2024-01-09 05:00:00

In a strong gesture, going once morest the current trend, the National Bank of Canada (NBC) has just agreed to pay some $150 million to Broccolini to acquire ten floors of offices in the tower next to its new head office. Montrealer.

While, due to teleworking, many large companies are seeking by all means to reduce their presence in the city center, everything indicates that the National Bank is, on the contrary, preparing to welcome an even larger number of employees there.

Located at the corner of Robert-Bourassa Boulevard and Saint-Jacques Street West, a stone’s throw from the old Stock Exchange Tower, the new headquarters of the National Bank was to cost $500 million to build. The building, now completed, has 40 floors, enough to accommodate the approximately 7,000 employees originally planned.

More presence in the office?

However, while doubts remained regarding its ability to fill all the floors of its new head office, the Bank expanded. According to the deed of sale signed at the end of November, the National Bank became the owner (for $149.2 million) of the entire ten-story podium on which the Victoria sur le parc stands, this new 58-story condo tower. floors.

In interview with The newspaperthe vice-president, employee experience, of the National Bank, Cristina Cistellini, refused to confirm that the addition of some 330,000 square feet of commercial space – enough to accommodate 5,000 additional employees – at the foot of 700 rue Saint-Jacques West, would result in an increase in the presence requirements of its employees in the city center.

Photo provided by Broccolini

“We saw a great opportunity looming alongside [de nous] just on the other side of the park and connected by an underground corridor. The opportunity was there, we chose to take it. But it is still too early to say how we will occupy these spaces. Their opening is still not planned until 2026.”

Consolidation of the real estate portfolio

Last fall, the National Bank let it be known that it intended to “further consolidate” its real estate portfolio. History of “bringing together even more teams, until now distributed in various buildings, within a real living and collaborative environment”. Ms. Cistellini was unable to inform us regarding these offices that the Bank intends to close to create this new “collaboration environment” in the International District.

Cristina Cistellini, Vice-President, Employee Experience, National Bank. Photo provided by the National Bank of Canada

Last fall, a study by real estate company Avison Young showed that corporate offices in downtown Montreal had a vacancy rate of 17.2%, compared to 10.9% before the pandemic.

In fact, SNC-Lavalin, Canadian National, Laurentian Bank, Cascades, Resolute Forest Products, Desjardins, Investissement Québec and Hydro-Québec, to name just a few, have all significantly reduced the surface area of ​​their Montreal presence.

According to Toronto real estate firm CBRE, we have to go back to 1997 to find such a high office availability rate in Montreal. The Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal is delighted that 87% of workers are back in the office at least once a week.

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