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Appelt Properties and Centurion Asset Management have sold their 112,000-square-foot Royal Court Medical Centre outpatient complex in Barrie, Ont. four years after acquiring the site and embarking on a program to upgrade the three buildings.
The property, which consists of three interlinked, three-storey buildings, was sold to Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH), which is adjacent to the six-acre site along Quarry Ridge Road and Gallie Court.
The purchase price was not released.
“When we purchased the medical buildings in 2020, there was a lot of work to be done and there was significant vacancy,” Appelt president Greg Appelt told RENX in an email exchange.
“We have since improved the buildings and fully leased the properties, so it was a natural time to crystalize the value that we had created for our investors.”
The sale to Roya Victoria Hospital
Appelt called the hospital next door the “natural” buyer for Royal Court, especially considering it is undergoing a significant expansion to serve a rapidly growing population in the city, and the surrounding North Simcoe County and Muskoka regions.
“We also liked that we were able to sell to the adjacent hospital,” Appelt wrote. “The RVH hospital serves more than 500,000 people in Barrie and the surrounding area and has half a million patient visits per year.
“They are undergoing a $2.3-billion expansion and so it is important that they own the land adjacent to such critical infrastructure. The six-acre site that the medical buildings sit on will provide flexibility for RVH expansion for years to come.”
The property also includes a surface parking lot with over 400 spaces.
The site is less than a kilometre from Highway 400, the main multi-lane route connecting Toronto, Barrie and Ontario’s cottage country to the north. Barrie is a city of over 100,000 about 70 kilometres north of Toronto.
The three buildings were completed in 2003, 2007 and 2018, reflecting the growth of the hospital and the region it serves.
Appelt said the facilities are 97.5 per cent leased.
Appelt to continue to manage Royal Court
"This sale is a testament to the strength of our strategy in acquiring and repositioning medical outpatient buildings across Canada,” Appelt said in the release announcing the sale. “As the largest private landlord of these facilities nationwide, we remain committed to expanding our portfolio and are actively seeking new opportunities to acquire medical properties across the country."
The firm will remain as property manager for Royal Court.
Appelt is one of Canada’s largest private owners and operators of medical and health-related properties. It has operations in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba.
"This building exemplifies the qualities we aim to achieve in all our assets – exceptional location, robust tenant mix and alignment with community healthcare needs,” Appelt said in the announcement. “We are pleased to see it transition to the natural buyer, Royal Victoria Hospital, and to play a role in supporting their long-term vision for growth."
Appelt and Centurion remain partners on several other medical and health related properties in their portfolios.
Centurion is a Toronto-based investor, developer and asset management firm with interests in a range of real estate sectors, including residential apartments and student housing. It holds approximately $7.8 billion of assets under management.
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