conomically, this is a pretty damn good time to be a Canadian. The dollar has skyrocketed and our economy is starting to take off with it. As a result, major building developments are popping up all over the country. It’s as if wealthy investors and developers are desperate to show off their expanding income with a building-measuring competition (the phallic symbolism is way too obvious to gloss over). Donald Trump got his greasy little mitts on the Toronto market, the Hotel Georgia added condos and an impressive list of celebrities to the Vancouver real estate scene, and now Hines plans to erect (gotta keep the joke alive) an office building in Montreal.

Hines is a private US development firm working in Canada for the first time. They actually purchased this site in 2004 and always intended to construct a tower on the land, but had difficulties finding an anchor tenant. Fortunately SITQ—the city’s largest office landlord—stepped up and assumed the responsibility for the proposed 28-story tower located on de Maisonneuve Blvd. The project is expected to cost $150 million. That type of cash that buys some pretty impressive bells and whistles, including a three-story glass and steel winter garden, eight floors of above-ground parking and 375,000 square feet of offices over 17 floors. This mammoth undertaking represents first privately funded office construction in the city in more than 13 years. The fat cats are about to get fatter. Garfield would be proud.

The new building will fill nearly a block, boldly towering above only a single neighbour on the south side of Maisonneuve Blvd., the soon to be emasculated Ben’s Delicatessen. Hines reportedly offered the owners upwards of $10 million dollars for the property, but they refused. Fortunately, patrons and employees of the new complex will not have sully their eyes with the sight of this lowly delicatessen or the nearby department store as the lower levels of the tower will be dedicated to parking. In this building no wealthy businessmen will be forced to look at the commoners. In fact, they won’t even need to lower themselves to walking on the street as the building will be directly connected to the underground city.

Hines and the SITQ are hoping to start construction next year, completing the buildings by either late 2009 or early 2010. This has been timed to coincide with the current lease expiration of several major downtown tenants. If all goes to plan, some big names could be housed in the building when it opens. The sudden influx of 375,000 square feet of prestige office space is not expected to have a negative effect on the market as the figure causes barely a blip on the 47 million square feet of downtown offices already available. So, if you’re an obscenely wealthy entrepreneur desperate to have your name on a giant tower, now is the time to act. They’re going up everywhere, so don’t miss your chance before it’s too late and you end up building something that will be of use to no one (cough CN Tower, cough, cough).