- Thread starter Paclo
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KingJames
Active Member
Primaris Acquires CF Lime Ridge in Hamilton for $416M
Primaris REIT has acquired CF Lime Ridge Mall in Hamilton for $416 million from Cadillac Fairview. The deal boosts the REIT's national footprint and unlocks leasing opportunities.
retail-insider.com
Looks like a name change coming, and now who knows if any of the south planned work will happen. Although with $416MM forked over for the asset Primaris I am sure will be thinking of ways to monitize the underutilized mall and broader site.
Midtown Urbanist
Superstar
Site intensification seems less likely now as redevelopment is not really Primaris REIT's MO.
innsertnamehere
Superstar
Yea, this is probably dead.
CF has underinvested in Limeridge for a while though. Primaris should hopefully bring some sort of investment in the property through it's purchase to get lease-up higher. There is a lot of vacancy in the mall right now.
CF has underinvested in Limeridge for a while though. Primaris should hopefully bring some sort of investment in the property through it's purchase to get lease-up higher. There is a lot of vacancy in the mall right now.
Milaisacat
New Member
This is a positive development, I think. Lime Ridge is a solid mid-tier enclosed mall with good fundamentals. While CF definitely put in the minimum amount of money they could, it was at least spent well and resulted in the place being kept in good shape through cosmetic upgrades and functional maintenance (e.g. escalators and superficial damage are repaired, the place is well heated/cooled). Moreover, they eventually pivoted quite successfully from the loss of Sears by securing the largest Tesla service centre in the GTAH.
Obviously the loss of The Bay is significant, but its two level configuration and location at the far end of a mall present Primaris with some options for how to proceed. If they are fortunate enough to land a whale like Simons, which I think is unlikely for the market, that would let the mall do an almost one-for-one replacement of the former Bay CRU. In the far more likely case that they can line up a small-format anchor like Sail or Decathalon, they could demise and retrofit the two-level Bay CRU to suit the tenant and then renovate the remaining Bay space to permit an extension of the existing two-level mall racetrack into the footprint of the Bay. This would result in a longer two-level retail corridor with conventionally sized CRUs and a smaller format anchor at the end.
I don't think that the market would support residential development at Lime Ridge at this time, or the foreseeable future, but Primaris would be smart to start some high-level master planning work and even get an OPA approved while there is such a strong appetite for supporting higher density residential growth.
I don't think anyone should hold their breath for a second LRT line in Hamilton in the first half of the century, but if there were a logical southern terminus of such a line, it would be Lime Ridge Mall. Starting to do some long-term thinking about that would be warranted when there's a change in ownership and with redevelopment potential (as measured by lot coverage) being one of Primaris' acquisition criteria.
Obviously the loss of The Bay is significant, but its two level configuration and location at the far end of a mall present Primaris with some options for how to proceed. If they are fortunate enough to land a whale like Simons, which I think is unlikely for the market, that would let the mall do an almost one-for-one replacement of the former Bay CRU. In the far more likely case that they can line up a small-format anchor like Sail or Decathalon, they could demise and retrofit the two-level Bay CRU to suit the tenant and then renovate the remaining Bay space to permit an extension of the existing two-level mall racetrack into the footprint of the Bay. This would result in a longer two-level retail corridor with conventionally sized CRUs and a smaller format anchor at the end.
I don't think that the market would support residential development at Lime Ridge at this time, or the foreseeable future, but Primaris would be smart to start some high-level master planning work and even get an OPA approved while there is such a strong appetite for supporting higher density residential growth.
I don't think anyone should hold their breath for a second LRT line in Hamilton in the first half of the century, but if there were a logical southern terminus of such a line, it would be Lime Ridge Mall. Starting to do some long-term thinking about that would be warranted when there's a change in ownership and with redevelopment potential (as measured by lot coverage) being one of Primaris' acquisition criteria.
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innsertnamehere
Superstar
There are substantial as-of-right permissions on Limeridge already - there isn't really a need for a master plan. The intensification CF was planning was as-of-right.