Apple moving to downtown Montreal

OPENING IN MARCH

Apple is opening an office in downtown Montreal, dramatically increasing its footprint in the city, The Logic has learned.

In March, Apple will open its space in the 26-storey Deloitte Tower, a stone’s throw from the Bell Centre, home to the Montreal Canadiens. Currently under construction, Apple’s office will occupy half a floor of the 495,000-square-foot tower, according to sources.

The 10,000-square-foot space will house Montreal employees from the company’s digital content and services division, which includes Apple Music, the iTunes Store and Apple News. There are currently about 400 Montreal-based Apple employees, according to LinkedIn data—though this includes a significant number of retail staff. (There is one Apple Store in downtown Montreal, and three more in the Greater Montreal area). Last August, the company posted a job for a Montreal-based leadership recruiter.

The new digs are a step up from Apple’s current Montreal office, located on a strip of modest office buildings in the city’s west end. By contrast, the LEED Platinum-certified Deloitte Tower boasts indoor bike parking, weekly yoga classes and a public day care. Completed in 2015, the tower is the first privately owned and financed commercial office tower to be built in the city in over two decades. The details remain unclear between Apple and Cadillac Fairview, the Toronto-based commercial real estate manager that owns the Deloitte Tower, but the net asking rent in the building is $34 to $36 per square foot, according to a source.

Neither Apple Canada nor Cadillac Fairview returned The Logic’s requests for comment.

It is the second time in roughly five years that Apple Canada has moved from the suburbs to the downtown core. In 2015, the subsidiary of the Cupertino-based company moved its headquarters to downtown Toronto from the suburb of Markham. It’s also opening an office in downtown Vancouver later this year, according to the Vancouver Sun. All told, Apple has 1,551 employees in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, according to LinkedIn data.

For more news about the innovation economy visit www.thelogic.co