René Lépine

Who was René Lépine?

René G. Lépine, Sr. was a Canadian real estate tycoon, developer, businessman and philanthropist. He was the founder of Groupe Lépine, a privately owned real estate company headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, of which he was the Chairman and President.

He is considered to be one of the all-time largest and most influential real estate developers in Quebec. He had developed over time, more than 20,000 residential units, mainly houses and condominiums, as well as around 5,000 subdivided properties. Combined and adjusted to inflation, his projects are valued at more than $1 billion.

He was the owner and operator of numerous rental buildings and towers in Downtown Montreal. In 1969, he and partner Lorne Webster bought the Le Cartier building on Sherbrooke Street in Montreal from the Montreal Trust Company, through a leveraged buyout, and built the Peel Plaza building right next to it in 1973.

Since the 1960s, he built more than 1,500 houses in Montreal's Hampstead, Westmount and Côte Saint-Luc areas, as well as over 10,000 condominium units across Canada and the United States.

Lépine developed many buildings and landmarks in Montreal, including the Olympic Village and the Sanctuaire du Mont-Royal complex.