44 Ossington
Hullmark owns more than a dozen buildings on Ossington and added to that with 44 Ossington, which has streetfront retail and upper-level apartments.
While Hull said the company paid a fair price, the biggest attraction was that 44 Ossington is in the middle of other properties it already owns, enabling it to complete an eight-building assembly.
“While there are no immediate plans to redevelop, because the five buildings to the north are undergoing an extensive renovation today, qualitatively we felt that in the future there would be value in having those eight buildings together,” said Hull.
“I’m not sure if there would have been an opportunity pre-COVID, and I’m not sure if there would have been an opportunity a year or two from now.”
46 to 54, and 12 Ossington
The assembly from
46 to 54 Ossington which Hull referred to is being converted from five row houses so there will be retail at grade and residences above. Work on the project will be finished in September and tenants will be announced soon.
“There wasn’t a lot of energy in that part of the block and we want to bring the energy back,” said Hull.
“Retail is going through significant challenges right now because of COVID, but I really feel strongly that this type of small-format, streetfront, neighbourhood-centric destination retail will outperform the general retail real estate market because there’s a greater opportunity to control your own door.
“There are a greater number of tenants out there for this size range.
“There is a captive customer base that has been there throughout the pandemic. I think there’s a growing feeling about staying and supporting local, so I’m actually really bullish on this compared to other retail. I feel very good about the prospects of Ossington.”
Two recent acquisitions by Hullmark Developments are the latest examples of the company’s hyper-focus on specific Toronto neighbourhoods and ability to take advantage of market disruptions. The Toronto-based real estate investor and developer paid $9.5 million for a property at
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