By Juliet O’Neill
François Latreille would never build a home that he wouldn’t want on his own street. Indeed, two of the three charming condominium developments he built in the ByWard Market are on his own pleasant street, St. Andrew, between Dalhousie and Parent. The third is on Guigues Street, two blocks away.
All are products of Latreille’s creative imagination, respect for heritage and delight in “selling a European lifestyle” where you can walk everywhere and get to know the local butcher, baker and Bridgehead coffee shop staff by name.
Latreille, 52, is a professional engineer and management consultant with a lifelong love of design, from buildings and room interiors to landscaping and fashion. A hard leather laptop bag is his latest product design. Up next: a portable, inexpensive defibrillator.
He set out as a real estate developer with no experience but a creative urge and seed money from a “small fortune” earned in stock options from a tech start-up where he had worked for a time. Domaines du Marché was born. It’s a housing brand he considers “synonymous with respecting the neighbourhood.”
He learned real estate development on his own by just doing it. The first project is at 105 St. Andrew St., second at 139 Guigues St. and third at 80 St. Andrew. There are 25 condos among them. Domaines du Marché was hailed in the media for rejuvenating the area and was recognized twice by the City of Ottawa with heritage awards.
Acting as general contractor for the three projects taught him “100 lessons.”
Next time Latreille won’t deal with all the stakeholders himself: tradesmen, architects, bank officials, lawyers, city hall people, and buyers. Still, he revels in the memory of sitting up late at night at his dining room table with clients going over customized interior decorations. It’s fun to help make people’s dreams come true.
He returned in 2009 to management consulting on federal government projects in Ottawa, and for Crown corporations in Nigeria and the United Kingdom through his company Latreille Innovation Management: Management Consulting and Design.
Latreille is giving himself lots of time to look for a property for his next project and to examine different financing and ownership models. “I needed to stop, regroup and look at what worked and what didn’t work.”
Dealing with the city was a good experience, he says. “They were reassured by the type of product I was building.” The city allowed him to demolish old and build new homes, applying Victorian-style and Colonial architecture.
“You have to buy into the approval process … play within the rules and show respect,” Latreille says. The beauty of the heritage rules is that “you know that nobody is going to build a tower beside you because we’re protected by the Heritage Act.”
Some of his condo units are bigger than the norm to attract families he believes are needed to create more balance in a neighbourhood perhaps better known for appealing to singles and couples. “I was more negotiable if they had children.”
Latreille is proud that he and his wife raised two children in a neighbourhood where you can meet people from all walks of life.
The years he spent on building projects “have been the happiest time of my life, career wise.” He’ll likely be back at it in the next couple of years.