- What H&R REIT agreed to sell its interest in an office property in Burnaby
- Why The REIT continues to divest noncore properties
- What’s next H&R plans to invest in industrial and residential properties
H&R REIT has agreed to sell its 50% ownership interest in an office building in Burnaby, B.C., for $82.5m to co-owner Crestpoint Real Estate Investments.
The deal is part of the Toronto-based company’s long-term plan to reposition its portfolio. The company is exiting the office and retail sectors and will focus exclusively on industrial and residential properties in major Canadian markets and fast-growing gateway and Sunbelt cities in the U.S.
“This is part of a strategic plan to re-position H&R by focusing on our core holdings in order to stay competitive and drive value,” a company spokesman told Green Street News Canada.
The 672,000 sq ft property, at 3777-3791 Kingsway Street, is known as Brian Canfield Centre. As part of the deal, Crestpoint will assume the property’s existing $25.1m mortgage. The sale is expected to close in May.
In total, H&R REIT expects to gross roughly $411.7m from property sales that have closed or are under contract in Canada and the U.S. so far this year.
The company closed the $232.5m sale of Corus Quay, a 480,000 sq ft office and broadcast centre at 25 Dockside Drive on the waterfront in downtown Toronto, to George Brown College and Halmont Properties.
H&R REIT is under contract to sell its 50% stakes in two unidentified industrial properties, one in Canada and one in the U.S., with proceeds expected to total $60.7m from the Canada property and US $6.3m from the other.
Those deals were preceded by the sales of four partially occupied industrial properties earlier in the year for approximately $17.2m. Those properties include three in British Columbia: 1764/1776 Kelly Douglas Road in Kamloops, 1604/1720 Willow Street in Campbell River, and 450 Mackenzie Avenue South in Williams Lake.
The other was a 45,000 sq ft industrial facility at 1645 Boulevard Lionel-Boulet in Varennes, Quebec, leased to tech company ABB. Avison Young brokered the deals.
