Saint John mall for sale, includes plans for residential development
Saint John's "dominant shopping destination" is for sale, according to a real estate listing.
Jones Lang LaSalle’s National Retail Investment Group and TD Cornerstone Commercial Realty Inc. said in a posting that they have been hired to arrange the sale of McAllister Place, owned by Primaris REIT. The 79-acre listing includes the 399,710 square-foot mall as well as the undeveloped portion of the property, where the listing says there are "plans for a 526-unit residential development."
The listing says McAllister is 98.8 per cent leased and features a "strong tenant mix" and offers "secure and increasing future cashflow" due to an average weighted lease term of 4.8 years, meaning the average length of time left on tenants' deals. Tenants of the mall include Marshalls, HomeSense, Mark’s, Sport Chek, Lawtons Drugs, Party City, The Brick, Dollarama, and GoodLife Fitness.
The mall is located in the city's "most dominant retail node," according to the listing, with East Point Shopping Centre, Parkway Mall and SmartCentres Saint John, home to Walmart, nearby.
The City of Saint John has not currently received "any permit applications or information related to a residential development" at the site, according to communications manager Erin White. The land is zoned residential commercial, which lists accommodation, but not residential, among its approved uses.
JLL executive vice president Matthew Smith said in an email that the plans for the project have been developed by the owner but not yet proposed to the city.
McAllister Place was built in 1975 and purchased along with Regent Mall in Fredericton by Primaris in 2012 from Cadillac Fairview.
News of the sale comes two months after uptown mall Brunswick Square, owned by Slate Office REIT, was listed for sale by CBRE Limited and TD Securities, Inc. The Brunswick Square offering includes an office tower and retail space, which are about 54 per cent occupied, as well as the 250-room Delta hotel.
Andrew Beckett, CEO of Envision Saint John, the region's growth agency, said Thursday that the circumstances of the two malls are different, saying that Brunswick Square, more dependent on foot traffic, needs "re-imagining" while McAllister Place enjoys strong occupancy numbers.
"There's still, as much as there's been changes in the retail sector, there's still demand for that hands-on, people going into the store," Beckett said. "McAllister is showing well that way. I'd say that's a case of a company seeing an opportunity to test the market and see what the value is."
Andrew Bates, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Telegraph-Journal
