DDR Readies Its First Center In Canada

RICHMOND HILLS, ONTARIO-Developers Diversified Realty is planning its first center in Canada here in this suburb 15 miles north of Downtown Toronto. The Cleveland-based REIT is building the C$150-million ($150.7-million) center in a 50-50 partnership with Rice Commercial Group of Toronto.

The yet-to-be-named development will total 700,000 sf on 74 acres. It will include lifestyle retail, offices and residential space, with the developers prepped to start construction in the spring of 2009 for a fall 2011 opening date.

Developers Diversified will look for other opportunities north of the border, says David Oakes, the company’s EVP of finance and chief investment officer. He says that retail projects are especially in demand in the Ontario area because of the Greenbelt Act of 2005, which protects 1.8 million acres from development.