The current tenants are Bell Canada and a six-theater cinema Empire Theatres. The JV is planning to build two single-story retail buildings on the property. "We're in the process of getting the approvals to build them," Recny tells GlobeSt.com. The pads will each run roughly around 4,000 sf, and he says he hopes to gain approval and begin construction in June of 2009. There has been some early interest in the space from Tim Hortons and KFC, Recny says, but there are no official deals right now, as they await approval.

The financing came from a local lender, Newfoundland Labrador Credit Union. The challenge, explains Recny, was finding a lender that was familiar with the market. The unfamiliarity, he explains, was prohibitive in finding a lender in the uncertain future under the current crisis. Newfoundland and Labrador is the eastern-most province in Canada.

Recny explains that the burgeoning economy in Newfoundland is directly related to the gas and oil reserves that are being tapped, causing a surge in not only the economy, but the real estate sector, putting the property in a prime spot. "Super-tight vacancy factors, across all product types, are very, very low and no spec buildings are going on," he says. "There will be built-to-suit construction projects that are undertaken on a very selective basis."