Woodland Capital and Forum have taken a leap into the Ottawa multifamily sector with the joint acquisition of a 34-building portfolio in the nation's capital.

The transaction marks the largest residential acquisition to date for both firms and one of the largest multifamily trades in Ottawa this year, the companies said.

The Parkwood Hills apartment portfolio, acquired from Minto Group, consists of 826 units across approximately 800,000 square feet of gross building area on nearly 26 acres of land.

Montreal-based Woodland Capital president and CEO Evan Paperman said the portfolio offered a desirable location in a strong rental market where population growth continues to outpace supply.

"Parkwood Hills represents exactly the type of opportunity we seek: a well-located, institutionally maintained asset with strong fundamentals," he said in an announcement on the transaction.

The portfolio

The Parkwood Hills portfolio is one of Ottawa's largest rental communities. The buildings are located at Meadowlands Drive and Fisher Avenue and offer easy access to schools, parks, green spaces and retail options.

They were developed primarily by Minto in the late 1950s through the 1970s and consist of a mix of lowrise garden apartments, midrise buildings, highrise towers and integrated multifamily townhomes.

The combination of unit types — one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments and two- and three-bedroom townhomes — provides "a diversified offering within a single community where residents have a range of housing options to meet their needs at different stages of life," the companies said, calling the portfolio "a highly attractive long-term investment."

Woodland acquisitions director Zachary Burak told RENX there are no near-term plans to add density to the 26-acre site. 

"This is an institutional-quality portfolio where the prior owners did an excellent job maintaining the community over time," Burak said. "We don’t intend to change that approach – Minto knows what they’re doing, and we plan on continuing the same stewardship.

"That said, a portfolio this size always has room to improve – resident experience, shared spaces and amenities, capital investment in the buildings, and reducing overall utility consumption. Most of that will come naturally from hands-on, day-to-day management."

First partnership for Woodland and Forum 

"We'd been looking to partner with Forum for some time," Burak added. "We share the same approach: active ownership, continued investment, long-term hold.

"We brought forward the opportunity, and it fit. It's the largest multifamily transaction either firm has done, and our strengths are complementary, so partnering up only made the deal stronger."

The companies declined to release the purchase price, ownership structure or equity commitment for the transaction. 

Burak told RENX Forum will handle the day-to-day property management and that current leases and tenancies will carry over unchanged.

"Forum handles day-to-day property management of the portfolio, driven by a strong on-site team, while we lead asset management and capital projects," he said.

"This is a true partnership – Woodland and Forum will operate it together, and both firms are committed to reinvesting in the portfolio and improving the resident experience over the years ahead," Forum principal Gideon Pollack said in the press release.

The partners are not pursuing any other opportunities immediately.

"Starting with this one was pretty meaningful," Burak said. "We’re always looking for new opportunities that can help contribute to our mission of acquiring and operating income-producing multifamily properties across Canada. Portfolios like Parkwood Hills (are) the most effective way to drive exactly that."

Second Minto divestment in Ottawa

The transaction marked the second major divestment for Minto Group in Ottawa this month.

Ottawa Community Housing (OCH) announced last week that it had acquired 503 rental homes from Minto, the largest acquisition in the non-profit housing organization's history. CTV News reported the purchase price was $159.2 million, which would yield a per unit price of roughly $316,500.

The portfolio, located in the South Centrepointe community of Nepean, includes 73 townhouse blocks and two apartment buildings.

OCH said the housing mix includes 12 one-bedroom, 122 two-bedroom, 329 three-bedroom and 40 four-bedroom homes. The homes will be operated under the ARRIV Properties banner.

In 2024, OCH acquired two other residential communities in Nepean from Minto — the 122-townhome Tanglewood community and the 189-townhome Chesterton — for $86 million.

About Woodland and Forum

Woodland Capital is a privately owned real estate investment firm founded in 2017, focused on the acquisition and management of multifamily, commercial and mixed-use properties across Canada.

In 2024, the firm acquired the 226-unit Messier-Parthenais portfolio in the Plateau Mont-Royal borough of Montreal, its then-largest acquisition to date. Other assets include a 49-unit property at 424 Notre-Dame St. in the Montreal suburb of Repentigny and a 100-unit residential building in the city's Centre Sud area.

Forum is a private, fully integrated Canadian commercial and multifamily real estate developer, owner and property manager with a $1.8-billion total real estate portfolio, consisting of over 2.5 million square feet of properties.

Originally founded as Brookline Developments by Dean Mendel and Paul Schachter, it celebrated its 25th anniversary this summer. Forum has offices in Edmonton, Burlington, Ont. and Westmount, Que.