- What A $100m VTB mortgage has been secured for City Square Shopping Centre
- Why Finneo arranged financing from a North American life insurance company
- What next The debt has a five-year term at a 5% interest rate
A retail and office complex in Vancouver has secured $100m in financing, Green Street News can reveal.
Finneo arranged the financing for City Square Shopping Centre, at 555 West 12th Avenue, on behalf of owner Denise She. The debt values the asset at $211m.
Funding was provided by a large, unidentified North American life insurance company. The $100m vendor take-back mortgage replacement has a five-year term at a 5% interest rate; the previous VTB had a rate of over 8%.
“We curated a targeted list of lending institutions across the full spectrum – life companies, CMBS lenders, global banks, local credit unions and large private credit groups – to ensure broad market coverage,” Amar Nijjar, founder and chief executive officer of Finneo, said of the deal.
“In today’s market, every deal is very difficult to get placed, and lenders will always gravitate towards deals that they understand and where the risk is well structured. Through Finneo’s efficient and transparent process, we were able to articulate that to the lending market and generate a high level of interest.”
The 247,000 sq ft asset comprises a three-level retail plaza, two six-storey medical office towers and two heritage buildings. Tenants include Bayshore Home Health, Edward Jones Investments, Subway and UBC Faculty of Medicine.
The heritage components were completed in 1905 and 1908. The modern component was completed in 1989. There are 650 parking stalls.
On more than 3 acres at the intersection of West 12th Avenue and Cambie Street, City Square Shopping Centre is adjacent to Vancouver City Hall, 300m from the Broadway-City Hall SkyTrain station and 400m from Vancouver General Hospital. The Cambie Street Bridge and Olympic Village station are within a kilometre.
City Square Shopping Centre has decades of life left in its current form, but there is long-term redevelopment potential, She said. The site is included in the Broadway Plan’s Uptown Office District, which has been earmarked for commercial development. Current zoning allows for a range of uses including office, retail, hotel and manufacturing.
Although economic uncertainty and the ongoing tariff whiplash are creating chaos for capital markets, the deal, which took three months to complete, “underscores the value” of the asset and Finneo’s capacity to present the opportunity to lenders in “a compelling way,” Nijjar said.
“It is likely to be the largest financing deal in Vancouver this year,” he told Green Street News.
Debt availability is expected to be greater in 2025 as lenders look to meet their yearly capital deployment allocations, CBRE said in a recent report, a feat many fell short of in 2024. While financing activity is increasing, including for enclosed retail and office, lenders are likely to be “selective” in their deals and take a “nuanced approach” when distinguishing between asset classes, geographies and borrowers.
On the investment front, Vancouver reported $7bn in commercial real estate transactions in 2024, JLL said in a report, surpassing the city’s five-year average by 4.8%.
“The location, where two major [transit] lines meet and in the vicinity of City Hall and hospitals, really makes this asset unique,” She told Green Street News.
“One of the office towers has close to 90% medical-related tenants, and the other has up to 70%. Customers will get a referral from the hospital and will come to City Square – we have a number of specialty clinics and heathcare services – and then visit the retailers as well. It’s a true mixed-use asset.”
Finneo is a real estate capital advisory firm headquartered in Toronto. The firm has facilitated over $4bn in transactions.
Denise She is a Vancouver-based entrepreneur. Her real estate portfolio includes Mylora Executive Golf Course and Best Western Plus Sands Hotel.
