CP Sells Historic Montreal Building

Canadian Pacific Railway will shed ownership but not its offices in the historic Windsor Station building in Montreal, selling it and some other real estate for $80 million to Cadillac Fairview.

CP entered a long-term lease with Cadillac Fairview as part of the deal, which will keep it as principal tenant of the building that was CP’s headquarters until it relocated to Calgary and which once was Montreal’s main train station.

The large stone building, with a 15-story main tower, was erected in the late 1800s and began train operations in 1889.

It is the second recent sale by CP of some non-rail assets as it has been strengthening its balance sheet this year. The railroad earlier sold most of its stake in the Detroit River Tunnel Partnership for about $100 million.

The Windsor Station sale had been in the works for years. CP first announced in August 2007 that it would market that and some other properties.
Contact John D. Boyd at jboyd@joc.com.