The Northlea Corp. GTA West portfolio has been acquired by Pure Industrial. (Courtesy Avison Young)

Pure Industrial has acquired a portfolio of 13 industrial properties in Toronto, comprising over 900,000 square feet, for $312 million from Northlea Corporation.

The transaction was brokered by Avison Young’s Ben Sykes and Richard Chilcott, who made the announcement Monday morning. They call it one of the largest industrial transactions ever completed in the Greater Toronto Area.

“We wanted to deliver a strong result for Northlea Corporation,” said Sykes, a principal in Avison Young Canada’s Industrial and Capital Markets group, in the announcement. “The strategy we executed generated a high degree of interest from the investment community, resulting in a very competitive offering process which speaks to our team’s ability to leverage market conditions through our underwriting and disposition process.”

The sale involves properties located in the west end of the GTA, in Mississauga, Brampton and Etobicoke. The 908,360 square feet of space was 99.9 per cent leased when the transaction closed on Dec. 23.

“Complex investment transaction”

The purchase price represents a price of $343.48 per square foot of GLA.

“This was a complex investment transaction, managed seamlessly in a rapidly evolving market that has witnessed marked changes in rental rate and investment demand over the past two years as supply shrinks and prices per square foot surge,” said Chilcott, also a principal in Avison Young’s Capital Markets group, in the announcement.

The transaction reflects the strong demand for industrial product in the Greater Toronto Area, where vacancy hovers at about 0.6 per cent, according to Alison Young’s latest statistics. The market is also experiencing strong leasing rate growth.

It continues an extended burst of investment activity in the sector, which includes another blockbuster deal involving Pure Industrial in 2021.

Pure acquired a 2.5-million-square-foot portfolio of 26 GTA-area industrial properties from Artis REIT for $724.4 million in July and August.

Overall, industrial transactions in the GTA in 2021 topped $7 billion.

Northlea Corporation is a Toronto-based builder and operator of industrial properties.

Pure Industrial, based in Toronto, is one of Canada’s leading providers of industrial real estate. It owns and manages over 21 million square feet (as of mid 2021) concentrated in the Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver metro areas.

It is owned by funds affiliated with Blackstone Real Estate and Ivanhoé Cambridge.