Major capital buildings sold
Victoria property in high demand
Four major Victoria buildings have been sold to out-of-town buyers.
Sussex Place, at Douglas and Broughton streets, and two office buildings on Jutland Road at the Selkirk Waterfront are now owned by a Quebec insurance and wealth management firm in a $131.5-million purchase.
And the Scott Building at Douglas Street and Hillside Avenue has been sold for an undisclosed price to a Vancouver development company, which is planning to build a six-storey rental residential tower on the adjacent parking lot.
“It is absolutely one of the strongest years this market has seen in a long, long time,” said Rick Pettinger, president of Newmark Frank Knight Devencore Realty Victoria. There is high demand for existing buildings and for development sites, he said, noting the high number of construction cranes downtown. Developers are spending millions of dollars on condominium and rental projects in response to high demand.
Investors include pension funds, real estate trusts, and individuals, Pettinger said. “There is just way more demand than there is supply.”
The capital region is seen as a safe haven for capital, he said.
A Quebec company has paid $131.5 million in a blockbuster purchase for three Victoria office properties, each holding long-term leases with B.C. government tenants.
The buildings are Sussex Place, at 1001 Douglas St. and 720 Broughton St. in downtown Victoria, and 2975 and 2995 Jutland Rd. at the Selkirk Waterfront. They total 300,000 square feet.
Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc. bought the buildings. The firm, founded in 1892, is among the largest insurance and wealth-management companies in the country.
The buildings were sold by HOOPP Realty, part of the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan.
Michael Miller, senior vice-president in the Victoria office of Colliers International, was part of the listing team. He said “it’s certainly the largest sale ever in our office” and believes it could be the largest office transaction in Victoria’s history.
Sussex Place consists of the art-deco style Sussex Apartment Hotel, a threestorey brick facade, that was saved in the 1990s to become part of a new development. The facade is on the City of Victoria’s heritage register.
The project includes an interior courtyard and an 11-storey office building, where B.C.’s Ministry of the Attorney General is located.
Tenants in the Selkirk properties include B.C. Pension Corp. and two provincial ministries.
“Victoria is really on everyone’s radar screen, not just locally, but regionally, nationally and to some lesser degree internationally,” Miller said. “I think Victoria has come of age.”
Relatively speaking, Victoria is still a bargain on the world stage, he said.