A consortium led by Groupe Society and Laurier Capital has acquired Windsor Station, the historic office-and-retail complex next to Montreal’s Bell Centre, adding to a wave of high‑profile ownership changes reshaping the city’s downtown core.
Cadillac Fairview, a subsidiary of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, sold the property, according to CoStar data. The purchase price was not disclosed.
Windsor Station is a landmark heritage property that, the buyers said, has been long underutilized relative to its location on Avenue des Canadiens‑de‑Montréal and its accessibility via Peel and Saint-Antoine Streets. But the acquisition marks the beginning of the property’s revitalization, the buyers said, noting that Windsor Station has approximately 326,000 square feet of combined office and retail space.
“Our vision is to ensure that this iconic monument of Montreal’s history and architecture becomes an essential place to live and do business where history meets innovation,” according to a statement issued by the Cheaib family, founders of Groupe Society.
The buyers said they plan to reposition the property with refreshed retail, upgraded office space and greater public access. Their plans include a new 10,000‑square‑foot restaurant facing the Bell Centre, as well as additional shops and services to increase foot traffic and leasing activity. Office space will be targeted toward smaller professional firms, technology companies and startups.
Windsor Station has a mix of long‑term office tenants and ample availability. Major tenants in the complex include Coveo Solutions, which occupies about 66,600 square feet through 2029, and OneSpan, with roughly 43,500 square feet under lease until mid‑2029, according to CoStar data.
Roughly 118,000 square feet of space in the building is currently available, with suites ranging from small offices to a large contiguous block of about 18,200 square feet. Asking office rents are estimated to range from $40-to-$49 per square foot on a full‑service basis, according to CoStar data.
Bifurcated office market
Montreal’s office market remains sharply divided, with demand increasingly concentrated in newer, higher‑quality buildings and older stock continuing to struggle. Leasing improved through 2025 as occupiers continued to “move up” into better space, reinforcing what CoStar describes as a bifurcated market where “best‑in‑class assets [are] attracting tenants and filling space, while older office properties continue to struggle.”
Vacancy rates across actively marketed office buildings reached 20.6% as of this month, even as newer buildings posted significantly lower vacancy of 7.8%. While overall conditions favour tenants, limited new supply and the gradual removal of obsolete inventory are helping stabilize fundamentals at the top end of the market, according to CoStar data.
The Windsor Station acquisition is one of Laurier's first major deals. The new Montreal‑based real estate investment firm was founded earlier this year by Guillaume Jacob, who previously spent seven years at CBRE in Montreal before leaving to launch the firm, and Laurent Dionne‑Legendre, who spent nearly a decade at Mach Group, where he was involved in office and mixed‑use acquisitions across Montreal, before joining Jacob to form Laurier Capital.
Even with ongoing concerns about office demand, Jacob said the firm is focused on well‑located, high‑quality assets. “Despite the reservations often expressed about the office market, we believe in the strong potential of quality real estate assets like Windsor Station,” Jacob said in the release, pointing to limited new supply and strong demand for top‑tier buildings.
The deal follows a high‑profile transaction next door that highlighted continued institutional interest in Montreal’s top-tier office assets. In January, German investor DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired Deloitte Tower, a 516,667‑square‑foot, Class A office tower next door to the Windsor Station, for $279 million, or about $540 per square foot, according to CoStar data.
Groupe Society is controlled by the Cheaib family, best known in Montreal for co‑founding Marché Adonis, the Mediterranean grocery chain launched in 1979. Metro Inc. acquired a majority stake in Adonis in 2011 and later completed the purchase of the remaining interest, turning the brand into a national supermarket banner while the Cheaib family shifted its focus toward real estate development. Groupe Society has developed more than 800 rental housing units and owns several commercial properties across Montreal.
Windsor Station opened in 1889 and was designed by New York architect Bruce Price, one of the most influential figures in Canadian railway architecture at the end of the 19th century. Price also designed the Château Frontenac in Quebec City, which opened in 1893, as well as Montreal’s Viger Station complex, which combined a grand hotel and rail terminal in the late 1890s.
No timeline or redevelopment budget for Windsor Station was disclosed, and the buyers said planning and leasing discussions are ongoing.