BUSINESSSECTION B | THE GAZETTE | | SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014 | BUSINESS ASSIGNMENT EDITOR: LYNN MOORE | [email protected] TSX ▼ DOW ▼ NASDAQ ▼ DOLLAR ▼ OIL ▲ GOLD ▼ PRIME 14,227.36 233.24 16,544.10 115.15 4,276.24 102.10 89.15¢ 0.35¢ $85.82 $0.05 $1,221.70 $3.60 3% Sept. 3

EVA FRIEDE commercial sector, from Atwater THE GAZETTE to Greene Avenues. The freeze is in effect until an interim bylaw is An investor has bought 84 rental adopted and an update on the study units at Westmount Square for $70 is expected in November, said West- million, and says that less than two mount councillor Theodora Sami- months after the sale, he has al- otis. ready resold at least 48 of the apart- Samiotis, who is the commis- ments. sioner of urban planning for West- Olivier Leclerc, 26, acting with mount, said there are two concerns SQUARE real estate broker and adviser about such a conversion. First Albert Sayegh, bought the units is Westmount Square’s heritage at the iconic Mies van der Rohe value as a Mies van der Rohe mixed buildings in August from Elad commercial-residential project, Canada, a division of the Israeli completed in 1967. “On a heritage real estate multinational Tshuva value, obviously we would want to Group. make sure that any architectural The deal means that Elad has aspect of the design would respect sold all of the approximately 220 that,” she said. units in the two residential towers And there are those who would DEALING of Westmount Square. Now it is argue that changing the usage com- proposing to convert Tower 1, with bination would change the archi- Changes could be afoot at the iconic Westmount Square 200,000 square feet of office space, tect’s vision, she said. The complex to condos. was conceived with three towers complex, a legacy of architect Mies van der Rohe. A But Westmount has slapped a — two residential and one office — freeze on all conversions from com- and an 86,000-square-foot shopping multinational has sold the last of its residential units in a mercial or institutional buildings concourse. to residential use and is studying landmark deal and now aims to covert office tower to condos all development in its southeast Please see SQUARE, Page B2

JOHN KENNEY/THE GAZETTE Elad Canada is proposing to convert Tower 1, left, of Westmount Square, with 200,000 square feet of office space, to condos. But Westmount has imposed a freeze on all conversions.

France’s 36-year-old economy minister is the face of the New Socialism

LIZ ALDERMAN Hollande appointed in August to people ever to hold a Cabinet pos- THE NEW YORK TIMES oversee the economy, had just ended ition, he has quickly become the face another marathon day of meetings of France’s New Socialism, a pro- PARIS — Around 9 p.m. on a recent that began at 7 a.m. business technocrat bent on mod- weeknight, all the lights in Em- “We have a very long day here, ernizing the country’s social model. manuel Macron’s cavernous offi ces but there’s a lot of work to be done,” Despite his youth, Macron has at the French Economy Ministry Macron said, settling onto a black been a major force behind a recent were blazing. A coterie of ener- couch. “France is sick,” he said, shift by the politically struggling getic 30-something aides scurried “and we are facing difficult times. Hollande toward a more centrist through the hallways, fingers tap- We have no choice but to reform this economic policy for France. The ping at their iPhones as stacks of country.” economy is essentially stagnant and takeout dinners circulated on trays. A decade ago, Macron might have mired in what Macron describes as If not for his aura of authority, seemed out of place in these halls of “mass unemployment” — around 10 Macron might easily have been power, which have tended to be run per cent, just shy of the 11.5 per cent ED ALCOCK/THE NEW YORK TIMES mistaken for one of his employees. by elder statesmen focused on bol- eurozone average. France’s new economy minister, Emmanuel Macron, is bent on modern- The 36-year-old former investment stering the vaunted French welfare izing the country’s social model. “France is sick,” he says. banker, whom President François state. But as one of the youngest Please see NEW SOCIALISM, Page B2

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MONSAF85977_1_1 B2 business the gazette · montrealgazette.com · Saturday, October 11, 2014 Square ‘It’s not just the conversion of any building. It’s a landmark’

Continued from B1

Equally important to Sami- otis is the commercial vi- brancy of the area. “So when you tell me you are changing a commercial tower to a residential tower, I am concerned about the im- pact this is going to have on my commercial district,” she said. Residential tax rates are lower than commercial rates, so the city also could lose rev- enue. “It’s not just the conversion of any building. It’s a land- mark,” she said. They are very much aware of the proposal to convert the office tower, Sayegh said, but the file is currently closed. “If Tower 1 does occur, we will look at it,” he said. Elad Canada owns, oper- ates or is developing such properties as New York’s Plaza Hotel, Emerald City in Toronto and in Montreal, the Cité Nature development near the Olympic Village and Le Nordelac in Point St- Charles. The 84 Westmount Square units were the remaining rental units in two of the tow- ers. In a meeting at Sayegh’s real estate office — he is president of the commer- cial division of RE/MAX John Kenney/THE GAZETTE Du Cartier on Bernard St. Westmount Square is considered a landmark of 20th century W. — Leclerc said he bought design, revolutionary in being set back from the sidewalk the apartments in August as and thereby creating public spaces. an investment, and resold them to various groups of in- vestors, two of which bought about 12 apartments each. Le- Mies and Montreal clerc would not specify how many of the apartments he intends to keep. eva Friede York. Completed with It is a significant sale, montreal GAZETTE architect Philip Johnson probably the biggest of the in 1958, it is considered a year, said Patrice Ménard of Westmount Square, com- landmark of 20th century Patrice Ménard Multi-Loge- prising two residential design, revolutionary in ment, which specializes in towers, one office tower being set back from the sales of multi-unit residen- and a shopping concourse, sidewalk and thereby cre- tial buildings. But it is not a John Mahoney/THE GAZETTE is the work of German ating public spaces. record. Olivier Leclerc has purchased 84 units in Westmount Square for $70 million. “The context born modernist master A gas station on Nuns’ By comparison, the La Cité was favourable to take hold of such a prestigious building — the political context,” he says. . Island is often attributed complex of three buildings It was completed in 1967. to Mies van der Rohe. But with more than 1,300 units In 1990, after much con- Joe Fujikawa, who worked sold for $172 million two troversy, skylights were for Mies, was the project years ago. added to the shopping architect and nothing Also in 2012, Elad sold the concourse. Phyllis Lam- was designed without his Olympic Village to Capr- bert, known as Montreal’s input, according Lambert. eit Real Estate Investment Joan of Architecture and a Mies van der Rohe Trust for about $176 million, champion of Mies van der died in 1969, in , Ménard said. Both La Cité Rohe, called the renovation his adopted hometown. and the Olympic Village re- a desecration. Among other landmarks main rental properties, how- At age 27, Lambert per- of his legacy: the Barce- eve r. suaded her father, Samuel lona Pavilion, the Toronto- Both Sayegh and Leclerc Bronfman, to commis- Dominion Centre in To- emphasized that confidence sion Mies to design the ronto and Chicago’s Lake in the economy was a basis in New Shore Apartments. for the Westmount Square purchase. The reselling was not a flip, but a long-term father have converted more apartment in the state it is in. strategy, Sayegh said. “He has than 2,500 apartments, he “We respect the rental his own chess game,” Sayegh said. His father is now semi- laws.” said. retired. Leclerc said he buys only “The context was favour- With his father, he also good buildings in good loca- able to take hold of such a worked on the conversion of tions. prestigious building — the the Gleneagles apartments on “The area reflects the ten- political context,” Leclerc Côte des Neiges Rd., bought ants. Location, location, loca- said. in 2010 and sold by 2013. tion.” “The socio-economic cli- “We do major work. We put At Westmount Square, the mate in Quebec has never John Kenney/THE GAZETTE the building in top shape,” tenants are not affected, Le- been as conducive to invest- The price of the 84 apartments in Westmount Square bought by Oliver Leclerc in August Leclerc said. clerc said, as the same com- ments as it is today,” Sayegh ranged from $400,000 to $2 million. “We never throw out the tenants,” he says. “Then we make esthetic pany, Cogir, manages the added. improvements. After that, we building. Leclerc would not say what sell the apartments. The range of price for the profit he has taken so far, nor He also owns or has con- Queen Mary, bought in 2011 in the business of converting “We never throw out the 84 apartments was $400,000 to what return he is expecting. verted buildings in Mont and now all sold. rental buildings to co-opera- tenants. We profit from the $2 million. “It’s a nice acquisition to St-Hilaire and Brossard as Four years ago, Leclerc tives. fact that the tenants are in my portfolio,” Leclerc said. well as Hampstead Court on joined his father, Ghislain, Over 25 years, he and his place, who pay rent ‘x’ for an efriede@evitastyle new Socialism Minister’s job to sell Hollande’s open-for-business plan

Continued from B1 approach — not only to cor- to walk a fine line ever since about-face from an early ca- viser to assure the business continue to streamline and porate France but to a French Hollande rang his cellphone reer in academic philosophy, community that he was also modernize the welfare state. As part of the Hollande public worried about its fu- in late August to ask if he working with the late Paul open to reforms that would That will be no easy task. government’s newly stated ture. would take the job of econ- Ricoeur, an eminent French help companies create jobs Numerous French presidents resolve, last week it issued a “France is a strong, omy minister. philosopher who focused and lift France from mori- have rolled out reform plans, “no austerity” declaration wealthy country,” he said, French business leaders on human consciousness. bund growth. only to fold after the French of budgetary independence citing a strong research and cheered the news, seeing in Macron obtained a master’s Macron’s first move was took to the streets. What if from the German-led ortho- development base, univer- Macron a new hope for re- degree after partly focusing to urge Hollande to drop Hollande, already the most doxy that has been widely sal education, large foreign form. his studies on Machiavelli, a proposal to tax incomes unpopular president in mod- blamed for making economic investment and world-class But there was a wariness which, he said with a smile, above 1 million euros at 75 ern French history, now de- growth hard to achieve in companies. “But we are al- bordering on outrage among was good background for per cent. Instead, Hollande cides to retreat? much of the eurozone. Even ways obsessed by our own the most left-leaning Social- navigating the power politics forged ahead, spending two Mulling the question, Mac- as it announced 50 billion eu- weaknesses,” he continued. ists and from unions. They of Paris. years trying to burnish his ron lifted a glass of Burgundy ros ($63 billion US) in spend- “It’s sort of a French state of viewed Hollande’s ouster of He entered the École Natio- Socialist credentials instead wine, a pleasure that he per- ing cuts over the next three mind.” Arnaud Montebourg, the for- nale d’Administration, the of tackling the reforms that mitted himself given the late years, the government said Still, even as he means to mer economy minister who training ground for France’s both men knew were needed, hour, then grew suddenly ser- it would not meet the deficit help Hollande push an ambi- had battled big business, and governmental elite, pausing Macron said. ious. targets overseen by the Euro- tious but politically perilous replacing him with Macron, in 2007 to marry his former As the French economy “The deal I had with the pean Union until at least drive to brand France as a as a betrayal of the welfare French teacher from first continued to flag, Hollande president and the prime min- 2017. country that is open for busi- state. grade, Brigitte Trogneux, made Macron his main eco- ister was to deliver. If they On Monday, news reports ness and unafraid of global- “Installing a banker while who is 20 years his senior. In nomic adviser at the Élysée decide not to deliver, I will suggested that the European ization, he does not want his our country is suffering from 2008, he was snapped up by Palace in 2012. This time, he move.” Commission might be prepar- country to lose its innate the domination of finance is Rothschild, working mainly pushed the president hard He continued: “But I do ing to censure France when it egalitarian Frenchness. not a good sign,” said Jean- in Paris, a job that made him to break with the “old social- think that there is a strong reviews its new budget. But “I don’t believe that killing Marc Germain, a Socialist a millionaire. ism,” helping to draft a so- conviction that there is no Simon O’Connor, a commis- the French model in order to member of Parliament. When Hollande ran suc- called Responsibility Pact choice but to reform this sion spokesman, said it was become the U.K. or the United Macron met Hollande in cessfully for the presidency that increased flexibility in country. It will probably be premature to say how Brus- States overnight is the solu- 2007 during a party at the in 2012, he campaigned on a France’s rigid labour market painful, and perhaps we will sels might respond until after tion,” he said. “You have a big home of Jacques Attali, an classic leftist platform that and promised companies 40 fail in the end. But France France submits the budget, debate on inequality there, influential French econo- promised greater security for billion euros in tax breaks will succeed.” which is expected on Oct. 15. and for our society, a lot of mist and an adviser to several the middle class and higher in exchange for pledges to do In many ways it is Mac- inequality would not be bear- presidents, and the two men taxes on the wealthy. But be- more hiring. Maïa de la Baume contribut- ron’s job to help sell the Hol- able.” hit it off. At the time, Macron hind the scenes, he called on Now, what is important, ed reporting from Paris, and lande administration’s new That has forced Macron had just done a surprising Macron as an informal ad- Macron said, is that France James Kanter from Brussels.