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TORONTO-RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust is acquiring interests in four new retail centers in Quebec totaling nearly 3.3 million sf while it gears up to develop on its own another 2.5 million sf in Ontario and Alberta. RioCan CEO Ed Sonshine tells GlobeSt.com the estimated $335 million in acquisitions are due to a new relationship that could give RioCan an advantage in the hard-to-crack Quebec market."Quebec is a whole different culture, with different laws and a different language, so you need to work with locals more so than anywhere else, and we've never had a relationship until now," says Sonshine, referring to its new partner Devimco, a group of established developers in Quebec. "When I look at the reformatting of retail, Quebec is the least advanced because most developers are based in Toronto and not that comfortable working in Quebec; we hope to do more deals with these guys."The acquisitions include four new-format retail centers in Laval, Quebec City and Brossard. The staged acquisition of three of the centers--two in Quebec City and one in Laval--is already underway, with 620,000 sf of about 1.1 million sf closed on last week for $113 million. Acquisitions of the remaining 500,000 sf at those three centers, for a total of $112 million, are expected to close over the next two years as construction is completed. In the fourth acquisition, RioCan is acquiring a 50% stake in a 1.4 million-sf center under development in Brossard for $110 million. That deal isn't slated to close until development is completed in the third Quarter of 2006.The Laval property is Mega Centre Notre Dame, which ultimately will comprise 700,000 sf anchored by (user-owned) retailers Super C (Metro Richelieu) and Zellers. National tenants include Winners, HomeSense, Mexx, Blockbuster, Guess, Tristan, Penningtons and Fairweather. Upon closing of all stages, RioCan's owned interest in the center will be about 500,000 sf.In Quebec City, RioCan is acquiring the leaseable portions of both Mega Centre Lebourgneuf and Mega Centre Beauport. RioCan is acquiring about 455,000 sf of Mega Centre Lebourgneuf, will eventually total 870,000 sf and be anchored by (user-owned) retailers Costco, Home Depot, Canadian Tire and Loblaws. Other national tenants include Aubainerie, Winners, HomeSense, Sports Experts, Staples/Business Depot, Tommy Hilfiger, Tristan, Jacob, Aldo, La Vie en Rose, Reitmans and Moores. RioCan is acquiring about 165,000 sf of the eventual 330,000-sf Mega Centre Beauport, which is anchored by (user-owned) retailer Reno Depot. Other national tenants include Cineplex Odeon, Staples/Business Depot, Sports Experts, Addition Elle and Burger King. In Brossard, RioCan has entered into a firm agreement to purchase a 50% interest in Quartiers 10/30, a 1.4 million-sf center that is currently under development and slated to be complete in late 2006. Prelease commitments have been obtained from Canadian Tire, Cineplex Odeon, Sport Chek, Loblaws has committed to opening a user-owned store at the site.Sonshine tells GlobeSt.com that aside from the Devimco acquisitions, RioCan is really in development mode. The company has plans to develop some 2.5 million sf this year in projects in Ontario and Alberta. "The land for the projects is either under contract or has already been acquired," says Sonshine. RioCan is Canada's largest real estate investment trust with total assets of approximately $4.1 billion. It has ownership interests in a portfolio of 187 retail properties across Canada containing an aggregate of approximately 45 million sf including partners' and shadow anchors' interests. In December, possibly to fund the acquisitions, RioCan announced an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters led by RBC Capital Markets and CIBC World Markets, to issue to the public, subject to regulatory approval, 7.5 million trust units at $17.45 per unit for gross proceeds of approximately $130.9 million. Underwriter options for another 750,000 units could add another $13 million to the total proceeds.