Major investments on the plateau

Some years ago, the plateau located between Highway 117 and Mont-Tremblant’s downtown (Saint-Jovite sector) was a large wooded area like so many that are scattered around our region. But in the past 10 years, the plateau has taken on a commercial role. This winter alone, three businesses have been established there: the floor covering centre called Céra-Nord, the restaurant La Cage aux Sports, and the Oxyclub Solutions Santé gym.

But what attracts so many businesses to this specific area? The answer is simple: location. For business people, you couldn’t ask for better visibility. The buildings on the plateau are visible from Highway 117 and on the north side, they front onto the rue de Saint-Jovite, which is already strongly commercial. As a result, there’s virtually no risk of losing clients. “We can only attract more,” says David Messier, who’s responsible for communications for the Sportscene group, which includes La Cage aux Sports; its subsidiary has just opened on the 117 close to Canadian Tire.

The Céra-Nord owners, Serge Fournier and Andrée Mayotte, say the same thing. They expect their client group to grow by about 15 per cent and for them, the big opportunity is to finally move to the “warehouse store” that they’ve been dreaming about since founding their business in 2000. “We are currently in a mall and our place of business is small and easy to overlook. By being on the plateau we’ll finally have room to stock our inventory,” says Mr. Fournier.

The desire to be an owner is also a big motivator in this development activity. Céra-Nord and Oxyclub are clear: they no longer wanted to rent. And as vacant land is fairly rare in the downtown area, the plateau was the place to go – particularly in that it’s not far from their earlier location. “It won’t be too much of a change for our clients,” says Stéphane Leclair, co-owner of Oxyclub.

Nonetheless, the investments are significant. Oxyclub has put $1.75 million into its new building; Sportscene, $1.5 million; and Céra-Nord, $900,000. All are confident that they will recoup their investment in the near future.

Maxime Coursol, journalist