REIT Restructuring Includes Spinoff Of Enclosed U.S. Malls

H&R REIT, a diversified real estate owner based in Toronto, is planning to spin off or sell about 70% of its assets, including all of the company's retail and office properties, two segments that have been hit by pandemic-related lockdowns and the reluctance of workers to return to offices.

The spun-off assets will be owned by a new publicly traded company, Primaris REIT, in an arrangement approved by H&R REIT shareholders on Monday. H&R shareholders will receive a quarter of a Series A share of Primaris for every share of H&R they hold.

Primaris REIT will own interests mainly in enclosed shopping centers, totaling 11.4M SF. H&R REIT's strip centers and office assets will be sold.

H&R's largest U.S. retail asset is the 490K SF River Landing mall in Miami, and it also owns a number of strip centers in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Texas and Washington state. The company's Canadian retail holdings include malls in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and other provinces. Its largest Canadian retail asset is the 150K SF 10450 42nd Ave. in Edmonton, Alberta, which is near the regional Southgate Centre mall.

H&R also holds a number of U.S. office properties, such as the 844K SF 1501 McKinney St. in Houston, the 669K SF 42-01 28th St. in Long Island City, New York, and the 92K SF 9330 Amberton Parkway in Dallas. Its office holdings in Canada include properties in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. 

H&R's residential assets in the United States include a 50% ownership in 28-10, 28-30, 28-40 Jackson Ave. in Long Island City, which have 1,871 units altogether. The company owns other apartment properties in Florida, North Carolina and Texas, but none in Canada.