Since the beginning of June, around sixty tenants have invested in the first phase of the Le Fitz project, located on Route du Président-Kennedy, in Lévis. From July 1, around a hundred others should join, and in November, the 25-story building, which offers a breathtaking view of Quebec, should be full.
Now that the first phase of Fitz has been delivered, Lévis can boast of offering the highest housing in the Quebec region.
“We are going from dream to reality”, celebrates the promoter Gilles Pelletier, by showing his 75 meter high residential tower at the Soleil. Between the workers finishing the painting, movers are busy filling the 175 apartments that have sprung up where a modest gas station stood just three years ago.
Mr. Pelletier points out that the Quebec region is not used to seeing buildings this tall. “We prefer wide buildings. I call them the Berlin Walls, because they hide everyone’s view.”
“But if Kelowna is capable of building towers of 20 or 30 floors with its 200,000 inhabitants, I don’t see why we can’t do it here.”
The first residents of phase 1 of Fitz began to settle in in recent weeks. (Frédéric Matte/Le Soleil)
In 2025, Le Fitz should inaugurate its second phase and its 173 housing units. The following year, the developer should deliver its final third tower, which will have 135 rental units and some commercial premises.
Ultimately, the 160 million complex should offer tenants of its 480 housing units a swimming pool, a gym, a yoga studio, conference spaces, two terraces, an entertainment room and a large common area. Everything will be accessible without setting foot outside.
“It will be like a small town in the middle of the city,” illustrates Gilles Pelletier. We didn’t want to hide the common spaces in the basement, he explains. We always want there to be people walking around, circulating.”
“We want it to give the impression of being in the village square.”
— Gilles Pelletier, promoter and CEO of Pellimo
Thanks to its height, the Fitz offers a breathtaking view of Quebec. (Frédéric Matte/Le Soleil)
The first phase of the project offers several semi-furnished housing units of three or four rooms, in addition to a few penthouses, on the highest floors. The most expensive units rent for around $4,000, while the most affordable apartments, three and a half, cost around $1,000 per month.
A price “similar to Quebec”, according to Mr. Pelletier, who praises the Fitz’s proximity to Highway 20 and bus lines, but above all to shops.
A few meters from the first tower, there are a few shopping centers, including Galeries Chagnon, but also three grocery stores, a medical clinic, a cinema and restaurants. “There is not a large place where there are so many nearby businesses within walking distance in the region,” notes the developer.
In the elevators, we come across elderly people and their dogs, a young professional couple and a student from the University of Quebec at Rimouski (UQAR).
“All kinds of people come to live here,” replies the president and CEO of the Pellimo firm to Lévis residents who wonder who chooses to live in the numerous towers that are rising from the ground on the South Shore. “It’s a way of life that suits all those who agree to adopt it.”
A neighborhood that will continue to grow
The Fitz is not the only major project that promises to change the face of eastern Lévis. On Boulevard Guillaume-Couture and Route du Président-Kennedy, several vacant lots and low-density businesses have been sold in recent months.
Major real estate players from the capital region, but also from the rest of Quebec and Canada, are now interested in Lévis. And they are ready to invest hundreds of millions in it.
The sun among other things, learned that Lévis was in the process of authorizing two new towers of more than 20 floors in the area.
This new real estate project, the details of which are still not available to the public, went through the borough council stage on Wednesday evening. It should emerge from the ground opposite District GC, another major project currently under construction.
The Desjardins borough council authorized Wednesday evening the construction of two new 21-story towers on Guillaume-Couture Boulevard, just opposite another building under construction. (Frédéric Matte/Le Soleil)
“In the coming years, there will be three or four that will grow on this side, and the same on the other side,” predicts Gilles Pelletier, pointing with the tip of his finger to the surrounding land which he knows has promise. to large real estate complexes. “And in 15 years, the redevelopment should be pretty much finished.”
“There is a momentum for densification. And this is where it happens.”
— Gilles Pelletier, President and CEO of Pellimo
Pellimo CEO Gilles Pelletier has no doubt that other major residential projects will be built near the Fitz. (Frédéric Matte/Le Soleil)
And why in Lévis? “Because the City is facilitating, because it is the place that is growing the fastest in Quebec, and above all, because there is space,” summarizes the promoter.
Lévis wants to plateau, then backs down
However, the Lehouillier administration recently indicated its intention to put a brake on high-rise development in the sector praised by Mr. Pelletier. In April, it said it would limit future construction to 15 stories in six areas near President Kennedy Highway.
But Lévis ultimately backed down, preferring to restrict heights only in two zones, launching a process of reflection for the others.
The CEO of Pellimo is one of the developers and citizens who pressured the mayor and his team to reconsider their desire to cap towers in the heart of the Desjardins borough.
Mr. Pelletier believes that the sector where he does business is “perfect” for large densification. “We don’t bother anyone here,” he says, noting that “there are only businesses around.” “If there is a place where we should be able to do development and densification, it’s here.”
The Fitz is located in the center of a low density commercial area. Everything indicates that in the coming years, many towers will grow there. (Frédéric Matte/Le Soleil)
Not all Lévis residents agree with him. In a recent public consultation for the city’s 2040 vision, they were rather harsh about the development taking place on the South Shore.
A quarter of respondents asked the Lehouillier administration to restrict or slow down development, deeming it too rapid and brutal, while 42% of Lévis residents asked their elected officials to establish new guidelines in terms of construction.
“We only build large condo buildings,” summarized a respondent whose testimony was highlighted. Lévis was previously a family town where single-family residences were favored.”
The developer points out, however, that to accommodate so many future Lévis residents in a neighborhood of single-family homes, enormous vacant lots would have been required. And that would definitely have contributed to urban sprawl, he notes. “But there is no more space like that […] and neighborhoods like that don’t happen anymore.”
