Woodland Capital has made its biggest multifamily acquisition to date, the 226-unit Messier-Parthenais portfolio in the Plateau Mont-Royal borough of Montreal, as it continues to focus on apartment sector investments.

The $32-million sale from a private vendor, which concluded during the summer, included six four-storey 1960s vintage brick buildings on Messier and Parthenais streets that were well-maintained and are in good condition, Woodland Capital president Evan Paperman said. 

No major renovations are planned, but units will be updated when they turn over. The units at 4125, 4105, 4145 Parthenais and 3570, 3590, 3610 Messier streets have a mixture of sizes and are fully leased, mostly to students and young professionals.

“This portfolio aligned with our vision of really investing in prime locations, in projects that offer exceptional value and high-quality life,” Paperman told RENX.

In terms of unit count, the sale represented the largest multifamily transaction in Montreal to that point, according to a LinkedIn post by Sebastien Gatti, principal and executive vice-president of Avison Young, the brokerage that transacted the deal. 

According to Altus Group, one of the largest transactions of Q3 2024 saw Hazelview Investments acquire for $136.1 million, three seniors residences called Sélection Rosemont at 2532-2534 Michel-Brault Place with 582 units. Those apartments are in the borough of Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie

The acquisition by Akelius of the 193-unit 2700 Rufus-Rockhead Street (also known as Les Jardins du Canal), near the Atwater Market, for just over $93 million was the largest apartment deal in terms of dollar amount in Montreal during Q2, Altus says.

Woodland Capital's background

Woodland Capital was created in 2017 by Paperman and partner and long-time friend Maximilian Cukier. 

“We started off really looking at multifamily, commercial and mixed-use. Since then, we’ve really focused almost exclusively on multi-family” in Quebec,” Paperman explained. “Our group continues to see a high level of interest for well positioned, multifamily assets of scale.”

Paperman says the company’s strategy is to buy and hold long-term. “We focus on key urban markets with strong fundamentals that we can capitalize on.” 

In June, Woodland Capital acquired a 49-unit property at 424 Notre-Dame St. in Repentigny off the eastern tip of Montreal. The property was formerly the Château Jouvence retirement home for independent seniors operated by Les Résidences Privilège.

Woodland has invested a “significant amount of money” in renovating the building’s units and common areas and it is now “effectively as new.” It is fully leased.

The transaction was the second between Les Résidences Privilège and Woodland Capital. Last year, Woodland acquired a 100-unit residential building in the Centre-Sud area in the east end of Montreal from Residences Privilege. The building is under renovation and will provide affordable rentals.

Situated in the former convent of the Notre-Dame congregation, the property housed the Residence Ste. Catherine seniors residence, which shut its doors in 2022. 

Paperman said although the former convent is not legally designated as a heritage property, it is considered “of interest.” “It’s a beautiful stone façade,” he said, noting Woodland worked with the city as it renovated the property, “because we wanted to make sure we were on the same page.”

Woodland acquired both seniors residences after they had shut down.

Paperman declined to discuss the size of Woodland’s portfolio, or offer details about its other holdings.

Multifamily offers "a lot of opportunities"

Prior to launching Woodland, Paperman was a commercial lawyer at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg in Montreal who worked in mergers and acquisitions, and on real estate acquisitions and financing. 

Together with Cukier, “we started looking at investing our own capital in real estate,” he said. After a few investments, “I decided rather than moonlight, to take this on as a full-time career opportunity.”

He has no regrets about the career change.

“I think real estate is an exciting career. There’s a lot of opportunities in the multifamily market in Canada and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

While Woodland has focused on Quebec “we are big believers in the Canadian multifamily market as a whole,” Paperman said. 

According to a Q2 2024 market update report by Altus, the multifamily sector posted $1.9 billion in transactions in the first half of the year, a 53 per cent increase from the same period in 2023. 

Along with the industrial sector and neighbourhood shopping centres, multifamily continues to make up most of the investment activity in Montreal, Altus noted in a Q3 report. 

More acquisitions planned

Woodland aims to close on a few multifamily more acquisitions in the Greater Montreal area by the end of the year and is anticipating several other opportunities in the next 12 months. It’s also evaluating potential opportunities in other provinces, notably Ontario, Alberta and the Maritimes.

There are also plans to add at least two team members in acquisitions and operations “to position ourselves for further growth.” The company currently has 10 employees.

Although Woodland has focused almost exclusively on multifamily to date, “going forward, we are open to considering all asset classes,” Paperman said.