“Right now we probably have more potential development sites than anybody,” Mario Barrafato, chief financial officer of Weston’s publicly traded property vehicle, Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust, said in an interview. “When you look at the amount of properties we have in the Greater Toronto Area, Greater Vancouver and Montreal, there’s a long, long-term potential over time.
Weston executives and public officials appeared together Tuesday on a videoconference with reporters to discuss the site of a new neighbourhood under development on Toronto’s east side. The $1.5 billion project, Choice Properties’ largest, will redevelop a shopping mall that’s currently home to a Loblaw Cos. grocery store in partnership with local developer Daniels Corp.
“Loblaws will continue to be a core part of this community,” Galen G. Weston, chairman of Choice Properties, Loblaw and George Weston, said during the online event. “But rather than draw from sprawling suburbs, it will serve a unique combination of local owners, tenants, students, and professionals, who will live, work, and play at Golden Mile everyday.