Montreal developer Brivia Group is betting big on a downtown revival.

Not content with building what will be the city’s tallest residential structure on Phillips Square, Brivia is now planning to erect a 19-storey condominium tower on the site of the former Loews Theatre.

The project, located at Ste-Catherine and Mansfield streets, will probably cost about $200 million to build, Vincent Kou, Brivia’s vice-president of corporate development and growth, said Thursday. It will include an outdoor pool on the top floor.

Brivia’s project is the first new residential building to be announced in Montreal’s central business district this year. It represents a vote of confidence for a downtown core that has seen office workers stay away and major festivals cancelled since the start of the pandemic.

“We have very strong confidence that downtown is going to come back,” Kou said in a telephone interview. “Once the vaccination campaign has been completed, we believe employees will return and universities will reopen. We want to be well positioned when that happens.”

Dubbed The Mansfield, the “neoclassical” building will have 248 residential units. Besides the pool, key amenities will include a spa, a fitness centre, a wine bar and a golf simulator.

Construction is expected to start this summer, with occupancy planned for 2024. Brivia would have been ready to kick off the project in September 2020, but held back because of the health situation, Kou said. Brivia’s partner on the project is China’s Tianqing Investment Group.