Huntington plans overhaul of Bank Street office building
Huntington Properties recently bought the four-storey Majestic Building, located at the corner of Bank and Cooper streets, from Golden Dragon Ho Inc. for $5.45 million.
It last traded in March 2005, when Marbel Management Ltd. unloaded it for $3.64 million, according to records published by real estate appraisal and advisory firm Juteau Johnson Comba Inc.
The property is anchored by a street-level Tim Hortons and Henry's camera store. Those retail tenants will remain, but the second through fourth storeys will be stripped down to the building shell and renovated, says Derek Noble, Huntington's vice-president of development and construction.
"This is going to be a flagship property in our portfolio," says Mr. Noble.
"We're going to take an eyesore and turn it into a gem."
Mr. Noble says his firm expects to spend approximately $1 million over the next six or seven months to turn the 28,000-square-foot structure into a high B-class building.
Plans include replacing all the windows and altering the exterior through new paint and cladding to increase the amount of natural light in the interior, as well as installing a new HVAC system to improve the indoor air quality. A grey water capture system and rooftop solar panels are also being considered, says Mr. Noble, adding he is targeting a LEED-silver designation, at minimum, for energy efficiency and environmental design.
Huntington was believed to be one of the first commercial landlords in Ottawa to feed solar power into the provincial grid when it flipped the switch on the rooftop array atop its head office on Stafford Road last fall.
Mr. Noble previously worked at Windmill Developments, which constructed the condominium building housing the Great Canadian Theatre Co. on Wellington Street West and specializes in brownfield projects and green real estate.
He says his vision for environmentally friendly development is shared by Huntington founder Alan Whitten, and adds there is a strong business case for green buildings.
"In retrofitting (396 Cooper St.), we are looking at increasing the return on investment through beautification and taking it to a higher-lever building structure," he says.
"Tenants are willing to pay more to be in space that has green benefits," Mr. Noble adds, citing studies that show a connection between employee productivity, natural lighting and fresh air exchanges.
He says he expects to be able to increase the net rent by $7 to $10 a square foot once work is complete.
The Cooper Street acquisition is the latest addition to Huntington's growing portfolio of more than a quarter-million square feet of office and light industrial space.
Earlier this year, the firm purchased a lowrise commercial building at 2400 St. Laurent Blvd., occupied by Allen-Vanguard Corp., and is in the process of closing an acquisition of a six-storey office building on Gloucester Street, says Mr. Noble.
Nevertheless, quality assets in Ottawa remain in short supply, says Graeme Webster, a sales representative at District Realty who represented the vendor and purchaser in the transaction with colleagues Marc Morin and Steve Ramphos.
Mr. Webster says 396 Cooper St. and 2400 St. Laurent Blvd. were both off-market deals, with neither property openly advertised as being for sale.
It's a testament, he says, to the demand for Ottawa real estate."If (a property) is priced right, it moves," says Mr. Webster.