TORONTO, Oct. 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Smart Centres Real Estate Investment Trust (“Smart Centres” or the “REIT”) (TSX; SRU. UN), one of Canada’s biggest real estate firms, is happy to share that with backing from the City of Cambridge, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing has approved a Minister’s Zoning Order (“MZO”) for their property located at 22 Pinebush Road in Cambridge, Ontario.
Thanks to this MZO, Smart Centres’ 73-acre site in Cambridge – which was only zoned for retail and currently runs as a shopping centre – can now be used for residential, retail, office, institutional, and commercial purposes. This opens up possibilities to build a full urban community on this land. This announcement marks another step forward in Smart Centres’ plan to redevelop and intensify their existing properties.
This big project right next to Highway 401 will kick off immediately and is expected to take between 10 and 20 years to fully develop. When it’s done, the area will feature up to 10,000 new homes including rental apartments, condos, townhouses and senior living options. With the MZO now official, Smart Centres plans to start transforming the retail centre- which is over two decades old – into a top-tier mixed-use space spanning more than 11 million square feet.
“We are very pleased that, with the support of City of Cambridge elected officials and senior staff, Minister Steve Clark has agreed to issuing the MZO,” said Mitchell Goldhar, Executive Chairman of Smart Centres. “Both the Minister and Mayor Kathryn Mc Garry recognize the significant economic benefits of accelerating our redevelopment plans including the tens of thousands of jobs that will be created and sustained over the 20-year period.”
“We believe this significant new community will help address demand for housing located strategically around the Greater Golden Horseshoe Area,” said Mr. Goldhar. “Working with staff, our goal is to begin Phase 1 in 2021. Smart Centres will continue to proactively change it’s property uses to align with ever-evolving communities and marketplaces across Canada.”
“Our government is committed to connecting people to places and to build healthier, safer communities to give our economy a boost on the road to recovery,” said Minister Clark. “With the support of the City of Cambridge, we are proud to accelerate the creation of jobs and more than 10,000 much needed homes in Cambridge.”
“This is very exciting news for Cambridge and means that this important development will be expedited,” said Mayor Kathryn Mc Garry. “This is a 73-acre property that will be transformed into a large vibrant mixed-use community hub. We know more and more people are moving to our City and this project will certainly help in terms of economic recovery post-pandemic. Thank you to the Province for putting in place this new process and for moving forward with this zoning order which will allow construction to start as early as next year.”
About Smart Centres
Smart Centres Real Estate Investment Trust ranks among Canada’s largest fully integrated REITs with an outstanding portfolio featuring 166 well-placed properties nationwide. The REIT holds $10.4 billion worth of assets along with over 34.2 million square feet dedicated mostly to income-generating retail spaces boasting occupancy rates above 97%, spread across some 3,500 acres throughout Canada.
Smart Centres stays focused on improving Canadian lives by designing complete mixed-use neighbourhoods connected closely within its retail sites. The announced $12.1 billion intensification initiative ($5.5 billion attributable directly) represents their main development push where construction should begin within five years or so. This program includes rental apartments, condos, seniors residences, and hotels under their Smart Living brand plus offices, retailland storage under Smart Centres branding.
Their intensification efforts aim at adding roughly another59.3 million square feet(27.9million square feet owned by Smart Centres). Of these, new construction covering about27.3 million sq ft (12.4million sq ft owned) has started or soonwill, startoverthe nextfiveyears. Smart Centre’s position lets them reshape everythingfrom shopping centers tolively city hubsacross Canada.
Partofthisprogramisthe Trust’ssharein Smart VMC, a Vaughan, Ontarioprojectexpectedtoofferaround11million sqftwhenfinished. Theinitialfivephasesof Transit City Condominiums, soldoutwith2789units, involveactiveconstruction. Progressiswell underway. First twophasesclosedearlyin August2020, andby September30th766units(orabout70%)hadofficiallychangedhands; theremainingunitsaremovingtowardclosingsbeforeyearend. Thethirdphaseincludes631unitsplus22townhomes-all soldoutandunderconstruction-expectedtoclosein2021. Fourthandfifthphasesrepresenting1026unitshavealsostartedconstructionandareplannedforcompletionin2023.
Certain statements in this Press Release are “forward-looking statements” that reflect management’s expectations regardingthe Trust’s future growth performanceandbusinessopportunities. Morespecifically, certainstatementscontainedinthese Press Release, includestatementsrelatedtotheexpectedtimingofconstructionandcondominiumclosingsandstatementsthatcontainwordssuchas”could”,”should”,”can”,”anticipate”,”expect”,”believe”,”will”,”may”andsimilarexpressionsandstatementsrelatingtomattersthatarenothistoricalfacts, constitute”forward-lookingstatements”. Theseforward-lookingstatementsarepresentedforthepurposeofassistingunitholdersandfinancialanalystsinunderstandingthe Trust’soperatingenvironmentandmaynotbeappropriateforotherpurposes. Suchforward-lookingstatementsreflectmanagement’scurrentbeliefsandarebasedoninformationcurrentlyavailabletomanagement. Howeversuchforward-lookingstatementsinvolvesignificantrisksanduncertainties, includethosediscussedundertheheading”Risksand Uncertainties”andelsewhereinthe Trust’s Management’s Discussion&Analysisforthesixmonthsended June30th2020andu Nderheading”Risk Factors”inits Annual Information Formfortheyearended December31st2019. Anumberoffactorscouldcauseactualresultstodiffermateriallyfromtheresultsdiscussedinforward-lookingstatements. Althoughtheforward-lookingstatementscontainedinthese Press Releasearebasedonwhatmanagementbelievestobereasonableassumptions, the Trustcannotassureinvestorsthatactualresultswillbeconsistentwiththeseforward-lookingstatements. Theforward-lookingstatementscontainedhereinareexpresslyqualifiedintheirentiretybythiscautionarystatement. Theseforward-lookingstatementsaremadeasthedateofthis Press Releaseandthe Trustassumesnoobligationtoupdateorrevisethemtoreflectneweventsorcircumstancesunlessotherwiserequiredbyapplicablesecuritieslegislation.
For more information please visit www. smartcentres. com or contact:
Sandra Kaiser
Vice-President, Coporate Affairs
Smart Centres
(416)605-7367
skaiser@smartcentres. com
