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One year after being placed into receivership, Edmonton City Centre has a buyer with plans to convert half of the downtown mall into housing.
The court-ordered sale of the mall and the attached office towers to Edmonton-based developer Westrich Pacific was approved by an Alberta Court of King’s Bench justice on August 7. A news release from the developer says the sale is expected to close by year’s end.
With a footprint of 1.4 million square feet, the property includes the mall, Centre Point Place, TD Tower, 102A Tower and three parkades.
Westrich Pacific leadership and the city’s mayor say the reimagining of the property is a big step forward for downtown.
“It is humbling to have the opportunity to work on a project of this scale and impact,” David Sanche, co-CEO of Westrich Pacific, said in the news release.
Sale price unknown
Otéra Capital Inc., a Montreal-based commercial real-estate lender, asked for the receivership in July 2025, claiming it was owed nearly $140 million.
A receiver’s report from accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers details how the sale to Westrich Pacific isn’t expected to fully pay back its creditors.
The exact amount of the Westrich offer is confidential until the sale is final. However, the final sale price is less than the $300 million it sold for in 2019, according to the receiver’s report.
The report noted Otéra is going to “suffer a significant shortfall” in the nearly $140 million it is owed but the Westrich deal was the best available offer. The report said that despite the projected shortfall, Otéra is in favour of the sale.
Development plans
City Centre has lost a number of large tenants in recent years, including the Hudson’s Bay in 2020 and a Sport Chek location in 2023.
According to marketing materials provided when the mall was put up for sale in early 2026, the retail occupancy sat at just over 41 per cent. The east side of the mall holds the majority with 44 tenants, including CBC Edmonton; the west side has 20 tenants.
The brochure said there was an opportunity to consolidate the retail occupants into the east side and reimagine the western portion.
A news release from Westrich Pacific says its plans to redevelop the space will start by creating 1,500 residential units in the space formerly occupied by The Bay.
The first phase will also rework part of the exterior, look at integrating street-facing retail and build a rooftop Nordic spa.
The release said construction is expected to start in early 2027.
“I have not been this excited about a project in a long time,” Richie Lam, co-CEO of Westrich Pacific, said in the news release.
“It’s the first thing I think about when I wake up and the last before bed; we are thrilled to be bringing this asset back to life.”
Edmonton Mayor Andrew Knack applauded the acquisition as a sign of revitalization.
“This investment is a strong signal that the transformation underway in downtown Edmonton is real. When investors see momentum, they follow.”
Separate legal skirmish
The receiver’s report also details about $10.6 million in capital improvements that have been underway in the last year on the property’s elevators, parkade, venting and fuel systems.
In one of those projects, an invoicing mixup led the mall to significantly overpay a bill to a concrete company, which it has failed to get back, court documents attached to the receiver’s report say.
Chancelot Concrete Restoration was hired to work on the parkade and billed City Centre $716,067 in December 2023 — only to correct the invoice the next day to $248,811.
The mall mistakenly paid the first invoice, overpaying its bill by more than $467,256, a statement of defence from the receivers said.
According to the document, Chancelot initially acknowledged the overpayment but has failed or refused to refund it.
City Centre withheld later payments to the company and in the statement of defence claim they have still paid the company in excess of about $383,000.
In response, Chancelot has registered multiple construction liens against the property and initiated a post-receivership lawsuit, the court documents say.
As of the date of the receiver’s report, the matter is unresolved.