Ô St-Gabriel

In the summer of 1952, a theft made the papers: four thousand pounds of sheet metal vanished from Sam Plotkin's warehouse at 1900 Manufacturers Street. The street has since changed its name, and the address has taken on a new life: today it is Ô St-Gabriel, 18 lofts and townhouses in the heart of Pointe-Saint-Charles.

For decades, the address belonged to a steel and building materials business. In 1970, according to La Presse, everything went under the hammer, from forklifts to steel shears. In 2005, a developer bought the building and turned it into a three-storey residential property, with a rooftop terrace level and a basement. The declaration of co-ownership was signed in the summer of 2006. The street, renamed in 1973, honours Augustin Cantin, a shipbuilder who set up his yard near the Saint-Gabriel locks in the 19th century.

The structure tells that story: concrete beams, columns and load-bearing walls, polished concrete floors, and a brick facade with large windows. On the upper floors, ceilings are around 11 feet depending on the unit. On the ground floor, five two-level townhouses each have their own street address, and some rise to more than 16 feet. Thirteen lofts share the two upper floors, with a balcony or a private rooftop terrace depending on the unit.

Outside, the Pointe is best lived on foot. The cafés of rue Shearer around the corner. The Nordelec and its shops close by. The Lachine Canal a few streets away for a morning ride on the bike path. Atwater Market across the water. And Charlevoix metro, on the Green Line, about a twelve-minute walk.

Ô St-Gabriel speaks to people who like a small building where neighbours know each other, to anyone looking for a townhouse with the soul of a loft, and to first-time buyers who want to live steps from the canal.

Every loft has a story. Ô St-Gabriel's starts in a steel merchant's warehouse, on a street once called Manufacturers. Our job is to help you find the one that becomes yours. Olivier Mailloux and Amélie Flanagan, real estate brokers, follow the Pointe-Saint-Charles loft market closely and work with buyers and sellers across Montreal.