The acquisition of Blackwood Partners by Vancouver’s Nicola Wealth Real Estate is already paying dividends, with the partners acquiring a 105-acre industrial development site in King Township just north of Toronto.

The acquisition, announced early Thursday afternoon, is at the southeast corner of King Road and Jane Street in a district which is already home to several major industrial and distribution facilities.

Financial details were not disclosed.

Nicola and Blackwood envision a development of about 1.7 million square feet of employment-generating space.

In the announcement, they say the property is ideally suited to large-scale users who will benefit from its easy access to the nearby Highway 400, which connects it to Toronto and the rest of Ontario’s 400 series of highways.

“This property is well-positioned for a large-scale development with an attractive cost base,” said Blackwood Partners managing director John Hayes in the announcement. “We see great opportunity in the employment-generating lands. The area is ideal for logistics, distribution and e-commerce tenants.”

First co-venture between Blackwood and Nicola

The GTA North Industrial sub-market has recently attracted several large tenants including a new Walmart distribution centre in nearby Vaughan.

The project marks the first venture between one of Nicola Wealth’s proprietary real estate funds, Nicola Value Add Real Estate LP (NVARE LP), and two of Blackwood’s institutional clients.

“The commitment by Nicola Wealth’s NVARE LP enabled Blackwood Partners to attract two capital partners for this large industrial project,” Nicola Wealth Real Estate managing director Mark Hannah said in the announcement. “We are off to a strong start with our Blackwood partnership and we are optimistic we can continue to leverage this relationship.”

Nicola Wealth has identified growth in the Greater Toronto Area as one of its key objectives, with a focus on acquiring income-producing industrial properties and industrial development sites.

This strategy is now complemented by Blackwood’s local development expertise. In October 2020, Blackwood broke ground on the development of a 1.1-million-square-foot Amazon fulfillment centre in Ajax, just east of Toronto.

About Blackwood Partners, Nicola Wealth

Blackwood Partners is a Toronto-based firm which provides real estate investment advisory services, asset management services and transaction management services to Canadian pension funds, foreign investors, private investors, and both public and private sector companies.

Nicola Wealth Real Estate is the in-house real estate team of Nicola Wealth, a Canadian financial planning and investment firm with $9.2 billion of assets under management.

NWRE sources and asset manages a growing portfolio of properties in major markets across North America spanning a diversified range of asset classes including office, retail, industrial, multifamily, self storage, and seniors housing.

With the acquisition of Blackwood Partners, the current real estate portfolio exceeds $6 billion gross asset value.