CONDOS OF VARIOUS SIZES

The biggest and smallest in town

According to Altus Group research into the condominium market in Montreal, the smallest condo in the city would fit into the largest one just over 25 times, the smallest being Lowney sur Ville’s 268-square-foot micro condo in Griffintown and the largest a 6,943-square-foot penthouse at The Residences at the Ritz-Carlton downtown.

What differentiates the condos — other than size and price, of course — is their purpose. Each one is tailor-made for its clientele.

The micro condo, for example, is “more of a pied-à-terre and it resembles a hotel room in a lot of respects,” said Jonathan Sigler, copresident of Prével, the developer of the Lowney sur Ville project, whose Phase 3 micro condo was crowned the smallest new condo in Canada in 2014.

“A large portion of our clientele is first-time buyers, so someone would buy this unit and use it as a stepping stone for their next unit, which would have a hundred square feet more,” Sigler said.

As a developer, Sigler typically includes about six of these units in a phase, “to balance out the offer.” Lowney has had a lot of repeat business since its first incarnation in 2006 and 60 per cent of current buyers either already own there, or are friends or relatives of current owners.

The second-smallest condo “in new and active condominium projects in Montreal’s CMA,” Altus Group research shows, is in Phase 4 of Lowney sur Ville and measures 294 square feet.

“Every square foot was carefully accounted for when we made the designs with the architect — everything fits,” Sigler said, noting

...Someone would buy this (micro condo) and use it as a stepping stone for their next unit, which would have a hundred square feet more. JONATHAN SIGLER

that the unit includes an 18-inch dishwasher, a 24-inch fridge, a 24inch stove, an integrated washer/ dryer and a balcony.

He pointed to the development’s common areas — its rooftop terrace, indoor pool, gym, spa, barbecue area and two-storey clubhouse, for example — as alternative living areas for residents who live in the project’s smallest units.

The third-smallest condo in the city is the 300-square-foot unit in Phase 3 of Devimco’s District Griffin sur Peel, in Griffintown, a mixed-use project that houses a Marché Adonis, Winners, SAQ, Tim Hortons and more.

“For us, an urban condo is somewhere you have a place to eat and sleep, but life happens outside of the condo — in the complex where it’s housed,” said Marco Fontaine, senior director of sales for District Griffin. “You can’t have a small condo in a place that doesn’t have any services; it’s very limiting and can become problematic.”

While the 300-square-foot condo is the third-smallest in the city, Fontaine said District Griffin’s 350-square-foot condos are more popular, because they’re big enough to allow for a permanent sleeping situation, as opposed to a sofa bed.

To help design its smallest condos, Devimco consulted with smart condo specialists in New York, Hong Kong and Japan, resulting in the Genius, a multifunction cabinet system made of custom-made furnishings that are both transformable and retractable — and which Fontaine hopes will allow residents to move walls and change the configuration of rooms, in the near future.

At the other end of the spectrum, the second-largest condo in town is the 6,105-square-foot penthouse at YOO Montreal, a luxury condo project in Griffintown with Philippe Starck as its artistic designer. The penthouse has a private rooftop terrace and garden, as well as a pool and Jacuzzi that can be reached via a custom-made glass staircase and an elevator.

“The project is luxurious, yes, but it’s not because of the finishes,” said Maxime Lachance, CEO of YOO Montreal and president of Chapam, the developer behind YOO. “Square footage, for me, is real luxury.”

While the trend in real estate has been toward smaller units over the last few years, Lachance wanted to offer Montrealers something different.

“My objective was to create a real penthouse,” he said. “I wanted to create the opposite of what the Montreal market had to offer. It’s a niche market, of course, but that was the objective of the project.”

With YOO Montreal, Lachance wanted to create a condo in the hotel image because, he said: “One of the problems with some condo projects is that you have a nice lobby, but it feels dead; it doesn’t have the same kind of vibe that you have in a hotel. To help with that, we put a restaurant on the ground floor; it’s a useful facility for owners, it doesn’t cost them anything and it creates a place where they can exchange and be together.”

The largest condo in Montreal is the 6,943-square-foot penthouse at The Residences at the Ritz-Carlton. Developed by Coprim, the project is unique because of its association with the five-star, luxury hotel.

In addition to sharing amenities like the pool, gym and spa, residents have special access to the restaurant, Maison Boulud, as well as Ritz-Carlton hotels worldwide. They can also use the hotel’s room service on an à-la-carte basis.

“The average Montreal condo is probably around 1,500 square feet, but the average condo at the Ritz is over 3,500 square feet,” said Vianney Tremblay, Coprim’s president. “That’s the distinction when you go high-end.”

Ultra high-end with a price to match ($10 million), the twostorey penthouse in The Residences features smart technology, floor-to-ceiling glass walls, a circular staircase, and a master bathroom larger than the aforementioned smallest condo in the city, which had a price tag of just over $100,000 in Phase 3 of the Griffintown complex.

DAVE SIDAWAY, GAZETTE FILES In designing its smallest condos, Devimco consulted with specialists in New York, Hong Kong and Japan, resulting in the Genius multi-function cabinet system.

ARTIST’S RENDERING COURTESY OF YOO MONTREAL YOO Montreal, a luxury condo project in Griffintown, boasts the second-largest condominium in Montreal: its 6,105-square-foot penthouse. With Philippe Starck as its artistic designer, this project is not lacking for luxurious touches — like the...

COURTESY OF DEVIMCO IMMOBILIER Brightly coloured overhead cabinets add considerable flair to the kitchen area of the 350-square-foot condo in Devimco’s District Griffin mixed-use project.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF PRÉVEL Lowney sur Ville’s 294-square-foot micro condo — the second-smallest unit “in new and active condo projects in Montreal’s CMA,” according to Altus Group research — has a clean, minimalist decor that makes the most of available space. Modern fixtures...

PHOTOS COURTESY OF DEVIMCO IMMOBILIER The 350-square-foot condo in Devimco’s District Griffin is big enough to allow for a proper bed rather than just a sofa bed. It folds down from the wall as part of the Genius multi-function arrangement of cabinets and custommade furnishings.

PHOTO BY MARINÉ ANAKHATOUNIAN, COURTESY OF COPRIM The lobby of The Residences at the Ritz-Carlton, a condominium project adjacent to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on Sherbrooke St. in downtown Montreal.

JOHN MAHONEY, GAZETTE FILES Storage boxes double as seats in a 268-square-foot micro condo in the Lowney sur Ville project in Griffintown. The unit, which was crowned smallest new condo in Canada in 2014, requires a pull-out couch for a bed.

RENDERING COURTESY OF LEMAY+CHA, GAZETTE FILES ARTIST’S An aerial view of Lowney sur Ville, in Griffintown.

OF COPRIM PHOTOS BY MARINÉ ANAKHATOUNIAN, COURTESY The largest condo in Montreal is a 6,943-square-foot penthouse at The Residences at the Ritz-Carlton, which has many of the same features as this 5,000-square-foot model penthouse, including the soaring glass walls and circular staircase below.

MONTREAL ARTIST’S RENDERING COURTESY OF YOO Marble abounds in the luxurious bathroom of YOO Montreal’s 6,015-square-foot penthouse.