Montreal-based Leyad has made another addition to its rapidly growing retail portfolio with the off-market acquisition of Lloyd Mall in Lloydminster, Alta.

Lloyd Mall, which currently has 37 stores, services and restaurants in more than 200,000 square feet of gross leasable area, was purchased from the TTC Pension Plan (operated on behalf of Toronto Transit Commission employees) for an undisclosed price. 

“It was part of a general disposition plan,” Leyad president and chief executive officer Henry Zavriyev told RENX. “It was non-core for them.”

Lloyd Mall is the only enclosed shopping centre serving a regional trade area of more than 195,000 residents in both eastern Alberta and western Saskatchewan. The city of Lloydminster straddles the border between the two provinces.

“It’s a very important commercial artery on the Alberta-Saskatchewan border and it’s especially interesting to Saskatchewan shoppers because of the tax regime in Alberta, where there's no sales tax,” Zavriyev said. “It's a very high-income, booming area where the median income is over $110,000 a year, with a young population that’s growing.” 

What Lloyd Mall offers

Lloyd Mall was fully renovated in 2021 and is anchored by leading national retailers including Safeway, Shoppers Drug Mart, Urban Planet and Dollarama. 

“You have the trifecta of grocery, pharmacy and dollar store, which is like the golden three,” Zavriyev said.

Lloyd Mall is also home to several other well-known retailers such as Bath & Body Works, La Vie en Rose, Boathouse and Quarks. Tenants have a weighted average lease term of 6.7 years.

The mall has a 7,000-square-foot vacancy that was formerly occupied by Sears and an occupancy rate of 93 per cent for the rest of the shopping centre.

“That Sears box has been empty for quite a while, so we're speaking with clients now,” Zavriyev said. “We have a few options that we've been working on so, now that we’ll be the owners, we’re hoping to kick off discussions and hopefully advance some plans over the next few months.”

As with many other Leyad shopping centre acquisitions, Lloyd Mall has excess land that can be intensified in the future, although there are no plans to do that in the near term.

Leyad will take over from BGO as the property manager for Lloyd Mall, which is centrally located in Lloydminster at 5211 44th St.

More retail acquisitions coming

Leyad is a privately owned real estate investment and management firm that has a major focus on retail but also owns a large portfolio of multi-residential properties, seven industrial properties and two hotel properties.

The company made a $160.5-million acquisition of Winnipeg’s St. Vital Centre from Ontario Pension Board last month and has been actively acquiring shopping centres across Canada over the past few years.

Leyad’s other 200,000-square-foot-plus retail properties include: 

• Londonderry Mall in Edmonton;
• Niagara Pen Centre in St. Catharines, Ont.;
• Northgate Shopping Centre in North Bay, Ont.;
• St. Albert Centre in St. Albert, Alta.;
• Reed Crossing in Grande Prairie, Alta.;
• Cornerstone Prince Albert in Prince Albert, Sask.;
• Mega Centre Lebourgneuf in Quebec City; and
• Wheeler Park Power Centre in Moncton, N.B.

Leyad is working on more grocery-anchored retail acquisitions and Zavriyev said he expects to make additional announcements in the not too distant future.