Adanac Crossing at 100, 120 and 170 Old Carriage Dr. in Kitchener has been acquired by an Equiton fund. (Courtesy Equiton)

With the acquisition of a Kitchener apartment complex, comprised of three buildings and 218 units, the Equiton Residential Income Fund has grown its portfolio by over 50 per cent in just a month.

The fund also acquired two Hamilton apartment towers, linked by a shared podium, a few weeks ago. That property, acquired for $54.3 million, contains 360 apartments.

The two purchases bring Equiton’s assets under management to more than 1,600 units.

“Equiton has been actively buying income-producing properties throughout Ontario since our inception, with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of properties acquired to date and growing exponentially,” said Jason Roque, Equiton’s founder and chief executive officer, in the announcement. “This acquisition further demonstrates our access to investment opportunities and our commitment to growth. With these two latest acquisitions alone, we have increased our suite count by just over 55 per cent.”

Equiton’s Old Carriage Drive acquisition

In Kitchener the property at 100, 120 and 170 Old Carriage Dr. consists of a nine-storey tower containing 108 apartments and two separate three-story walk-ups each containing 55 units. The complex was constructed in 1986-’87.

Equiton paid $63 million for the site, which is known as Adanac Crossing, one of its largest acquisitions to date. An Equiton spokesperson told RENX the properties have already undergone significant upgrades.

“With most of the capital work completed, and over 90 per cent of suites renovated, we do not have to spend a lot of money on this asset to generate revenue,” the spokesperson said in an email exchange.

“We purchased it without any indication of further value add, but there are some excess lands and we’ll certainly look at any possibilities with that as we do with any property that has vacant or under-developed lands.”

The property is between two park areas and directly adjacent to grocery-anchored Pioneer Park Plaza which has been undergoing a major redevelopment by owner Choice Properties REIT.

It brings Equiton’s assets under management to $389.1 million.

“With the five-year anniversary of The Equiton Residential Income Fund approaching in May and with positive returns every month since inception, we are really starting to see increasing capital inflows,” Roque said in the release.

“As our fund grows, we will continue to make direct investments in multiresidential properties and build up their value by leveraging opportunities for improvement through active management.”

About Equiton

Founded in 2015, Equiton is a private equity firm based in Burlington specializing in private market real estate investments. It purchases and manages residential and commercial income properties, and invests in real estate development projects.

Its leadership team has more than 100 years of combined real estate, investing and management experience.

Collectively they’ve overseen the acquisition and management of over $10 billion in real estate, developed over 100 million square feet of real estate projects and overseen a combined portfolio of more than 10,000 apartments in Canada and the United States.