Kaufman Footwear Wearhouse, Kitchener
Finding the Right Buyer

The Challenge 
Ernst & Young Inc., Receiver and Trustee for the bankruptcy of A.R. Kaufman Ltd. engaged CB Richard Ellis to provide for the disposition of a 230,000 SF manufacturing and warehouse facility on 18.9 acres located at 6 Shirley Avenue in Kitchener. The land and buildings had previously been examined by environmental consultants on behalf of Kaufman and a Phase I and Phase II Report had been completed. The report revealed that no serious environmental contamination appeared to be evident. The Receiver engaged an environmental consultant on their behalf and additional testing was completed. These addition tests revealed serious environmental issues, which would ultimately affect CBRE's method of marketing the property.

The End Result 
CBRE would have to market the property to a buyer that understood the environmental remediation process for decontaminating property. CBRE was able to attract a buyer "Brownfield Developer" who purchased the property and initiated a remediation program acceptable to the MOE. CBRE then leased and resold the facility to a third party user.