The Stephen Avenue Place office and mixed-use complex in downtown Calgary is under receivership for the second time in two years, according to filings in the Court of King’s of Alberta and a release from creditor Timbercreek Mortgage Servicing Inc.

Formerly known as the Scotia Centre, the property at 700 2nd Street SW consists of a 40-storey office tower that was acquired in 2018 by Slate Asset Management, which subsequently reimagined the building podium. The first three floors were renovated with new retail space, restaurant space and a dining hall. New amenities were added and the existing precast concrete façade was replaced with a contemporary design.

According to court documents, Timbercreek Mortgage Servicing Inc. — an affiliate of Timbercreek Financial (TF-T) provided Slate Asset Management with an equity take out facility of up to $93.4 million and a repositioning facility of up to $67.9 million via a first-ranking mortgage agreement reached in November 2018. Slate then engaged Computershare Trust Company of Canada to act as its agent, nominee, and bare trustee.

“The unforeseen and persistent slowdown in Calgary’s office market during and after COVID has made it extremely difficult to stabilize occupancy at Stephen Avenue Place,” said a spokesperson for Slate in a statement provided to RENX. “This prolonged weakness in office demand, together with the rapid rise in interest rates, made the capital structure of Stephen Avenue Place unsustainable . . .

"This asset represents a small and isolated part of our broader Canadian real estate platform, which continues to grow and perform.”

The first receivership

Stephen Avenue Place is beneficially owned by Slate’s Canadian Real Estate Opportunity Fund I LP through SCREO I 700 2ND Inc. and under 58508 Alberta Ltd., which became the subject of a receivership application filed by Timbercreek and Computershare in September 2023 after Slate failed to make a required interest payment.

Timbercreek issued a notice of default and gave Slate until Sept. 13, 2023 to cure the default. Slate did not cure the default and indicated it “did not intend to honour the terms of the Loan Agreement on a go-forward basis,” according to Timbercreek.

The lender then made a formal demand for payment. The outstanding debt was $135,288,424.79 as of Sept. 25, 2023, plus interest. Slate did not pay, so Timbercreek filed its receivership application, which was granted by the court on Oct. 5, 2023, with MNP Ltd. appointed as the Receiver.

The forbearance agreement

Two months later, Storeys reported that Slate and Timbercreek were working toward a forbearance agreement, which was reached later that month. The receivership was terminated on Jan. 12, 2024.

As part of the forbearance agreement, Timbercreek agreed to delay enforcement until the earlier of Sept. 1, 2025 or a default that is not cured within an allowable period. Meanwhile, Slate agreed to make a partial principal payment of $15 million plus $1,690,472 in unpaid interest upon selling a property known as Capital Point.

Located in Burnaby, B.C., the property is an office complex more commonly referred to as Metrotown Place, which Slate was planning on redeveloping into a complex called Capital Point Metrotown.

However, Slate cancelled the project and had been trying to sell the office complex since April 2022. No sale was completed, and the property was placed under receivership in July 2024 by American lenders before being sold to the City of Burnaby for $65 million in November 2024.

The second receivership

Following the sale, Slate was obligated to pay the aforementioned payment to Timbercreek, but failed to make the payment and defaulted on the forbearance agreement. According to Timbercreek, Slate later made a distribution from the Capital Point sale to Timbercreek, but it was short of the required amount and thus the default was not cured.

Timbercreek did not immediately enforce its security, but learned this summer Slate “had failed to pay many of the contractors that provide services to Stephen Avenue Place and that are necessary for normal operations.”

The forbearance period then expired on Sept. 1. Since then, Timbercreek says the property manager for Stephen Avenue Place, Colliers, has issued a notice of termination to Slate due to non-payment and was owed approximately $857,538 for months of unpaid services.

Colliers told Timbercreek it would end its services on Oct. 6 unless the arrears were paid and Timbercreek ultimately made the payment as a protective advance under the Stephen Avenue Place mortgage.

Timbercreek then made a formal demand for payment to Slate for the outstanding amount of $139,080,105.34 and initiated the second receivership after Slate failed to pay. 

Timbercreek and the outstanding mortgage

In a press release published October 16 disclosing it had initiated receivership proceedings, Timbercreek said it was “one of several secured creditors with exposure to the property” and the $139 million owed as of June 30, 2025 “reflects the full value of the first-ranking mortgage, which is syndicated on a pari-passu basis among Timbercreek Financial and two other institutional syndication partners.”

“Timbercreek Financial’s gross exposure, after accounting for syndicated portions, was $15 million, or 10.8% of the total loan, representing 1.3% of its net mortgage portfolio of $1,114 million,” the company also said.

“While we do not typically comment on individual loans, we felt it was important to disclose our net exposure in this situation,” added Timbercreek Financial CEO Blair Tamblyn. “Our team has originated more than $18 billion in commercial real estate debt since launching our lending platform in 2007 and actively managed a sizable portfolio through multiple cycles. We are experienced in navigating these kinds of situations to preserve our investors’ capital, and that is our primary focus with this asset.

"The Stephen Avenue Place loan is one of the few investments remaining in the portfolio that were originated prior to the rate hike cycle.”

Stephen Avenue Place is now headed toward a court-ordered sale. However, recovering the debt in full may be a steep challenge, as the outstanding debt “appears to significantly exceed the market value of the Lands,” as Timbercreek acknowledged in its receivership application.

The City of Calgary’s assessed value for Stephen Avenue Place is $59.95 million.