The former Hudson’s Bay store on Rideau Street is being acquired by a numbered company in an agreement signed by Claridge Homes chief financial officer Neil Malhotra, new court documents show.
A company identified as 2808771 Ontario Ltd. has agreed to purchase the former department store at 73, 85 and 87 Rideau St. in a deal that was signed March 19, documents recently filed in Ontario Superior Court show.
The purchase price for the property – which covers more than 330,000 square feet over five storeys on Rideau Street – has been redacted from the signed agreement. According to the court documents, CBRE, which marketed the property on behalf of the court-appointed receiver, signed confidentiality agreements with 16 parties interested in buying the former Bay space.
The receiver is seeking court approval for the transaction next Monday. The Ottawa deal is the first of four agreements to seek court approval. Other purchase agreements have been made for the former Bay spaces in Vancouver, Calgary and Windsor, with separate buyers.
In three of the four deals, the buyers are major residential developers, suggesting the spaces will be at least partly repurposed as housing.
The Vancouver Hudson’s Bay site is being acquired by prominent local developer Onni Group, while the Bay building in Calgary is being purchased by Astra Real Estate, whose subsidiary PeopleFirst Developments has been a trailblazer at converting empty offices in the Alberta city’s downtown core into apartment complexes.
Meanwhile, the former Bay store in Windsor’s Devonshire Mall is being acquired by the shopping centre’s owner, Primaris REIT.
The four properties are among 12 that Hudson’s Bay owned in a joint venture with RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust. The Bay owned a 78 per cent stake, with RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust holding the remaining 22 per cent.
Last May, RioCan filed a motion asking the Ontario Superior Court to appoint FTI Consulting Canada Inc. receiver of the companies that spanned the venture.
Malhotra declined to comment on the court filing Thursday.
Toronto-based retail analyst Bruce Winder welcomed the sale, saying it marks another step in ongoing efforts to revitalize Ottawa’s downtown.
“We don’t know all the details, but it’s encouraging,” he said in an interview Thursday afternoon.
“I’ve always thought it was a pretty good area. I know there are certain parts of the (ByWard) Market that are a little sketchy, but I thought it would be sort of a marquee area at least being close to the action downtown. And it’s nice to see the space (is going to be) filled. It’s a bit of an eyesore. When you have that much space that remains unfilled, it doesn’t do wonders for the downtown area.”
Claridge is one of Ottawa’s most prominent housing developers, with a list of high-profile projects to its name that includes the city’s tallest building – the 469-foot Icon condo tower at the corner of Carling Avenue and Preston Street.
But up to now, the firm has mostly steered clear of converting office and retail buildings to residential complexes. That appears about to change with its acquisition of the former Bay space on Rideau, which Winder predicted will likely be redeveloped as a mixed-use property with retailers on the ground floor and residential units above.
“That’ll be really interesting to see what they come up with,” he said. “If they’re building something brand new versus refurbishing an existing (building), it’s a very different set of skills, a very different approach.
“I’m not sure if there’s an appetite for office (space) … but for sure it’ll be mixed-use. There will be some retail tucked in there too, I’m sure.”
The pending sales come more than a year after the iconic Canadian department store chain filed for creditor protection in March 2025.
Soon after, the Bay permanently closed all of its stores – including its flagship Ottawa location on Rideau Street and stores in the Bayshore and St. Laurent shopping centres.
Store leases at Bayshore, which is owned by KingSett Capital, and St. Laurent, which is owned by Morguard Investments, were among the 25 that B.C. billionaire Ruby Liu wanted to purchase in a bid to turn them into a new department store brand with entertainment and dining space.
However, her efforts met with stiff opposition from mall landlords Cadillac Fairview, Oxford Properties, Ivanhoé Cambridge, Primaris Management, QuadReal Property, Morguard Investments and KingSett Capital, which spent months fighting HBC’s attempt to sell Liu the leases. A court later blocked the sale, agreeing Liu’s business plan was insufficient for the properties she wanted to take over.
Candice Lerner-Fry, head of the retail leasing division in the Ottawa office of Marcus & Millichap, told OBJ last fall landlords at Bayshore, St. Laurent and Place d’Orléans – which was home to Ottawa’s other Bay location – were in talks with a number of retailers to take over space formerly occupied by the department store and expected to fill the vacancies soon.
On Thursday, Winder said it’s been a challenge for many malls to backfill the former Bay spaces.
“These are big, legacy boxes that really don’t fit today’s modern retail footprint for the most part.”
– With files from The Canadian Press
