E-Commerce Place (french: Cité du commerce électronique) (CCE) is an office complex of two towers located in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
,
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.
It derives its name from the fact that its construction was part of a program grant from the
Government of Quebec to promote the development of employment in the field of information technology. The complex provided incentives to firms specializing in
electronic commerce.
History
The
Parti Québécois government launched the
Cité du Multimédia 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 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.
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 c ...
, 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.
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 websiteArchitect 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