After being placed under receivership over the summer, the Vista Heights office complex in Calgary is now looking for a new owner, according to filings in the Court of King's Bench of Alberta and a property listing announcement distributed last week.
The Vista Heights office complex sits at 1925 & 1933 18th Avenue NE in Calgary, near the intersection of 19 Street NE and 16 Avenue NE, also known as the Trans-Canada Highway.
The Receivership
The property is owned by Vista Heights Management Limited and the application to appoint a Receiver over the property was initiated in August 2024 by Concentra Financial Services Association, the former name of Regina-based Concentra Bank, which was acquired in November 2022 by Equitable Bank (TSX: EQB).
According to case documents, the receivership application was pertaining to a loan agreement the two sides entered into in June 2013 for the principal amount of $34,200,000, which carried an interest rate of 4.5% per annum.
Under the loan agreement, the maturity date was originally June 26, 2020, but was later amended to November 26, 2022. The owners defaulted on the loan agreement, but Concentra "attempted to accommodate the Borrower by allowing it time to market its assets, find a source of financing, or obtain an injection of funds with a view of discharging the debt," said Robert Gartner, a Regina-based Special Loans Manager at EQ Bank, in an affidavit dated August 6.
Despite this, the owners were still unable to discharge the debt and Concentra issued a demand for payment in March 2024. The two sides then spent several additional months negotiating a potential forbearance, but were unable to come to terms acceptable by both parties, prompting Concentra to subsequently enforce its security and seek a court-appointed Receivership.
As of July 9, 2024, the outstanding amount owed is $26,595,287.19 and the receivership application was granted on August 26, with BDO Canada appointed as the Receiver.
The Listing
The Vista Heights office complex has since been listed by Tyler Allen, Geoff Mar, and Thomas Lee of CBRE Calgary's National Investment Team, alongside Mike Czestochowski and Emelie Rowe of CBRE Toronto's Land Services Group, which has been involved in numerous court-ordered sales over the past year.
As is common with court-ordered sales, no asking price has been specified.
According to the sales brochure, the office complex was constructed back in 2004 and consists of a four-storey office building with 190,932 sq. ft of net rental space and a standalone two-storey office building with an additional 5,525 sq. ft of space.
- Address: 1925 & 1933 18th Avenue NE, Calgary
- Year Built: 2004
- Floor Space: 196,457 sq. ft
- Price: Unpriced
- Listed By: CBRE (Tyler Allen, Geoff Mar, Thomas Lee, Mike Czestochowski, Emelie Rowe)
The Vista Heights office complex at 1925 & 1933 18th Avenue NE in Calgary. / CBRE
The Class A suburban office buildings sit on a parcel of land that spans 4.5 acres and is serviced by 764 parking stalls provided both above and below ground. According to CBRE, a portion of the property that makes up 376 surface parking stalls is leased from the City of Calgary.
"The Property offers unobstructed views to Downtown Calgary and has direct frontage onto the Trans-Canada Highway that experiences more than 69,000 vehicles per day," adds CBRE.
In his affidavit last year, Gartner of EQ Bank noted that the office complex had a vacancy rate of 64.88% as of December 2023 and that the leases of several large tenants would be expiring soon. CBRE's sales brochure notes that the building is 32% occupied.
Any sale of the Vista Heights office complex will require approval from the Court of King's Bench of Alberta.
