Primaris Real Estate Investment Trust said it completed the sale of an open-air retail centre and adjoining medical office complex in Calgary as the trust continues to divest assets that are not core to its business.
The REIT said it sold Northland Village and Northland Professional Centre for $154 million, to a Canadian institutional investor that Primaris did not identify.
Northland Village is a recently redeveloped open-air centre whose major tenants include Walmart, Winners, Best Buy, GoodLife, Dollarama and Spinelli Italian Centre Shop. Northland Professional Centre is a medical office building, according to CoStar data.
In a statement, Alex Avery, Primaris REIT’s CEO, said the sale further demonstrated the REIT's track record of disciplined capital allocation and capital recycling.
“Executing $400 million of non-core asset sales in 2025 underscores Primaris’ commitment to maintain a best-in-class balance sheet while continuing to leverage the competitive advantage our management platform provides, for acquiring, owning, and managing market-leading Canadian malls,” Avery said.
The deal tracks with Primaris’ strategy of bolstering its retail portfolio with discount retailers, especially in anchor positions. Earlier this month, Primaris CEO Alex Avery told CoStar News that Walmart would move into its vacant retail spaces previously occupied by Hudson’s Bay Company and Sears.
Primaris also said it will spend $125 million to $150 million to improve its former Hudson’s Bay Co. locations, as well as $20 million to $30 million at its former Sears stores slated for demolition. Primaris said a total of 303,000 square feet of former Sears space at Les Galeries de la Capitale and Oshawa Centre will be razed "to facilitate retail outparcel development and land sales to mixed-use developers."
As for its sale of the Northland portfolio in Calgary, Primaris said it used a portion of the net proceeds "to fully repay its $100 million unsecured bilateral non-revolving term facility, and concurrently unwound the associated $50 million hedge."
Primaris says it is Canada’s only enclosed shopping centre-focused REIT and has ownership interests in enclosed malls in growing Canadian markets. The current contains a total of 15.2 million square feet.