SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust, the Penguin Group of Properties, and Revera Inc. recently announced that they are entering into a joint venture to develop new retirement living residences throughout Canada.

Under the terms of their agreement, sites currently owned by both SmartCentres and Penguin have already been selected for development with future sites still to be identified. SmartCentres and Penguin will act as the developer for their own sites while Revera will operate the retirement residences upon completion. The properties will be
co-owned 50/50 by each partner in landlord/tenant structures and in operating structures.

The seniors housing sector is a fast-growing industry with demand forecast to rise significantly as the Baby Boomer generation ages, and as Canadians live longer. The initial joint venture will begin with three SmartCentre properties and one Penguin property, all situated within the GTA. Future developments will be announced in the coming months; however it is the partnership’s intent to develop and open at least five new retirement living residences per year.

“While our shopping centres have never been busier, especially with Walmart as our main anchor tenant, our strategy is now expanding to focus our development horsepower on residential, seniors, office and storage initiatives in order to extract deeply embedded value from each of our existing properties across Canada,” said Mitchell Goldhar, Chairman of the Board of SmartCentres and owner of Penguin.

“This deal will be an important accelerator to Revera’s growth strategy,” added Thomas Wellner, President and Chief Executive Officer of Revera. “SmartCentres’ national scope and unrivalled development expertise will help us to bring more diverse seniors housing options in desirable locations to Canadian seniors more quickly.”