With the $8.9-million acquisition of a Kelowna residential property, Victoria-based Partners Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX-V: PAR.UN) has purchased its first B.C. property and is eyeing further investments in the province.
“We’d love the opportunity to acquire more properties in B.C. because we think the market is a great market and we’re headquartered in Victoria,” Partners REIT president and CEO Patrick Miniutti said. “It would be something that we would be constantly looking for opportunities in – either for development deals, partnerships or pure acquisitions.”
Partners’ Kelowna acquisition includes the majority of retail units at the Centuria Urban Village, which the company describes as “a food and drug store-anchored high-rise, mixed-use retail and residential property.”
The Kelowna acquisition includes 32,500 square feet of retail space and includes designated underground parking space.
The properties being aquired are 100% occupied under long-term leases with Buy-Low Foods LP’s Nesters Food Market, Paragon Pharmacies Ltd., the BC Nurses Union, a salon and a spa.
Miniutti said the driver behind the acquisition was the “opportunity of what was available at a reasonable value.”
Miniutti said Parners – which owns 17 properties across Ontario, Manitoba and Quebec – isn’t limiting its expansion plans to B.C.
“We’re really trying to be opportunistic across the country.”