Synergy Snaps Up VI Shopping Mall
Vancouver-based Synergy Properties has bought Mill Bay Shopping Centre, a 90k SF plaza 43 km north of Victoria. The mall, which is the commercial core of Mill Bay, sits on an 8.1-acre site along the Trans-Canada Highway. Tenants include Thrifty Foods, Island Savings Credit Union and Pharmasave.
Colliers Victoria AVP Ken Cloak (pictured working the phone) and associate Robert Down, the duo who brokered the deal, brought forward an unsolicited bid from Synergy once they learned the vendor, Richwood Construction, was willing to entertain offers. (Ken couldn't share the sale price, but says the cap rate approached 7%.) The biggest challenge in getting the deal done? According to Ken and Robert, it was finding a buyer "willing to invest the time and energy” to work through a due diligence process with Richwood, who had developed, expanded and self-managed the property over the past 35 years. Synergy was willing, now it's got the mall.
