Montreal-based Leyad announced Monday a series of operational and leasing accomplishments which it says underscores a “differentiated” approach to its retail properties amid a shifting landscape in the sector.

In the release, Leyad reported having committed tenants for 83 per cent of the 323,000 square feet of space which was vacated by Hudson’s Bay in 2025. This leasing has happened in less than 12 months, since the demise of the former Canadian department store retailer.

New tenants signed to leases include grocery anchors, necessity-based retailers and experiential uses. Among them is Canada’s first Zellers store, in Edmonton, since the brand returned under new ownership (retail company Les Ailes de la Mode) in the wake of the HBC demise.

The Zellers store, a concept store operating with a 60,000-square-foot lease, is located in the Londonderry Mall in North Edmonton and opened in the fall of 2025.

Leyad is an owner and operator of a diverse commercial real estate portfolio, which also includes industrial, multifamily and hospitality assets.

Overall during the past 12 months, Leyad reports it has signed leases for over 600,000 square feet of space across 102 transactions. The signings will help it fill space that, in some cases, it says had been “vacant for years.”

The leasing accomplishment is “highlighting how thoughtful repositioning, diverse tenant strategies, and technology-driven decision-making continue to unlock value across its national mall portfolio,” the release states.

An evolving role for shopping centres

The leasing strategy emphasizes what Leyad considers the evolving role of shopping centres as multi-purpose community hubs, rather than just retail centres.

"Retail today is not a single category – it's a mix of necessity, service, experience and community," Leyad CEO Henry Zavriyev said in the release. "Our leasing strategy reflects that reality."

The announcement about the former HBC tenancies follows closely on a report by JLL which predicts two-thirds of the vacated boxes would have committed tenants within two years. In a further alignment with Leyad's stated retail strategy, the report forecast 78 per cent of the space would remain retail while the rest could be divided among other uses.

Leyad has been a very active buyer of retail properties in recent years, and now lists 20 shopping centres on its website. It owns and operates a portfolio of retail assets across seven provinces: Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

The firm has focused on strong, needs-based anchor tenants, including grocery chains such as Loblaws, Sobeys and Metro which now represent nearly 10 per cent of Leyad's total retail portfolio.

As part of that portfolio, Leyad owns 631,000 sq. ft. of retail in Prince Albert, Sask., the closest major population centre (approximately 135 kilometres) from one of the world's largest newly identified alumina reserve discoveries.

Also during 2025, Leyad disposed of a single-tenant asset in Quebec City to Costco Wholesale, achieving an almost 50 per cent increase in value in under one year.

Advances on the technology front

On the technology front, Leyad has launched Shopping.Leyad.ca, a centralized digital platform showcasing its national shopping centre portfolio.

It has also implemented proprietary AI-driven analytics to enhance operational decision-making, including foot traffic and dwell-time tracking, shopping pattern and customer behavior analysis and asset-level reporting to understand tenant mix and community offerings.

Along with the growth of its portfolio, Leyad has made two senior executive hirings:

• Matthew Peris, vice-president, operations – formerly of Westcliff, and bringing over a decade of experience to the role; and
• Katy Sedaghatian, vice-president, accounting – formerly of BTB REIT, with more than 20 years of financial leadership in CRE.

RENX made contact with Leyad requesting further comment for this article, but due to prior commitments, Zavriyev was not immediately available.