MONTREAL – Shovels hit dirt today in Montreal as Quebecor began construction on a new 19-story office building which will house Videotron and Canoe by 2008.
The $36 million, 145,000 sq.-ft. structure will be built right beside the company’s existing head office at 612 Saint-Jacques Street in Montreal.
The expansion, by building a new office tower, is the best option for meeting the 2007 deadline to relocate most of Quebecor’s employees, who currently occupy 300 Viger Street East – Videotron’s long-time HQ – in Montreal, said the company in a release on Thursday.
This group of employees from the Videotron and Canoe subsidiaries are to leave the current site to allow for the construction of the CHUM (Centre Hospitalier De L’université De Montréal).
Quebecor’s head office has been located at 612 Saint-Jacques Street since 1988. The building faces Place Victoria, at the heart of Montreal’s Quartier international. "The expansion of our head office is a major construction project that will contribute to the current revitalization of the Quartier international," said Pierre Karl Peladeau, Quebecor’s president and CEO. "We would like the new building to be part of the urban renewal this sector is experiencing and to add to its momentum."
Quebecor awarded the management of the project to the contractor Pomerleau and the architectural design to the Cardinal Hardy/Arcop consortium.
Check out 3D sketches of the new building by clicking here.
