Garibaldi Village shopping complex in Squamish is now wholly owned by Manulife Investment Management.
Manulife acquired the open-air shopping centre Garibaldi Village I at 40147 and 40198 Glenalder Place from Garibaldi Village Property LP for $22.15 million in late February.
Built in 2005, the open-air shopping centre features Boston Pizza, Mountain FM and a Tesla charging station. Wise had owned the property since acquiring it from the developer in 2005 for $9.2 million.
The acquisition complements the firm’s acquisition of Garibaldi Village II in 2011. Together, the two areas equal about 120,000 square feet on 9.93 acres.
“We are thrilled to announce the strategic acquisition of Garibaldi Village I which, alongside our adjacent property, will provide common ownership to this prominent retail centre and foster opportunities for improved efficiencies in the operation and management of the two properties," the head of Canada real estate investments with the firm, Gregory Sweeney, said in a news release.
In an interview with Retail Insider, Sweeney noted that common ownership could help the shopping centre thrive.
“We do think that these two properties can benefit from some improved efficiencies primarily relating to the operational side, leasing, management and also facilities,” said Sweeney.
“But overall I think we believe there’s clear demand for retail services in the Squamish community. It is ranked among Canada as one of the fastest-growing cities and then you have a tremendous amount of activity going between Vancouver and Whistler, where Squamish is kind of half the distance between the two. So you have a lot of passing traffic through there. And Squamish has certainly become a great recreational destination as well.”
Sweeney also added in the interview that the open-format shopping centres have performed well over the last few years and that they predict the style will continue to thrive going forward.
