Xact Condos brings new life to former hotel
Local developer Magil Laurentian transforms Hotel du Fort rooms into 88 urban condominiums
The building formerly known as the Hotel du Fort in the heart of Montreal’s Shaughnessy Village is not that old in terms of Montreal’s everchanging landscape and skyline. Opened in 1990, the 18-floor edifice barely showed any wrinkles.
But the brain trust at awardwinning Magil Laurentian saw an opportunity to add some new wrinkles of their own, so to speak,
“... The Xact brand reflected what buyers wanted in a kind of no frills way...”
taking the existing 124-room hotel structure and redesigning the entire interior into an 88-unit condominium building encompassing studio, one-bedroom, one-bedroom with den, and twobedroom apartments — each with magnificent mountain, city or river views on all levels.
With offices occupying the bottom nine floors, Xact Condos buyers have built-in bird’s-eye views of Montreal.
And if the response from buyers is any indication, then this is Xactly what the neighbourhood needed. Debbie Lafave, senior vice-president for Immobilier Baker, who is handling the Xact Condos sales, said the project attracted a lot of attention when, on the heels of an eight-week ad campaign, the sales office was inundated with potential buyers during its official May 3 launch.
With 29 studio condos starting at $134,900, it’s not difficult to see why. The ready-made building, combined with lower acquisition costs, allowed Magil Laurentian to set lower-than-average prices per unit in one of the prime downtown locations.
“We’re thrilled with the response,” said Lafave, a former Montrealer back in town to handle the Xact project after years working the hot Toronto condo market for Baker Real Estate Inc.
“I didn’t anticipate such an enthusiastic reaction. I underestimated the attraction of the area for young professionals, students and first-time homebuyers.
“Using the existing ceiling heights and no balconies, we thought the Xact brand reflected what buyers wanted in a kind of no-frills way — that this is exactly where people wanted to live.”
Unlike many new condo projects in Montreal, some of which have barely broken ground, Xact Condos is already close to delivery, with buyers of 17th-floor units taking occupancy first, at the end of August. Move-in dates will continue through November.
The former Hotel du Fort always had location going for it; now the building has extra cachet in downtown Montreal as an accessible and affordable buy for first-time homeowners.
Magil Laurentian has added the necessary condo perks buyers have come to expect, like a rooftop indoor/outdoor lounge, a party room for 60 people, a gym, bicycle storage and 75 indoor parking spaces.
First impressions being so important, the old hotel lobby gets buffed up and remade with 14-foot ceilings.
Verdun-based Dag Design’s Andrée Goupil had a hand in the overall transformation and look of the project, working closely
Dag Design’s Andrée Goupil (worked) closely with architects while adding her flair for contemporary chic...
with architects while adding her flair for contemporary chic to the lobby, rooftop lounges and deck, as well as individual condo kitchen cabinetry, bathroom fixtures and stainless-steel stackable Bosch washer/dryers.
Each condo has individually-controlled heating and air-conditioning, plus the always popular wireless home system to allow owners to control everything electric from anywhere.
Xact’s Fort St. address puts owners close to Concordia University, métro and bus lines, and the bustling cornucopia of restaurants, shops and grocery stores of the Ste-Catherine St. area.
Not to mention the joie de vivre of nearby Crescent St. and its welcoming, warm-weather terraces.
Magil Laurentian has a proven track record as one of the top realestate developers in Canada, currently with 12 projects in progress in Montreal, including L’Avenue, a 50-storey project on prime real estate across from the Bell Centre, home of the Montreal Canadiens.
Their excellence in developing Place Victoria and Le Windsor won them the prestigious BOMA (Quebec’s largest association of commercial property owners and managers) TOBY (The Office Building of the Year) award, recognizing excellence in property management and operations.