A new investor in Ottawa’s real estate market, Groupe MACH, is poised to play a role in the growth of the city as well as the protection of the health of the downtown core.
Groupe MACH was founded in 2000 by Vincent Chiara, a Montreal-based developer who now manages a portfolio of more than 50 million sq. ft. of office space spread over 250 properties across Canada.
The portfolio includes Montreal landmarks Sun Life Building and Place Victoria, and the company has more than 15 million sq. ft. of space on the drawing board.
Groupe MACH recently made its first investment in the Ottawa area in 2021 with a Class A office building on Alta Vista Drive. It also has plans for sites in the downtown core on O’Connor and Metcalfe streets, where it plans to demolish buildings pending municipal approval. There are also plans for ONE60 Elgin, now acquired by the firm. Groupe MACH has also purchased 1.7 million sq. ft. of office space from Cominar.
“We see a lot of opportunities, and the fact that there aren’t a lot of outside investors gave us more of a reason to be there,” says Chiara. The firm’s strategy is to remain as a long-term player so it establishes itself and becomes part of the community, hiring people locally.
“It’s really a long-term play and we bought assets which confirmed that we intend to be in Ottawa for a long time,” says Chiara.
The company’s strategy also includes the location of assets where the underlying land value or density is at least equivalent to the value of the asset it is buying. For example, Groupe MACH purchased ONE60 Elgin because of the parking allocation, the additional density, and the city’s intention to rezone a lot of similar properties to residential use, Chiara says.
Laurent Dionne-Legendre, vice-president of investments with Groupe MACH, predicts office conversions are going to become increasingly popular as Ottawa’s tech sector and the federal government’s presence shifts.
However, Chiara says that the ecosystem of the downtown core is at risk if people do not return to work soon.
“It’s going to be a difficult ride for the downtown core if the government doesn’t step up,” says Chiara. In most cities across North America, downtown office values have plummeted anywhere between 35 and 50 per cent, which affects municipal tax dollars, Chiara says.
“It’s going to hurt the municipalities and the services which are generated. So this is going to become a big, big issue, coupled with the fact that if there’s no traffic in the downtown core, the businesses that depend on traffic — the food courts, the restaurants, the taxi driver, the Uber drivers, everything that lives off of the downtown traffic — will obviously have a rough ride.”
This is why Chiara is calling on everyone to do their part to get workers back downtown, and Groupe MACH will play a large role in this renaissance.
This article first appeared in the September 2024 special “City Building” issue of the Ottawa Business Journal. That publication is available in its digital edition below:
