Toronto's decreasing vacancy and rising rental rates were the drawing cards for the newly formed joint venture to acquire 1670 Bayview Ave., a five-story structure built in 1958 and renovated in the late 1990s and early 2000, according to Richard Recny, Time Equities' asset management director. The tenant roster includes Bank of Montreal, B Street Communications Inc. and Genmark Insurance Services Inc.

"We think the first sales will be the bank branch and a clinic and they'll go to investors," Recny tells GlobeSt.com. "After that, I think a fair number of sales on the upper floors will go to users." He says office condos on floors three, four and five will be marketed for $350 per sf, with the ground-level getting tagged at $600 per sf and the second floor, $400 per sf to $475 per sf.

Recny

Recny says Nova's president Michael D. Butler had been scouring the market for months to find the right building for Time Equities' first condo project in the city. The Bayview building is north of the Downtown in a niche office pocket with less than 3% vacancy and surrounded by retail and upper-middle income single-family residential.

Nova jumped into the bidding, which was weeded to three would-be buyers for the best and final. "I think we were selected because we stood a better chance of getting financing," Recny says, adding the JV floated a short-term, interest-only loan through Alterna Savings & Credit Union in Toronto. Recny and Butler negotiated the take-down and Keith Jameson in the real estate division of Bank of Montreal represented the seller.