The Rose Corporation has acquired the largest single parcel of land in midtown Oakville, Ont., the 27.3-acre former General Electric factory site at 420-460 South Service Rd., for $45 million. 

“In terms of getting deals done, there’s just not the same volume that there had been for a while,” The Rose Corporation president Daniel Berholz told RENX. “So we were excited to find the right capital structure and the right lenders to bring this acquisition together.”

The property was formerly used as a manufacturing facility by GE. It underwent remediation before being sold by the company after CBRE marketed it to a number of potential purchasers. A building facade is now all that remains on the site.

The site sits within 400 metres of the Oakville GO Transit terminal expansion area, two kilometres of downtown Oakville and walking distance of the Oakville Place mall. It’s well-positioned in midtown Oakville's 254-acre secondary plan area that’s earmarked for urban expansion and intensification.

No specific plans yet

“What attracted us to the site was the vision they have for this area, and that is aligned with our vision, which is building housing and having complete communities that include residential, commercial, office and active transportation with bus rapid transit and an expansion of the GO station,” Berholz said. 

“There's a very exciting vision for this area to create a community that's self-sustaining and where people can live, work and play.”

It’s too early in the process to detail specific plans for the site, according to Berholz.

The site is zoned industrial but that’s expected to change as the Town of Oakville’s Official Plan evolves. Berholz didn’t want to estimate a timeline for that happening but hopes to have a better idea by the end of the year.

The Rose Corporation’s heritage

The Rose Corporation is a real estate development and asset management organization founded in Toronto by chief executive officer Sam Reisman in 1982. It has recently completed, or has under active development, more than 10,000 new homes and lots with completion values exceeding $6 billion.

The Rose Corporation has focused on the development of purpose-built rental apartments and low-rise single-family subdivisions in the Greater Golden Horseshoe region since 2014.

“We're trying to find investment opportunities where we don't make decisions that are impacted by temporary ups and downs of market gyrations,” Berholz said.

Other Rose Corporation development sites

Berholz said The Rose Corporation is looking to build a mix of market, attainable and affordable housing.

It’s on the cusp of receiving site-plan approval and a building permit in order to break ground later this year for such a project: a 27-storey, 341-unit purpose-built apartment building at 26 Gilder Dr. in Scarborough, in Toronto's east end.

The building is being developed through the assistance of the City of Toronto’s Open Door Affordable Housing Program and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Apartment Construction Loan Program.

The Rose Corporation completed a 15-storey, 225-unit rental apartment at 212 Davis Dr. in Newmarket, Ont. in 2017 that it sold to Homestead Land Holdings. It has since developed three adjacent properties in the 6.8-acre master-planned residential community:

• Bakerfield Apartments I, a 15-storey, 216-unit rental apartment at 185 Deerfield Rd. that was occupied in 2023, with 25 per cent of the units being affordable, and is now fully leased;
• The Davis Condominium, a 15-storey, 218-unit condo at 295 Deerfield Rd. that’s now registered and occupied, with a few units that were held back still available for sale; and
• Bakerfield Apartments II, a 10-storey, 175-unit apartment with market and affordable units that has a move-in date of Aug. 1 and is 25 per cent pre-leased.

“Private-public partnerships allowed those buildings to go forward,” Berholz said, adding that a public park will soon open to complete the community.

Servicing underway for 241 acres north of Barrie

The Rose Corporation and Claridge Inc. acquired a 241-acre site for $116 million for a residential subdivision in Midhurst Heights, north of Barrie, Ont., in September 2022.

The site will have approximately 1,500 lots and infrastructure servicing is ongoing in order for them to be ready for constructing houses next year. Multiple builders have purchased lots and are waiting to obtain building permits and launch sales.

“The low-rise market has slowed substantially over the last couple of years and we don't have any builders selling houses at this point,” Berholz explained. “It’s too early.”

The Rose Corporation continues to look for acquisition opportunities in Toronto and the Greater Golden Horseshoe, according to Berholz.