Records show the property, which was previously owned by Colonnade BridgePort and an unnamed institutional investor, sold for $12 million on Sept. 4 to an entity identified as 1900 City Park GP Inc.
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Local investors have acquired an office complex next to a site that’s being proposed as the home of a new multi-highrise development.
The buyers of the five-storey, 93,200-square-foot building at 1900 City Park Dr., near the Blair LRT station, have not been disclosed. Records show the property, which was previously owned by Colonnade BridgePort and an unnamed institutional investor, sold for $12 million on Sept. 4 to an entity identified as 1900 City Park GP Inc.
Colonnade BridgePort CEO Hugh Gorman described the new owners as a “group of local buyers” but would not name them, citing a confidentiality agreement.
The sale comes three-and-a-half years after Colonnade BridgePort and its partner acquired the building, which sits on a 2.5-acre site, along with four acres of adjacent development land at 2000 City Park Dr. for $20 million from QuadReal Property Group.
“We bought (the office building) at a very good number and the intent was to spruce it up a bit, get a little bit of leasing done,” Gorman told OBJ on Friday morning.
“When we bought it, it was (about) 20 per cent occupied. The idea was to get it up to 70 or 80 per cent leased and then take it back to the market and leave some opportunity on the table for the next purchaser.
“It took a little longer than we had initially hoped, but there was a buyer group that came through. They’re believers in where the market is ultimately going. It feels like we’re at the bottom of the office market trough and working our way out of the other side, and they see significant opportunity.”
The building currently has an occupancy rate of 81.4 per cent, with an average weighted lease term of 6.8 years, according to Avison Young, which brokered the deal on behalf of Colonnade BridgePort. Key tenants include co-working space provider TCC Canada, which occupies a full floor.
Colonnade BridgePort now intends to develop the four-acre parcel of land next door. Its proposal calls for five towers ranging from 12 to 30 storeys that would contain about 1,200 residential units.
Gorman said that when the office complex at 1900 City Park was built in 1991, the original plan was to construct more office towers on the adjacent land.
The surrounding neighbourhood has evolved since then, and Gorman said the addition of the Blair light-rail station and nearby apartment highrises makes the property more suited for a “high-density residential site” than commercial development.
“We always knew that (1900 City Park) was a good, high-quality, class-A office building, but we really bought it because it was one package (with the adjacent land),” he added. “That’s really what made the deal make sense. We bought the office building … to sever it and sell the building with the intent of developing the land for purpose-built rental.”
Gorman said the site’s proximity to major government employers such as the National Research Council and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service as well as the Gloucester Centre mall make it ideal for residential densification.
“We think demand is returning to that node with great employment in the area,” he said. “There’s lots of synergy in that mix of uses. We fully intend to get going on the purpose-built rental (project).”
