Broccolini has sold land and two buildings adjacent to one of Montreal-Trudeau International Airport’s runways to Aéroports de Montréal (ADM) for $61.5 million.

Broccolini acquired the Dorval, Que. property at 10325 Ryan Ave. for $27.5 million in September 2021 before selling it in this latest transaction, for which both CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield acted as advisors.

“Our initial thesis was that there's a scarcity of industrial outdoor storage product in the market, and this had a cross-dock and over 200 exterior trailer stalls,” Broccolini vice-president of acquisitions and investments Erik Langburt told RENX.

“We successfully negotiated some short-term leases there at the time we acquired it. We did pretty well on the leasing and that was the highest-and-best use at the time, not redevelopment. 

“And then this opportunity came to us from the airport. It's on the runway and a very strategic site for them, and that now has become the highest-and-best use because you've got this strategic user. I don't know if they need it, or if they're land banking.”

ADM director of real estate development Guy Landry didn’t want to provide RENX with many details about why the property was acquired or the future plans for it. 

“It's a property next to our own operations,” he said. “We feel that it's a great property with good usage and good revenues, and that was the reason. There's no long-term objective for now.”

What the property offers

The 10325 Ryan Ave. site is located off Highway 520 and in close proximity to highways 13 and 20 as well as the airport. It features two buildings, with leases ending next year, that will continue to be managed by Broccolini.

A cross-dock facility leased to transportation and logistics company Day & Ross — as well as companies it has subleased space to — offers approximately 10,000 square feet of office space, 23,000 square feet of warehousing space and 60 loading docks.

A more traditional industrial building of approximately 40,000 square feet is leased to transportation and logistics company TFI International. 

The entire industrial outside storage-zoned site encompasses 519,355 square feet and includes a large fenced yard, security guards and parking for more than 200 trailers.

“We are seeing exceptionally strong demand from investors and strategic occupiers for industrial outdoor storage assets driven by favourable long-term supply-demand fundamentals,” Guillaume Jacob, senior vice-president with CBRE Montreal's national investment team, told RENX.

“There was quite a bit of demand from investors, but obviously a strategic user bought it.”

Broccolini wants to sell Montreal’s Maison de Radio-Canada

The only building that Broccolini officially has on the market now is the 418,822-square-foot Maison de Radio-Canada at the corner of René-Lévesque Boulevard and Papineau Street in Montreal, which the developer completed in 2020. CBC/Radio-Canada is the tenant under a 30-year lease.

The building is in the early stages of the marketing process and is receiving “pretty good interest,” according to Langburt.

“We're an opportunistic and entrepreneurial group, and we're always evaluating opportunities to create the most value for our investors,” he said.