Centre Rockland, one of Montreal’s best-known regional shopping centres, has changed hands in an unusual transaction reportedly carrying consideration of just $1, placing the Town of Mount Royal property under the control of Montreal real estate developer Jadco Corporation.
The transaction took place in May and has only recently become public. Cominar, which had owned Centre Rockland since acquiring it from Ivanhoé Cambridge in 2014, was the previous owner.
The $1 figure does not mean the underlying real estate was valued at a dollar. Reports indicate the transaction was structured as a share sale involving the company that holds Centre Rockland, meaning ownership of the corporate entity changed rather than the property being transferred through a conventional real estate sale.
The value of shares in such a transaction can be affected by liabilities and other financial obligations held within the company. The full financial structure of the Rockland transaction, including any debt or other obligations assumed by the new owner, has not been publicly disclosed.
The Town of Mount Royal currently values the property at approximately $115 million, while Cominar paid $271.685 million when it acquired Centre Rockland from Ivanhoé Cambridge in 2014. Jadco is led by president and CEO André Doudak. The Montreal-based company is an integrated owner and developer with extensive residential and mixed-use development experience, adding to questions about the long-term future of the property.
Major Montreal Shopping Centre Dates to 1959
Centre Rockland occupies a large site at 2305 chemin Rockland in the Town of Mount Royal and has been part of Montreal’s retail landscape for more than six decades. The shopping centre originally opened in 1959 and underwent a major transformation in the early 1980s, when it was substantially rebuilt into the enclosed regional mall familiar to Montreal shoppers today.
Further renovations followed over subsequent decades, including significant investment under Cominar. Historically, Rockland was positioned toward the more upscale end of Montreal’s shopping-centre market, with a strong fashion component and a tenant mix that included major national and international retailers. Holt Renfrew operated a store in the mall from 1959 to 2003.
At the time Cominar acquired Centre Rockland in 2014, the mall measured approximately 649,000 square feet, contained about 150 tenants and was more than 95 per cent leased. Centre Rockland occupies approximately 940,000 square feet of land, or about 21.6 acres.
Historically, the property included approximately 2,720 outdoor parking spaces, leaving a substantial portion of the site devoted to surface parking and creating considerable potential for more intensive use of the land.
Hudson’s Bay Closure Changes the Equation
One of the most significant changes at Centre Rockland came with the closure of Hudson’s Bay, which had been one of the property’s principal anchors for decades and occupied a large amount of space within the centre. Hudson’s Bay closed its remaining Canadian department stores in 2025 following insolvency proceedings and liquidation.
The vacancy creates one of the most immediate questions for Rockland’s new ownership. Across Canada, landlords with former Hudson’s Bay locations have been examining options that include subdividing the large spaces for multiple retailers, introducing entertainment or service uses, or incorporating the properties into broader redevelopment plans. No plans have been announced for the former Hudson’s Bay space at Rockland.
Despite the anchor closure, Centre Rockland remains an active regional shopping centre. Its current marketing materials promote more than 170 boutiques and restaurants, and the property continues to include fashion, grocery, pharmacy, sporting goods, services and food offerings.
Jadco is therefore taking control of an operating retail property with a substantial land base at a time when the economics and configuration of traditional regional shopping centres are changing.
Royalmount Adds New Competition Nearby
Rockland is also operating in a much different competitive environment than when Cominar acquired the property in 2014. Royalmount, located only a few kilometres away in the Town of Mount Royal, has since opened with a concentration of luxury retailers, fashion brands, restaurants and experiential concepts.
The development has introduced a major new retail destination into the immediate area and competes in categories in which Rockland historically had considerable strength. The competitive shift was anticipated years before Royalmount opened: Retail Insider reported in 2018 that Cominar was investing approximately $10 million in a new food and dining component at Centre Rockland as Montreal shopping-centre owners prepared for increased competition in the market.
Redevelopment Discussions Go Back Years
The possibility of substantially changing the Centre Rockland property predates the latest ownership change. Town of Mount Royal previously developed a planning vision for the Rockland sector that contemplated a more intensive mix of uses around the shopping centre, including residential development, commercial uses, public spaces, landscaping and transportation improvements.
One of the central concerns was the large amount of asphalt surrounding Centre Rockland. Municipal documents identified the extensive surface parking as a significant heat island, with planning objectives that included preserving commercial activity while allowing residential and mixed uses, improving traffic circulation, strengthening active transportation and transit connections, increasing green space and permitting additional housing.
The process generated substantial public interest. Residents raised concerns about traffic, building heights, density, municipal infrastructure and the potential impact of significant population growth in the area.
The previous Rockland planning framework ultimately expired without taking effect following a change in municipal administration, meaning any future large-scale redevelopment would have to proceed through the applicable planning and approval processes. The earlier exercise is important because redevelopment of Rockland had already been seriously considered at the municipal level before Jadco entered the picture.
Cominar Was Already Studying Densification
Cominar continued examining a more intensive future for Centre Rockland even after the earlier municipal planning exercise stalled. In a 2024 investor presentation, the company included Centre Rockland among several properties identified as potential densification opportunities and showed a conceptual image of a transformed Rockland site with multiple residential towers, lower-rise development, redesigned retail components and expanded public spaces.
Cominar clearly identified the rendering as conceptual. It was not an approved development plan, and there is no indication that Jadco has adopted it. Its inclusion nevertheless shows that Rockland’s former owner was actively studying how additional value could be created through mixed-use intensification.
The concept was consistent with Cominar’s broader strategy of adding residential density around shopping-centre properties while retaining retail uses where appropriate. Large parking fields and existing commercial infrastructure have made many shopping-centre sites attractive candidates for residential development as municipalities look for additional housing.
Centre Rockland has many of those characteristics. Its approximately 21.6-acre site sits in one of Montreal’s most affluent municipalities, includes a functioning retail centre and contains significant land historically devoted to surface parking.
Jadco Brings Development Experience
The identity of Rockland’s new owner makes the redevelopment question particularly relevant. Jadco Corporation describes itself as an integrated Montreal real estate company involved in investment, development, construction and property management, with approximately $2.6 billion in assets owned and under development, more than 6,000 rental apartments and more than eight million square feet constructed.
Its portfolio includes substantial residential development as well as projects involving the intensification of commercial properties. At Halles d’Anjou in Montreal, for example, Jadco has pursued residential development involving towers and lower-rise housing alongside existing commercial uses.
That experience does not establish that Centre Rockland will be redeveloped in the same way. No master plan has been announced, and Jadco has not publicly confirmed whether residential development, demolition, new retail construction or other major changes are being considered.
The acquisition does, however, place a large retail property with documented intensification potential in the hands of a developer with experience undertaking residential and mixed-use projects at scale.
The $1 Figure Requires Context
The reported $1 consideration is striking when compared with Centre Rockland’s history, but the figures measure different things. Cominar paid nearly $272 million for the property in 2014, the Town of Mount Royal currently assesses it at approximately $115 million, and the shares involved in the 2026 transaction reportedly changed hands for nominal consideration of $1.
An acquisition price for real estate, a municipal property assessment and the consideration paid for shares in a company are not equivalent measures. Without knowing the liabilities and financial arrangements contained within the corporate entity acquired by Jadco, the $1 figure cannot be treated as the market value of Centre Rockland.
The property also has a history of substantial financing. A $150-million mortgage was arranged against Centre Rockland in 2017, and Cominar later reported approximately $128.2 million outstanding on the Rockland mortgage as it approached maturity in early 2022, when financing arrangements were made to repay it.
Another Reinvention for Centre Rockland?
Centre Rockland has undergone major reinvention before. The original shopping centre that opened in 1959 was extensively transformed in the early 1980s as shopping patterns and competition changed, with the resulting enclosed mall becoming one of Montreal’s better-known fashion-oriented shopping destinations.
More than four decades later, the property is again entering a period of transition. Its largest traditional department-store anchor has disappeared, a major new luxury and experiential shopping destination has opened nearby, the Town of Mount Royal has previously considered greater density around the site, and Cominar itself had studied mixed-use intensification.
Centre Rockland has now passed to a developer with substantial residential and mixed-use experience, but Jadco has not disclosed plans for major changes. The property remains an operating shopping centre, and its next chapter could involve continued retail repositioning, redevelopment of portions of the site or a broader transformation over time.
