The Fiera Real Estate CORE Fund has filled a "big gap" in its investments by acquiring four apartment buildings in Calgary, comprising 456 units, in two separate transactions.

The fund acquired three 13-storey concrete buildings (known as the deVille complex) with a total of 333 rental units along Quarry Park Road, in the Quarry Park neighbourhood. It was purchased from Calgary-based Remington Development Corporation. 

It also purchased the Hudson property with 123 rental units at 3360 16 St. SW, in the Marda Loop neighbourhood from developer Sarina Homes.

No financial details were disclosed for either transaction.

William Secnik, senior managing director and Fiera CORE fund manager, told RENX the fund is invested solely domestically in Canada. It owns approximately 114 assets with close to 15 million square feet of leasable space across industrial, multiresidential, office and retail properties.

“We have a long history in Alberta since this fund’s inception over 11 years ago,” Secnik said - though that has not traditionally extended into the apartment sector.

CORE Fund invests across sectors, geographies

The Quarry Park properties were built between 2022 and 2023. The suite mix features 256 one-bedroom and 77 two-bedroom apartments.

Quarry Park in the southeast part of Calgary is a master-planned community over 400 acres with a mix of residential, commercial and recreational amenities.

Secnik said the acquisition aligns with the CORE Fund’s investment strategy, which targets well-located assets in key markets. He said Calgary’s multiresidential market continues to demonstrate strong fundamentals, supported by favourable demographic trends and economic drivers.

Quarry Park’s appeal as a live-work-play community further enhances the long-term potential of the investment.

“The big picture is its part of a portfolio. We don’t have any representation in the multires rental space in Alberta, so this is a big gap for us to fill," Secnik said. 

"We’re invested in the Alberta market for some time but not in the multires space. This fund has really pushed its focus into this rental area over the last few years and this culminated with changes in the marketplace . . . We really have taken our time to make our first position in the (Calgary) multires rental market with this acquisition, as well as the Hudson in the Marda Loop.

"We’ve added, effectively, over 450 units pretty quickly reflecting our desire and trajectory we feel that Calgary has and obviously the strength of that market.”

Both properties are newly constructed, they are more than 95 per cent leased, offer great locations and modern amenities, he said.

Fiera hopes to acquire more Alberta multires

“It’s not a stretch to see that Alberta has seen a disproportionate amount of population growth. That’s certainly a strong feature. We recognize that there are few opportunities, or it’s difficult to do home ownership, and we’re certainly meeting the (housing) need by having additional multires rental in our platform,” Secnik noted. 

“That high growth demand has certainly drawn us to this market. The ratio of income and affordability is something that we see as possible because of the general cost structure we see in Alberta, and that’s been supportive of having units that tenants can afford. We saw that as a good scenario - and the fact that supply is not really keeping up with demand. So those are all relevant beyond the fact that we want a diversification in this fund to all key growing markets.

"It was a hole for us in our portfolio and so we filled it with these two acquisitions.”

He said as the fund continues to grow, Alberta will be a target for further acquisitions as the company feels it’s underweight in the province. Opportunities will be explored beyond Calgary, particularly in Edmonton, where the fund also has a presence in other asset classes. 

“The neighbourhoods we’ve selected certainly have immediate amenities and features . . . These are all great neighbourhoods with great profiles and those were supportive in our decision to choose those submarkets . . . We saw these ones as a great long-term investment profile that meets the need of the community and that’s ultimately what we’re certainly targeting.”

About Fiera Real Estate

Fiera Real Estate is wholly owned by Fiera Capital Corp., a global, multi-product investment management firm with more than $165.5B of assets under management. The firm has offices in North America and Europe and a team of over 90 employees.

Fiera globally manages over $10.5 billion of commercial real estate through a range of investment funds and accounts as of Q3 2024.

According to the company’s website, its real estate portfolio is  8.9 per cent in retail, 10.9 per cent in office, 48.0 per cent in industrial, 27.7 per cent in multi-residential and 4.5 per cent in other asset classes.