Real estate development firm Rosefellow is building a $75-million distribution centre in Pointe-Claire, Que., with Dormez-vous and Steve Madden Canada as tenants.

The 275,000-square-foot building at 6000 Trans-Canada Highway, which is jointly owned by Rosefellow, Skyline Industrial REIT and family office investment firm F.I.T. Ventures, combines storage space and offices.

Located near the Trans-Canada Highway, it is also close to Montreal’s Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau International Airport and distribution centres operated by Canada Post, Fedex and UPS.

The facility will be split with approximately 140,000 square feet for Dormez-vous and about 135,000 square feet for Steve Madden.

“The West Island hosts a booming, versatile industrial sector. We are delighted to further help develop this territory and to offer customers facilities that are designed based on sustainable, innovative standards,” said Mike Jager, Rosefellow’s co-founder and co-owner, in a statement.

In an email exchange with RENX, Jager said construction began two weeks ago and the building is to be fully constructed and occupied by summer 2023.

“We are honoured with the trust and collaboration that renowned companies such as Dormez-vous and Steve Madden have placed in us.”

Headquartered in Montreal, Rosefellow has more than 24 million square feet of industrial and multiresidential projects under development in Quebec and Ontario.

Rosefellow’s distribution centre

The Pointe-Claire facility, which sits on a 626,000-square-foot parcel of land, will have a number of sustainable and environmentally friendly features.

These include ventilation units equipped with 85 per cent efficient energy recovery technology, a white roof designed to reduce heat islands and trees planted in parking areas.

Electric vehicle charging stations will be added alongside green spaces.

To reduce demolition residue at the site, 88 per cent of the materials will be integrated into construction of the new facility including 550 tonnes of metal, 6,650 tonnes of concrete and 400 tonnes of bricks and asphalt.

Both tenants will be consolidating their operations into the new facility.

“We are thrilled to be part of this exciting new development that will bring together our Montreal regional locales into one state-of-the-art facility that will house our new head office, operations and warehouse spaces which also provide us with capacity for future growth," Phil Besner, Dormez-vous’ senior vice-president of business development, said in the announcement.

"This bricks-and-mortar investment in critical infrastructure is a key component in our strategy for physical retail stores, on the ground, while improving productivity and logistics." 

“We have been looking for many years for the perfect location to consolidate our warehousing and offices under one roof," said Jennifer Walewski, Steve Madden Canada’s president, in the announcement.

"Steve Madden Canada is delighted to partner with Rosefellow for this exciting project which will serve as our main distribution hub for all our stores and customer networks.

“The new building positions us perfectly for future growth initiatives.” 

Rosefellow’s recent acquisitions

Rosefellow has been busy on Montreal’s West Island in recent months.

In September, the company spent $70 million to acquire a 1.35-million-square-foot, industrial-zoned site from the City of Kirkland, which the developer says is the last greenfield site on the island.

It plans to build three or four class-A industrial buildings of 100,000 to 200,000 square feet each on the Kirkland site, at the northwest corner of Saint-Charles Boulevard and Hwy. 40 (Trans-Canada Highway) at a total development cost of $175 million.

Construction could start as early as spring 2023.

“$70 million for 1.35 million square feet is about as maximum as you’ll see in the marketplace today,” Rosefellow partner Sam Tsoumas told RENX at the time, noting it is the single largest per-square-foot transaction made by the company.

“We’ve probably now set the bar on land values,” he noted, but “we are very comfortable with the price that we paid. We definitely believe this site is worth it.”

In November, Rosefellow acquired a near-22-acre site in the west end of Ottawa where it plans to construct twin, 250,000-square-foot distribution centres on spec.