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REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP): Parc des Expos + 4C (Creative, Cultural, Commercial Campus)

Ashkan Karbasfrooshan

Stadium District Master Plan + Design + Development + Construction Partners

Issued by: Peanut Project LLC (“Peanut Project”)
In collaboration with: Granicus Advisors (“Granicus”)
Confidentiality: All the info is public and available to all, if you wish to sign an MNDA please use this
Issue Date: February 12, 2026
Response Deadline: March 31, 2026
Contact: Ashkan Karbasfrooshan – ash at watchmojo dot com
RFP documents can also be found here in English and en Français.

1. Executive Overview

Peanut Project LLC (“Peanut Project”) is seeking proposals from qualified architectural firms, master planners, developers, builders, and integrated design-build teams to support the planning, design, engineering, and delivery of a large-scale mixed-use civic development known as Parc des Expos and 4C (“the Project”).

The Project is designed as a year-round, institutional-grade sports and entertainment district, anchored by a stadium and surrounded by commercial, cultural, hospitality, and community infrastructure.

This initiative is intended to serve as a catalytic civic project for Montreal, supporting the long-term objective of a baseball-first, community-driven, league-compliant pathway to the return of Major League Baseball to Montreal.

However, the Project is deliberately structured to be economically viable with or without MLB.

2. Project Vision

The Project is inspired by best-in-class global stadium districts such as:

The vision is to develop a 365-day destination that integrates:

The Project is positioned as Montreal’s most significant civic transformation since Expo ’67.

3. Scope of Opportunity

Peanut Project is seeking partners for one or more of the following roles:

A) Master Planning & Architecture

B) Development & Project Management

C) Engineering & Construction

D) Consortium Partnerships

Peanut Project welcomes proposals from consortiums combining:

4. Core Deliverables

Respondents should propose a framework for delivering:

Stadium Component (Anchor Asset)

A modern stadium designed for:

Key characteristics:

4C District Component

A mixed-use district integrating the following pillars:

Culture

Community

Commerce

Capital

5. Economic and Civic Impact Expectations

Proposals should reflect an understanding of the Project’s economic thesis, including:

(Respondents may include economic modelling assumptions, but clarity and realism are preferred over inflated projections.)

6. Key Design Principles

All proposals should reflect:

7. Phasing & Sequencing

Respondents should propose a development approach that supports:

This Project must be executable even under uncertain league timelines.

8. Submission Requirements

Each proposal should include:

A) Firm / Consortium Profile

B) Relevant Experience

Provide comparable projects including:

Include:

C) Proposed Approach

D) Preliminary Conceptual Vision (Optional but Preferred)

E) Estimated Budget Ranges

High-level cost ranges for:

F) Timeline Assumptions

Provide a plausible execution timeline under different scenarios:

G) Financial / Partnership Model (If Applicable)

If the respondent is proposing development capital participation:

9. Evaluation Criteria

Proposals will be evaluated based on:

10. Confidentiality and Process

This RFP is confidential. Respondents must execute an MNDA prior to receiving:

Peanut Project reserves the right to:

11. Submission Instructions

All proposals must be submitted electronically in PDF format to:


Contact: Ashkan Karbasfrooshan – ash at watchmojo dot com

Subject Line: RFP Submission – Parc des Expos / 4C – [Firm Name]

Deadline: March 31, 2026 5pm EST

12. Appendix (Reference Materials)

APPENDIX SECTION

Stadium Concepts & Models

Hokkaido Stadium, Japan

US Bank, Minnesota

Buffalo New NFL Stadium

Marlins Stadium – MLB

ECONOMIC IMPACT TO MONTREAL

When people debate the return of the Montreal Expos, the conversation often gets stuck on nostalgia, attendance figures, or whether baseball “still matters.” That framing misses the point.

The real question is not whether a baseball team can succeed in Montreal.
The question is what a privately financed stadium and a broader 4C civic project would mean for the city, its economy, and its long-term competitiveness — with or without baseball.

Because in this case, the team is not the destination.
It is the catalyst.

What follows is a grounded, conservative look at the economic, employment, and civic impact of a modern MLB franchise embedded within a mixed-use, privately funded district.

1. Job Creation: Construction, Operations, and the Civic Multiplier

Construction Phase (4–6 years)

Large-scale stadium and district projects consistently generate substantial employment before the first game is ever played.

These are not abstract figures. Comparable North American projects of similar scale routinely produce employment in this range, particularly when development is phased and multi-use.

Permanent Employment (Post-completion)

Once operational, the combined effect of:

creates between:

These include:

Crucially, these are year-round jobs, not seasonal ones.

2. Annual Economic Activity: Recurring, Not One-Off

A modern MLB franchise integrated into a mixed-use district does not generate economic impact only on game days.

Based on conservative modeling:

This includes:

Over a 15–20 year horizon, this translates into:

This is why cities that get this right stop debating whether the team “pays for itself.” The district does.

3. Public Sector Revenues: Without Public Funding

One of the most misunderstood aspects of projects like this is the role of government.

In the proposed model:

Yet governments still benefit materially through:

Once stabilized, annual public revenues are estimated at:

This is the paradox policymakers often overlook:

The absence of public funding does not mean the absence of public benefit.

4. Tourism and Global Visibility

Montreal already excels at tourism. A flagship sports-and-culture district amplifies that advantage.

Expected impact:

Add to that:

The result is not just tourism volume, but tourism quality.




5. Urban Transformation and Land Value

The most durable impact of the 4C project is spatial.

Comparable North American developments consistently show:

In Montreal’s context, this would represent:

This is not about gentrification for its own sake.
It is about productive density.

6. Why the Team Still Matters

If the district is so powerful, why does the team matter?

Because:

The Expos would:

The team is the spark.
The city is the engine.

7. The Strategic Takeaway

This is not a sports vanity project.
It is not nostalgia economics.
And it is not a gamble.

It is a long-term civic investment whose returns accrue broadly:

With the Expos, Montreal accelerates into its next chapter.
Without them, the city still moves forward — but more slowly, and with less cohesion.

The real question, then, is not whether baseball belongs in Montreal.

It is whether Montreal is willing to think at the scale its talent, culture, and history justify.

COMMUNITY & CIVIC: 4C

4C (“Foresee”) Development: A Durable Civic and Commercial Platform

In parallel with the sports ownership thesis, we are advancing 4C (“foresee”), a large-scale creative, cultural, and commercial development platform designed to anchor long-term value independent of league outcomes.

4C is conceived not as a stadium-centric real estate project, but as a permanent, mixed-use ecosystem where sport, media, culture, commerce, and community reinforce one another. The objective is to build a district that is economically viable on its own, with optional upside from professional sports rather than dependency on it.

What 4C Is

4C is a master-planned campus integrating four pillars:

The development is designed to function as an always-on destination, not an event-driven venue.

Economic Rationale

From a capital perspective, 4C provides three critical attributes:

  1. Independent Cash Flows
     Revenue streams from commercial real estate, hospitality, media, and events are not contingent on team ownership or league approvals.
  2. Downside Protection
     In scenarios where league timing shifts or expansion is delayed, 4C continues to generate value, reducing binary risk.
  3. Embedded Upside Optionality
     If and when a professional franchise is secured, the campus becomes a force multiplier, materially enhancing valuation, utilization, and monetization across the district.

This mirrors successful precedents such as The Battery Atlanta and international mixed-use sports districts, but adapts the model to a denser, culture-forward, media-centric urban context.

Relationship to Sports Ownership

4C is deliberately structured to be adjacent to, but not dependent on, professional sports ownership.

From an institutional investor’s perspective, this separation is intentional:

In practical terms, 4C strengthens any future sports bid by demonstrating execution capacity, civic alignment, and economic seriousness, while standing on its own if timelines extend.

Strategic Fit for Institutional Capital

For long-horizon investors, 4C offers:

Rather than a single-asset bet, 4C functions as a portfolio of correlated but diversified cash flows, aligned with institutional risk frameworks.

School of Entrepreneurship

These days, students do not seek to become lawyers or doctors, not venture capitalists or investment bankers, today the majority want to become “creators/influencers” (storytellers) or entrepreneurs. The Academy Society of Entrepreneurship will be designed to meet athletes where they are in their careers and mindset. Elite athletes already possess many of the hardest-to-teach entrepreneurial traits: discipline, resilience, pattern recognition under pressure, and long-term commitment. What they often lack is structured exposure to capital allocation, business formation, governance, and risk management. This program bridges that gap by translating entrepreneurial fundamentals into an athlete-native language, helping participants move from operator to owner, from brand to platform, and ultimately from earner to investor. The objective is not to turn athletes into founders overnight, but to equip them with the tools and frameworks to build, back, and steward businesses thoughtfully over time.

Developing Humans First, Athletes Second

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