Behind The Deal: Canada’s Largest Multifamily Development In Decades

Ottawa’s Lépine Corp. just closed on the sale of Canada’s largest apartment development in 40 years, a $246M, six-building transaction in Kanata that the project team claims is one of the biggest multifamily deals in the nation’s history.

William’s Court at Kanata Lakes, which broke ground in 2010 on a five-acre site, has 739 units in five high-end rental buildings, two retail spaces and a recreation centre. The community was acquired by Killam Apartment REIT and KingSett Capital. Brokered by SVN Rock Advisors CEO Derek Lobo, the deal involved four transactions over seven years. Key to getting the deals done, given this initially involved selling buildings not yet built, was getting all parties to buy into a shared vision for what the project would become. “When we wrote the first deal there was just a hole in the ground,” Lobo said.

But with the final deal closing last week, Williams Court is fully built and several of its buildings are now occupied. “Buyers want income properties, they’re buying clientele,” developer Francis Lépine said. “So we needed to build up that clientele and sustain that growth over a number of years to keep investors and managers happy. It's been a big challenge.” Lépine's late father René, also a developer, built Montreal’s landmark Olympic Village. Francis Lépine got his unofficial start in the building biz sweeping that construction site at 15 years old. “He’s a developer’s developer,” Lobo said.

Killam is looking to build its REIT with new multifamily product, according to Lobo, so the Kanata Lakes project is a perfect fit. For his part, Lepine said he liked that he could deal directly with Killam’s president and CEO, Philip Fraser. “Having a personal relationship with the leader of an enterprise is key.” Same goes for Kingsett, which has been involved with the project the past two years, and whose financing added high octane to the development, Lepine said. “It’s nice to see a Canadian company supported by Canadian funds that's reinvesting in building a better community — and Canada."

Ottawa and its suburbs have not had much high-end multifamily development through the years. But Lobo said his team carried out a feasibility study to assess the market’s depth, renter profiles and achievable rents. “We determined that it was going to work.” And it has. According to Lépine, each building at William’s Court has leased up faster than the last. “Word-of-mouth is the best marketing tool for our property,” said the developer, who is not retaining a stake in the development. “People are coming here with the intention of moving in.”