The Trillium Executive Centre in Markham, north of Toronto. (Courtesy Crown Realty Partners)

True North Commercial REIT (TNT-UN-T) has an agreement to purchase its second major office property in the past month in the Greater Toronto Area city of Markham.

The REIT announced Thursday it will acquire the Trillium Executive Centre, a class-AAA, BOMA Best Gold-certified office complex comprised of three towers and a central podium connecting the buildings. True North said it will pay $117.8 million for the complex.

The pending purchase of the centre, along with a second GTA property, was announced about two weeks ago in a release outlining an $80.5-million equity offering. At that time, however, the REIT did not provide information about the individual sites.

Located at 675 Cochrane Ave., the property also includes 1,259 parking spaces including 892 stalls in a two-level underground parking facility. The 7.7-acre property is 98 per cent occupied with a remaining average lease term of 4.8 years.

Major tenants include Stantec Consulting Ltd. and Ceridian Canada Ltd. The building also contains numerous amenities including a state-of-the-art fitness centre, physiotherapist and café.

Expands Markham holdings

The acquisition expands True North’s portfolio in Markham, a suburban city of about 350,000.

In October, True North purchased two nearby, connected office buildings containing 315,400 rentable square feet of space. That property, at 101 McNabb St., is 100 per cent leased and was the 2019 TOBY Award winner for The Outstanding Building of the Year in the Renovated Building category.

True North plans to fund the Trillium acquisition via proceeds from the REIT’s November public unit offering and first mortgage financing of approximately $76.57 million.

Closing is expected to be on or about Dec. 18.

The complex was previously owned by Crown Realty Partners’ Crown Realty III Limited Partnership fund. It had acquired the centre as part of a Markham-based portfolio the fund bought in early 2016. The property had been listed for sale in late 2018.

The centre is located just southeast of the Highway 7 and Highway 404 interchange, and north of Highway 407, providing superior north-south and east-west highway accessibility and visibility.

It also benefits from access to the regional transit network including vivaNEXT Rapidway and GO Transit.

The surrounding neighbourhoods offer numerous services and amenities such as retail, hotels, restaurants, shopping and entertainment.

About True North

True North has been steadily expanding its portfolio in recent months. Along with the 101 McNabb St. purchase in October, it bought the 209,400-square-foot ATB Westwinds office property in Calgary at the same time.

True North REIT owns and operates a portfolio of 47 properties consisting of approximately 4.2 million square feet in urban and select secondary markets across Canada.

The REIT is focused on growing its portfolio principally through acquisitions across Canada and such other jurisdictions where opportunities exist.

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