Crestpoint Real Estate Investments Ltd., has acquired a portion of Toronto’s iconic former Maple Leaf Gardens building as part of a three-property portfolio it is buying into, in a 50/50 joint venture with a Choice Properties REIT affiliate.

The transaction, announced Monday, involves a distribution centre and two retail properties including the portion of the former Maple Leaf Gardens at 60 Carlton St. in downtown Toronto.

The distribution center is a 711,000-square-foot dual-load distribution facility in Mississauga. The other retail asset is a 150,000-square-foot Real Canadian Superstore in Winnipeg.

The 60 Carlton St., property is structured as a strata title interest in the lower floors of the building.

Financial details were not disclosed.

Originally constructed in 1931 and recognized as one of Canada’s most iconic buildings, it was the home arena of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, other professional sports teams and hosted other major entertainment events until 1999.

It now houses 95,000 square feet of retail space including a flagship Loblaws grocery store, an LCBO outlet, a Joe Fresh location and 150 underground parking spaces. 

Toronto Metropolitan University will retain its ownership of the top level of the property, which houses the Mattamy Athletic Centre arena, sports and special events venue.

Loblaw, Choice and the Gardens

Loblaw had acquired ownership of the then-Maple Leaf Gardens for $12 million in 2004, according to reports at the time. After years of delays and planning, it open the redesigned retail portion of the building in 2011, including its flagship Loblaws retail store which retains a number of features from the former arena.

The Mattamy Athletic Centre, which now hosts the university's sports teams as well as other events, was developed at the same time above the retail portion of the building.

The project was valued at about $60 million.

Loblaw spun out its real estate holdings into Choice Properties REIT in 2018.

Portfolio fully occupied

The three-building portfolio is 100 per cent leased for 15-plus years and is backed by Loblaw's and Shoppers' investment-grade credit parent company, Loblaw Companies Limited.

Crestpoint, on behalf of the Crestpoint Core Plus Real Estate Strategy (its open-end fund), entered into this joint venture transaction with Choice Properties (CHP.UN-T), Canada's largest REIT with over 700 properties valued at $16.7 billion and a market cap of ~$10.6 billion.

The closing of this acquisition brings Crestpoint's total assets under management to $10.4 billion and 38.3 million square feet. 

Crestpoint is a commercial real estate investment manager dedicated to providing investors with direct access to a diversified portfolio of commercial real estate assets.  It is part of the Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group, a multi-boutique asset management company that provides investment management products and services to institutional and high net-worth clients.

With offices in Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and India, Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group and its affiliates collectively manage approximately $133 billion in assets.