Article
Vancouver Building Sales Signal a New Cycle of Canadian Office Investment
May 22, 2024 3 Minute Read
The next cycle of office investment in Canada appears to be upon us, and CBRE’s Tony Quattrin has helped to usher it in with the sale of two high profile office buildings in downtown Vancouver.
Quattrin, who co-directs Vancouver’s National Investment Team, facilitated the sale of 401 West Georgia Street and 402 Dunsmuir Street, with a combined leasable area of ~415,000 sq. ft., to Germany’s Deka Immobilien.
The buildings were previously owned in a joint venture by Oxford Properties Group and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which CBRE represented at the time of listing.
“This transaction highlights the resilience of the Vancouver office market and provides a market-leading data point,” says CBRE Canada President and CEO Jon Ramscar.
“While the office sector is evolving, office space will continue to play an important role for companies looking to innovate and attract top talent in an increasingly competitive business environment.”
Fully Leased
401 West Georgia Street – a 22-storey tower built in 1984, and renovated in 2020 – and 402 Dunsmuir Street, a newly constructed 9-storey building completed in 2020, are situated in the office and tech centre of Vancouver's financial core, creating a campus environment that spans an entire city block.
Both properties are fully leased, with Aon Canada Inc., Unbounce Marketing Solutions, Richards Buell Sutton, BuildDirect.com Technologies, and Amazon Web Services serving as anchor tenants, providing synergies with Amazon’s The Post project located directly across the street.
The two buildings boast LEED Gold and WELL sustainability certifications.
“This mandate represented a very rare opportunity to own significant stock in Vancouver’s office market,” says Quattrin. “You don’t see opportunities like this come on the market very often. As a result, we generated considerable interest from dozens of groups, including several international capital groups.”
Vancouver NIT leveraged CBRE’s national and global platform to enhance distribution of its global marketing campaign, implementing a confidential and competitive marketing and bid process.
Enter Deka
CBRE ultimately secured Germany’s Deka Immobilien as the purchaser of 401 West Georgia Street and 402 Dunsmuir Street, signaling a return of international interest to Vancouver’s real estate market.
Deka said this acquisition will be incorporated into the portfolio of its open-ended real estate fund. With this transaction the fund expands its global diversification and continues to focus on prime real estate in major cities worldwide.
“This was definitely a landmark transaction conducted in one of the most uncertain economic environments in recent history, and represents renewed investor interest in our office market,” says Quattrin.
“The vision and courage by all parties to commit to such a high-profile market leading transaction in these turbulent times is a true testament to the confident leadership of the organizations on both sides of the transaction.”
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