December 2012 – Windsor Business News Magazine by Ron Stang
Three properties owned by well known Windsor developer Dino Maggio have been sold as a package to Guelph-based Skyline Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust for $14,750,000.
Two of the properties were ones recently redeveloped on Huron Church Road by Maggio and his Mid South Land Development Corp., and which used to be home of the ill-fated Hallmark Tools company, which closed several years ago.
They are currently home to Applebee’s, Wajax, and Parkway Infrastructure Constructors, the consortium building the Windsor-Essex Parkway.
The other site is 3600 Rhodes Drive, which years ago used to be a satellite campus of St. Clair College but is now home of Cypher Systems Group Inc., a computer services company.
Skyline is described as a “mid level” REIT which invests in both residential and commercial properties. It has been seriously eyeing Windsor in recent months and has closed deals on three apartment buildings, including prominent Ouellette Towers at 737 Ouellette, and now these commercial properties.
Jason Castellan, CEO of Skyline said the Mid South properties are the ideal type of sites his company buys, because they are in excellent shape and have solid long-term leases, generating steady revenue for investors.
Maggio began redeveloping the Huron Church buildings when properties were being demolished further south along the roadway to make way for the Parkway. He thought the northern part of the thoroughfare had increased development potential.
Castellan called Maggio a “tremendous developer” in terms of renovating sites and recruiting strong tenants.
Castellan’s firm likes Windsor because of good property values. He said the city, like many other cities, “got washed clean” in the recession and what has survived are largely healthy businesses. “There is a skilled labour force in Windsor and it’s a gateway to the United States, so it’s a prominent logistics route,” he said.
The transaction was handled by CBRE Ltd. CBRE’s Peter Whatmore said the properties were listed nationally and there were “multiple bids” on the listing.
For his part, Maggio said developing the Huron Church properties “definitely was a gamble. If it wasn’t a gamble then everybody would do it. That’s part of the development game. If you want to be a developer, you have to be willing to take risks.”
2187 Huron Church Road, Windsor, ON
2215 Huron Church Road, Windsor, ON
3600 Rhodes Drive, Windsor, ON