Medical Arts building officially sold to mystery buyer

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/04/2017 (3064 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries confirmed Tuesday it has a deal to sell the downtown Medical Arts Building, but it’s not revealing the name of the buyer.

“Respecting the confidentiality provisions of the agreement, at this time we are not able to disclose any details regarding the sale or the buyer,” Andrea Kowal, MLL’s director of corporate affairs, said in an email.

The only details Kowal did disclose are that the sale is unconditional, it’s expected to close in late June and that it includes the 15-storey office tower, the 385-stall parkade and the surface parking lot on the north side of the tower facing onto Graham Avenue.

Although MLL isn’t saying who the buyer is, local real estate industry sources said Monday it is Toronto-based Timbercreek Asset Management Inc. and that the firm plans to convert the tower into an apartment complex.

They said converting the building to another use makes sense because, with its high vacancy rate and small floor plate, it no longer works as an office building.

MLL’s asking price was $16 million, which is nearly twice the $7.9 million it paid when it acquired the properties in September 2015. The corporation planned to spend $74 million to renovate and expand the tower, retaining a portion of the revamped space for its newly amalgamated headquarters and leasing out the rest.

It had reportedly spent about $2.4 million on planning when, in January of this year, the MLL’s new Tory-appointed board of directors scrapped the project. MLL chairwoman Polly Craik said the new board felt the corporation should stick to its core business and not become property developers and landlords.

Ugo Bizzarri, Timbercreek’s co-founder and managing director of portfolio management and investments, could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

The president and CEO of Winnipeg’s downtown development agency — CentreVenture Development Corp. — said she hasn’t heard what the new owner plans to do with the properties. But converting an underutilized office building into new housing would be great for the area, she added.

Although more than 2,600 new residential units have been built or announced for the downtown since 2005, Angela Mathieson said there can never be too much housing in the area.

“It’s really the key to the success of any vibrant downtown — as much population density as you can possibly manage.”

She said rental apartments would also be a good fit for that part of the downtown.

“It’s got great access to transit, obviously, through the Graham Transit Mall. And it’s close to the University of Winnipeg… and rental housing is something that supports students, as well.”

Downtown Winnipeg Business Improvement Zone CEO Stefano Grande agreed more apartments would be welcomed.

Grande said BIZ officials are also hoping the new owner retains some retail space in the tower and builds a new retail development on the surface parking lot.

“There’s a very strong and growing pedestrian activity along Graham Avenue, and what we’re hearing from the business community it that they’d like to see more storefronts along the Graham (transit) mall,” he added.

He said the fact a buyer was found so quickly speaks volumes about the downtown and the impact the $400-million True North Square office/retail/residential/hotel development on Graham Avenue is having on the area.

“People are starting to see the vision. People are starting to see property values escalate, which leads to being able to actually undertake construction and renovations. So it’s very, very positive.”

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca