QuadReal Property Group has sold one of its landmark Vancouver office and commercial properties, the recently-reimagined The Post complex, in what will stand as one of the most significant commercial real estate transactions of 2025.

While the buyer has not been identified by QuadReal, it is Amancio Ortega, the Spanish billionaire founder of Inditex SA according to a report published by Bloomberg News. Ortega paid $1.1 billion for the property.

Ortega’s Pontegadea company has been buying landmark real estate properties in Canada and internationally during the past several years.

QuadReal will remain as the property manager at the complex, it states in the announcement posted to the company’s website on Wednesday. The Post sits on a full city block bordered by West Georgia, Homer, Dunsmuir and Hamilton streets, and includes two towers and a podium.

The Post building has undergone what QuadReal terms as “one of the most ambitious heritage redevelopments in Canada’s history.”

Redeveloping The Post 

Built in 1958 and used for decades as a Canada Post facility, The Post was designed by McCarter Nairne & Partners, a well-known architectural firm in Vancouver. The redeveloped property, which was completed in phases and began occupancy in 2023, renewed and restored many of the building’s original features while creating 1.1 million sq. ft. of top-quality office space and a large retail atrium.

The office space is leased to Amazon, which utilizes the complex as its Vancouver hub.

The transaction comes on the heels of two other major building sales in Vancouver, and optimism that the office market might be turning a corner following the pandemic, the accompanying rise of hybrid work arrangements and several years of economic uncertainty.

“This landmark office sale has taken place on the heels of KingSett Capital purchasing two office towers from Cadillac Fairview and Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO) at Pender Place in downtown Vancouver,” said Brett Armstrong, principal and managing director at Avison Young, in a LinkedIn post about the transaction. “Outside of Vancouver, we are seeing other office assets under contract and trading hands right across the country.

“In addition to the recent activity on the investment side, the office leasing market has been on fire in Toronto and we’re starting to see that trickle into other markets such as Vancouver.” 

About Ortega, and QuadReal

Ortega’s Pontegadea company has previously acquired two major properties in Canada, the Toronto Royal Bank Plaza office complex and a distribution centre in Burnaby (part of Metro Vancouver) which is also leased to Amazon. Pontegadea has acquired several international properties leased to Amazon.

Ortega, 89, is also the owner of international fashion giant Zara. He is listed as the world’s 17th richest person (net worth approximately US$113.8 billion), according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.

QuadReal Property Group is a global real estate investment, development and operating company headquartered in Vancouver. It is the real estate arm of the British Columbia Investment Management Corp. (BCI), which holds approximately $295 billion in assets for a number of provincial pension funds.

QuadReal's assets under management are $94 billion. From its foundation in Canada as a full-service real estate operating company, QuadReal has expanded its capabilities to invest in equity and debt in both the public and private markets. QuadReal invests directly, via programmatic partnerships and through operating platforms in which it holds an ownership interest.