LaSalle Investment Management has acquired four Burlington, Ont., office buildings it’s rebranding as Burloak Towers from an investor represented by Dream (DRM-T) for $64.75 million. 

“Burlington is well-positioned with a high quality of life, including excellent housing and recreation opportunities and a highly skilled workforce,” said LaSalle managing director Greg Spafford. “We see the Burloak Towers providing a much-needed, high-quality class-A office environment for Burlington’s existing businesses and emerging enterprises.”

The four buildings total 435,443 square feet of leasable space. They’re considered among the best in the market and have a high yield and diversified rent roll.

Burloak Towers’ properties are located at 1100 Burloak Dr., 5575 North Service Rd., 5515 North Service Rd. and 5420 North Service Rd. They’re within walking distance of a variety of local amenities, including the Riocan Centre Burloak, and offer access to the Queen Elizabeth Way, Burlington Transit and GO Transit.

Each building offers fibre connectivity and access to conference centres, on-site cafés, two fitness centres and free parking.

Burloak Towers 83 per cent leased

The complex is 83 per cent leased to a tenant pool that includes TD Bank, Royal Bank of Canada, Sodexo Canada, Certas Direct Insurance Company, London Life Insurance Company and several technology firms.

“A few great opportunities exist at the towers, from turnkey model suites from 1,000 to 5,000 square feet, to amazing full-floor opportunities of 13,000 square feet,” said Spafford.

Crown Property Management Inc. will provide on-site management for the buildings. LaSalle and Crown aim to reinvent the complex in ways similar to what they’ve done with Greater Toronto Area properties at 901 King St. W. and 2233 Argentia Rd. as well as with 1.2 million square feet in the Heartland portfolio.

Burloak Towers renovations

“Some of the first projects to be tackled include new roofs, parking lot upgrades, HVAC improvements, and the modernization of building lobbies and common areas,” said Spafford. “We will be introducing more collaborative tech hubs and touch down points to create opportunities for interactions between occupants.”

Efforts are also being undertaken to construct move-in ready model suites to try to make Burloak Towers stand out amongst the competition.

LaSalle, a wholly owned and operationally independent subsidiary of Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., is one of the world’s leading real estate investment managers. It had approximately $56.4 billion of private and public equity and private debt investments under management as of the third quarter of 2015.

The Burloak Towers acquisition marks LaSalle’s first return to Burlington since it developed, leased and sold more than 1.3 million square feet of office and distribution space, including UPS Canada‘s head office and regional distribution centre, over the last decade.