SLAM USES SOT FEES FOR ANOTHER PROJECT Partnership with Slate Asset Management
Elsewhere, Forum has partnered with Slate Asset Management for a proposed high-density mixed-use development at 100 Lombard St. in downtown Toronto.
It could include residential condos and rental apartments, “but we're contemplating that given the current market conditions, that’s not for certain.”
Damji says the focus is to get the site, acquired from Allied and once the city’s first morgue, rezoned from its current use as a brick-and-beam office building.
In addition, Forum is working on the third phase of its Quad Student Residences at York University in Toronto which could start construction late this year. Forum and Campus Suites already own 1,500 student housing beds and are looking to build another 800.
Damji says there is a significant shortfall of purpose-built student housing in Canada.
“Every unit of student housing (frees) up existing housing stock,” he says, “so we think it’s a great policy tool that various levels of government can help endorse” to restore a semblance of affordability to the housing market.
He likes the high turnover and lack of rent control that mark student housing compared to the low turnover and rent controls seen with traditional multifamily.
Damji notes student housing in mature markets like the U.S. and Europe is a very sophisticated asset class with minimal spreads between multifamily cap rates and student housing cap rates. “As that market matures (in Canada), we see tremendous value growth potential through cap rate compression.”