Montreal Real Estate Blog » Real Estate Celebrity

Marciano takes over Old Montreal? Au contraire. [Updated]

Deya Bautista — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 14:30:38 +0000

UPDATE:

I was just forwarded this juicy article [Thanks Pat!] on the situation with Marciano and his properties here in da island.
It turns out, that Mr Marciano has major financial and legal discrepancies with the city and well, the USA.

According to Les Affaires, he’s being sued in the US for 260 million dollars. The Quebec Superior Court authorized to seize over 54 banks accounts (who has 54 bank accounts, really?) and well, between other stuff happing simultaneously, he fled the city. So Marciano has left the building, ladies and gentlemen.

I’m not going to bore you with the details…here is the link to the original article, you can read it for yourselves, mes amis.

Who would have known that Guess Jean designer Marciano had not one, but a few properties in Old Montreal?

According to an article forwarded by my broker, the French designer bought the Art Deco building 507 Place-d’Armes for 22 millions in 2008.

I bet you didn’t know that either.

The article also mentions he has eighteen properties in total, all in the historic areas of Montreal.
I hope his next purchase is one of my listings! . (Yikes, I take that back!)

Posted By: Deya Bautista - Real Estate Broker working as part of the McGill Immobilier team. Specializing in high end condos in downtown and Old Montreal. For buying or selling contact Deya at: 514.917.7889 http://montrealrealestateblog.com/

On Montreal Ritz Carlton, Condos and Diamonds

Deya Bautista — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 11:18:28 +0000

Remember the Ritz Carlton closing in the summer of 2008? Two weeks ago it was announced that the Project – estimated for 150 millions, with 130 rooms and 48 luxury apartments, will be delivering by December 2011 or January 2012.

And, get this: More than HALF of the units are already sold AND the majority of buyers are QUEBECERS.

The Ritz’s CEO expected less local buyers. And I admit, I did too.
A friend once said (about the project): There is no way that Montrealers are jumping to buy a 2 to 12 million dollar condo when they can get a house for that amount (I listened and softly disagreed). And he continued: Even the ones who have that amount of money won’t do it. Only New Yorkers do that kind of purchase.

New yorkers and Torontonians. At the time of that conversation, there was no news about multi-million condo purchases like the 28 Million dollar condo in Toronto.

Back to the Ritz Carlon Condo- and before I forget to mention: The jeweler Tiffany will be opening shop in the Montreal Ritz. Good enough reason to purchase a 12 Million dollar condo? You tell me.

In the market for a condo? Contact me to view the best units in town!

Vito Rizzuto’s House for Sale by Sotheby’s – La Presse

Deya Bautista — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 11:00:23 +0000

Photo: Edward Plante-Frechette

According to this article in La Presse, Vito Rizzuto’s home is now for sale.
(do we need to explain who Vito Rizzuto is? We didn’t think so either!)

The home, with a municipal evaluation of 1 million dollars, is asking for $1, 995,000.It is listed with Sotheby’s agency. When the listing agent was asked if it will be difficult to sale the home of a mafia boss, she replied: “No, why would it be a problem? It’s a magnificent home. There is no obstructions to sale it. Vito Rizzuto is gone. We’ve already have a few visitors.”

Disclaimer: The post is only a commentary on a written article by La Presse. We are not the listing agency of the above mentioned property, nor do we have affiliations

Our team in the News: McGill Immobilier and the Montreal Condo Market

Deya Bautista — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:15:59 +0000

Échos Montréal, Old Montreal local paper, issued an article last month about new construction condos and the McGill Real Estate Team. The article discusses the Condo market in Montreal, and the facts that makes the condo market still a favorable choice for buyers.

If you don’t know about McGill Immobilier, we are a boutique agency that specializes in Marketing and Selling New Condo Projects. The first one of its kind in Montreal.

You can find a copy of the article in here. It’s written in French.

We had also a group shot that came out fabulous! Although not all of the agents were present, in this picture you can get to know then team a little.? The names are given at the bottom of the image. And they misspelled mine.

Can you guess where I am in the picture?

Good-Bye Sleb, here comes Lofts des Arts

Deya Bautista — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:38:46 +0000

If you’ve been reading the blog long enough, you’d probably remember the article about Sleb and the scandal with the developer back then, the money being owed to the people who purchased and the legal battle between the promoter (Minco), creditors (Dalle Nogare) and the buyers.

The news were released last year, the Sleb project was finally settled and taken from Minco by the Dalle Nogare family. The buyers who lost money on the initial investment were reimbursed and a new project was born: Lofts des Arts.

There are 102 industrial style condos, from 818 to 1650 sq ft, with 10 foot ceilings and hardwood floors. The asking price starts at $250,000. There’s no model unit to see, because (according to the sales rep) “every unit is different and unique”.

Wishing best of luck with the new project and I’m happy to hear the buyers from Sleb got their money back. Will they return to the new project? My friend who bought there decided not to take a chance with the new developer. Maybe others will be more adventurous.

Karl Fischer: Celebrity Architect in Montreal and NYC.

Deya Bautista — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:30:45 +0000

There’s absolutely no doubt that Karl Fischer’s work is smoking hot. His creations have been growing by the day in Montreal and New York City, with many other projects to come.
He’s been published in the New York Times and the Montreal Gazette. You can see some of his buildings in our city. Luxury condos in Old Montreal: and Le Themis. Also, the upcoming Le quartier parisien. Not to mention countless of projects completed in New York City.

Now, you may wonder: Who is this Karl Fischer guy? And why should I care?
The reason we are mentioning him here, apart from the fact that he is a great architect, is because he is also a Montrealer; graduated from McGill University. The same McGill in downtown Montreal. In fact, he runs his business in Canada out of a location in Old Montreal.

So we’ve seen some of his projects here, read about his accomplishments, but we’ve never gotten a look of what the person really is, what is behind his success. Up until a well-established real estate online publication posted an article about him.

In the article called: Inside the home of Karl Fischer, The Real Deal described Fischer as;

“Fischer has designed about two dozen buildings, including luxury condos, but there is nothing about the décor of his seventh-floor penthouse residence that would earn it a photo spread in Architectural Digest. Despite his success, Fischer said he feels uncomfortable with luxury, and the décor of his apartment echoes this sentiment. The 900-square-foot pied-à-terre (Fischer has a home in his native Montreal, as well as one in Vermont) is functional with no wasted space.”

“I don’t feel comfortable with luxurious things; it is just my nature,” said Fischer, a compact man of 59 with a salt-and-pepper beard and moustache. “I just like basic stuff.

“I have a standard Volkswagen; I don’t have to get a BMW,” he said.

There are countless of articles on Karl’s projects at Curbed.com, a New York based real estate blog. They have been following closely the progress of his developments for the last year and a half.
But, when Robert at curbed.com mentions: “That’s our Karl”. We would have to correct him. “No, no. That’s our Karl”

More on Karl Fischer at Curbed:

More on Karl’s Montreal developments, coming soon – right here.
Stay posted: