Company type | Public company |
---|---|
TSX: D.UN S&P/TSX Composite Component | |
Industry | Real estate investing |
Founded | 2003 |
Headquarters | , |
Area served | Canada |
Key people | Michael Cooper |
Website | www |
Dream Office Real Estate Investment Trust (formerly Dundee REIT) is a Canadian real estate investment trust (REIT).
Dundee REIT was formed in 2003, from the commercial properties of Dundee Realty.[1] The remainder of Dundee Realty was taken over by its major shareholder, Dundee Bancorp (now called Dundee Corporation).[1] In 2007, the company sold its Eastern Canadian assets to GE Real Estate for $2.4 billion, while retaining its Western Canadian assets.[2] In 2011, the company bought 29 buildings from Blackstone Real Estate and Slate Properties for $832 million.[3] In January 2012, the company acquired Whiterock REIT, a competing office property REIT, for $582 million.[4] In May 2012, Dundee REIT and H&R REIT bought Scotia Plaza for $1.3 billion, the highest price ever paid for a Canadian office building.[5]
In 2012, the company spun-off its industrial properties into a new company, Dundee Industrial REIT (later renamed Dream Industrial REIT).[6] Dundee Industrial held its $155 million IPO in September 2012. On May 8, 2014 the company was renamed to Dream Office REIT from Dundee REIT.[7]
In 2016, the company took a $749 million writedown, primarily relating to its Alberta office properties.[8] The company had significant exposure to the Alberta market as the result of the 2007 sale of its eastern Canadian properties to GE Capital; at one time, 60% of the company's properties were in Alberta.[9] As a result of its financial problems, the company sold many of its properties in 2016 and 2017. In June 2017, it announced the sale of $1.7 billion worth of properties, including the sale of its remaining stake in Scotia Plaza to KingSett Capital and AIMCo.[10] As of a result of this and other sales, the value of the company's properties decreased by more than half, from $6.1 billion to $2.9 billion.[11]
In February 2018, Dream announced that Michael Cooper, its CEO until 2014, would return as CEO later in the year.[9]
As at March 31, 2019, Dream Office had 37 properties with a gross leasable area of 7.3 million sf.[12] The majority of the company's properties are located in downtown Toronto, with others located in Calgary, Saskatchewan, and elsewhere in Canada.[citation needed] The company's portfolio consists almost exclusively of office buildings in the central part of cities.[citation needed]
Dream Office REIT is part of the Dream family of companies, which also include three other Toronto Stock Exchange–listed real estate funds, as well as Dream, Dream Office's asset manager.[13] The Dream name was originally an acronym for Dundee Real Estate Asset Management. Dundee Corporation is a significant shareholder in Dream, but not in Dream Office REIT.[14]