Montreal Gets Fashion Boost With Royalmount
● Saint Laurent, Versace and Jimmy Choo are among the stores that will open at Royalmount, a $7 billion shopping district in central Montreal.
LONDON
— Montreal is set for a fashion mega-boost with a slew of openings planned at Royalmount, a retail and lifestyle city center destination that's slated to open next year.
Saint Laurent, Versace, Jimmy
Choo, Michael Kors, David Yurman,
Tag Heuer and Michael Kors are among the names that will open stores at the development, according to Andrew Lutfy, chief executive officer of Carbonleo, the privately owned, Quebec-based real estate development and management company that is spearheading the project.
Royalmount is a $7 billion, mixed-use development in central Montreal that will feature retail, offices, restaurants and entertainment, all surrounding a central park.
The development will eventually house 170 stores and 60 restaurants, with some 50 percent of brands and retail concepts set to be completely new to the Quebec market. The first launches are set for summer 2024.
Previous brands announced at Royalmount include Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Tiffany & Co.
According to Lutfy, who is working with private equity firm L Catterton on the project, the first phase will consist of a 824,000-square-foot, two-level retail and lifestyle complex.
Saint Laurent, Versace, Jimmy Choo and Tag Heuer will open their first stand-alone stores in Montreal, while David Yurman's flagship at Royalmount will be its largest store in Canada, and its first in Quebec.
Michael Kors will be expanding its presence in the city with a dedicated store that will carry the Michael Kors Collection line.
Lutfy said he expects Royalmount to become “the number-one” destination in eastern Canada for retail, dining and entertainment.
“Years of thought and planning have gone into bringing the right brands to Montreal. These arrivals represent an exciting future for Royalmount and will help bring our shared vision and values to life,” he said.
Lutfy told WWD the development is built around “inclusive luxury, urban green living and supercharged connectivity.”
Inclusivity will come in the form of “free art and a 'slow living' public place, and by bringing the widest possible assortment of the world's top 50 brands to Montreal," Lutfy said.
There will also be an urban park at the center of the development, and Royalmount will be “the first 100 percent carbon-neutral, mixed-use project in North America, and the largest LEED gold retail project in Canada," he added.
There is also a strong personal angle for Lutfy.
“Montreal is my hometown, and has been historically underserved for luxury. As a point of comparison, while many of the top luxury automobile brands have their best Canadian stores here in Montreal, we find ourselves with only one freestanding luxury store in a market that should support close to 30.
“The city has enormous untapped potential, being ideally positioned and with a strong cultural identity. Events such as this coming weekend's F1 Grand Prix have previously been the calendar moments where luxury brands have come to play in Montreal to great success. Royalmount will now be bringing that opportunity to both locals and visitors all year round," he said.
Founded in 2012, Carbonleo has more than 170 employees and has delivered projects including Quartier DIX30, and the Four Seasons Montreal Hotel and Private Residences.