Deals

Ivanhoé Cambridge invests in Ontario shopping centre

The real estate arm of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec will invest C$178 million in a shopping centre slated to open in the spring of 2014. The asset will be situated in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

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Montreal-based Ivanhoé Cambridge has made an investment of C$178 million (€138 million, $175 million) to build an outlet shopping centre in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. According to a statement, the real estate arm of pension fund manager Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the property, which will operate under the banner The Outlet Collection, will leverage a new brand in Ivanhoé Cambridge's shopping centre portfolio and serve as “a major attraction for tourist shoppers”.

Phase I of the new outlet centre in Niagara-on-the-Lake is slated to open in the spring of 2014. It will feature eight buildings totalling 488,000 square feet of leasable space. A second phase would add 720,000 square feet to the project’s total leasable space.

Roughly 100 retailers are expected to occupy the centre, including Brooks Brothers, Calvin Klein, Forever 21, Izod, Naturalizer, Nine West, Tommy Hilfiger and Van Heusen outlets, two big-box stores, restaurants and a food pavilion.

David Baffa, Ivanhoé Cambridge's vice president of retail development for the central region, said: “The site, next to the Queen Elizabeth Highway and just one hour away from Toronto, will become the new gateway to the Niagara Falls region and will be a major tourism hub.”

The Outlet Collection will complement such Ivanhoé Cambridge Mills properties as Vaughan Mills in Ontario and CrossIron Mills in Alberta, which are hybrid centres that incorporate attributes of regional malls, power centres, outlet centres and entertainment venues.

Town CAO Mike Galloway said that he believes the opening of the Outlet Center “will generate significant economic benefits for our town and attract additional visitors to the Niagara-on-the-Lake region”.

This project follows Ivanhoé Cambridge investing C$200 million to add 160,000 square feet of leasable space to the Bayshore Shopping Centre, an Ottawa shopping centre. The Bayshore redevelopment and expansion programme, which already is underway, is scheduled to be completed in 2015.