Business
Calloway Announces Substantial Progress on 2006 Growth
Calloway Announces Substantial Progress on 2006 Growth.
About this update from Smartcentres Real Estate Investment Trust
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\n\nTORONTO, Aug. 2 /CNW/ - Calloway Real Estate Investment Trust\n(TSX:CWT.UN) announced today that it has invested, or committed to invest,\napproximately $444 million of new investments, of which $344 million closed\nduring the six months ending June 30, 2006 and an additional $99 million\nduring the month of July. One remaining property valued at $1 million is\ncommitted to close in early August 2006.\nMr. Simon Nyilassy, President and CEO of Calloway, said, \"The pace of our\nacquisition, expansion and development activity during the first half of the\nyear reinforces Calloway's position as one of the fastest growing REITs in\nCanada. I now anticipate that Calloway's asset base will increase by\napproximately $675 million compared to the start of the year, representing\ngrowth of more than 27%.\"\nOf the new investments that Calloway has invested, or committed to\ninvest, Mr. Nyilassy added, \"Not only are we managing to exceed our growth\nexpectations, but we have achieved this by placing over 75% of our\nacquisitions in the major metropolitan markets of Toronto (6 properties),\nMontreal, Ottawa-Hull, and Calgary. Our existing properties also provide\nfuture growth opportunities - this year we have expanded or developed 35 of\nthese properties.\nThese transactions will add approximately 2.4 million square feet of\nleased and future expansion space. Leased space includes some of Canada's\nlargest and most successful retailers, such as Wal-Mart (4), Canadian Tire\n(2), The Brick , Home Depot, Rona, Sobeys, Zellers, Winners, Future Shop, and\nStaples.\"\n\nClosed Acquisitions\n\nDuring the second quarter, Calloway closed on $186.4 million of its\npreviously announced acquisitions. The acquired properties are located in the\nGreater Toronto Area (4), Ontario, British Columbia and 50% interests in\nQuebec and Newfoundland, and comprise of 908,777 square feet of gross\nleaseable area.\nFor the six months ended, investments in newly acquired properties total\n$253.1 million in thirteen (13) properties, of which eleven (11) properties\nare income producing and two (2) are land purchases. These properties are\ncomprised of approximately 1,171,000 square feet of existing leaseable area,\n315,000 square feet of future development and 42,000 square feet of expansion.\nThe eleven shopping centres were acquired for a total of $230...