SmartCentres REIT and Greenwin Inc. announced that they have entered into a 50/50 joint venture to develop a 7.8 acre lakefront property located in Barrie, Ontario. The multiphase rental apartment community will be comprised of over 2,000 residential units when it reaches completion, bringing much-needed relief to the city’s rental housing shortage.

“We are very excited about partnering with Greenwin on this project in the thriving and growing city of Barrie. With direct access to the waterfront and close proximity to the GO station, we are confident that this residential development will be complementary to the City’s vision for its waterfront and provide additional rental housing in Barrie,” said Mitchell Goldhar, Executive Chairman of SmartCentres.  “It furthers our strategy to focus on revenue growth in sectors such as residential, seniors, office and self-storage,” added Mr. Goldhar.

“We are very pleased to enter into this partnership with SmartCentres to create a landmark residential development in the city of Barrie,” said Kevin Green, President of Greenwin.  “This development, comprising of over 2,000 residential units will add significantly to our development pipeline of over 5,000 new purpose-built rental units.”

SmartCentres is one of Canada’s largest real estate investment trusts with total assets of approximately $9.7 billion. It owns and manages 34 million square feet in value-oriented, principally Walmart-anchored retail centres, and is continuing to expand its portfolio to include residential (single-family, condominium, rental) retirement homes, office, and self-storage.

Greenwin currently manages more than $3.3 billion in real estate assets, consisting of 16,000 residential units and 1 million square feet of commercial space. For more information, visit www.greenwin.ca.