| Place Alexis Nihon | |
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| Location | 1500 Atwater Ave. Montreal,Quebec, Canada H3Z 1X5 |
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| Coordinates | 45°29′20″N73°35′9″W / 45.48889°N 73.58583°W /45.48889; -73.58583 |
| Opening date | 1967 |
| Developer | Alexis Nihon Group (REIT) |
| Management | Cominar REIT |
| Owner | Cominar REIT |
| Architect | Harold Ship, master concept and plaza design,Dimitri Dimakopoulos, office building design |
| Stores and services | 100+ |
| Anchor tenants | 5 |
| Floor area | 37,200 m2 (400,420 sq ft). |
| Floors | 3 |
| Parking | 1,100 vehicles |
| Public transit |   atAtwater Terminus Atwater |
| Website | Alexis Nihon |
Alexis Nihon Complex (French:Complexe Alexis Nihon) is a 223,000 m2 (2,400,000 sq ft) building complex situated at the border ofDowntown Montreal and the neighbouring city ofWestmount inQuebec, Canada. It consists of ashopping mall, two office towers, and a residential building. Although the complex is typically associated with Downtown Montreal and its main entrance onAtwater Avenue is in Montreal proper.[1] It is named after the inventor and businessmanAlexis Nihon. The shopping mall is directly connected to theAtwater metro station, which joins the building by a short tunnel with the adjacentDawson College, and by a longer one adjoins nearbyWestmount Square. The original complex was designed by the Montreal architect Harold Ship,[2] and its architectural plans are housed at theCanadian Centre for Architecture.[3]
Construction of Alexis Nihon Plaza, as the complex was originally called, began in September 1965.[4] The shopping mall inaugurated on April 17, 1967 but its stores didn't actually start doing business until the next day (with the notable exception of one retailer that had opened a day in advance by mistake).[5] It was the first shopping centre in North America with three levels.[6] TheMiracle Mart store occupied all three levels of the shopping mall at 270,000 sq ft (25,000 m2), making it the largest of the retailer's locations at the time.[7] TheSteinberg's supermarket was one of the largest built by the company back then.[8] Only the shopping mall opened in April 1967 but it was already decided back then that office and high-rise apartment buildings would be added in subsequent phases.[9]
On October 26, 1986, a major fire heavily damaged its 16-story office building and is still considered the city's biggest fire in a skyscraper[by whom?]. At least six stories were destroyed in the blaze. The federal government, who was a tenant of the building when the fire occurred, sued on August 18, 1988 the then-owner for $585,000, accusing them of being negligent and careless in the maintenance of the Alexis Nihon Complex.[10] In 2002, theService de sécurité incendie de Montréal was heavily blamed for negligence and incompetence by theCour d'Appel du Québec in their handling of the 1986 fire.[11] Two office towers, taller than the originals, have since been added atop the shopping complex at 3400 and 3500De Maisonneuve Boulevard West.
During theDawson shooting incident on September 13, 2006, the building was fully evacuated.[12]
On April 5, 2017, a minor fire broke out near the roof of the food court. Minor damage occurred as a result.
The shopping mall portion isanchored byCanadian Tire,IGA,Sports Experts,Winners andPharmaprix.
The block now containing the mall was once the site ofAtwater Park, home of theMontreal Royals baseball team through 1927.
Alexis Nihon, at the corner of Atwater Avenue and Ste-Catherine Street West, is accessible:
The complex is directly connected to the Atwater Metro station and offers numerous services, a variety of shops and superstores, and a food court with over 25 restaurants. From 1982 until 1986, it housed Montreal's firstIKEA Store, which due to a lack of space, moved out to a new location.[13] Alexis Nihon also previously housedMiracle Mart (later becoming an M-Store), a three-screen cinema operated byCineplex Odeon,Zellers andSteinberg's supermarket. When the complex first opened in 1967 the French department store Au Printemps opened it first location outside France.
In early 2025, the food court went to renovation, to add new restaurants. The construction work officially begun since March 1, 2025. This led to the closure of the restaurants on it, during the entire work. It reopened on November 2025.[14]
