Montreal developer purchases ‘long-term value’ CDI College building

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This article was published 22/02/2024 (599 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Montreal-based developer has taken its first step into Winnipeg, acquiring CDI College’s downtown campus from Artis Real Estate Investment Trust.

However, the site will not change anytime soon, said Henry Zavriyev, chief executive of Leyad.

“We’ve been looking in Winnipeg for a while,” he said Thursday. “This is the first opportunity that came up that made sense.”

Leyad was established in 2016; it now touts itself as one of the largest apartment managers in Montreal and its surrounding regions.

The company has been buying properties throughout Canada. It has investments in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Recently, it’s turned its eyes to Manitoba.

“We really like Winnipeg — it’s a large city which seems to be growing at a great pace,” Zavriyev said. “(It) has a lot of things going for it.”

Leyad announced its acquisition of 280 Main St. earlier this week. The two-storey, 24,000-square-foot building has held the corner near Graham Avenue for 112 years.

It’s the first of several Winnipeg purchases Leyad will be announcing, Zavriyev hinted, adding he’s looking at retail and industrial properties.

A perk of the CDI College campus is its room to add more storeys, Zavriyev said.

Leyad said the building has space to rise to 40 stories, with development potential up to 180,000 sq. ft.

It sits adjacent to 300 Main St., Manitoba’s tallest building (42 stories).

However, Zavriyev didn’t signal any plans to turn the Main Street site into a tower.

“You could build a high-rise there one day, so there’s good long-term value for us,” he said, adding the company hopes CDI College stays in place for “a long time.”

The developer duly notified the career training institution about the ownership change, a spokesman for the school said in an email statement.

CDI College will continue running its Winnipeg campus under the same lease agreement, he said. “(There’s) no changes whatsoever to the campus structure or operations.”

Artis REIT didn’t respond to questions by print deadline; Zavriyev declined to give details about the sale, including price.

Artis unveiled a transformation plan in 2021 to focus on value investing and selling its assets. Since then, it’s divested itself of many buildings.

Meantime, Zavriyev keeps scouting.

He called Winnipeg “an overlooked city… It has everything that, from an investor’s point of view, would make it attractive: the population’s growing, (and there’s a) very diverse economy that’s kind of slow and steady.”

He said he expects the value of Winnipeg’s buildings to slowly, continually rise.

“I just think it’s a very stable market,” Zavriyev said. “It’s a great investment, if you look over that long-term investing horizon.”

He wouldn’t elaborate Thursday on any buildings Leyad might acquire next. However, local apartments are not in the pipeline, he clarified.

Leyad also seeks expansion into Saskatchewan and Alberta, he said.

In October 2023, the company announced its purchase of Wheeler Park Power Centre, a 360,000-sq.-ft. retail centre in New Brunswick.

In February, it purchased the 182,031-sq.-ft. North Sydney Mall in Nova Scotia.

Leyad boasts more than 1,500 Quebec dwellings under its management, according to its website.

CDI College’s downtown Winnipeg campus isn’t listed as a heritage building. The site was once home to the Wilson Furniture Co.

The downtown post-secondary school boasts business, health-care and technology programs, among others.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com