Upfield Capital and Arrowleaf Real Estate have partnered to acquire Cornerstone at Uplands, a 181-unit purpose-built townhome rental community under construction in Edmonton.

The companies acquired Cornerstone at Uplands in an off-market deal from StreetSide Developments Edmonton — a division of Qualico, which claims to be Western Canada’s largest fully integrated, privately owned real estate company — for approximately $60 million. 

StreetSide is a merchant developer that’s built more than 50 communities and sold more than 2,800 homes since forming more than 30 years ago.

“They build great quality homes and we've got a lot of respect for them as a company,” Peter Edgar, who co-founded Upfield with Rob Greer, told RENX. “We bought from them and they are acting as our development partner in building out the townhomes for us.”

What Cornerstone at Uplands offers

The smallest homes at Cornerstone at Uplands will be 1,098 square feet with three bedrooms while the largest will be 1,430 square feet with four bedrooms. Rents will start at $1,665 a month.

“We've seen vacancy rates in purpose-built rental rising on a national basis, and in Edmonton and Calgary it's going up,” said Edgar. “But the ground-oriented segment of that market is still very underserved and we see townhomes as a missing middle piece that's highly desired in these communities.

“We're not interested in building a 400-square-foot studio apartment. We want homes where somebody has a front door, three bedrooms and they can live there with their family for decades.

“We see this as an area where you're going to have a lower vacancy, you're going to have less turnover, you're going to have higher quality tenants and you're going to have a real community.”

Good location in a growing community

Cornerstone at Uplands is located at 1035 Uplands Blvd. N.W. in a growing community within walking distance of schools and grocery-anchored retail.

“We don't have any resident amenities per se, but this is a nice, suburban, amenity-rich location,” said Edgar.

First occupancy at Cornerstone at Uplands will occur this month, with full completion expected within 12 months across three phases. The property manager will be unitiiPM, which oversees communities in Edmonton, Calgary and St. Albert, Alta.

“Edmonton is experiencing population growth, which we like,” said Edgar. “Compared to Vancouver and Toronto, Alberta still offers an entry point for purpose-built rental housing to be delivered at scale, which we like.”

The Upfield-Arrowleaf partnership

Vancouver-based Upfield and Arrowleaf are 50-50 partners in Cornerstone at Uplands. They previously partnered on the acquisition of a 206,000-square-foot Home Depot distribution centre in Acheson, Alta. 

That deal included an adjacent 7.5 acres of vacant land where Upfield and Arrowleaf are going to speculatively build a 60,000-square-foot industrial building that can accommodate one or two tenants. The project will break ground this summer.

“We've got great alignment between our two companies and we're looking to do more business together,” Edgar said of Arrowleaf.

Upfield’s portfolio

Upfield is a real estate acquisition and asset management firm that’s completed four transactions in British Columbia as well as its Alberta deals since launching in 2023. 

“At Upfield, we pursue overlooked segments of the market where fundamentals remain strong despite broader market volatility,” Edgar explained. “We look for assets where we can create long-term value creation and partnerships with aligned capital.”

Upfield’s B.C. portfolio includes:

• a five-storey heritage brick-and-beam building with 23,000 square feet of office and retail space at 342 Water St. in Vancouver’s Gastown neighbourhood;
• an 11,000-square-foot retail centre on Austin Avenue in Coquitlam, B.C. that’s expected to eventually give way to a highrise multiresidential development;
• the 45-acre Chemainus Industrial Park in Chemainus, B.C. on Vancouver Island;
• and the 6,726-square-foot Bell block, which has ground-floor retail and residential units on the second floor on a retail strip in Oak Bay, B.C.

Upfield is actively pursuing additional acquisitions of townhome communities, both completed and in development, across Western Canada. It’s also interested in adding more industrial and retail properties in Western Canada and would like to expand into the rest of the country as well.

Arrowleaf

Vernon, B.C.-based Arrowleaf is a fourth-generation family-owned real estate investment firm with roots dating back to 1953. It has more than 2.1 million square feet of assets under management in a portfolio comprised of more than 80 multifamily, industrial, retail and office properties throughout Canada. 

Arrowleaf is part of an enterprise that also includes tire sales and service company Kal Tire and moving and storage container company BigSteelBox.

Among Arrowleaf’s recent projects are:

• BNA Penticton, a restaurant, brewery and bowling alley complex that’s a partnership with Nixon Hospitality Group;
• and Via District, an 18-acre, master-planned residential, commercial and community-use development in Vernon that’s already home to Kal Tire’s head office and BNA Brewing.