SmartREIT, Mitchell Goldhar and CentreCourt Set to Launch Transit City

55 Storey Condo Marks First Residential Tower in 100-Acre Development; Condo to Include First BUCA-Branded Restaurant and BAR BUCA Outside of Downtown Toronto

Marketwired.com
April 13, 2017

Joint venture partners Smart Real Estate Investment Trust (SmartREIT) (TSX:SRU.UN), Mitchell Goldhar and CentreCourt Developments (CentreCourt) today released details of a planning application for the development of Transit City, the first residential condominium tower in the SmartCentres Place, the largest urban development in the province. The 55 storey tower will be the tallest development in York Region and will be located steps from the TTC's new Vaughan Metropolitan Centre (VMC) Subway Station. Transit City will have a stunning lobby featuring a BUCA-branded restaurant and BAR BUCA operated by the renowned hospitality provider King Street Food Company and residents of Transit City will have access to a state-of-the-art 100,000 square foot YMCA adjacent to the tower.

"We are very excited about the upcoming sales launch of Transit City," says CentreCourt's Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Hoffman. "We are thrilled to be partnering with Mitchell Goldhar and SmartREIT on the first residential phase of one of the largest development projects in Canada. On a prime site right next to the new subway station, Transit City's location will be unparalleled."

Given the site's location and the nexus of transit infrastructure at its doorstep including subway, regional transit and major highways, Transit City will offer residents efficient commute times to all parts of the GTA including downtown Toronto. The tower's elegant form and height will prove iconic, and its best-in-class transit connectivity, world class urban landscape design features and amenity programmes, including a 5-star BUCA experience in the lobby and access to a YMCA facility, will make Transit City the most highly anticipated residential development of the year. Featuring distinctive architecture designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects Inc., as well as contemporary interior designs by the award-winning firm of Figure3 and grand landscape plans by internationally renowned landscape architect Claude Cormier, Transit City will be highlighted by a luxurious boutique hotel-inspired lobby space which will include a new BUCA-branded restaurant and BAR BUCA within a glass "jewel box" at-grade.

Engaged to design both the restaurant and the lobby space in which it will be located, BAR BUCA and the new BUCA-branded restaurant will offer morning to evening service and exclusive food delivery for residents.

"The growth of the Region, the impact of the new subway, and the vision for Transit City immediately intrigued us," said Peter Tsebelis, Partner, King Street Food Company. "The opportunity to work with the developers of Transit City and contribute to their desire to bring a chic urban lifestyle restaurant concept to the project - coupled with the area's passion for authentic Italian cuisine - convinced us that this would be a great venture to help us grow the BUCA brand."

Transit City represents the BUCA brand's first foray outside of downtown Toronto and signals a long-term commitment to the neighborhood.

Transit City is the first condominium building to be proposed within the 100-acre SmartCentres Place which will include 17 million square feet of residential, office and retail space upon completion, as well as a nine-acre park, designed by Claude Cormier & Associés.

"The VMC is where you can see policy, politics and business in complete sync. For SmartREIT and myself, Transit City is the inaugural residential development that we expect will be the first of many at SmartCentres Place and elsewhere across Canada," says Mitchell Goldhar, Chairman of the Board of SmartREIT.

In addition to access to all the amenities of Transit City, residents will receive the benefits of a membership at the brand new 100,000 square foot, purpose-built YMCA community centre which will be adjacent to the condominium. Featuring extensive health and wellness focused amenities, residents of Transit City will have full access to the YMCA's state-of-the-art fitness facility and gym, swimming pool, basketball courts, daycare and a City of Vaughan library.

Transit City will offer purchasers an unsurpassed residential experience in a master-planned mixed use community, while its location in the heart of the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre, and its connections to higher order transit will offer unparalleled access to the Greater Toronto Area.

Transit City is currently being considered for approvals by the City of Vaughan and the development team anticipates launching the project for sales later this spring.

About CentreCourt

CentreCourt is focused on the execution of well thought out high-rise condominiums located in close proximity to all the major amenities of the Greater Toronto Area, rapid transit networks and employment areas. CentreCourt believes that this approach to development will contribute to the GTA's vibrancy, sustainability and competitiveness. CentreCourt has completed nearly 2,000 homes in the past five years and is actively developing an additional 3,000 homes throughout the GTA. CentreCourt strives to exceed customer expectations and to be a leader in the real estate development industry. CentreCourt's developments are collaborative endeavors undertaken with best-in-class planners, architects, interior designers and construction trades in order to ensure that the homes CentreCourt develops are of the highest quality standard. CentreCourt was behind the most successful condo launches in recent history including Peter Street Condos, Karma Condos, INDX Condos, Core Condos, Grid Condos and Axis Condos. For more information on CentreCourt, visit www.centrecourt.com.

About SmartREIT

SmartREIT is one of Canada's largest real estate investment trusts with total assets in excess of $8.7 billion. It owns and manages 32 million square feet in value-oriented, principally Walmart-anchored retail centres, having the strongest national and regional retailers as well as strong neighbourhood merchants. In addition, SmartREIT is a joint-venture partner in the Toronto and Montreal Premium Outlets with Simon Property Group. SmartREIT is now expanding the breadth of its portfolio to include residential (condominium and rental), office, and self-storage, either on its large urban properties such as the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre or as an adjunct to its existing shopping centres. SmartREIT's core vision is to provide a value-oriented shopping experience in all forms to Canadian consumers and to create high quality mixed use developments in urban settings.

With SmartREIT's 2015 acquisition of SmartCentres, SmartREIT has transformed into a fully integrated real estate provider. SmartREIT and SmartCentres have had a long and successful alliance, helping to provide Canadians with value-focused retail shopping centres across the country. Now, the alliance has grown even stronger, the result is a fully integrated real estate provider with expertise in planning, development, leasing, operations and construction - all under one roof. For more information, visit www.smartreit.com.

About Mitchell Goldhar

Mitchell Goldhar is Chairman of the Board of SmartREIT and its largest unitholder. Mr. Goldhar, founder of SmartCentres has developed 56 million square feet in 265 shopping centres in all provinces across Canada.

In addition, Penguin Properties Inc., Mr. Goldhar's private company is at various stages of development of many properties across the country, including his interest in the VMC 100-acre master planned development and as a partner with Walmart in 14 development properties. Mr. Goldhar has also developed an emerging network of Penguin Pick-Up locations offering free, convenient pick-up locations for online purchases, and Penguin Fresh, an on-line food marketplace. Penguin Pick-up now has 50 locations.

About SmartCentres Place

SmartCentres Place is a 100-acre, 17 million square foot master planned development, to be connected to downtown Toronto by subway, as part of VMC. VMC, at Highway 400 and Highway 7, is a planning area envisioning 40 million square feet of density around the confluence of various mass transit, including the TTC University subway line's expansion, the new VIVA rapidway and York Regional Transit central bus station. Together these will form the critical elements of the transportation infrastructure serving this budding new centre of commerce, culture, recreation, open spaces and urban life. VMC is unique in that it is centrally located, serviced by the aforementioned subway and bus transit infrastructure and by Highways 400, 407, and 7. It is also unique in that it is currently surrounded substantially by green field, enabling a planned area embodying all the urban characteristics and amenities that modern city visionaries strive for, but generally have difficulty achieving because of physical, legal and ownership constraints. SmartCentres Place at VMC is distinctly positioned to expeditiously accomplish a European style urban centre.

SmartCentres Place in the VMC, which currently contains the KPMG Tower and will soon contain the recently announced 220,000 square foot PWC tower, includes 53 acres of land around the new subway station in a 50/50 joint venture between SmartREIT and Mr. Goldhar. The joint venture plans to develop approximately 8.0 million to 10.0 million square feet of commercial, residential and retail space on its land as part of a 100-acre master planned development, with the remainder of the land owned by Mr. Goldhar in partnership with others.

Certain statements in this Press Release are "forward-looking statements" that reflect SmartREIT's expectations regarding future growth and business prospects. More specifically, certain statements in this Press Release including statements related to the development of the VMC and statements that contain words such as "expect", "will", and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts and constitute "forward-looking statements". Such forward looking statements reflect SmartREIT's current beliefs and are based on information currently available to SmartREIT. However, such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and a number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this Press Release are based on what SmartREIT believes to be reasonable assumptions, SmartREIT cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. These forward-looking statements are made as at the date of this Press Release and SmartREIT assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances unless otherwise required by applicable securities legislation.