Oxford Properties

Oxford Properties
Private
Industry Real estate
Founded 1960 (1960)
Headquarters Royal Bank Plaza[1], Toronto, Canada
Area served
 Canada
United States
United Kingdom
Key people
 Blake Hutcheson (CEO)
Products Office
Industrial
Retail
Residential
Hotel
Services Land development
Property management
Asset management
Investment
Owner OMERS
Number of employees
 2,000+
Website www.oxfordproperties.com

Oxford Properties, established in 1960 is a global real estate owner, investor, developer and property manager with a portfolio of office, retail, industrial, multi-residential and hotel assets. Wholly owned by the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System since 2003, the company has offices In Toronto, New York, London and Luxembourg. The organization has 2,000 employees and over $40 billion of real assets that it manages for itself and on behalf of its co-owners and investment partners. Oxford’s portfolio of properties represents more than 50 million square feet of office, retail, hotel, industrial, land and multi-residential assets in key markets across Canada, the US and Europe. Some of its most recognized assets include Royal Bank Plaza, The Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, Yorkdale Shopping Centre, Olympic Tower and The Leadenhall Building.

Oxford Properties is currently co-developing New York's Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project with Related Companies, and recently completed Vancouver’s MNP Tower and Toronto’s RBC WaterPark Place both with CPP Investment Board. Oxford also owns seven Canadian Fairmont luxury hotels which were acquired in 2006, as well as 7,152 residential units spanning over 13 properties across Canada.

Corporate history

Oxford Leaseholds was established in 1960 in Edmonton by Don Love and John and George Poole, founders of PCL Construction. In the early days of the company’s formation the partners decided there was a need for a medical clinic, and vowed to make it happen. Seven years and a few buildings later, Great-West Life, Confederation Life Insurance Co. and Canada Trust Co. became equity partners.

To reflect its growing desire to develop towers as well as operate them, the company changed its name to Oxford Development Group. The firm entered the 1970s as a publicly traded company, with an offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange, with its assets surpassing $1 billion. At the time, large acquisitions included Y&R Properties portfolio and 25 shopping centres from Cambridge Leaseholds.

A decade later, a new ownership structure was introduced as Oxford went private in 1980 in a management-led leveraged buyout. To pay for the deal, it sold its shopping centres. The decade didn't pass quietly however, with assets rising above $3 billion. Oxford Properties set up its headquarters in Toronto's Richmond-Adelaide Centre, and sold its U.S. business to BCE Development Corp. Next came a division of companies, the organization split in two - Oxford Properties Canada Ltd. put the company's real estate back in public hands, and Oxford Development Group stayed private and managed all of the company’s real estate.

Eight years later, the two companies merged and once again went public with help from a $60 million investment from a Hong Kong investor. The company made significant real estate investments buying entire portfolios from Marathon, Greiner-Pacaud, Hammerson Canada, Royal Bank and the Canderel Group.

Oxford’s early years

Don Love had arrived in Edmonton in 1955 as an enterprising young stockbroker working for a national securities firm. A physician client approached him about building a medical clinic in Edmonton, asking if he knew of any potential investors. He knew E.E. Poole, another one of his clients, and when Don made the proposal Ernest Poole declined, but suggested that his sons John and George might have some interest.

The three young men started a new company called “POLO” – "PO" for Poole, and "LO" for Love. Don provided the imagination, while John and George provided the capital. The trio secured a mortgage and built the Baker Clinic, which they then sold back to the doctors of the practice. They were officially in the development business.[2]

Environmental and social responsibility

Oxford Properties ranked first in Sustainability in North America in the Diversified Retail/Office Category by the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) survey for the fourth year in a row in 2016.[3] GRESB is an industry-driven organization committed to assessing the ESG performance of real assets globally, including real estate portfolios and infrastructure assets.[4]

See also

Competitors:

References

  1. ↑ "Contact". Oxford Properties. Retrieved 2013-01-08.
  2. ↑ Source: PCL Construction Leaders, the PCL Story, Our First 100 Years.
  3. ↑ https://gresb-public.s3.amazonaws.com/2016/content/2016_NorthAmerica_Snapshot.pdf
  4. ↑ https://gresb.com/about
  5. ↑ http://www.oxfordproperties.com/corp/Web/sustainability.aspx
  6. ↑ http://rbcwaterparkplace.com/
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