The Mile-Ex: The Neighbourhood That Makes No Sense — And Why I Bet Everything On It
By Michele-V. Guzzo, Real Estate Broker — MVG Immobilier | Royal LePage Urbain
The Mile-Ex is a micro-neighbourhood where nothing really makes sense — and yet everything is in perfect harmony. That’s the best definition I’ve found after more than 10 years of building my business here.
I’m the owner of Waverly Gym, at 6546 Waverly Street. I opened in 2013, at 25, in an industrial building with a sawtooth roof that served as a munitions factory during the First World War. Back then, the area was a bit sketchy. At night, it wasn’t a reassuring place to be. The people close to me thought I was making a mistake. They weren’t wrong about the neighbourhood — they were simply wrong about what it was going to become.
What I Saw Was a Calculation
I saw the potential of abandoned factories, still-affordable rents, and a community of people who stayed because they believed in it. Wedged between Mile-End, Little Italy, Parc-Extension and Avenue du Parc — surrounded by neighbourhoods that had already proven themselves — the Mile-Ex was just waiting for its moment. This wasn’t blind optimism. It was raw real estate vision.
The Pioneers Who Were Here First
Before I arrived, there were already visionaries. Le Dépanneur Le Pick Up opened in 2008 at the corner of Waverly and Saint-Zotique — an old corner store transformed into a legendary sandwich counter with craft beers and a picnic terrace. Back then, there was almost nothing around it. We lived on the same streets, we shared the same conviction.
In 2012, Dinette Triple Crown set up at 6704 Clark Street. Fried chicken and smoked brisket served in picnic baskets in the middle of a Quebec industrial neighbourhood. It made no sense on paper — and it became a local institution until it closed in 2024. Those places forge the identity of a neighbourhood.
I opened the gym the following year. We were a handful of people betting on a sector nobody was paying attention to yet.
The Factory That Looks Like Nothing Else
The building where Waverly Gym is located has a century-old soul. Built in the 1910s, the complex housed the munitions factory of Gair Company Canada Ltd., linked to Canadian Explosives Limited, to support the war effort. Its sawtooth architecture was the solution of the era for lighting assembly lines without electricity — north-facing skylights, constant light, women workers assembling shells.
Today the building belongs to Canderel. Under that same century-old roof: the gym, and since early 2025, Galerie FOIL — a contemporary art space, café and bar. Original massive wood beams, exposed concrete columns, century-old floors. The same light that illuminated factory workers in 1917 now illuminates contemporary artworks and people lifting weights.
That’s the Mile-Ex in all its productive incoherence.
The Park We Fought For
In May 2013 — the same year I opened the gym — a developer illegally cut down about fifty mature trees on a vacant lot nearby. Residents stood up. For ten years, they occupied the land, planted vegetables, and resisted generic real estate projects. They called it urban guerrilla warfare.
In 2024, after expropriation and a $10.3 million investment by the City of Montreal, Parc des Gorilles was officially inaugurated. More than 1,500 trees planted across 78% of the site. The Waverly looks directly onto it. That’s the kind of neighbourhood where people fight for the value of their environment.
When the World Discovered What We Already Knew
The real shift came when the tech giants discovered what we already knew. Mila, Quebec’s artificial intelligence institute, set up on Saint-Urbain Street with more than 375 researchers. Microsoft Research took its place at 6795 Marconi. Behaviour Interactive — the studio behind Dead by Daylight, with more than 900 employees in Montreal — is at 6666 Saint-Urbain. Element AI was born here in 2016, acquired by ServiceNow in 2021 for $230 million USD.
At the gym, I’ve watched the member profile evolve in remarkable ways. From young professionals to well-established personalities — Waverly Gym has welcomed a fascinating range of people over the years. That mix is what keeps the neighbourhood alive. But the Mile-Ex was no longer a secret.
Why This Is Where You Should Invest
What I love here is the authenticity. An auto repair garage next to a fully renovated triplex worth over a million dollars. Unexpected dead-end streets. Sawtooth rooftops visible between the triplexes. No slogan, no manufactured image. It’s an unclassifiable micro-neighbourhood.
Investing in the Mile-Ex isn’t just buying square footage. It’s buying a story, a community resilience, and an exceptional strategic location in Montreal. I’ve watched this neighbourhood born, fight, and thrive with my own eyes. That ground-level knowledge is at your disposal.
Do you have a real estate project?
Whether you’re buying, selling, or investing, I can help you make the best decision for your situation. A 30-minute conversation, at no cost and no pressure.
MVG Immobilier — your strategic real estate partner.
Sources
Ville de Montréal — Parc des Gorilles, inauguration September 2024
Le Devoir — Montréal investira 10,3 millions pour transformer le Parc des Gorilles en espace vert (November 2022)
La Presse — Le Parc des Gorilles enfin inauguré (September 2024)
Mila — mila.quebec
RENX — Canderel acquisitions, Mile-Ex (2019–2022)
BetaKit — Element AI acquisition by ServiceNow (January 2021)
Journal du Design — Galerie FOIL, Atelier L’Abri (December 2025)
Behaviour Interactive — bhvr.com
Tastet — Dépanneur Le Pick Up
MTL Blog — Dinette Triple Crown closes for good (May 2024)