SITUATION
Located in the centre of the SHED district in downtown Winnipeg, Newport Centre is a 154,350 SF office tower situated next to the MTS Centre. The building was tired and several of the former owners had promised an upgrade/re-development. This was never completed. As a result of this, average rental rates were low, between $10 and $12 net PSF. True North Development announced a 365,000 SF class A office development that included residential and a hotel development next door to Newport.
SOLUTION
The asset was purchased and the approach to reposition was based on the following steps;
New lobby.
New curtain wall.
New tenant amenities such as meeting space and bicycle storage.
New retail podium.
Capitalize on the True North asking rent of $30 net PSF and offer competitive options.
OUTCOME
The new lobby is almost complete and the new curtain wall will be completed spring 2020. 20,000 SF of new office lease deals have been achieved with rents between $16 - $18 PSF net. The building vacancy has gone from 27% to 8%.