despite calls from heritage groups to preserve the structure.

Ben's Deli, a Montreal institution for decades, shut down in 2006 during a lengthy labour dispute.

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Montreal's Main's Red Light Row To Get A Makeover

Boarded-up windows line much of the down-at-the-heels block of St. Laurent, south of Ste. Catherine St., earmarked for development. Photograph by: Pierre Obendrauf, The Gazette

From The Montreal Gazette:

Developer sees museums, galleries, boutiques.

Some will say that history is being pressured to leave the Lower Main. Others, however, will see an opportunity for Montreal's most storied street to return to its glory days.

The first buildings in a long-coveted but dilapidated block of St. Laurent Blvd. between Ste. Catherine St. and René Lévesque Blvd. have been sold to a non-profit development corporation that wants to transform that part of the red light district into an eco-friendly showcase of art and socially responsible retail.

Socrates Goulakos, whose family has had a piece of the block for 85 years, sold his six buildings in mid-December to Angus Development Corp.

Angus is also behind a $16.5-million cultural centre to begin construction this summer at 2-22 Ste. Catherine St. E.

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My Comment: I ate my first hot dog in the Montreal Pool Room when I was a child. A tradition that I have kept up as an adult.

It's passing will be missed.

Montreal Home Sales Down, But Prices Continue to Rise

From CEP News:

(CEP News) - Home sales are down but prices continue to rise in Montreal, the Greater Montreal Real Estate Board reported.

Home sales were down 30% in February compared to a year ago, led by condominium sales, which are down 32% from a year ago, the board reported.

Regionally, sales were down 25% in Vaudreuil-Soulanges, 30% on the North Shore, 31% on the South Shore and 32% on the Island of Montreal.

However, the median price of a single-family home continued to rise compared to the same period a year ago, up 2% to $225,000 for a single-family home. Condominium prices are 6% higher compared to a year ago, with the average price now $187,000.

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