Calloway REIT (Calloway) is set to acquire SmartCentres and become a fully integrated real estate development company called SmartREIT in a transaction valued at $1.16 billion.

SmartCentres was purchased from owner Mitchell Goldhar who built the first Walmart store in Canada. Goldhar transformed the platform into the nation’s largest developer of retail real estate, mainly unenclosed malls with value-oriented companies.

Over the last twenty years, the SmartCentres platform has developed into a network of more than 50 million square feet of retail space, including more than 170 Walmart stores.

This new transaction includes stakes in a $1.1 billion portfolio of 24 properties located in Ontario and Quebec, including 20 open-air Walmart Supercentre anchored or shadow-anchored shopping centres.

Huw Thomas, president and chief executive officer of Calloway called the deal a “major, transformational move forward.”

“We will be able to better take advantage of new opportunities in the market and complete the entire development process in-house from the identification of new sites all the way through planning, development, construction, leasing and operations,” Thomas said.

New opportunities await for Calloway. Approximately 1.9 million square feet of gross leasable area is expected to spur development. Internal capabilities purchased through the deal will also help Calloway to pursue greenfield developments and site intensification.

Once the deal is finalized, Goldhar will continue to own 55 retail properties and 850 acres of development land.