As CBRE Montréal marks 30 years in business, it is particularly meaningful that two of the office’s founders are still with the company and going strong.
Michèle Boutet, along with her mother Jacqueline Boutet and her husband Pierre Lacroix, hung the shingle on the original CBRE Montreal office back in May 1996. Ramsay Lunan moved from CBRE’s Toronto headquarters to help launch the office.
Over the past three decades Michèle Boutet and Lacroix watched CBRE grow from five sales professionals to the current team of 130 people. Additional offices were subsequently founded in suburban Saint-Laurent and Québec City.
“Our journey in Montreal began as a boutique, entrepreneurial firm deeply rooted in the local community.” says CBRE Québec Managing Director Louis Karam.
“Over the past 30 years, we have experienced remarkable growth, becoming the province’s leading commercial real estate services provider. Despite this expansion we have maintained our entrepreneurial spirit and family-oriented values, remaining steadfast to our foundational principles.
“Montréal has gone through significant transformation over the past 30 years, and our office has evolved in tandem.” Karam adds. “Today our offer is much more diversified, with specialized teams covering a broad spectrum of property types and geographic areas – an achievement that would have seemed ambitious three decades ago.”
“This progress has been made possible through the unwavering support of our clients. I am most proud of our continued operational excellence and effectiveness in enabling our clients to achieve their goals.”
Culture Is Key
The way CBRE Montreal based Business Operations Manager Dominique Desmarais sees it, the company’s success is rooted first and foremost in its people.
“We have many employees who have been here 10, 15 or 20 years – not just our founders,” she says. “That longevity speaks volumes about the culture we’ve built.
e’ve always been very progressive in our values and intentional about supporting diversity. It’s why we’re able to retain most of our talent for so long.”
Louis Karam notes that CBRE offers its employees the opportunity to work with best‑in‑class professionals across every specialty. “I’m a strong believer that high tides raise all boats, and being surrounded by exceptional talent continually pushes me to stay motivated, focused, and driven.”
“People here want to see their colleagues succeed,” Desmarais adds. “When someone asks for help, we instinctively say Yes because finding solutions is in our DNA. I don’t know anyone here who doesn’t care about outcomes and the part they can play in the overall success of a project.
“We all want to be proud of our input and being able to contribute to meaningful projects.”
Making it official: Jacqueline Boutet and Evan White Sr. initial the documents, as Blake Hutcheson, Michèle Boutet and Pierre Lacroix look on.
Entrepreneurial Spirit
Back in the mid-1990s, Jacqueline Boutet was running her own boutique brokerage when she received an information package from CB Commercial USA. Jacqueline was a pioneer in everything she did and saw where the commercial real estate industry was headed. “My mother always had vision and she said everything is going global—we need to go global,” Michèle recalled in 2021.
She reached out to Evan White Sr., who had co-founded CB Commercial in 1983, to express interest in joining forces. This exchange resulted in meeting with White and CBRE Canada chief operating officer Blake Hutcheson (now president and CEO of OMERS) to discuss possibilities.
Before long, Jacqueline Boutet, Michèle Boutet and Pierre Lacroix had signed a contract to open the CBRE office in Montréal. “We knew it was the beginning of a great adventure,” Lacroix said. “It was very exciting—everything had to be built.”
They were joined by Ramsay Lunan from Toronto. Adept at acquiring talent and sourcing opportunities, Lunan, who was born and raised in Montreal, approached past clients and developed new business in the office leasing and industrial investment sectors.
Lunan, a strong believer in mentorship, was deeply committed to helping others succeed. “We now have an award in his name that we give to people who mentor colleagues in our office,” Karam says.
In 2005 CBRE continued its expansion into the suburbs with the launch of an office in Saint-Laurent, to better serve the industrial market.
In 2014 CBRE made its debut in Québec City to establish a stronger presence in the capital. The office opened with one broker and soon brought on board Philippe Lambert, before welcoming Patrick Soucy and his team in 2024.
Continuing to Expand
CBRE Montreal isn’t slowing down as it celebrates 30 years in commercial real estate. In fact, the company’s downtown HQ is in the midst of an expansion.
“Needing more space after all these years speaks for itself,” Karam says. “It’s a tangible manifestation of CBRE Montreal’s history and focus on continuing to serve our clients, Montréal and Québec as a whole long into the future.”
“Over the decades we have navigated economic challenges and multiple real estate cycles and, every time, we have come out stronger through collaboration. Our downtown office expansion reflects our team’s desire to foster collaboration, remain at the forefront of industry innovation, and keep raising the bar on real estate services for our valued clients.”
“We are grateful for all that has been accomplished over the past 30 years, yet it feels as though the journey is only beginning,” Karam adds. “Our team is energized by this milestone and optimistic about the future of commercial real estate in Montréal.”
Recent Insights
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As CBRE Montreal marks 30 years in business, it is particularly meaningful that two of the office’s founders are still with the company and going strong.
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