Primaris REIT (PMZ-UN-T) has announced its second major acquisition of the year. The retail-focused REIT has agreed to purchase the 990,114-square-foot Upper Canada Mall in Newmarket, Ont. from Oxford Properties for $411 million.

Upper Canada Mall is one of the country's premier shopping centres with a tenant profile that includes, among others, Apple, Aritzia, Browns, Lululemon, Sport Chek, Uniqlo and Winners.

The mall draws over 6.6 million visitors each year, according to Pelmorex.

Primaris president and COO Patrick Sullivan called it a "dominant GTA shopping centre with strong demographics."

"We see meaningful opportunities to grow NOI through leasing, active asset management and operational efficiencies," he said in the announcement, released yesterday evening.

"Our platform and operating expertise position us well to unlock that potential over the coming years.”

Growth strategy

A fully-enclosed shopping centre, Upper Canada Mall sits on 76 acres off the northern end of Yonge Street in the Toronto suburb of Newmarket. It is conveniently located for access to Highways 400 and 404.

According to the announcement from Primaris, it has $888 per square foot same store sales productivity and total annual CRU sales volume of $271 million.

The mall has 65 per cent long-term in-place occupancy, 70 per cent in-place occupancy and roughly 80 per cent committed occupancy. 

There is roughly 263,400 sq. ft. of vacancy, comprised of former anchor space. The REIT said negotiations are ongoing for former Hudson’s Bay and Toys "R" Us spaces, while the mall's former Sears space is already committed to two national retailers.

Toronto-based Primaris also noted over six acres of excess land is available for potential retail pad development or monetization at the site.

"The acquisition further advances Primaris’ strategy of acquiring market-leading enclosed shopping centres in growing Canadian markets, where the REIT can deploy its full-service operating platform to drive income growth and long-term per unit value creation," the announcement said.

In mid-September the REIT undertook a successful $230-million fundraise to fund future acquisitions and for general trust purposes. The REIT said it was in various stages of negotiations on potential acquisitions with an aggregate potential purchase price of more than $1 billion. 

Financing for the acquisition

Primaris said it will finance the acquisition from existing liquidity, including the net proceeds from its equity issuance in September, cash on hand and an expected draw of approximately $150 million on its unsecured revolving credit facility, which will leave $450 million of available liquidity under the facility.

"The partial use of the revolving credit facility is intended to provide Primaris with flexibility to use the proceeds from future dispositions to repay amounts drawn," the announcement said.

The acquisition is expected to close by October 31.

Chief investment officer Julian Schonfeldt, who joined Primaris in April after departing CAPREIT, said interest in enclosed shopping centres is growing and Upper Canada Mall was part of a broadly marketed process.

“Our reputation as a well-capitalized, reliable buyer with a proven operating platform continues to position Primaris as a preferred counterparty for vendors," Schonfeldt said in the announcement. "This acquisition reflects our disciplined approach: a productive, high-quality centre in the GTA, that is modestly accretive, with additional upside from lease-up and excess land.”

Other recent acquisitions

Prior to the Upper Canada Mall announcement, Primaris REIT's most recent retail acquisition was the $62.3-million acquisition of the North and South Complexes of Les Galeries de la Capitale in Quebec City, announced in April.

The acquisition was made in partnership with Immostar, with the two companies acquiring retail centres adjacent to the shopping mall, which is already owned, managed and leased by Primaris. The two properties, collectively named Complexes Capitale, total 307,900 square feet of gross leasable area on 29 acres of land and are 100 per cent leased to national tenants.

This followed four major acquisitions in 2025. Primaris bought the 65-acre CF Lime Ridge Mall in Hamilton for $416 million from Ontrea Inc., a subsidiary of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, in June 2025.

The REIT bought Promenades St Bruno in October 2025 for $565 million from Cadillac Fairview and last month announced it would undertake a $49.5-million renovation of the food court at the 1.1-million-square-foot shopping centre located in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville.

And Primaris took a 50 per cent interest in Edmonton's Southgate Centre and full ownership of the Oshawa Centre for a combined $585 million, both in January 2025.