LAKESHORE LAND DEAL
The Weston family may be ready to bid for a large tract of waterfront property owned by the LCBO,
An investing vehicle run by the Westons, one of Canada’s richest families, is among the companies bidding on what may be Toronto’s biggest land deal, according to people with knowledge of the plans.
Wittington Properties Ltd. is in the running with at least two other companies to acquire a 4.5-hectare plot near the city’s waterfront owned by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, the provincially owned alcohol retailer, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the bidding is private.
The company is the real-estate arm of Wittington Investments Ltd., which is 85-per-cent held by the Garfield Weston Foundation and the Weston family. The family’s patriarch, W.G. Galen Weston, is Canada’s richest person, with businesses spanning retail in Canada and the U.K. and a net worth of about $8.7 billion (U.S.), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. A Wittington spokesman declined to comment.
Wittington and other bidders are after a swath of land that’s being rapidly developed. In the past decade, more than 6,000 condo units have been proposed, with almost half under construction or being marketed in the area, according to data compiled by RealNet Canada Inc.
Wittington has submitted a pro- posal for the site — which currently houses a liquor store, the LCBO headquarters and a warehouse — to the province of Ontario, which is running the process. There is no guarantee that Wittington will be granted the contract or any deal will be made, said the people familiar with the bid.
“There is currently no agreement signed for the sale of the LCBO head office and negotiations are ongoing,” Andrew Forgione, spokesman for the ministry of economic development, employment and infrastructure, said in an emailed statement. He declined to comment on the participants. The province has said it expects the transaction to be completed by March 31.
The transaction may break price records in Toronto for land sales geared toward residential use, owing to the size and central location, according to Richard Vilner, research director at RealNet.