Toronto-based insurer Sun Life Financial Inc. has agreed to the biggest conventional mortgage deal in its history.
The company has given a $140-million mortgage to Shape Properties (Abbotsford West) Corp., the developer behind the new Highstreet Shopping Centre in Abbotsford, B.C., which holds the shopping centre on behalf of the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) and Vancouver-based Shape Properties.
The three-level shopping centre, which is in the Fraser Valley about 60 kilometres from downtown Vancouver, is one of the largest to open in North America in recent years.
The 20-acre site has a Wal-Mart on the lower underground level, along with 1,400 parking spots. Open-air main-street-style shopping sits above that with tenants such as Cineplex, Old Navy and H&M. Because of the way the whole project is stacked, it uses about one-third less land than would normally be needed for a mall with normal surface parking.
Sun Life has more than $12-billion worth of commercial mortgages on everything from malls to office buildings, factories and apartment complexes. Last year subsidiary Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada made 128 commercial mortgage loans collectively worth about $1.1-billion in Canada, and 69 worth about $931-million (U.S.) in the United States.