The sale of a four-tower apartment complex at 1600 Beach Avenue that sold last year for $305 million appears to have broken a record, according to Goodman Commercial, the commercial real estate company that brokered the deal.
The four-tower, 601-unit apartment complex overlooking English Bay sold last year to Devonshire Properties.
But the sale was only recently disclosed, and according to the Altus Group's RealNet Canada, it was the biggest transaction in Canada for that real estate class.
"It's the largest Canadian, multi-family single-asset transaction in Canada's history," Goodman said.
Goodman said it was a share transaction deal, in which the buyer acquired the property -- 2.7 acres -- by buying shares in the company that owned it.
Since the deal happened in 2019, it doesn't say much about the commercial real estate sector in the COVID-19 era. But Goodman said it's actually not as bad as one might think.
"Today, obviously things slowed down with the physical distancing," Goodman said. "But the pace of business is actually healthy, and we have multiple offers out on various properties -- a hotel site on Robson, a development site on 33rd and Main. We've got an apartment building under contract. And all this happened during COVID.
"So it's not the end of the world by any means. In fact we're optimistic that when this is over in the next, hopefully, weeks, that we're going to get back to business."
