RioCan Buys Ottawa-area Properties

RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust is buying 10 properties in central and eastern Canada, including four big-box sites in the Ottawa-Gatineau area.

The trust said it had agreed to buy the portfolio, totalling approximately 1.1 million square feet of "new-format" and strip retail centres, for approximately $156 million on a 50-50 basis with Kimco Realty Corp.

The portfolio includes a 127,416-square-foot plaza at 1701 Merivale Rd., where there is a Loeb, a Best Buy and a Linens and Things, and a 283,877-square-foot property at 720 Maloney Blvd. in Gatineau which houses a Wal-Mart and a Canadian Tire.

As well, RioCan and Kimco, through their RioKim II partnership, will be buying two smaller properties in Hawkesbury, Que., totalling 71,982 square feet of space.

The properties are part of a portfolio which comprises of retail centres in Montreal, Halifax, Belleville, London, Chatham, and Fergus, Ont.

RioCan will source, lease, asset and property manage all the properties and will be paid market fees for its work.

The acquisition is expected to close on or about June 25.