Morguard Corporation (MRC-T) has purchased the Jean Edmonds Towers office complex in Ottawa with an unnamed institutional partner. The acquisition is the final piece in Morguard acquiring ownership interests in a full block of downtown Ottawa property.

The Jean Edmonds Towers in Ottawa. (Google Street View image)

The 552,000-square-foot complex, also known by the acronym JET, consists of two towers and is located at 300 Slater St. and 365 Laurier Ave. The acquisition was completed for $186 million, not including taxes and other costs.

Morguard and its partner will own the complex on a 49.9-50.1 per cent basis, respectively, with Morguard providing property management services. The complex was previously owned and managed by Brookfield Properties.

The 20-storey towers are linked by a ground-level retail atrium and are leased primarily to Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), which occupies more than 98 per cent of the gross leasable area.

The joint venture completes Morguard’s operational management of a full city block in Ottawa’s central business district. Morguard, and affiliated entities, hold co-ownership interests in, as well as manage, the buildings on the remainder of the block: 280 Slater St., 301 Laurier Ave. West, 333 Laurier Ave. West and 150 Bank St.

The acquisition of JET allows for management synergies and potential master planning opportunities, Morguard says.

“Future consolidated redevelopment opportunities”

“With Morguard now managing operations at all the commercial properties on the block, there are future consolidated redevelopment opportunities that will create value for all the assets over the long term,” said K. Rai Sahi, chairman and CEO of Morguard. “We’re excited to add this important piece to our downtown Ottawa portfolio as we continue to expand our footprint in this strategic market.”

The JET complex is located in close proximity to Lyon Station on the soon-to-be-operational O-Train Confederation Line, Ottawa’s light rail transit system.

“The new Confederation Line will significantly add to the importance and appeal of Jean Edmonds Towers as an integral and strategic location for PSPC in downtown Ottawa,” says a release issued Monday morning by Morguard.

The purchase marks Morguard’s second recent office acquisition in the National Capital Region. The company recently acquired 41 Rue Victoria in nearby Gatineau from Multivesco, Inc. The state-of-the-art 134,000-square-foot modern class-AAA building was purpose-built in 2015 for Brookfield Renewable Energy.

Multivesco’s website listed only three vacancies in the building at the time of sale, for a combined 11,800 square feet.  

With the recent acquisitions of JET and 41 Rue Victoria, Morguard’s substantially owned and managed commercial real estate portfolio in the Ottawa region stands at more than five million square feet. The company also owns and/or manages 2,800 residential suites in the region.

About Morguard 

Morguard is a major North American real estate company. 

It has extensive retail, office, industrial, multi–suite residential, and hotel holdings owned directly, or through its investment in Morguard REIT (MRT-UN-T), Morguard North American Residential REIT (MRG-UN-T) and Temple Hotels Inc. (TPH).

Morguard also provides real estate management services to institutional and other investors.

Morguard’s owned and managed portfolio of assets is valued at $21.7 billion.