The pension plans of half-a-million British Columbians expanded this spring with the purchase of another retirement community by Parkbridge Lifestyle Communities, owned by the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (bcIMC).
Parkbridge, Canada’s largest owner of residential land-lease communities has purchased Crest Estates in Nanaimo, a two-parcel package with 180 modular homes. The sale price remains confidential, according to a Parkbridge spokeswoman.
With the addition of Crest Estates, which restricts buyers to those over age 55, Parkbridge now owns a total of seven properties with 727 sites on Vancouver Island including two recreational vehicle resorts and five residential communities. It also owns communities in Langley, Surrey and White Rock.
Parkbridge homeowners own their home, but lease the land that it sits on. Once known as “trailer parks” such developments are now often referred to as modular home communities.
bcIMB bought Calgary-based Parkbridge in an all-cash, $790 million deal in 2010.
Managing more than $114 billion of gross managed assets, bcIMC is one of Canada’s largest institutional fund managers. The corporation invests on behalf of B.C. public bodies including 11 public sector pension plans with more than 520,000 members, including firefighters, police officers, public servants, teachers, and employees of WorkSafeBC and BC Hydro.
