Behind The Deal: RSA Insurance’s New Custom-Built Mississauga Home

Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Co has inked a lease to anchor a 225k SF custom-built office complex at Mississauga Gateway Centre. Avison Young’s Joe Almeida, who co-brokered the deal, says area transit plans played a big part.

That's Joe, now heading up AY’s Toronto West office, at left with Martin Dockrill, who's just been put in charge of the firm's Ontario operations, and Patrick Campbell, a co-broker on the RSA deal. The insurer might have left Mississauga. But Joe says when his team brought it to the company's attention that the Hurontario-Main LRT line, which will service Mississauga Gateway Centre, is fully funded and construction is imminent, RSA opted to take a closer look at possibilities for the 11-acre site.

Here's a sneak peek at RSA’s new complex. The other five buildings at the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan-owned Mississauga Gateway Centre have been built on spec, a signal of HOOPP's confidence and long-term outlook in the burgeoning Heartland node (nearby it's developing Spectrum SQ, a 1.3M SF campus). Joe has a second deal in place for 9,500 SF at Gateway's most recent phase, 85 Prologis Blvd, and 32k SF remains for lease at 1 Prologis Blvd (below).

HOOPP hadn't decided whether to pursue another spec project at Mississauga Gateway Centre when RSA entered the picture, and Joe says the custom-build plan came together quickly. RSA is moving from Sheridan Centre (2225 Erin Mills Pkwy) and will occupy the majority of the complex, two mid-rise buildings tied together by an atrium. The plan offers flexibility for RSA to have a highly efficient new space on a long-term lease, with naming rights for the building, according to Joe.

Above is 85 Prologis, where Kids & Co will operate an 11k SF daycare for the entire office park. Joe's team signed Carters Oshkosh Canada to a 10-year deal to relocate its national HQ from Cambridge to 1 Prologis. Compass Group is also there, having moved from Airport Corporate Centre (and Joe says he's currently working on three proposals for the remaining space). As it was for RSA, the transit tie-in has been a major selling point for tenants. "It's a real game changer for the area."