GWL Realty Advisors is looking to expand its Livmore multi-family real estate investment program across Canada.

Livmore recently opened a Livmore-branded property, known as Westboro Livmore, in Ottawa. Meanwhile, GWLRA is constructing the second phase of a Livmore property in downtown Montreal that will deliver another 429 units to the market.

The company also intends to develop Livmore assets in Vancouver, Calgary and Mississauga, Ont., Erica Penrose, GWLRA’s vice-president of multi-residential, told Connect CRE Canada.

“We will definitely bring the Livmore brand to Vancouver,” she said. “We have pieces of land that are shovel-ready for Calgary.

“So, we will definitely stick to our roots where we are already operating.”

GWLRA recent acquired a redevelopment site in Vancouver’s West End through a court-ordered sale. The property is located at 1555 Robson Street, next to a development site at 1525 Robson purchased by a GWLRA investor client.

GWLRA is now looking to develop two purpose-built residential rental towers and retail space with the client in one merged site. Penrose indicated that the combined property is being considered as a Livmore development.

The company is expected to reveal further details on the Mississauga project in November.

“It will be a Livmore,” she said. “We just haven’t unveiled it yet.”

GWLRA is keen to expand the Livmore brand. The company created the banner to break the stigma on rental assets in North America.

“Rental is a very acceptable living arrangement in so many countries globally,” said Penrose. “But in North America, I think it’s because it was built on the backs of a lot of new Canadians, there’s a really negative sentiment,” she said.

“I come from a family of Italian immigrants. So, [the Canadian dream] was: Go to school, get a good job, get a home. And, I think that’s been ingrained in a lot of Canadians. So, the idea is to have this brand to challenge the stigma. What the Livmore brand really represents is: Residents who live in our communities have the freedom to do more and to live more, because it’s a free lifestyle. Because it’s free of holding a mortgage, you don’t have to worry about property maintenance. It’s, essentially, worry free from that standpoint.”

Livmore properties also aim to allow residents to afford travel, restaurant dining in an amenity-rich neighbourhood and create “higher-tier, elevated living experiences” in purpose-built rental units.

“It’s to allow people to climb their living arrangements up the quality curve,” she said of the goal.

Through Livmore, GWLRA is also aiming to have more affordable price points released back into the market, she added.

Inside or outside of the Livmore program, the company is “very bullish” on multi-family rental development, said Penrose.

GWLRA likes the strong base fundamentals, supply and demand balance, and stable cash flow available in the Canadian multi-family sector while it provides an essential need: A home.

“We are definitely doubling down in residential,” said Penrose, noting that 85% of GWLRA’s development pipeline is devoted to the sector.

“Our investor appetite sees that value in the asset class,” she added.

Pictured: GWLRA’s recently opened Livmor purpose-built rental residential development in Ottawa

Rendering: Courtesy of GWL Realty Advisors