A Q&A with Stéphane Côté
It would be hard to find someone who personifies Montreal more than Stéphane Côté, president of DevMcGill. He was born in eastend Anjou and grew up in PointeClaire and N.D.G. As a young adult, he lived on the Plateau and in Old Montreal. He now makes his home in Outremont. The only time he resided elsewhere was the year he turned 11, when his dad, an industrial engineer, accepted a work contract in Algeria.
Stéphane completed an economics degree (minor in marketing) at l’Université du Québec à Montréal. We met at his office on McGill St.
What was it like, living in Algeria?
In a word, it was life-changing. This was my first close-up look at how people from other cultures live. It opened up my horizons. When we returned, my mom, my 14-year old sister and I stayed at our cottage in the Laurentians for several months while awaiting my dad’s return. I completed half a year of school up north.
How did you get into real estate?
Philippe Boisclair has been my closest friend since childhood. During college, we had great summer jobs and saved our money.
One day, in 1992, Philippe called and said that a friend of his father’s was selling two attached triplexes on St. Urbain St.
We needed $120,000 each to acquire the property but had to act quickly. I was not able to leave work to take a look at it. He said: “Trust me,” and I did.
It was a lot of money for 24-yearolds, but we managed to secure the loans to make the purchase. We spent the summer fixing up the six rental units and moved into one of them together.
A few years later, four of our tenants happened to be moving out at the same time. It was terrifying — we thought we’d lose it all. Luckily, it was 1995 and the Plateau had become a chic place to live. We decided to convert our sixplex into condos. I studied hard, took an exam, and obtained a general contractor’s licence. Then we gutted and renovated the property. Getting financing was tough; we had no assets, other than this property, but somehow it worked out.
What happened next?
We wanted to do more similar projects, but in 1998 Montreal put a moratorium on apartment-to-condo conversions to preserve the city’s rental properties. Instead, we looked into transforming abandoned commercial buildings in Old Montreal. Our first project of this type was 100 McGill St. at Wellington — 15 loft-style condos with commercial space at the ground level. That year, Philippe, Chris Dusablon and I launched DevMcGill. Another of our early conversion projects was the exquisite Le Couvent Outremont condos, on Mont Royal.
What are you working on now?
We have several developments in varying stages of completion. Castelnau is a magnificent fourphase, 400-unit project, on Parc Jarry. Phase 4 is currently under construction. It’s close to the métro, Marché Jean Talon and Little Italy.
Another is Le Beaumont, in N.D.G.: two towers — nine and 11 storeys — with an IGA store at ground level. It consists of 140 units, including a few large penthouses.
This fall we launch Ateliers Castelnau, which will comprise 350 condos in four phases.
We also have our first project outside of Montreal: ArtHaus, in Ottawa. It’s very unique — 80 condos which sit atop a hotel (Le Germain), which sits atop a museum.
What is different about today’s condo buyer?
There is such a variety of demographics: baby boomers, gen-Xers and millenials.
Something I have noticed in the past few years is that many parents are helping their kids buy properties. It makes sense economically because of Quebec’s tax break on capital gains when selling one’s primary residence. Whenever the offspring is ready to upgrade, the tax saving can be applied to a home of greater value.
What are your passions outside of work?
I am very passionate about my wife and our three children — two sons, nine and seven, and our daughter, who is three. We have so much fun together. Summer is all about watersports, and in the winter we ski.
Travel is another passion. We take the kids to Whistler for March break every year. My wife and I enjoy short trips on our own, and I attend conferences all over the world. I love architecture and learning about how cities evolve.
What puts the spring in your step?
Something always on my mind is how my city will be perceived by future generations. I also care deeply about DevMcGill’s employees and work hard so that they will have jobs to continue supporting their families.
In recent years, I have become mindful of our greatest luxury of all — time. It is finite and must not be squandered.
... Something I have noticed in the past few years is that many parents are helping their kids buy properties. It makes sense economically because of Quebec’s tax break on capital gains when selling one’s primary residence. Whenever the offspring is ready to upgrade, the tax saving can be applied to a home of greater value.