Manulife is touting its new downtown Montreal office as a sign that it is committed to both the city and the province.
“It’s symbolic of the increased presence that we believe we need to have in Quebec,” Manulife Canada president and CEO Michael Doughty said of the building.
The 27-storey Maison Manuvie building officially opened earlier this week,
Montreal Gazette reported. It is the second-tallest building constructed in downtown Montreal since the 1990s.
“It demonstrates that the Quebec and Montreal economy are showing signs of improvement,” remarked Manulife Asset Management Private Markets president and CEO Kevin Adolphe.
The company will occupy 11 floors of the building, with eight storeys to be leased to other tenants. Adolphe told
Montreal Gazette that over 80% of the rental space has already been leased to tenants, such as financial services firm EY and renewable-power company Boralex.
The seven remaining storeys will be used for above-ground parking.
Manulife had partnered with the Montreal-based real-estate company Ivanhoé Cambridge to develop the building. Thanks to the joint venture, both companies co-own the building.
“In terms of all our major locations in the world, we own the space that we occupy,” explained Adolphe, noting that it is standard practice for Manulife to own its major facilities instead of renting. “It’s a great investment.”
Approximately 2,000 Manulife employees will work either in the new building or in another nearby facility.
Doughty said that he sees opportunities to develop the company’s benefits and wealth-management businesses in Quebec, and added that Manulife hopes to use Montreal as a source of talent.
“We think part of our transformation, as we go forward, is going to be based on becoming more of a technology company, becoming more customer-obsessed,” he said. “We think that Montreal is ripe with the talent that we would need to be able to do that.”
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