Manulife and Ivanhoe Cambridge recently signed an agreement to develop, own and operate a 27-storey skyscraper in downtown Montreal to be named Maison Manuvie.

Construction on the AAA building, located at 900 de Maisonneuve West in the heart of the city’s business district, will begin early in 2015.

Manulife will lease roughly 260,000 square feet of space over 11 floors upon completion of its proposed acquisition of Standard Life’s Canadian-based operations. About 2,000 employees from different Manulife and Standard Life properties will eventually move into the new tower.

Kevin Adolphe, president and chief executive officer of Manulife Real Estate, said the company is proud to be partnering with Ivanhoe. “The addition of this world-class office tower in Montreal reinforces our commitment to growth in Quebec and complements our existing portfolio nicely,” he said.

The structure will be built to LEED Gold certification standards and provide bicycle-storage capacity, near access to both a major cycling path and the Peel and McGill metro stations.

Ivanhoe will stay on as property manager once the development is completed in 2017.

“We are especially proud to be strengthening our business relationship with an outstanding global company and an investor with which we can do more business around the world,” said Daniel Fourier, chairman and chief executive officer at Ivanhoe Cambridge.

Menkes Shooner Dagenais Letourneux Architectes is designing the building, while Pomerleau is the general contractor.