After more than a decade of collaboration, Dallas-based developer Matthews and Vaughan, Ont.-based developer Tribal Partners have joined forces through what Matthews senior vice-president Phill Geheb calls a “strategic corporate combination” to create Matthews Tribal. 

“It really wasn't an acquisition or a purchase,” Geheb said in an interview with RENX that also included Lance Trumble, senior vice-president of Matthews Tribal in Canada and senior advisor to Matthews for pursuits outside of Canada.

Matthews was founded by Jack Matthews, a London, Ont. native who was active in Ontario development before moving to Dallas in 1994. The company has been involved with hospitality, mixed-use, residential, office, infrastructure, transportation and industrial real estate projects in Canada, the United States and Mexico.

It also established a presence in Europe, the Middle East and Africa with Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based Matthews EMEA.

“Jack takes great pride in his Canadian roots,” Trumble said, citing developments that include:

• the 16-storey, 650,000-square-foot Sussex Centre on Burnhamthorpe Road in Mississauga, Ont. that was completed in 1987 and is now owned by Dream;
• and the 58-storey, 2.08-million-square-foot The Bow office building, which was Calgary’s tallest when it was completed by Matthews Southwest in 2012 and is now owned by Blue Owl.

Tribal Partners and Matthews’ previous projects

Tribal Partners was a real estate development, construction, investment and asset management company involved with industrial, office, retail and mixed-use properties in North America.

Matthews and Tribal Partners have delivered projects including: 

• the FedEx Ship Centre on Commissioners Street in Toron

  

  to;
• the just-completed Meadowvale Commerce Park, a partnership with H&R REIT comprised of two fully leased industrial buildings totalling 336,800 square feet on 15.5 acres of land in Mississauga;
• and mixed-use redevelopment projects across Canada.

Reasons for the merger

“It just got to the point where we were already working so well collaboratively that it just felt like a natural evolution of this partnership," Geheb said. "To bring Lance's team into the full envelope of Matthews, to expand his team's presence and ability to tackle larger transactions while expanding our footprint in eastern Canada and western Canada, as well as grabbing some of his industrial expertise that we can bring south of the border to the United States.”

“We were growing at a very rapid rate, as was Matthews,” Trumble added. “Even before the merger, we found we were combining efforts and sharing best practices.”

There are shared synergies by the people at both companies in addition to some cost reductions that will result from the merger, according to Trumble.

Matthews is finding ways to integrate Tribal’s team into a variety of projects across North America. 

“Matthews Tribal operates inter-connectedly with the rest of our teams, but mostly focused on the eastern Canadian industrial market as well as industrial opportunities up and down the Mississippi River in the United States,” Geheb said.

“Our core strategy won't change but we'll have a broader depth of offerings and skill sets,” Trumble said.

Current Matthews Tribal industrial developments

A site at 300 Rue Berge-du-Canal occupies 83 acres at the corner of Rue Notre Dame on the Lachine Canal in Montreal.

“It's the largest piece of land between the airport and downtown,” Trumble explained. “It’s very strategically located and we'll be building 1.5 million square feet of industrial buildings.” 

Remediation plans and obtaining approvals and permits are in the final stages for the property, and the process to secure tenants is underway, according to Trumble. He expects the project to take three to five years to complete.

Matthews Tribal is the development partner working in conjunction with CN on the 680-acre Calgary Logistics Park, Canada’s only intermodal business park. It’s currently home to: Whirlpool Canada, which occupied a 422,000-square-foot distribution facility in 2018; and Princess Auto.

Trumble said about 350 acres in the park remain to be developed.

Tribal secured 500 acres at Mayfield and Dixie roads in Caledon, Ont. between 2020 and 2022. It has a buildable area of approximately eight million square feet for e-commerce, logistics, technology and innovation uses, and plans call for the development of warehousing, distribution centres and other industrial uses.

“The industrial sector, more than any other sector, is evolving,” Trumble said, citing automation in more specialized buildings that’s enabling multi-storey developments and other new initiatives.

Trumble said there are more “significant” projects coming up for Matthews Tribal but it’s too early to talk about them.

Matthews West in Squamish, B.C.

Matthews West is based in Squamish, B.C. and led by president John Matthews. It was selected more than a year ago by the City of Port Alberni, B.C. to develop a master-planned community at the 43-acre site of the former Somass Sawmill.

Matthews West also has a partnership with Squamish Nation to manage two legacy projects: 

• the 100-acre Oceanfront Squamish, where plans are to eventually provide more than a million square feet of employment space, more than 400,000 square feet of education space and around 2,800 multi-family units;
• and Cheekeye, where the neighbourhood development plan includes 537 single-family homes, 678 multifamily units, a neighbourhood commercial hub and 130 acres of green space, including public parks and trail systems.