Hines has acquired Life Plaza, a 236K-SF downtown Calgary office tower that failed to find an acceptable buyer before falling into receivership earlier this year.

The 17-storey property at 734 7th Ave. S.W. is 68% leased, leaving Hines with a sizeable leasing and repositioning job at an older B-class building in the downtown core.

Life Plaza entered court-supervised receivership in June after affiliates of former owner Slate Asset Management failed to meet mortgage obligations to Timbercreek Financial. The lender was owed $27.3M as of May 26.

Timbercreek will remain involved as a strategic lending partner following the sale, while Hines takes over as owner, asset manager and property manager. The purchase price was not disclosed.

Slate had previously marketed Life Plaza alongside four other Calgary office properties. The other assets attracted acceptable third-party buyers, while Life Plaza did not.

The building contains 226K SF of office space and 10K SF of retail. Hines said it plans to use new leasing capital, hands-on management and targeted upgrades to improve the tower’s competitive position and build occupancy.

Specific capital improvements have not yet been announced.

Built in 1980 and renovated in 2018, Life Plaza now gives Hines a 46-year-old downtown asset acquired out of distress with nearly one-third of its space still available.