Ivanhoé Cambridge will transition the operations of its Canadian shopping centres over to JLL on October 1. Most of Ivanhoé Cambridge’s property team of retail employees are expected to join JLL Canada, whose management team and key decision-making roles will be headquartered in Montreal. JLL also plans to open an office in Québec City in the coming months.
Nathalie Palladitcheff, president and CEO of Ivanhoé Cambridge says in a news release: “To focus on our core business as a seasoned, clear-sighted real estate investor and to align and standardize our business model globally, we wanted to find a partner with the scale, track record and expertise to continue the optimization of our assets’ performance and lead the industry in defining the future of the retail sector, thus creating long-term value for our depositors.
“JLL’s global reputation and like-minded culture will continue to support us, while creating career opportunities for our retail teams joining the JLL family,” says Palladitcheff.
The companies say they share a progressive management philosophy built on driving sustainable real estate goals. The companies will work together to improve energy efficiency and asset resilience, supporting Ivanhoé Cambridge’s goal of achieving net zero carbon by 2040.
“Retail has been going through a transition period over the last decade plus, where the focus has become on creating sustainable and dynamic experiential settings that engage and excite the communities it serves – and the pandemic has acted as a major accelerant on those trends,” says Greg Maloney, CEO, JLL Americas Retail. “Retail is our division’s sole focus and we are thrilled to expand our expertise and footprint in Canada and Quebec, establishing JLL as the largest third-party retail manager in Canada as well.”
JLL will also collaborate with Ivanhoé Cambridge to develop a Centre of Excellence for Sustainability (COES) in Quebec. The goals is to “accelerate the transition to sustainable and inclusive real estate through the development and implementation of current and near-future technologies,” the company says. With collaboration from leading academic research teams in Montreal, the COES “will keep a finger on the pulse of best practices and produce thought leadership research to share knowledge and help define the future of sustainable retail real estate,” it says.
In addition to its commitment to maintain management and high-quality jobs in Quebec and to invest in the development of the COES, JLL says it is also dedicated to have a positive impact in the community. JLL plans to double its scholarship commitment for its existing annual scholarships at John Molson School of Business at Concordia University, while also establishing an additional scholarship at another francophone Québec-based university. JLL will also extend its support to the Breakfast Club of Canada (BCC) for another five years, a not-for-profit organization based in Quebec that it has already been supporting over the last seven years.
