COMMUNITY SNAPSHOT
Focusing on Outremont
Located at the foot of Mount Royal, the cosy and affluent community of Outremont is home to roughly 25,000 people. The area is known for its beautiful and often large heritage properties, mature trees, and healthy mix of commercial entities.
One of the smallest boroughs in Montreal, the community is an ideal neighbourhood for families, with its clean, safe streets, reputable schools, and supply of singlefamily homes.
“Outremont is arguably the safest, most friendly and peaceful borough in Montreal,” said Mayor Philipe Tomlinson, “and I would even go so far as to call it one of, if not the best place to raise a family in all of Canada.
“It’s the most central neighbourhood in Montreal, with a great sense of history that resonates throughout its many public places and buildings and large centuryold trees. Its parks and schools provide for a strong community vibe that people want their families to be a part of.
“When you buy a house here, it becomes a home. Rarely do you see families entering Out re mont while they wait for their forever-home elsewhere; once you arrive, you’re here for good.”
The recently elected mayor has plans to help modernize certain aspects of the community in the coming years, while respecting the traditional elements that make Outremont so unique.
“Fortunately and unfortunately, Outremont hasn’t changed much in the past decade,” he said. “Fortunately because it has kept its historic look and small community feel, which is important as all too often our society tends to tear down, change or erase history. Outremont still has this strong sense of heritage that you feel the moment you step into our streets.”
That said, the borough’s services are in need of an upgrade, he added.
“Unfortunately, this same sense of heritage has caused us to miss out on many new and innovative ways of thinking in regards to urban planning, street security and family services. This is what we need to work on; we need to look at how we can be more innovative in bringing our neighbourhood into the 21st century without losing track of our strong heritage background.”
Amazingly, all of this history is packed into a geographic area of just 3.84 square kilometres. While being one of Montreal’s smallest boroughs may seem like a disadvantage to some, Tomlinson considers it a point of pride, and a defining characteristic.
“You can walk to get to almost anywhere you need to go within the borough,” he said. “We have a variety of daycares and schools from which to choose, our commercial streets offer almost every kind of store, and a wide range of activities for the whole family are close by.”
The tight geographic area also lends itself to providing a smalltown feel, in which neighbours are often friends.
“Within a range of one to three degrees of separation, almost everyone knows each other; whether it’s through the kids going to various sports or community activities together, through neighbourhood charitable involvement or just by (coming across) each other at the store, the park or in the street, neighbours know each other and help each other out,” Tomlinson said. “This is who we are and this is what we need to reinforce going forward.”
With several educational institutions within its territory, the borough is home to thousands of students—and with the University of Montreal’s new MIL Campus in the northern part of the borough, that number is expected to grow.
“We have many projects that we would like to work on and the arrival of close to 3,000 students and workers in 2019, and the eventual arrival of 1,300 new housing units by 2030, will definitely change the face of Outremont,” Tomlinson said. “It’s our duty to make sure that this change is the one we want it to be, as new streets will be created and new neighbours will enter the community.”
In terms of real estate, Outremont is best known for its historic properties, which tend to be on the upper end of the Montreal real estate market.
“Outremont is a neighbourhood that has a proven track record and a real estate market that doesn’t seem to slow down,” said Saguy Elbaz, real estate broker with Sotheby’s International Realty Québec. “It’s respected for its safety, cleanliness and overall beauty, and reputable schools that have a big following.”
Among its historic properties currently listed area five-bedroom home built in 1922 on Bloomfield Ave. for just south of $2.7 million, and a four - bed room semi-detached property on Bernard Ave., built in 1925, for $989,000.
Despite the condo boom in Montreal, to date there’s been a lack of such developments in Outremont. But new projects like 1420 MontRoyal are set to change that.
“This project is helping to fill that gap in Outremont,” Elbaz said. “Le 1420 is being built by converting a historical site into a 200-plus-unit luxury condo project offering units between $650,000 to $3 million, with penthouses fetching over $5 million.”
New projects like this are making the community more accessible to young professionals and families wanting to call it home.
“Outremont has a very diverse demographic in regards to age, but I would say that one of our goals is make sure that we can offer the best services for those wanting to raise their families here,” Mayor Tomlinson said. “Outremont already has the reputation for being the place to raise a family, but we can do better. We have everything that families want and need, but we need to work on upgrading our parks, making our streets and alleys as safe as possible, offering more efficient services, making sure our community organizations are better equipped to fulfil their missions, and helping our commercial streets stay healthy.”