101 Sheldon Dr. in Cambridge, Ont., is among a portfolio of light industrial buildings sold by Skyline Commercial REIT to a KingSett Capital fund. (Courtesy Skyline Commercial REIT)

Skyline Commercial REIT has sold a six-building industrial portfolio in Cambridge, Ont., for $58.2 million, bringing its total dispositions since Jan. 21 to more than $355 million.

The 291,000-square-foot-plus portfolio was acquired by KingSett Real Estate Growth LP No. 7. The transaction closed on Jan. 31.

Guelph-based Skyline Commercial REIT has been repositioning its industrial holding for the past year and has made four significant transactions so far in 2022. However, with most of its non-core assets now sold, that burst of activity is nearing an end.

The properties in the most recent sale are: 15, 101 and 131 Sheldon Dr.; 1177 and 1195 Franklin Blvd.; and 1425 Bishop St. N.

The sale reduces Skyline’s current holdings in the Cambridge area, just west of Toronto, by more than half.

“The REIT maintains a strong presence in the City of Cambridge, with three properties totalling 223,583 square feet of industrial space,” said REIT president Michael Mackenzie in the announcement Tuesday afternoon.

Skyline’s repositioned industrial portfolio

In an interview last week with RENX, Mackenzie said the trust is updating its portfolio. The REIT had owned numerous smaller-bay, multi-tenant properties from its earliest acquisitions, in the years after it was launched in 2012.

Those properties are now largely all gone, in favour of newer assets with larger tenants and stronger covenants. There is also a more significant focus on logistics, warehousing and distribution, a sector which is driving enormous demand for light industrial space across Canada.

In recent weeks, Skyline has also sold:

– four properties in the Montreal suburbs of Lachine and Dorval, totalling 402,709 square feet, to KingSett Real Estate Growth LP No. 7 and Candev Immobilia Inc. for $80.13 million;

– 18 small-bay industrial properties in Ottawa, totalling 24 buildings and 692,613 square feet, to Woodbourne Capital Management and Epic Investment Services LP for $154.5 million;

– two industrial properties in the Greater Toronto Area totalling 207,689 square feet to Pure Industrial for $62.8 million; and

– during 2021, it made four other Ontario dispositions (in Ayr, London, Mississauga and Windsor), totalling more than 597,000 square feet and bringing in gross proceeds of $87.4 million.

Mackenzie had alluded to the Cambridge sale in the interview with RENX, noting it had one other portfolio under contract. He said that would likely be the last of the major dispositions, though the REIT does still have some properties remaining for sale.

“This was a fulsome strategy that we had and have pretty much completed at this point,”  he said last week. “We’ve really changed the complexion of the portfolio.”

About Skyline

Skyline Commercial REIT is a privately owned and managed portfolio of commercial properties, focused on acquiring industrial and logistics-centred properties along major highway corridors and transportation routes in Canada.

The REIT is distributed as an alternative investment product through Skyline Wealth Management Inc., the REIT’s preferred exempt market dealer.

Skyline Commercial REIT is operated and managed by Skyline Group Of Companies.