A South Surrey mall sale broke records this week as one of the largest retail investment deals with a private purchaser in more than a decade.
Grosvenor Americas and its institutional investors closed the sale of the South Point Exchange shopping centre for $91 million to a Canadian private investor on Monday.
Avison Young’s Bob Levine said, “This sale is the largest open-air mall retail investment transaction in Western Canada thus far in 2010. The deal is significant because it marks the largest retail investment with a private purchaser in more than a decade.”
He noted the sale is unique because most retail mall sales in B.C. this year above $50 million have primarily involved institutional investors or public companies including Canada’s major real estate income trusts.
The 267,000-square-foot open-air shopping centre first opened in 2000 and a second phase opened in 2003. The mall, that’s now anchored by Save On Foods, Canadian Tire and Staples expanded in 2007 and remains fully leased with major tenants including Winners/Home Sense, Cactus Club, HSBC Bank Canada and 26 other tenants.
A recent Avison Young report noted that retail property deals have been a key driver in the province’s commercial real estate investment market, resulting in record transaction dollar volumes in the first half of 2010.
Commercial real estate sales have risen 60% in the first six months of the year to more than $1 billion, up from $$643 million in the same period in 2009. It was the first time commercial real estate sales exceeded $1 billion in the province’s history.