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Where you won't be moving >> A roundup of the trophy homes of Montreal's rich and famous
by PHILIP PREVILLE Photos by Jason Felker and Gunther Gamper Two weeks ago, Robert Obadia, founder of the now-bankrupt airline Nationair, stunned Montreal's real-estate community when he put his Carleton Avenue home in Westmount up for sale at a price of $12.5 million. He bought it for $3.2 million, then made numerous improvements (estimates range from $1 million to $3 million worth of renovations), including the installation of an elevator. Even so, the Montreal Ubran Community Evaluation Service--which places a value on every residential property on the island, to determine how much tax each homeowner must pay--shows the Obadia home to be worth only $2.5 million. Still, he may manage to get his price. Montreal's real estate market is booming. "The market is currently approaching 1989 levels for sale price," says Danielle Grossenbacher of the Greater Montreal Real Estate Board. "That means we've almost returned to our all-time high, after watching values fall throughout the '90s." And Obadia is merely a fallen angel among Montreal's wealthy, selling his trophy home to help pay off his debts. Other, wiser members of the city's monied class will simply sit back and smile as they watch the value of their home--and their personal net worth--grow in leaps and bounds. Meanwhile, this week thousands of Montrealers will sit on the floors of their new, cramped apartments, surrounded by boxes and dismantled furniture, exhausted from their just-finished move, eating pizza and beer, still wondering how the other half lives. Allow the Mirror to take you on a tour. We spent some time looking up addresses on the MUC's evaluation roll Web site (http://evalweb.cum.qc.ca), and have compiled a sampling of well-known Montrealers' homes and their values. Note that the search is limited to the island of Montreal and that the homes listed below are not for sale. Also note that the values shown below are from the most recent MUC evaluation dated 1995. Real estate values have gone up since, which means many of the values are probably underestimates, well below their potential sales prices. Which, in turn, means these homeowners are getting a deal on their municipal tax bills. The next evaluation is slated for next year. OVER $2 MILLION
Herbert Black Life station: President of the American Iron and Metal Company, important benefactor to McGill University. Location: Belvedere Place, Westmount. Built: 1997. Lot size: 21,584 square feet. Lot value: $1,305,800 House value: $2,794,200 Total: $4,100,000
Douglas Arvith Life station: Member of the Arvith clan, owners of Yellow Shoes outlets (over 250 stores). Location: Summit Circle, Westmount, 1930, 17,412 sq.ft. Lot: $1,049,300 House: $2,350,700 Total: $3,400,000 Noteworthy: Arvith's home rose in value by $1,187,700 since the 1992 tax evaluation, suggesting massive renovations and improvements.
Leo Kolber Life station: Longtime Bronfman holding company manager, appointed to the Senate of Canada by Pierre Trudeau in 1983. Location: Summit Circle, Westmount, 1988, 35,932 sq.ft. Lot: $1,976,300 House: $901,300 Total: $2,877,600 Noteworthy: The value of Kobler's home has plummeted in the tax rolls by $372,400 since 1992.
Yvan Dupont Life station: President and Chief Executive Officer of Axor, a versatile multipurpose construction company. Favoured by government agencies and crown corporations, Axor is the builder of, among other things, the new American Embassy in Ottawa, as well as Hydro-Québec's windfarm energy test site. Location: Belvedere Road, Westmount, 1996, 31,227 sq. ft. Lot: $1,350,000 House: $1,350,000 Total: $2,700,000
Edgar Bronfman Life station: Son of Charles (now moved to New York), now running the Seagram empire. Divested the company of its interest in chemicals and transformed it into an entertainment company by purchasing a controlling stake in Universal Studios. Location: Belvedere Road, Westmount, 1929, 52,005 sq. ft. Lot: $2,002,200 House: $396,400 Total: $2,398,600
RETAIL MAGNATES Ever wonder where your money goes when you buy a pair of pants or shoes? Why, it all flows into Westmount, of course--just like all the other money in the province.
Life station: Namesake for Parasuco jeans and stores. Location: Summit Crescent, Westmount, 10,485 sq. ft. Lot: $415,400 House: $1,423,300 Total: $1,838,700
Life station: Top dog in the funky-youth-clothing empire Le Château. Location: Murray Avenue, Westmount, 1928, 10,625 sq. ft. Lot: $531,200 House: $1,253,800 Total: $1,785,000
Life station: Member of the Saputo clan, makers of your favourite cheeses. Clan also owns Petra real estate and Roma construction. Location: Lexington Avenue, Westmount, 1929, 19,525 sq. ft. Lot : $1,006,100 House: $650,900 Total: $1,657,000 Noteworthy: Highest valued home among the entire Saputo clan dwellings, though many own homes in excess of $1 million.
Michael Brownstein Life station: Patriarch of high-end footwear retailer Brown's Shoes; also famous for taking the Quebec government to court over the sign provisions of Bill 101, and winning. Location: Devon Avenue, Westmount, 1950, 10,744 sq. ft. Lot: $590,900 House: $637,000 Total: $1,227,900
Life station: Owns virtually every other shoe store in the city not owned by the Avriths or the Brownsteins: Pegabo, Aldo, Simard & Voyer, Transit and others. Location: Aberdeen Avenue, Westmount, 1929, 9,263 sq. ft. Lot: $463,100 House: $413,900 Total: $877,000
POLITICIANS How do Quebec's top politicians live? The discrepancies are striking. Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard's Montreal home could not be located on the tax rolls, but here are a few other noteworthy politicos:
Life station: Former Progressive Conservative Prime Minister of Canada (198493), now practicing law with the firm Ogilvy Renault. Much hated across Canada; currently attempting to rehabilitate his image. Location: Forden Crescent, Westmount, 1950, 15,037 sq. ft. Lot: $751,800 House: $1,198,200 Total: $1,950,000
Life station: Former Liberal Prime Minister of Canada (196879; 198084), now associated with the firm Heenan Blaikie. Much hated across Quebec; couldn't give a damn. Location: Pine Avenue West, Montreal, 1931, 7,196 sq. ft. Lot: $323,800 House: $215,000 Total: $538,800 Noteworthy: Mr. Trudeau's home, built by well-known Art Deco architect Ernest Cormier (who also built the Université de Montréal tower), is now considered a heritage site. As such, Mr. Trudeau benefits from a partial tax exemption on his house.
Pauline Marois Life station: Present Parti Québecois Health Minister. Much hated by Quebec nurses: Marois currently refuses to negotiate anything more than a 5 per cent salary increase with the province's nurses. Location: Cherrier Street, Île Bizard, 1994, 1,732,863 sq. ft. Lot: $433,200 House: $1,368,800 Total: $1,802,000 (1998 evaluation)
Life station: Former Parti Québécois Premier of Quebec, known for his hard-line position on Quebec independence. Much hated by all except a following of devout loyalists. Location: Robert Avenue, Outremont, 1911, 3,200 sq. ft. Lot: $112,000 House: $223,000 Total: $335,000
Derek Burney Life station: Former Chief of Staff to Brian Mulroney, now high-powered executive with Bell Canada. Location: Redpath Street, Montreal, 3,636 sq. ft. (Year not listed.) Lot: $163,600 House: $673,900 Total: $837,500
THE BOMBARDIER CLAN Makers of Ski-Doos, Sea-Doos and high-speed trains. Bombardier also manufactures small passenger aircraft seating up to 70 people; over the past 17 years, Bombardier's aircraft operations have received $817 million in grants and loans from the federal Industry Department.
Janine Bombardier Life station: Clanmember. Location: Belvedere Road, Westmount, 1912, 20,680 sq. ft. Lot: $1,023,700 House: $636,300 Total: $1,660,000
Michael Graff Life station: President, Bombardier Aerospace. Location: Redpath Crescent, Montreal, 1924, 18,135 sq. ft. Lot: $799,700 House: $750,300 Total: $1,550,000
Life station: CEO, Bombardier Inc. Location: Aberdeen Avenue, Westmount, 1937, 14,040 sq. ft. Lot: $702,000 House: $683,200 Total: $1,385,200
OLD MONEY A selection of homes belonging to members of Montreal's great and once-great families:
Paul Desmarais Jr. Location: Daulac Road, Westmount, 1929, 14,370 sq. ft. Lot: $646,600 House: $751,800 Total: $1,398,400
Jeremy Reitman Location: Edgehill Road, Westmount, 1920, 12,300 sq. ft. Lot: $744,100 House: $625,800 Total: $1,369,900
David Molson Location: Lakeshore Road, Baie d'Urfé, 1920, 131,000 sq. ft. Lot: $943,200 House: $310,000 Total: $1,253,500
Barrie Birks Location: Aberdeen Avenue, Westmount, 1913, 12,288 sq. ft. Lot: $614,400 House: $528,300 Total: $1,142,700
--Additonal research by Sarah Groff-Palermo and Ariel Chernin
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From the Mirror's search, here are a few of the most valuable homes on the island.
Salvatore Parasuco
Herschel Segal
Joey Saputo
Albert Bensadoun
Brian Mulroney
Pierre Elliot Trudeau
Jacques Parizeau
Laurent Beaudoin