Chronique - Hiver 2008

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Groupe immobilier de Montréal : Au service des locataires d’Allied

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IOU Central, « l’e-Bay » des prêts d’argent Q U É B E C

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M O N T R É A L

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T O R O N T O

Réseau Absolu : le marketing à travers le Québec •

W I N N I P E G

HIVER 2008 WINTER 2008

4

ÉLAN CLASSIQUE

PHOTO: ATMA CLASSIQUE

Chez ATMA, les ventes de disques classiques sont à la hausse

Plus : Médiom Internet à Québec : des services adaptés aux besoins des PME Une agence branchée – VDL2 élargit ses services

MONTRÉAL

Une agence branchée VDL2 grandit pour inventer l’agence Web du futur

CITÉ MULTIMÉDIA, MONTRÉAL / - Il est facile d’imaginer aujourd’hui que la popularité du vidéo sur le Web rejoint celle de la télévision. Mais il y a dix ans, cette notion était encore surprenante. Pourtant VDL2, agence de marketing interactif basée à Montréal et spécialiste des tendances Internet, l’avait identifiée très tôt dans sa série de rapports annuels sur les tendances Internet.

Pour 2008, Philippe Le Roux, président et observateur en chef des tendances chez VDL2, prévoit que la popularité croissante des sites de réseautage social continuera de détourner le public des médias et que l’audience réduite de la télévision, de la radio et de la presse écrite forcera les agences de publicité à se concentrer sur le marketing interactif, un secteur qui semble être en forte progression.

Depuis ses débuts en 1994, VDL2, une des premières sociétés de marketing interactif au Québec, s’est établie comme une agence de conseil visionnaire avec Internet comme seul et unique secteur d’activité. Mais plutôt que d’emboîter le pas aux autres entreprises sur son marché qui se sont limitées à la conception de versions Web des brochures de leurs clients, l’équipe de VDL2 a intégré Internet directement aux plans d’affaires de ses clients plutôt que juste dans des campagnes publicitaires, une approche qui a permis à des entreprises comme Via Rail, le Réseau des Sport (RDS) et Le Devoir d’exploiter Internet pour augmenter leurs revenus.

Pour Via Rail, en 1994,VDL2 a mis sur pied un système de réservations de billets par courriel, qui a par la suite ouvert la voie au magasinage en ligne. Aujourd’hui près de 43 % des billets vendus par Via Rail sont achetés sur son site Web.

En 1996, plutôt que de rester une simple chaîne sportive avec un site Web, RDS est devenu, grâce à VDL2, un véritable pôle d’information sportive, en misant sur un forum pour créer des communautés virtuelles et en faisant appel aux experts de son équipe pour animer les discussions.

Aujourd’hui, l’audience de ce site est cinq fois supérieure à celle de son principal concurrent et VDL2 estime que 20 % du contenu du site de RDS est produit par sa communauté virtuelle.

VDL2, qui a géré depuis 2000 la stratégie Internet du quotidien Le Devoir, continue, par ses innovations, à renforcer la présence sur Internet du quotidien, un des rares a faire des profits sur le Web. Tel qu’il est actuellement, le site attire quelque 1 200 000 visiteurs par mois.

Créée en 1994, VDL2 se considérait jusque récemment comme une agence-conseil de marketing interactif et d’opérations web. Alors que son équipe grandissait de manière prudente à hauteur de 10 à 15 % de personnel de plus par an, en 2007 elle a franchi un cap décisif pour jouer un rôle plus global auprès de ses clients en développant ses capacités créatives et publicitaires. « Nous nous sommes rendu compte soudainement qu’il n’était plus nécessaire d’expliquer à nos clients que l’Internet était stratégique. L’Internet est devenu stratégique pour eux », déclare Yves Lapierre, vice-président, Finance, chez VDL2 en expliquant que l’équipe a dû aller au-delà de son rôle de consultant et étendre son offre pour répondre aux besoins de ses clients. L’agence a donc intensifié ses embauches.

Une importante campagne de recrutement lancée l’été dernier lui a permis de passer de 35 à 52 employés et, cet automne, elle a dû quitter ses bureaux du 700, rue Wellington pour emménager dans 9 600 pi2 au 75, rue Queen.

Forte d’un nouvel associé, André Bélanger, arrivé au printemps dernier après avoir acheté les parts d’un ancien associé, VDL2 continue d’élargir sa clientèle (Fonds Daniel Langlois et Transcontinental Médias font entre autres partie de ses nouveaux contrats) et de renforcer ses relations de longue date avec ses clients.

TREND SPOTTING: Since its 1994 start, VDL2, one of the province’s first online marketing firms, has established itself as a forward-thinking consultancy whose sole focus is the Internet. But rather than following its peers into the straightforward development of Web brochures, the team, now at 75 Queen at Cité Multimedia, worked from client business plans instead of marketing briefs to help organizations like Via Rail, le Réseau des Sport (RDS) and Le Devoir leverage the Internet to increase revenues. Today, it has moved beyond the role of consultant and expanded its offerings to keep up with clients’ needs.

CHRONIQUE COMMUNAUTAIRE • 2

vdl2.com

The only fishing show in the world directed and produced by a woman ADELAIDE STREET WEST, TORONTO / - Sturgeons are one of the oldest and biggest fish on the planet. Having not changed much in the last 200 million years, they live to about 100 and some grow to 10 feet long. They inhabit costal waters but swim up river in the spring to spawn, says Kathryn Maroun.

But half way through her explanation of sturgeon lifecycles and her quest to catch one in B.C., she stops, suddenly self-conscious.

“I’m sorry, I’m such a fish nerd,” she says, laughing.

A professional angler and host of the television show What a Catch, Maroun’s ‘nerdy’ enthusiasm for fish facts have helped to put her behind the only fishing show in the world directed and produced by a woman.

ENTREPRENEUR TURNED PRODUCER Her entrepreneurial background (she ran Paragon Pottery for 10 years before selling it) prepared her for the vagaries of television production, but it was her fishing background and dynamic personality that helped her parlay her work as a guide and fly casting instructor into a full-time business producing and hosting her own adventure fishing show, which airs on the Outdoor Life Network in the U.S. and on the A Channel here.

She also has her own line of practical, fashionable clothing for women involved in outdoor pursuits (an idea spawned from years of fishing in clothes designed for men), and runs Casting for Recovery Canada, a charity that takes breast cancer survivors fishing.

What a Catch Productions, whose headquarters are at 425 Adelaide Street West, is now churning out its fifth season of adventure travel fishing. In the last four years, Maroun has traveled from Norway to South Africa seeking remote destinations in her quest to catch and release some of the world’s most exotic and rare game fish.

But as any pro will tell you, fishing for a living is anything but relaxing.

TO CATCH A FISH “We don’t roll footage until we land a fish, because if you film an area first and don’t catch a fish there and move, your background scenery won’t match up,” explains Maroun.

And for each fish you see her catch on the show, she’s actually had to catch as many as three to capture the different camera angles of hooking, fighting and landing a fish, all of which are later edited into a single sequence.

TORONTO

WHAT A CATCH

Kathryn Maroun was a guide and fly casting instructor before producing and hosting her own adventure fishing show, which airs OLN in the U.S. and on the A Channel here.

Casting for Recovery: Taking Breast Cancer Patients Fishing Kathryn Maroun, host of television’s What a Catch, founded Casting for Recovery Canada in 2004. Since then, 170 women have participated in the weekend getaways, and most were non-fishers who have since converted, finding the meditative quality of fly fishing a rejuvenating experience.

Trips are funded entirely by private corporate donations and a lottery draws names for each trip. Everything is taken care of, including lodging, meals and instruction, but participants do need to have their doctor’s permission to go.

To register, volunteer or donate, visit ww.castingforrecovery.com

EXOTIC TRAVEL MEETS FISHING Filmed in High Definition, the show’s format is ready for the future of broadcasting, and as far as the content goes, Maroun knows she’s ahead of the curve there too as a growing number of men and women pick up fly fishing.

“Fishing is the new golf,” she says, “a lot of big business deals happen in these fishing camps. You’re there with business associates for a week, things slow down and business happens.”

whatacatch.net

3 • WINTER 2008

Malgré le téléchargement et le piratage, ATMA augmente ses ventes de CD.

PHOTOS : ATMA CLASSIQUE

MONTRÉAL

Une classe à part

RUE ATLANTIC, MONTRÉAL / - À en croire Rolling Stone Magazine, les jours du CD audio, supplanté par le téléchargement, le partage de fichiers et la copie de musique, sont comptés. Mais la maison de disques ATMA, basée à Montréal, a un entrepôt entier de CD et de CD super audio tout juste sortis de la production, un catalogue de vedettes musicales classiques et internationales qui grossit à vue d’oeil et un contrat tout juste signé avec Naxos, qui distribuera ses titres aux États-Unis.

Pour ATMA, dont le siège social est situé au 400 Atlantic dans le quartier de la cour de Triage d’Outremont, le pessimisme ambiant quant à l’avenir du CD est très excessif. « [Le téléchargement] nous touche moins, car les amateurs de musique classique n’écoutent généralement pas leur musique de cette façon-là », explique Michel Ferland, directeur de la production chez ATMA. En fait, les ventes de la société à

l’échelle mondiale ont fortement augmenté (45 % du total des ventes proviennent de l’étranger), et ce, avant qu’elle ne signe son contrat avec Naxos.

Par ailleurs, son catalogue ne cesse de s’étoffer. « Contrairement à la musique pop, il n’existe dans la musique classique pratiquement aucune barrière linguistique ou culturelle », affirme Michel Ferland en expliquant que le réseau de distribution d’ATMA compte maintenant 25 pays.

Pour ce qui est du téléchargement, selon lui, les symphonies sont beaucoup trop longues et nécessiteraient de nombreux efforts et des ordinateurs très puissants pour être téléchargées correctement, car pour ce type de musique, la qualité de l’enregistrement est très importante.

Malgré tout, ATMA est bien présente sur le Web. Son directeur du marketing, Brandon Bayer, en poste à Toronto, a créé une base de données d’enregistrements à laquelle les détaillants comme iTunes peuvent accéder, mais elle est utilisée plutôt pour faire naître un intérêt pour ses albums et faire vendre les CD par la suite.

ATMA, mot sanscrit qui signifie « âme », organise des séances d’enregistrement pour de grands talents classiques canadiens. Elle s’occupe de l’embauche des musiciens, de la location du lieu d’enregistrement (souvent une église plutôt qu’une salle de concert) et de la gestion de l’aspect technique de l’enregistrement. Elle grave aussi le CD et gère le réseau de distribution.

Johanne Goyette, mélomane et ancienne réalisatrice à Radio-Canada, a travaillé comme ingénieure du son pendant dix ans avant d’acheter ATMA en 1995. Depuis, le catalogue de la maison de disques, qui couvre plusieurs périodes du baroque au contemporain, est passé à plus de 300 titres et compte de nombreux artistes très connus, québécois pour la plupart.

In a Class of their Own Despite music downloading and piracy trends, classical record label ATMA’s CD sales growing.

ATLANTIC AVE., MONTREAL / - To ATMA, whose headquarters are located at 400 Atlantic in the Triage Outremont, rumours of the CD’s death have been greatly exaggerated. “[Downloading] affects us less because classical music enthusiasts don’t generally listen to music that way,” says Michel Ferland, ATMA’s director of production. In fact, international sales, have grown considerably (45 percent of total sales are made abroad), even before the company signed with Naxos, and its catalogue keeps growing.

CHRONIQUE COMMUNAUTAIRE • 4

ATMA, which is sandskrit for ‘soul’, arranges recording sessions for major Canadian classical talents, doing everything from hiring the musicians, to renting the recording space (often a church over a concert hall), to managing the technical aspect of the recording.

It also presses the CD and manages the distribution network.

Classical music aficionado and former Radio-Canada producer Johanne Goyette worked as a sound engineer for 10 years before buying ATMA in 1995. Since then, the firm’s catalogue, which covers

(Page précédente) Session d’enregistrement pour Les Violons du Roy au Palais Montcalm à Québec, 2007.

PURCHASE OF KITCHENER BUILDING OPENS NEW MARKET FOR ALLIED REIT

Montreal soprano Karina Gauvin Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Montreal conductor

On y trouve, pour n’en nommer que quelques-uns, des enregistrements du chef d’orchestre Yannick Nézet-Séguin, de la soprano Karina Gauvin, du clarinettiste André Moisan, des ensembles les Boréades, les Voix humaines, Les Voix Baroques et les Violons du Roy, sans oublier ceux de la Société de Musique contemporaine du Québec et du Nouvel ensemble moderne. « Nous enregistrons aussi nous-mêmes 80 à 90 % des CD de notre catalogue », déclare Michel Ferland, en ajoutant qu’en 2007, la maison de disques a organisé quelque 40 séances d’enregistrement différentes. La grande majorité des enregistrements est réalisée à Québec ou à Montréal, mais cette année certaines productions ont emmené l’équipe d’ATMA en Angleterre, aux Pays-Bas et en Espagne. « Même si ses ventes restent appréciables, ATMA reconnaît que l’industrie de la musique est en constante évolution et en profonde mutation. Elle est en train de remanier son site Web, qui comprendra des pages réservées exclusivement aux abonnés, notamment des podcasts et des profils d’artistes.

WAREHOUSE DISTRICT, KITCHENER / - “With the acquisition of 72 Victoria Street, we’ve established a promising new target market in the Warehouse District of Kitchener. It’s an emerging urban neighbourhood with the same historic character and mix of uses that have made our current target markets so successful,” says Michael Emory, president of Allied Properties REIT. 72 Victoria Street is a five-storey, Class I office building located on the southeast corner of Victoria and Joseph Streets in the Warehouse District of downtown Kitchener. It has 85,610 square feet of GLA, 4,265 square feet of storage space and 228 surface parking spaces.

The high-quality, brick-and-beam structure that was renovated in 1999, is almost completely leased to eight tenants, all consistent in character and quality with other tenants in the portfolio.

atmaclassique.com

several periods from Baroque to contemporary, has grown to over 300 titles and includes a great number of well-known, and mostly Quebecois, artists.

Among these can be found the recordings of orchestra leader Yannick Nézet-Séguin, soprano Karina Gauvin, clarinettist André Moisan, as well as recordings from ensembles such as les Boréades, les Voix humaines, les Voix baroques et les Violons du roy, not to mention works from la Société de musique contemporaine du Québec and from the Nouvel ensemble moderne.

72 Victoria Street in Kitchener’s Warehouse District, inside (above) and out.

5 • HIVER 2008

TORONTO

Award-Winning Hospital Architects Building Healthy Office Farrow Partnership renovating College West space to LEED Platinum

COLLEGE STREET WEST, TORONTO / - Architect Tye Farrow has long considered the notion of what makes a healthy environment. In fact, as a senior partner with Farrow Partnership Architects, a Toronto-based firm with a world-renowned expertise in building healthy hospitals, he’s made something of a career of it.

Granted, the firm has commercial, educational and public sector projects to its credit, but its work on Mississauga’s Credit Valley Hospital and the Thunder Bay Health Sciences Centre - particularly each project’s dramatic use of wood, and multiple-height interior spaces flooded with natural light - has garnered worldwide attention and a slew of international awards.

With all that time spent considering ideas of health and what is a healthy environment, it’s hardly a stretch to discover the firm’s new space at 559 College Street West will be renovated to a platinum level LEED Commercial Interior standard, making it one of the first such projects in Ontario. (For more on LEED, see sidebar.)

“We look at what is the power of a physical environment to create significant change,” says Farrow of his role as an architect.

“And health projects are a spectacular frontier in that respect.”

When designing a radiation treatment centre, for example, the firm heard cancer patients talk of their need to see signs of life. “But real signs of life,” recalls Farrow, “not flower motifs worked into the design.”

That’s when they looked to art galleries to learn how indirect lighting could filter into the space giving the interior a daylight quality.

The firm has designed operating rooms with views of the outside and won accolades for its daylight-friendly design of the Thunder Bay

COMMUNITY CHRONICLE • 6

Health Sciences Centre. A glass and wood public concourse arcs along the sun’s path, allowing the space to be passively heated by the sun in the winter, and in summer, when the sun is higher, the sunlight is deflected.

Reaching to elements of nature, the Farrow Partnership also pioneered the use of intricate glue lam construction at Credit Valley Hospital’s atrium where massive Douglas Fir columns spread and span to make what is arguably the most intricate wood structure in North America.

“It ties into issues of nature and health,” says Farrow, adding that it is also about the people who work there and how retention in health care is a serious issue.

“You want to create an environment that people want to work in,” he explains, bringing the health and wellness conversation back to the developments in his own office.

The firm’s 10,000-square-foot warehouse-like space on the top floor of a five-storey College Street address just West of Bathurst is the tallest structure for some blocks, and its large windows yield spectacular views on all four sides.

Daylight harvesting, using light shelves on the south and west sides to reflect light onto the ceiling, is one part of the renovation plan (the space already has lights on sensors, allowing a savings of almost 45 percent on electricity). And a lantern popping out of the roof’s centre will draw more light into the core, as well as facilitate a displacement air system that will circulate air over a living (plant) wall and into the space.

Radiant heating and cooling will keep the space comfortable through the different seasons and a roof-top water harvesting system will help fill tanks to flush the toilets.

Work is underway and, while staffers are keen to see their offices transformed, most do not hide their enthusiasm for plans to build a rooftop patio. After all, this is College West.

farrowpartnership.com

INCOMING! New Slow Food Restaurant to Open in King West Boiler Room

Thunder Bay Health Sciences Centre (above and left) with its arced public concourse and Credit Valley Hospital (opposite page) in Mississauga with its forest of Douglas Fir columns in the atrium are attributes of the firm’s best known health care projects.

WHAT IS LEED CI? LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and the CI is for Commercial Interiors. LEED is a set of guidelines that evaluates a project using a rating-based system that looks at every aspect of how a space impacts the environment, from the amount of fossil fuels burned to renovate it, to its operating efficiency (how much water and energy it uses, for example) right through to its proximity to public transit and whether there’s bike parking. It’s a big picture approach to reducing the impact of buildings on the environment.

KING WEST CENTRAL, TORONTO / - The boiler room on the west side of 604 King Street West will soon be the setting of the King Street Food Company’s latest venture, an as-yet un-named Italian restaurant.

Peter Tsebelis and Gus Giazitzidis, the duo that brought Brassaii Bistro to the neighbourhood five years ago, and in January opened the Brant Street steakhouse Jacobs & Co., are converting 3,000 square feet of a former mechanical room into a slow food restaurant.

“It refers to a clean, rustic, organic approach to food service,” says Tsebelis of the slow food term. While the 50-seat Italian restaurant will have a selection of pizzas and pastas, he says, the heart of its menu will be simple and clean tasting dishes featuring cured meats, regional cheeses and seasonal veggies.

Using artisanal sources, some local, some international, says Tsebelis, means much of the menu will change almost daily.

“We’ll be using very source-specific items where the producers only make so much of it, so we’ll be at the whim of that,” he explains.

Rather than the onus being on cooking, the new restaurant focuses on sourcing, assembling and presenting great food to discerning diners. It’s a philosophy in tune with the growing international slow food movement, an antidote to the fast food attitude that often overlooks quality for the sake of convenience.

As for space, the main room will feature a standing wine bar and towards the back of the house, there will be a small 20-person tasting room. And rather than hide the location’s pipe work, the duo intends to highlight it.

“It’s like the food,” says Tsebelis. “We’re going to try to preserve as much of its natural integrity as possible when presenting it.”

7 • WINTER 2008

QUÉBEC

Médiom Internet : des services adaptés aux besoins des PME

ST-ROCH, QUÉBEC / - Médiom Internet, un des tout premiers fournisseurs de services Internet à Québec, est bien placée pour savoir que, dans le secteur des technologies, le vent peut tourner très vite. Pionnière à ses débuts en 1995 quand elle a commencé à proposer ses services aux particuliers et aux entreprises, elle compte aujourd’hui dix employés installés, depuis 2001, dans 3 000 pi2 de bureau à Saint-Roch. Mais Médiom est une entreprise miniature comparée aux géants, comme Bell et Vidéotron, qui dominent son marché. « Quand on est en concurrence avec des entreprises de cette taille, les prix à eux seuls ne peuvent pas faire la différence », explique Pascal Turmel, contrôleur financier, « mais on peut se distinguer par la qualité du service à la clientèle. » Médiom propose à sa large clientèle de particuliers des services adaptés spécifiquement à leurs besoins comme les connexions haute vitesse, la téléphonie IP et l’assistance technique, dans la lignée de ce que proposent les grandes entreprises, mais avec l’avantage d’être plus flexible pour s’adapter aux nouveaux besoins et d’offrir des services plus personnalisés.

Par exemple, un service de nettoyage de virus et de logiciel espion est proposé aux abonnés qui leur permet de faire nettoyer leur ordinateur à distance par l’équipe de Médiom.

Mais Médiom ne s’arrête pas aux services de

connexion. Depuis 2000, elle propose aussi des services d’hébergement et de conception de sites Web. En proposant aux entreprises l’infographie, la programmation, l’exécution et la maintenance de projets Web, Médiom fournit un service personnalisé et flexible à de grands sites tels que Les arts et la ville, La Maison du Futur et Concert Plus.

En fait, c’est grâce à la flexibilité de ses services que Médiom a pu lancer son projet Phénix de développement de fonctions Internet spécialisées pour les entreprises. C’est un programme qui vise le développement d’outils de commerce électronique axés principalement sur les besoins de la PME. En 2005, Médiom Internet décide de proposer un service de Téléphonie IP, ce qui a fait d’elle une des pionnières dans ce secteur à Québec. Suite à un partenariat avec babyTEL, Médiom offre 5 forfaits différents à ses clients.

En 2007, la société commence à proposer des services de soutien informatique à distance. Ses techniciens ont directement accès en ligne aux ordinateurs des clients pour résoudre leurs problèmes techniques. « Nos clients nous choisissent parce que nous leur apportons ce dont ils ont besoin », déclare Pascal Turmel en ajoutant que si son entreprise n’offre pas tel ou tel service, elle trouvera souvent les moyens de le faire si besoin est. « Les grandes entreprises ne peuvent pas s’adapter aux besoins spécifiques de leurs clients aussi rapidement que nous. »

mediom.qc.ca

Mediom Internet’s pioneering spirit and nimble size allow it to stay ahead of the curve ST-ROCH, QUEBEC CITY / - As one of the first Internet service providers in Québec City, Médiom Internet knows how quickly the tides of technology can change. It was a pioneer in 1995 when it began connecting its residential and commercial clients, but today, this company of ten employees, which has operated out of 3,000 square feet in the Saint-Roch neighbourhood since 2001, is the little guy in a marketplace dominated by behemoths like Bell and Videotron.

Beyond residential services and IP telephony (one of Québec City’s first such providers) Médiom offers commercial web hosting and runs a full-service web site development arm it started in 2000.

Grouping design, programming, execution and maintenance of web projects, it works with large commercial clients bringing personalized service and adaptability to web sites such as Les arts et la ville, La Maison du Futur, and Concert Plus.

In fact, it’s this adaptability has help to launch Phénix, its specialized enterprise service offering, which is designed to respond to the commercial marketplace’s interest in electronic commerce.

CHRONIQUE COMMUNAUTAIRE • 8

WINNIPEG

Arnott + Associates: Long Term Relationships Key to Interior Design Firm’s Success EXCHANGE DISTRICT, WINNIPEG / - If there’s 5,000 square feet of commercial space to be designed, it’s likely to be a project on Arnott + Associates’ job list. An established local designer, Leah Arnott is Winnipeg’s go-to person for small-scale office design.

“I enjoy a lot of [project] turnover, I guess I get bored easily,” she says, so she focuses on projects in the 3,000 to 6,000-square-foot category.

By keeping her fees reasonable, her budgets tight and her relationships close, she has earned a reputation as one of the city’s most respected independent Interior Design firms.

“Winnipeg is a tough market, so you have to be creative.” she says, adding that there appears to be a greater awareness of the role interior designers play.

“It’s a great time to be an interior designer, there have been a lot of positive changes in the industry,” she says about the fact that designers are called upon to do increasingly more than manage aesthetic changes.

GETTING TECHNICAL Always up for a challenge, Arnott is unafraid to venture outside of the usual expectations of interior designers by working on exterior facades and larger structural projects. Of course structural engineers are consulted on such matters, but Arnott says she’s not daunted by technical challenges.

“I’ve done more architectural-like projects than most interior designers would take on,” she says.

Leah’s father, a well-known Regina architect, influenced her appreciation of architectural design from a young age. Arnott studied theatre and set design as well as graphic design before entering into the University of Manitoba’s Interior Design school.

RADIO BUSINESS Business grew in the mid 1980s when she re-designed a rural radio station for Radio Southern Manitoba, morphing an outdated space into a more corporate environment. The work made her a radio station expert and she went on to do nine more stations for RSM, as well as HOT 103 and Corus-owned CJOB. It is work she refers to as fairly standard office renovations with an added technical aspect. Still, it has earned her a reputation that continues to keep the studio at 115 Bannatyne Ave. abuzz with activity. Beyond doing a good job, Arnott believes in the strength of her relationships.

“There are lots of designers out there that produce good design,” she says, “but it’s important to build long term relationships. That’s how I built my business.”

Arnott’s interior work includes (from top) Winnipeg ad agency Osborn + Barr Canada; Western Industrial Services; and a Winnipeg wine bar. Exterior work completed includes (below l-r) Things, an antique store; mortgage broker Invis; and The Paper Gallery on Corydon Avenue.

9 • WINTER 2008

WINNIPEG

Boutique Architecture Firm Focuses Foremost on Unique Problem Solving EXCHANGE DISTRICT, WINNIPEG / - Simple, well lit, logical and accessible, the Winnipeg office of Syverson Monteyne Architecture, at 70 Arthur Street, draws neat parallels between its work and its own space.

Recognized frequently for its successful realization of the Fort Whyte visitor’s centre in 2000, the firm has focused much of its late efforts in the residential sector, creating unique, modern and very functional upscale homes.

“Five years ago, somebody with money wouldn’t necessarily build an expensive house here because they’d see it as a questionable investment since it wouldn’t hold its value,” says Tom Monteyne, noting that, 10 years ago city houses were even depreciating.

VALUE & STYLE But now that real estate in Winnipeg in general is appreciating, people are seeing the value of in-filling a stylish new house in an established neighbourhood, one with old trees and all the amenities close at hand.

“And people are also appreciating the value of good architecture,” says Monteyne, who left local firm Smith Carter in 1994 with co-worker Dean Syverson to form their own partnership.

FORT SUCCESS They also both taught at the University of Manitoba’s School of Architecture and continued to grow their business, winning awards and recognition for their innovative design of the Fort Whyte visitor services centre, a Winnipeg environmental education centre that incorporated a number of environmentally-sensitive approaches well before the LEED movement took hold.

Passive solar heating, geothermal heating and cooling, re-using old cedar telephone poles to make doors and window frames as well as incorporating the building’s on-site sewage treatment into the design were just some of the ideas that helped draw national attention to the building.

The firm’s offices on Arthur Street in Winnipeg.

Syverson Monteyne’s innovative Fort Whyte visitor centre (left), and a model of one of its residential projects.

“It was the perfect project for us because everything about it needed to be unique,” says Monteyne, adding that the client seemed to like, “every radical idea we came up with.”

For this boutique firm, architecture is personal. It’s perhaps why residential work is what occupies the firm’s core staff of eight (it hires consultants as needed) most.

PERSONAL TOUCH But the team has worked on a number of commercial projects with the same personal approach, including conversions of inner city rooming houses to low-cost rentals, office interiors (for Allied Properties REIT tenants Cocoon and Frantic Films), and a small terminal for regional airline Calm Air. Rather than specializing in one building type, the firm seeks interesting problems to solve, and Calm Air’s $4 million, 30,000-square-foot facility, which opened last year on the Winnipeg airport tarmac, was typical of the challenges it seeks.

“Most of our clients aren’t coming to us with a preconceived, cookie-cutter notion of what they want,” says Monteyne, who helped to create a space that was not only a hangar, but a cargo handling facility, pilot training centre, charter passenger terminal and regional office.

With over a decade of experience, Syverson Monteyne has become more adept at finding and executing the projects that interest it. As a boutique firm, the work it produces continues to focus on creative problem solving, mostly by delivering one-of-a-kind designs that respond to the needs of the space’s surroundings as much as to its users.

sm-arc.com

COMMUNITY CHRONICLE • 10

TIPS

Two Simple Exercises for a Better’s Day’s Skiing

Deux exercices faciles pour une meilleure journée de ski

Alleviating that feeling of aching quads half-way down the hill is just a matter of building up your anaerobic endurance, says Totum trainer Mike Conroy, who is also the strength and conditioning coach for the Ontario Alpine Ski Team.

Pour éviter le mal de jambes au milieu d’une piste de ski, il suffit de renforcer son endurance anaérobie, explique Mike Conroy, entraîneur chez Totum, mais aussi responsable de la mise en condition de l’équipe de ski alpin de l’Ontario.

Dry land training for skiing is about developing strength, power and endurance, he says, explaining that typical conditioning for developing your body’s energy systems includes high intensity intervals – like a few 30-second, all-out sprints followed by 60-second rests. For power, he suggests a box jump.

L’entraînement de ski sur la terre ferme consiste à développer la musculation et l’endurance, explique-t-il en ajoutant que pour développer les systèmes d’énergie du corps il faut des exercices de forte intensité entrecoupés de courtes pauses – plusieurs sprints de 30 secondes suivis de pauses de 60 secondes. Pour ce qui est de la musculation, il conseille les sauts sur une boîte.

1

Box Jump You need to jump onto a box or something that’s about the height of an average gym bench.

1

1. From a squat position (eyes forward and thighs parallel to the floor)...

1. Start with your head up, eyes front, knees bent with thighs parallel to floor.

2. Power upwards straightening through the hip, knees and ankles.

2

3. To land onto the box in the squat position. Start with three sets of 10 and increase.

Les sauts sur une boîte

2

Pour cet exercice, il faut sauter sur une boîte ou un petit banc de la hauteur d’un banc de gymnastique.

1. En position accroupie (les yeux droit devant et les cuisses parallèles au sol)...

3

Squat For strength and endurance, as well as the ability to manage the lactic build up and increase your core strength, nothing beats a proper squat. Here’s how to do one right.

2. poussez vers le haut en allongeant les hanches, les genoux et les chevilles.

3. et atterrissez sur le banc ou la boîte en position accroupie.

Effectuez trois séries de dix répétitions.

2. Power upwards, extending through the hips and knees, all the while keeping your torso straight. Reps can vary from 5 to 15 depending on your workout routine.

Les accroupissements Pour gagner en muscles et en endurance et permettre au corps de gérer l’accumulation d’acide lactique et renforcer la ceinture abdominale, rien de mieux que des accroupissements.

1. La tête droite, les yeux droit devant, les genoux pliés et les cuisses parallèles au sol.

2. Poussez vers le haut et allongez les hanches et les genoux tout en gardant le torse droit. Effectuez 5 à 15 répétitions en fonction de votre routine d’exercices.

totum.ca

To learn more about training programs for specific activities, contact Tim Irvine at timirvine@totum.ca or call (416) 979-2449.

Pour de plus amples reseignements (416) 979-2449.

11 • WINTER 2008

HEALTH / SANTÉ

TOTUM

MONTRÉAL

Une équipe de professionnels de l’immobilier au service des locataires d’Allied

MONTRÉAL / - André Plourde était conscient de la difficulté du défi quand on lui a parlé du Balfour. Ce bâtiment des années 20, situé au 3575 St-Laurent, s’étalait sur 180 000 pi2 et était occupé par plus de 90 locataires répartis sur 9 étages.

«Le Balfour avait été géré comme un centre d’affaires, on y retrouvait plusieurs locataires occupant de petits espaces dont les locaux étaient plus ou moins en bon état et il était difficile d’y attirer de gros locataires. La circulation dans l’immeuble était dense et rendait l’entretien des espaces communs difficile en plus de ralentir les déplacements en ascenseurs», se souvient André Plourde, président du Groupe immobilier de Montréal, embauché en 2005 pour réduire le nombre de locataires de l’édifice tout en conservant un taux d’occupation élevé. Le Balfour compte aujourd’hui moins de 50 locataires et affiche un taux d’occupation de 94%.

Depuis 2005, Groupe immobilier de Montréal est responsable des services de location des quelque deux millions de pieds carrés d’espaces de bureaux qu’englobe le portefeuille d’Allied Properties REIT à Montréal.

Groupe immobilier de Montréal est en quelque sorte un prolongement d’Allied et travaille comme sous-traitant responsable du marketing, de la location des espaces vacants ainsi que de la gestion des renouvellements de baux et de l’expansion des locataires. « Un des avantages de s’occuper du portefeuille d’Allied est de pouvoir offrir à nos locataires une variété d’espaces dans des immeubles différents et accessibles à presque tous les budgets. Malgré le fait qu’on y retrouve des loyers s’échelonnant de 8,00 $ à 35,00 $ le pied carré, la plupart des locataires

Groupe Immobiler de Montreal’s dedicated Allied Properties REIT team includes (l-r): Georges Renaud, André Plourde, Martin Vallée, Erik Tremblay and Michael Merten.

CHRONIQUE COMMUNAUTAIRE • 12

du portefeuille sont issus du monde de l’informatique, de la publicité, des communications, des entreprises à la recherche d’une atmosphère de travail originale au niveau du design et soucieuses d’offrir un niveau de confort adéquat à leurs employés ».

Les agents de location du Groupe immobilier de Montréal travaillent en équipe avec un système de partage de rémunération, une formule unique dans le courtage immobilier où normalement on se fait concurrence au sein d’un même bureau. Bien que chaque membre de l’équipe s’occupe d’immeubles différents au sein d’un vaste portefeuille, en se partageant la responsabilité de l’ensemble, les locataires ont plus facilement accès à une plus grande variété d’espaces.

André Plourde prend toujours soin de rappeler aux locataires d’Allied qu’ils ne sont pas juste locataires d’un immeuble mais qu’ils occupent une partie d’un portefeuille immobilier comprenant près de 2 millions de pieds carrés. Une partie de son travail consiste à leur en faire profiter.

groupeimmobilierdemontreal.com

Leasing Experts Help Tenants Navigate Montreal’s Allied Properties MONTREAL / - André Plourde knew he had a challenge on his hands when he was first approached about the Balfour. The 1920s era building, at 3575 St. Laurent, had 180,000 square feet occupied by more than 90 tenants, spread out over nine floors.

“It had been managed like a business centre, so there were lots of smaller tenants in mostly tired space, and it was hard to attract larger tenants. The building also had a lot of traffic, which made it hard to maintain the common areas and kept the elevators moving slowly,” recalls Plourde, president of Groupe Immobilier de Montréal, the local firm hired in 2005 to reduce the number of tenants while maintaining the high occupancy. Today, the revitalized Balfour houses 50 tenants and is 94 percent occupied.

NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH NEW ADDRESS...

255 Adelaide Street West Toronto, Ontario M5H 1X9

Since 2005, Allied Properties REIT has worked with Groupe Immobilier to provide leasing services to its close-to-two-millionsquare-foot Montreal portfolio.

Groupe Immobilier de Montreal works like an outsourced arm of the REIT, and is responsible for the marketing and leasing of the vacant space as well as managing renewals and expansions with existing Montreal tenants.

“The beauty of working with the Allied portfolio is that we can offer tenants a variety of space in different buildings that will fit most budgets. Spaces range from $8- to $35-a-square-foot gross and there’s a large selection of the type of space that creative and knowledge-based companies are always looking for,” says Plourde, explaining that tenants with changing space needs might do well to investigate options within the Allied portfolio.

What’s more, Groupe Immobilier operates on a pooled fund system where a team of five is responsible for that city’s portfolio, and share in the revenues generated from the deals completed.

“It’s also about idea sharing,” adds Plourde on the topic of his firm’s team approach, which is unusual in a business more likely to see individual brokers operate competitively – even within the same firm.

With team members focused on different areas of the wide ranging portfolio, but sharing in the responsibility, tenants can get a clearer picture of what is available.

When discussing space options, Plourde often reminds tenants that they didn’t just take space in a single building.

“I tell them they’re part of a two million square foot portfolio that is only getting larger,” explains Plourde. “And part of our job is to help them take advantage of that.”

Allied REIT’s Head Office Moves to Adelaide West ADELAIDE STREET WEST, TORONTO / - As the Allied Properties REIT portfolio expands, so does its staff since the need to service this larger number of buildings continues to grow. Staffers quickly outgrew the space at 602 King Street West and, this January, operations were relocated to 255 Adelaide Street West. Phone and fax numbers, as well as email addresses remain the same as REIT personnel settle in to the lower level, ground and second floors of this 1900s-era, seven-storey building in Toronto’s Entertainment District, just West of Duncan Street.

alliedpropertiesreit.com

13 • AUTOMNE 2007

TORONTO Colborne Lane’s Space and Taste Blend Culinary Ironies with Iconic Toronto ST. LAWRENCE MARKET AREA, TORONTO / - When Claudio Aprile was ready to open his own restaurant, after six years at Senses (three as executive chef after its move to the SoHo Metropolitan Hotel), he wanted to create something unique. Not that he didn’t have the freedom to explore at Senses, just that it was time to interpret an entire experience, and one he wanted unmistakably to be Toronto in character.

“I know a lot of restaurants open with owners talking about how it has a Manhattan feel, but in my business plan I stated we would never say we are trying to be something else,” says Aprile, the owner and chef at Colborne Lane, who is known for his progressive modern cuisine style, which uses alternative methods to create innovative reactions in food.

LANDMARKING A ‘Toronto’ restaurant, he explains, is one in a landmark building such as this, where the food and the attitude draw from a global palette, says Aprile.

One of a recent spate of restaurants to open on this block, the front space’s focal point is a 60-foot long onyx bar with a macro print of a painted fence decorating the wall behind it.

The dining area features custom-made communal tables and eclectic, high-tech light fixtures and modern art installations mix with the bare brick and solid wood beams to give the overall space a stylishly raw appearance. In looks and taste, it is something other than its predecessor, Café du Marché, a successful eatery run by a husband and wife team for 35 years before they chose to retire.

“That was great karma,” says Aprile of the former business’s longevity, “I didn’t feel like I was going into some failed restaurant.”

PROGRESSIVE WITH A PAST Although he admits to originally having some trepidation about opening East of Yonge Street, he was taken by the aesthetics of the space itself, its historic character and how this fit with his agenda of finding a place that could be progressive without ignoring its past.

COMMUNITY CHRONICLE • 14

“Because the concept here at Colborne Lane is ironies,” says Aprile, whose kitchen adopts a very open experimental style to its creations.

A lemon tart, for example, will feature curds frozen into little pearls using liquid nitrogen. “So there’s an emphasis on texture and temperature, and a visual aspect to what we do,” he explains, hesitant to use any one term to describe his cuisine.

LOOSE INTERPRETATIONS Rather than following a food trend (highly progressive cuisine often entails following a lot of rules, he says) Colborne Lane offers a very loose interpretation of modern food.

“Here, you can do what you want,” he says. “Have one dish and a glass of wine, whatever. We have a tasting menu that changes every day.”

Where Colborne Lane is about changing and enhancing food, Aprile’s newest project, slated to open in the summer, will be something entirely different. The concept is still in development, but more news on it will be available in coming issues.

colbornelane.com

About Aprile...

2007 En Route Magazine names Colborne Lane one of the top 10 new restaurants in Canada.

2006 Toronto Life names Aprile one of the top four chefs in Toronto.

2003 Aprile was one of 25 chefs selected from around the world to take part in the annual James Beard awards in New York City.

2003 Sara Waxman names Aprile Chef of the Year.

2001 Vancouver Magazine names Aprile best chef in Toronto “and the one to watch”. In the same year, Toronto.com awards Aprile six out of five stars.

New web service IOU Central an ‘e-Bay’ for borrowing and lending ST. LAURENT, BLVD. MONTREAL / – People shop for everything online now, so why not get money too?

That’s the rationale that helped launch Canada’s first Internet-based peer-to-peer lending and borrowing platform, IOU Central.

It is essentially an online open market where borrowers can post loan requests onto a loan listings board and lenders can place bids on these loan requests. Using IOU Central, a borrower can apply for a personal loan in the amount of $1,000 to $25,000 and for a term of up to three years. The lender, on the other hand, can bid on a loan in amounts ranging from $25 to $25,000. IOU Central facilitates risk diversification by allowing lenders to bid small amounts on many different loans.

WHERE BORROWERS AND LENDERS WIN Likening it to an eBay for loans, Mayco Quiroz, the firm’s VP Finance, says the service has appeal to both borrowers and lenders. On the one hand, borrowers benefit from competitive interest rates. On the other hand, IOU Central empowers lenders to be their own banker by giving them a platform to lend money to whomever they want.

It’s no longer just the local bank that can earn interest on your deposited money.

The site is the brainchild of company President Philippe Marleau, a former VP of equity research at Merrill Lynch in New York whose strong financial background helped him identify this growing trend.

IOU Central, which launched in February, is starting by servicing the Canadian market before implementing plans in other countries.

GETTING MONEY The website is very easy to use. Someone who needs a small loan posts his loan request on the loan listings board. The loan request includes his credit score, which is retrieved from a third-party credit agency in a matter of seconds. Borrowers, Quiroz explains, can apply for a loan without going though the lengthy procedures common at traditional financial institutions.

“All loans are unsecured” says Quiroz, adding that steps are in place to collect unpaid balances (the escalation of which sees the loan go to a collection agency), but that ultimately, as a peer-to-peer exchange, it is the lender’s decision as to the degree of risk he is willing to accept.

IOU Central, “le eBay” des prêts d’argent BOUL. ST. LAURENT, MONTRÉAL / – De nos jours, on trouve tout ce qu’on veut sur Internet, alors pourquoi pas des prêts financiers? C’est cette idée qui a permis de lancer la première plate-forme de prêts de particuliers à particuliers au Canada: IOU Central Créé par Philippe Marleau, président de la société et ancien vice-président chez Merrill Lynch, ce marché en ligne est un lieu où des emprunteurs peuvent mettre leurs demandes d’emprunt en enchères et des prêteurs d’argent peuvent analyser et placer des offres sur ces prêts. Les prêts peuvent varier entre $1,000 et $25,000 pour une durée de 1 à 36 mois. Bien entendu, l’identité des participants est complètement confidentielle.

Le comparant à une sorte d’eBay pour prêts financiers, Mayco Quiroz, vice-président du service financier d’IOU Central, explique que ce service attire autant les prêteurs que les emprunteurs. IOU Central permet aux emprunteurs de profiter de taux d’intérêt intéressants et donne l’occasion à chaque prêteur d’agir comme s’il était son propre banquier et d’empocher de solides rendements.

MAKING MONEY Lenders, i.e., people with extra funds to invest, browse the loan listings and bid on the loans by stating the amount they are willing to lend and the rate they are willing to accept. As a do-it-yourself investment vehicle, Quiroz expects most lenders will try to build a balanced portfolio of loans to try to get a better return than they would in a GIC or money market fund.

From its studio-style offices at the Balfour, IOU Central hosts half a dozen employees, with plenty of expansion space as the start-up prepares to staff up as the service grows. IOU Central adheres to strict privacy policies and uses the highest levels of online security to protect each users account. IOU Central is TRUSTe-certified to have industry-leading privacy protection, and uses bank-level data security and SSL 128-bit encryption, one of the best commercial methods available today.

ioucentral.com

15 • HIVER 2008

MONTRÉAL

On the Money

QUÉBEC

Bureaux…

1 Québec 2 Shawinigan 3 Trois-Rivières 4 Victoriaville 5 Drummondville

1 2 3 4 5

Le réseau Absolu Le seul réseau d’agences de publicité de la province, présent pour les clients de toutes tailles.

BOUL. CHAREST EST, QUÉBEC/ - Travailler en tant que spécialiste du marketing au Québec, hors du plus grand centre urbain qu’est Montréal donne à Jean-François Ermel une perspective bien différente. Et c’est justement ce que ses clients attendent de lui.

En 2001, Jean-François Ermel ainsi que quatre associés ont ouvert le bureau de la ville de Québec d’Absolu Communication Marketing, seul réseau d’agences de publicité de la province.

Et plutôt que d’être une grande firme sur un petit marché ou une petite firme sur un grand marché, Absolu a choisi de se positionner au milieu et d’être une agence de taille moyenne oeuvrant pour des clients de toutes tailles.

Un client international comme Cascasdes Inc., basé à Kingsey Fall, fera par exemple appel à Absolu parce que c’est une agence locale, avec laquelle il a une relation bien établie, mais il lui confiera des projets qui pourront être régionaux, provinciaux ou internationaux.

Par ailleurs, des entreprises ayant des besoins publicitaires locaux, comme Télébec, Cablevision, Les Galeries Chagnon, etc., viennent chercher Absolu spécifiquement pour ses compétences sur les marchés régionaux.

Responsables de projets d’impression de 2 000 $ comme de campagnes publicitaires d’un million de dollars, les cinq bureaux d’Absolu comptent des clients à la fois sur les marchés régionaux et dans les grands centres urbains de la province. « Grâce à nos bureaux régionaux - répartis au Québec – nous pouvons proposer les services qu’offrent les grandes agences en jumelant les forces de chacun de nos bureaux », affirme Jean-François Ermel pour expliquer comment fonctionne le

réseau d’Absolu fondé il y a 20 ans à Victoriaville et qui totalise aujourd’hui quelque 50 professionnels au service de 350 clients.

Outre Québec et Victoriaville, le réseau compte des bureaux à Trois-Rivières, Drummondville et Shawinigan. Ces agences sont gérées de manière indépendante en termes de prévisions de croissance et de revenu, mais elles partagent leurs ressources et peuvent ainsi proposer à leurs clients tout ce qu’une grande agence peut offrir : publicités dans les magazines et à la télévision, projets Web, projets à la radio et à la télévision ou stratégie de communication et relations publiques.

Comprendre les marchés locaux est un atout précieux pour Absolu lorsque des clients nationaux ont besoin de s’adresser à un public local. Dans le domaine des achats-médias par exemple : savoir dans quels coins sont reçues les diverses stations locales et qui sont les auditeurs des stations régionales de Montréal ou Québec exige des compétences et une grande connaissance des comportements démographiques locaux. « Le fait que nous soyons présents dans ces régions fait que nous sommes mieux équipés pour servir les petits clients. Nous Les associés d’Absolu avons une connaissance approau Québec fondie des marchés sur lesquels • Bruno Fréchette nous oeuvrons - et comme nous • Carl Provencher couvrons tous ces marchés, nous • Jason Monfette avons une bonne connaissance • Jean-François Ermel du Québec dans son ensemble », • Jean-François Lauzier conclut Jean-François Ermel.

• Marc-André Lauzier

absolu.ca

www.alliedpropertiesreit.com CHRONIQUE COMMUNAUTAIRE • HIVER 2008 • 16

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