Oktodev intends to spend roughly $90 million to build a 14-storey, 180-room “upscale luxury” hotel in downtown Montreal, in the final phase of three-phase Phillips Square complex that includes condos and rental units.

Plans are for shovels to go in the ground in March 2027 with completion by January 2029.

The Montreal-based developer teamed up with local financial partner Bullpen Capital and U.S.-based New Castle Hotels & Resorts, which will operate the hotel for a yet-to-be-named banner.

“This hotel is the first big hotel project that we will develop in Montreal,” said Dominic Chaîné, managing director at Oktodev. The company also owns Terminus Hotel, a small boutique hotel in Quebec City. 

Oktodev acquired the land for $12.5 million from insolvency trustee Raymond Chabot. Colliers advised Oktodev on the transaction.

The Phillips Square site

“We’ve been looking at this land since July 2024,” Chaîné said. “We were directly in discussions with (developer) Brivia, at the time, to acquire the land and develop the hotel.”

In January, citing significant economic challenges including pandemic-related work stoppages, supply chain disruptions and rising interest rates, Brivia Group placed all three phases of Phillips Square and its Mansfield Condos, a 19-storey luxury tower at 1230 Mansfield St., into receivership.

Brivia Group acquired the land at Phillips Square for $45 million in 2018 and broke ground on the project in 2020. The Phillips Square development is between Sainte-Catherine Street and René-Lévesque Boulevard.

Phase 1 consists of a marquee 61-storey tower with 498 condominium units and 293 rental apartments. Phase 2 is a 21-storey, 441-unit residential tower that is almost complete. Phase 3 has always been planned as a hotel.

The hotel project was previously approved by the city and Oktodev is in the process of updating the permit.

Ipso Facto recently acquired 165 unsold condominiums at Phillips Square for $65 million and plans to convert the units into rental housing.

Demand for hotels strong in Montreal

In a LinkedIn statement, Oktodev called the hotel site "one of the city’s most irreplaceable addresses," noting it is located where the financial district, the retail corridor and the entertainment district meet. “Securing it is exactly the kind of strategic, long-term bet we love making,” the company said.

Chaîné said the demand for hotels is strong in Montreal, with occupancy rates having reached close to 80 per cent last summer.

“The market is really attractive for different brands,” he said. “Hotel brands have been trying to enter Montreal for the past 24, 36 months. There’s a lot of interest around the site and hotels in general in Montreal.”

Established in September 2018 by co-founders Nathaniel Devine and François Jean, Oktodev develops and invests in real estate, with holdings in Quebec, Alberta, Ontario, Saskatchewan and B.C. 

It has about $1.8 billion in assets, with about 80 per cent of the portfolio in residential real estate, and the rest in commercial and industrial.

“For the moment, we only develop in the province of Quebec, but we acquire and stabilize residential in Alberta and other provinces,” Chaîné said. “We also acquire commercial and industrial properties outside Quebec.”

Among its residential holdings outside Quebec are the Galbraith House, Lansdowne Park, Garneau Towers, Capilano Tower and Imperial Tower apartment complexes, all in Edmonton.

Its Quebec properties include Walt, a 298-unit multi-residential project with three ground-floor commercial spaces, located on the corner of Dorval and Dawson avenues in Montreal’s West Island. It was developed in partnership with Endevco and PUR Immobilia.

In Gatineau, it developed, in partnership with Endevco, Alexandra, a 314-unit apartment building with commercial space and Éléonore, a 242-unit luxury rental project.

Oktodev has about 800 residential units in construction in Quebec and about 3,500 units in pre-development. 

In June 2025, Oktodev acquired a 465,000-square-foot parking lot in Laval adjacent to the Place Laval office complex from developer Luc Poirier for $17.9 million.

Chaîné says Oktodev is working with Laval on a development plan for the site on Saint-Martin Boulevard East, near Des Laurentides Boulevard. The site is minutes from highways, metro stations and downtown Laval.

Construction should begin in 2027, with plans currently calling for a multi-phase, mixed-use but primarily residential project, with 1,600 units of rental housing.