Vancouver-based real estate developer Wesbild has sold a sprawling industrial property in North Vancouver, years after its development plan for the site was rejected by the District of North Vancouver.
The property is the 27.5-acre industrial site located at 1371 McKeen Avenue in North Vancouver, just south of W 1st Street and across the water from Stanley Park.
Wesbild announced their acquisition of the property in July 2017, with the purchase price later revealed to be $115,021,310, according to a Q2 2017 market report by CBRE. That sale was brokered by Mike Thompson and Bruno Fiorvento of JLL. According to Wesbild, which owned the property under DNV Waterfront Holdings Ltd., the property is occupied by 15 tenants, including the Lions Gate Marine Centre and Lions Gate Mini Storage, both of which are owned and managed by Wesbild.
Earlier this week, Wesbild announced that it had sold the property. It did not disclose the sale price and the purchaser, but the buyer was Toronto-based Dream Industrial REIT (TSX: DIR.UN) and the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC, STOREYS has learned, and the price was approximately $143 million.
This time around, the sale was brokered by CBRE Vancouver's National Investment Team, who notes that the property offers 860,000 sq. ft of rentable space and is currently 99.9% occupied.
BC Assessment values 1371 McKeen Avenue at $175,272,400
Wesbild
After acquiring the property in 2017, Wesbild submitted a subdivision proposal that would see the sprawling industrial property split up into several smaller parcels. However, the District of North Vancouver ultimately rejected the proposal over concerns that it would be out of character for the neighbourhood, according to North Shore News.
In their press release on February 5, Wesbild President & CEO Kevin Layden confirmed that the inability to move forward with their plan played a role in their decision to sell the property.
"After several development applications with the District of North Vancouver that did not proceed, we had to pivot and focus on renovating the existing warehouses that provide much needed industrial and storage space," Layden said. "With industrial vacancy at less than 1% in North Vancouver, and with industrial rents in the range of $25 to $27/square foot, businesses in North Vancouver are challenged by increased costs. We need more industrial space in North Vancouver and across the region, but we need a reset in thinking about industrial land development in Metro Vancouver if we are to compete on the world stage."
Wesbild Holdings Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Persis Holdings, which was founded as Inwest Investments in 1981 by Iranian-Canadian Hassan Khosrowshahi and serves as the holding company for the Khosrowshahi family.
After immigrating to Canada in 1981, Khosrowshahi also founded electronics retail chain Future Shop the following year, which was later sold to American competitor Best Buy in 2001 for $580 million, before Best Buy later shuttered the brand in 2015.
Khosrowshahi has served as a director of the Bank of Canada and Canada Post, and has been inducted to the Order of British Columbia, Order of Canada, and the Canadian Business Hall of Fame. He is also the uncle of Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.
Dream Industrial REIT and GIC
Two years ago this month, Dream Industrial REIT and GIC came together to form a joint venture that acquired what was then known as Summit Industrial Income REIT for $5.9 billion. Following the acquisition, Summit was delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange and the joint venture became known as Dream Summit Industrial LP.
According to their February 2023 press release, Dream Industrial REIT holds a 10% ownership interest in the limited partnership, while GIC owns the remaining 90%. As part of the joint venture, the REIT would serve as the asset manager.
A subsidiary of Dream Unlimited, Dream Industrial REIT is a pure-play REIT that owns high-quality industrial properties across Canada, the United States, and Europe. According to the company's website, its portfolio consists of approximately 71.9 million sq. ft of industrial space across 545 buildings, as of September 30, 2024, 182 of which are owned under the joint venture with GIC.
According to a full list of its assets as of that date, none of those properties are located in British Columbia, meaning the acquisition of 1371 McKeen Avenue represents the REIT's entrance into the British Columbia market.
As for its partner, GIC Private Limited was established by the Government of Singapore and then-Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Goh Keng Swee in 1981 as the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation.
"GIC was established in a time when the idea that a country should manage its reserves for long-term returns was unconventional," the company states on its website. "As the world's first non-commodity-based sovereign wealth fund, GIC's vision was original, bold, and forward-looking. GIC enabled Singapore to develop the essential capability of managing its own reserves, placing the country at the helm of its own long-term destiny."
