Calgary Firm Buys Market Square

The good news has been flowing recently for the Kitchener downtown core! We’re struggling to keep up with the news flow and bring it to your attention. This article came out on Thursday of last week, published in the Waterloo Region Record.

Please note, this is great news for the Kitchener core and for Parmasters KW. Realex will bring new energy and vitality, as noted in our previous blog entry, to both the downtown core and to Market Square. Through the due diligence process involved in any major acquisition, Realex is fully aware of our tenancy in Market Square. They share the vision held by both our current landlord, Cora, and us, that Parmasters KW will be a fantastic addition to both Market Square and the Kitchener core.

Calgary firm buys chunks of Kitchener downtown
Cora Group selling six major properties in $141M deal

From The Record.com
Michael Hammond
RECORD STAFF; with files from Greg Mercer, Record staff

WATERLOO REGION

Downtown Kitchener is getting a major new landlord in a blockbuster deal that will see The Cora Group sell six office buildings and its property management business.

Realex Properties Corp., a real estate company headquartered in Calgary, announced yesterday it has signed a letter of intent to buy five buildings in downtown Kitchener and one in Waterloo from Kitchener-based Cora Group.

The deal, including the property management business, is worth $141.8 million. The price consists of cash, stock and debt, Realex said in a news release. The transaction, slated to close by the end of August, will give Realex sole ownership of the following properties in downtown Kitchener:

Market Square, a former mall that now houses offices, including the Waterloo Region Record

The Commerce House office building at 50 Queen St. E.

An office tower at 22 Frederick St.

The Galleria building at Frederick and Weber streets

An office building 235 King St. E.

Realex is also buying the Accelerator Centre building in the University of Waterloo Research and Technology Park.

The properties have a total of 933,000 square feet of space occupied or for rent and 2,000 parking spaces. Realex will also acquire from Cora the rights to jointly develop land in Kitchener and Waterloo.
Manfred Conrad, chief executive and principal owner of Cora, will join Realex Properties board of directors once the deal closes.

Adrian Conrad, who leads Cora's management business, will become Realex's vice-president in charge of southwestern Ontario.

Neither executive could be reached for comment.

Mayor Carl Zehr said he's pleased the Conrad family will maintain links to the downtown properties through their new roles with Realex.

He takes the deal as a sign outside investors are impressed with new developments happening in the core.

"The momentum that has been building from a number of ventures, both public and private, is sending a message loud and clear," Zehr said.

Mark Garner, executive director of Kitchener Downtown Business Association, said the deal is a promising show of confidence.

"If someone is willing to pay what they are paying, they clearly see a viable market here," he said.
"That can't be a bad thing."

In a press release issued yesterday, Realex's chief executive Marc Sardachuk said the Cora purchase fits with Realex's strategy of expanding into technology regions in eastern Canada.

"This acquisition will help Realex achieve its strategic objective of building a national real estate platform with core property holdings in high growth geographic areas," he said.

Sardachuk could not be reached for further comment yesterday.

Realex holds an ownership stake in 17 office and industrial properties, mainly in Calgary and Edmonton. The company also has a self storage business with locations in Alberta and British Columbia. Realex trades on the TSX Venture Exchange, but the company said in a recent investor presentation that it intends to graduate to the senior TSX exchange this year.

Besides the properties it owns and manages in the region, Cora also has properties in Corunna, Sarnia, Southampton, Blyth and Sudbury.

mhammond@therecord.com