Starlight Investments has closed on the acquisition of an institutional-quality, two-building Toronto multifamily portfolio, adding 618 rental suites at North York’s Forest Lane and Wyldewood apartments to its holdings.

The two concrete-construction buildings are just a block apart in the Bathurst Street and Steeles Avenue area. They were constructed between 1977 and 1980 and were previously owned by Oxford Properties.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

“We are pleased to add these well-located properties to our significant multifamily portfolio in the Greater Toronto Area,” Neil Fischler, Starlight’s executive vice-president, asset management, Canadian residential, said in a post on Starlight’s blog. 

​“This acquisition echoes our commitment to investing in complete communities that provide quality homes for individuals and families across Canada.”

For its part, Oxford has been making select divestments from its apartment portfolio, then taking the capital from those more mature properties and recycling it into newer builds and mixed-use types of opportunities.

Wyldewood and Forest Lane apartments

Wyldewood Apartments is a 16-storey tower at 120 Torresdale Rd. It features 246 units with a mix of one-bedroom, two-bedroom, three-bedroom and four-bedroom apartments. 

The residence includes underground and surface-level parking for 339 vehicles (including 234 indoor spaces). Indoor and outdoor amenities include a fitness facility, sauna, social room, BBQ and dining area, and children’s playroom and playground. It is also a pet-friendly property with an off-leash dog park just minutes away.

Forest Lane Apartments is a 21-storey rental building at 300 Antibes Dr., that comprises a total of 372 suites. It also offers a wide a range of options from one-bedroom and two-bedroom units to larger three-bedroom layouts and is pet-friendly.

The property features underground and surface-level parking for 454 vehicles (362 underground). Amenities at this property include a swimming pool, sauna, social room, fitness facility, BBQ and dining area, and children’s playroom and playground. 

Both buildings also offer larger-than-average suite sizes, with units in the two properties averaging 992 (Wyldewood) and 993 (Forest Lane) square feet of floor space.

Occupancy was at just below 99 per cent across the two buildings.

Properties have been upgraded

Both properties have received extensive upgrades during the past six years, including new roofs, upgraded boilers, upgrades to the double-glazed windows, lobbies and common areas and to building security, according to JLL’s marketing brochure for the sites.

In total, they are located on 11.4 acres of property.

Both properties are short distances from schools, services and retail locations including grocery stores, shopping centres and restaurants. They also offer easy access to a range of transportation options including major highways and public transit - with proximity to the Finch, Finch West and Downsview Park subway stations. 

Both of the properties are to be managed onsite by Signet Group.

The transaction was brokered by the JLL Capital Markets, Multifamily Ontario team, led by Michael Betsalel and Earl Kufner.

Starlight Investments declined to comment or be interviewed for this article.

About Starlight Investments

Starlight Investments is a global real estate investment and asset management firm with $28 billion of assets under management. 

It is a privately held owner, developer and asset manager of over 68,000 multi-residential suites and over seven million square feet of commercial property space held in a range of investment vehicles across various real estate strategies.