Toronto-based private equity real estate firm KingSett Capital has acquired the twin office towers in downtown Vancouver known as Pender Place, after the high-profile complex was put on the market earlier this year.
Pender Place is located at 700 W Pender Street and 750 W Pender Street in the heart of downtown Vancouver, which are together a single 0.716-acre legal parcel with an address of 700 W Pender Street.
Cadillac Fairview (CF) — the wholly-owned real estate subsidiary of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan — jointly owned 700 W Pender Street alongside the Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO) and the property was held under PCL Pender Place Inc. Perhaps better known for its shopping centres, Cadillac Fairview is one of the largest owners of office space in downtown Vancouver, and remains so after this sale.
Originally constructed in 1973, the two towers each rise 16 storeys and together make up the entire block between Howe Street and Granville Street. 700 W Pender houses 141,772 sq. ft of office space while 750 W Pender houses 141,758 sq. ft of office space, for a combined 283,530 sq. ft of Class B office space, according to Cadillac Fairview.
700 and 750 West Pender Street in downtown Vancouver and its surrounding context. / JLL
The complex also includes retail space on the ground floor, bringing the total amount of leasable space to 292,613 sq. ft, according to a sales brochure, as well as a glass concourse between the two towers that connects the complex to CF Pacific Centre.
BC Assessment values the property at $146,174,000 in a valuation dated to July 1, 2024, a decrease from the previous valuation of $160,187,000.
KingSett Capital acquired Pender Place last month through its KingSett Real Estate Growth LP No 8 Fund. According to CoStar transaction info, KingSett Capital acquired the property for $125 million.
The sale was brokered by Edgar Buksevics, Kevin Meikle, Mark Trepp, Matt Picken, Adam Budd, Tomasz Lenard, and James Holdsworth of JLL, who listed the property in mid-February, as previously reported by STOREYS. At the time the property was listed, JLL said the two towers had a combined occupancy rate of 86% and a weighted average lease term (WALT) of 4.1 years.
KingSett Capital
The twin office towers at 700 and 750 West Pender Street in Vancouver. / Cadillac Fairview
With the acquisition, KingSett Capital adds to its portfolio of office properties in Vancouver, the most notable of which is the 26-storey Arthur Erickson Place at 1075 W Georgia, which KingSett co-owns with Toronto-based Crestpoint Real Estate Investments and Vancouver-based developer Reliance Properties.
KingSett Capital was founded by Jon Love, who is currently serving as Executive Chair and was formerly the CEO of Oxford Properties, which was founded by his father, Don Love. Oxford Properties was later sold by Jon Love to the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) in 2003.
The company has been a recurring name in Vancouver in recent months due to the insolvency of Thind Properties, who KingSett served as a lender to on four projects. Aside from Thind, KingSett has also been involved in several other high-profile insolvencies across the country as the lender, with upwards of $1.2 billion tied up in insolvency proceedings at one point, as first reported by STOREYS earlier this year. Last fall, the Globe and Mail also reported that KingSett had paused redemptions on its flagship fund.
Nonetheless, KingSett has continued to be active and has been involved in numerous transactions this year.
In Q1, KingSett sold the office building at 5600 Cancross Court in Mississauga to 1000960992 Ontario Inc for $32,000,000, according to commercial real estate brokerage Avison Young. In Q2, KingSett then sold the office building at 1200 McGill College in Montreal to BUSAC for $100,600,000, according to commercial real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield. KingSett Capital also recently sold the Westmount Shopping Centre in London for a reported $40,000,000.
Over the past year, KingSett has also put many of its properties on the market, including the office building at 1235 Bay Street in Toronto and several industrial properties across Ontario.
