In a spot where Montreal’s tallest downtown buildings stretch to the clouds, a developer has created what could be the smallest residential rental structures the city has seen. And it's a localized answer to a problem spanning most of North America.

Real estate developer Groupe Forum has completed the transformation of a half-dozen brick structures that long served as backdoor sheds and staircases. The company turned the spaces into compact three-floor apartments totaling 350 square feet. Rents are $2,300 per month furnished with internet included.

The unlikely conversion began after Forum boss Gideon Pollack toured behind greystone row houses at 1431 Pierce St. that his company was transforming from 12 to 24 units. Pollock noticed the six attractive brick sheds connected to the back of the building and suddenly had the notion of turning them into housing.

From New York to Los Angeles, and Vancouver to Montreal, affordable apartments are still hard to find even after many urban residents left downtowns during the height of the pandemic. While the contributing motivations may vary from bureaucracy and other hurdles to construction, the driving force is more people moving into major cities.

In Canada, the shed remake is a rare and possibly unique project because structures like these are rarely made with such sturdy brick construction. The six brick structures are thought to date back to the mid-1880s when the rowhouses were built.

Sheds were once common sights behind homes in Canadian cities. They offered a useful place to store coal and other fuels used to heat houses. Most sheds, however, were made of wood and municipalities — including Montreal — encouraged their demolition over the years as they were believed to be fire hazards.

In recent years, the province of Ontario under Premier Doug Ford passed legislation that allows landowners to build homes in their backyards but other provinces have been slower to follow suit.

The small red structures contained fire escape staircases as well. But the developers removed them after being required to build a new series of emergency exit staircases as part of the expansion project.

The eureka moment was followed by a long odyssey of dealing with city officials to give permission for the project.

The architect in charge of the project was quickly made aware that Montreal bureaucrats were unaccustomed to such undertakings. “Unlike other cities in Canada, Montreal is not there yet. It hasn’t modified its bylaws to allow for tiny houses,” said architect Amani Rizk in a phone interview. “In Europe, people rent out spaces that are even tinier than this. They’re well made, well maintained, have a lot of sunlight and there’s no issue.”

City officials would only agree to allow the creation of the new homes if the units could be given proper addresses. The lane way that runs perpendicular to the pathway to the structures already came with an official street name, Police Street, so the developers were able to pass that first hurdle.

The next challenge was to comply with the city’s minimum square footage bylaw. The developers moved one of the walls on each of the structures a tiny bit in order to reach that minimum standard.

But even then Rizk had some momentary doubts. “When I first walked into one of these tiny homes I saw that it was dark and dirty and not well maintained. It took a little bit of vision to see what we could do in there to make it a livable space. The exterior struck us as livable but the interior not at all.”

Rizk and Groupe Forum put their full attention to the project and managed to create a bright compact space with all of the modern conveniences, as company representative Lexa Serafini attests. “These back units took some creativity to maximize the small space but with some good design it worked out well, “ she said in a phone interview.

The project has been fully completed and Groupe Forum has started renting the units out. Apartments in the are in great demand, largely due to students at nearby Concordia and McGill universities.

Groupe Forum has devoted much of its previous work to commercial real estate projects but its venture into the residential side will likely make an impression.

Serafini says that she hopes the project encourages other developers to transform similar spaces in the battle against the ongoing housing crisis.

“Our first project saw us densify and maximize land downtown to create extra housing, so maybe we will inspire other people to do the same thing,” she said.