Canadian real estate corporation Concert Properties kicked off 2023 with a rebrand, unveiling a new name for its investment arm. Last week, the Vancouver-based company announced that CREC Commercial Fund will continue operations as Concert Income Properties to better reflect its diversification into the multi-family rental space.
Andrew Tong, chief investment officer for Concert Properties and managing director for Concert Income Properties, tells STOREYS that multi-family was an intended focus for the Fund.
Andrew Tong via Concert Properties
“When Concert first established CREC Commercial Fund in October 2016, pension fund and institutional investors and their advisors had an interest in investing in both commercial and multi-family asset classes,” he says. “At that time, Concert wanted to first establish a solely focused commercial fund and monitor its growth. During these past six years, both Concert and our investors have been pleased with the Fund’s performance and growth. The renamed Fund is currently valued at $2.7B, with over 12M sq. ft of leasable area.”
Now that Concert has made its mark on the commercial sector, multi-family is the natural next step.
“Housing continues to be a critical need in every city across Canada,” says Tong. “Because of our extensive track record in the Fund and strength in the existing income portfolio, we believe there is an opportunity to broaden the Fund’s asset mix with multi-family residential properties.”
Although Tong can’t presently speak to acquisitions in the pipeline, he says Concert Income Properties will pursue high-rise, purpose-built rental developments and re-development opportunities on under-utilized sites in BC and Ontario where the Fund already has a strong presence, while bearing in mind the complexities of today’s market.
“With all property acquisitions considered within the context of an uncertain market, the challenge is to sift through the extensive opportunities we are finding,” he says. “Additionally, we must ensure that we have properly underwritten and forecasted the opportunity against all leasing, operating, and financing assumptions.”
Concert Income Properties is an open-ended, limited partnership Canadian fund maximizing long-term value for investors by investing in, and actively managing, real estate in Canada. The assets in the Fund’s portfolio are managed by Concert Realty Services.
