E-Commerce Place (french: Cité du commerce électronique) (CCE) is an office complex of two towers located in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada. It is located on René-Lévesque Boulevard West between

Mountain Street Rue de la Montagne, also known as Mountain Street, is a north–south street located in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It starts at Wellington Street in the south and continues to above Doctor Penfield Avenue in the north, where it stops in a ...

and Lucien L'Allier Street in

Downtown Montreal Downtown Montreal ( French: ''Centre-Ville de Montréal'') is the central business district of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The district is situated on the southernmost slope of Mount Royal, and occupies the western portion of the borough of Vil ...

. It derives its name from the fact that its construction was part of a program grant from the

Government of Quebec A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

to promote the development of employment in the field of information technology. The complex provided incentives to firms specializing in

electronic commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...

History

The

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (; ; PQ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishin ...

government launched the

Cité du Multimédia The Cité du Multimédia is a neighborhood in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, located between Old Montreal, Griffintown and Downtown Montreal. The neighborhood is the result of a vast real-estate project launched by the Quebec government in the late 1990 ...

in June 1998, which was seen as a relative success of job creation despite the progressive scaling down of the program. In its wake, the government launched the E-Commerce in May 2000. These projects upset members of Montreal's real-estate community and some high-tech entrepreneurs because it forced companies to relocate to E-Commerce Place and

Cité Multimédia Cité may refer to: Places * Cité (Paris Métro), the metro station on the ''Île de la Cité'' * Cité (Quebec), type of municipality in Quebec * Citadel, the historical centre of an old city, originally fortified * Housing estate, a group of ho ...

in order to receive tax assistance. Both programs have also been criticized for promoting the construction of buildings rather than the subsidization of employment and, as a result, moving around existing jobs instead of creating new ones. The grant program was cancelled in 2003 following the election of the

Quebec Liberal Party The Quebec Liberal Party (QLP; french: Parti libéral du Québec, PLQ) is a provincial political party in Quebec. It has been independent of the federal Liberal Party of Canada since 1955. The QLP has always been associated with the colour red; e ...

. This led to the cancellation of three other planned phases of the E-Commerce Place complex.

Architecture

The first tower, located at 1350 René-Lévesque Boulevard West (corner Mountain Street), has 27 floors and was completed in early 2003. Its primary tenant is

CGI Group CGI Inc. is a Canadian multinational information technology consulting and systems integration company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. CGI has a market value of $21.8 billion, making it one of the top 30 companies in Canada. The co ...

, an

Information technology consulting In management, information technology consulting (also called IT consulting, computer consultancy, business and technology services, computing consultancy, technology consulting, and IT advisory) is a field of activity which focuses on advising or ...

firm. The second phase tower located at 1360 René Lévesque (corner Lucien L'Allier Street), has 17 floors and was completed in spring 2004. Tenants in the second tower include

Laurentian Bank of Canada The Laurentian Bank of Canada (LBC; french: Banque Laurentienne du Canada, link=no) is a Schedule 1 bank that operates primarily in the province of Quebec, with commercial and business banking offices located in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbi ...

. Between the two towers is a glass-enclosed common area with a convenience store and various fast food restaurants. The building's architects were Béïque Legault Thuot.

Gallery

Image:CCE Phase I.jpg, E-Commerce Place, Phase I. Image:CCE Phase II.jpg, E-Commerce Place, Phase II.

References

External links

Property website

Architect Information
{{Commonscat, E-Commerce Place Skyscrapers in Montreal Office buildings completed in 2003 Skyscraper office buildings in Canada Downtown Montreal Office buildings completed in 2004