NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT Avenue Living has purchased Mayfair Manor in downtown Medicine Hat to add to the residential property rental company's local holdings.
Medicine Hat’s tallest apartment building has been added to the growing rental portfolio of Avenue Living.
The company’s signs were prominent on the building that towers over the downtown core one week after its previous owner alluded to a sale in financial reports.
Avenue Living made a big entrance into the Medicine Hat market in 2014, buying 14 apartment complexes, and last year when it acquired Scheer Rental facilities, the total was cited at 27 buildings comprising 710 suites.
The recent owner of Mayfair Manor, Northview Apartment REIT, announced in its latest financial reports early this month that it has divested “non-core” properties in Medicine Hat and elsewhere as part of its debt management and growth strategy.
The report did not denote the local purchaser, but states the building’s selling price was $10.4 million, excluding closing costs.
This week, Avenue’s signs appeared at the front entrance of the building that faces Fifth Avenue SE on the south side of the city’s central business district.
The building last changed hands in 2015 as part of the initial transaction that created Northview. The $535-million merger between previous Mayfair owner, True North Apartment REIT, and Northern Properties REIT, at the time, created the third-largest rental portfolio in Canada.
Northview stated in financial documents released on Nov. 7 that its properties in southern Alberta and British Columbia are expected to perform well as the markets are less dependent on resource and energy sectors, though local economies in the west are hampered.
“Northview expects to continue to geographically diversify and enhance the quality of its portfolio through acquisitions and developments in its stronger markets,” the report states.
Avenue Living also holds substantial portfolios in Edmonton, Saskatoon, Lethbridge as well as properties in Brooks and other smaller centres.
