Oxford Properties is fighting women’s clothing retailer Fairweather’s attempt to sublease the former Hudson’s Bay Company department store space at Toronto’s luxury Yorkdale Shopping Centre.

Fairweather wants to revive the defunct Les Ailes de la Mode department store in the location.

In new court filings, Oxford argues that Fairweather is not suitable for the former Bay space comprising 300,870 square feet because most Fairweather stores are a fraction of that size. Oxford also contends that Fairweather is financially healthy, the is too “downmarket” for Yorkdale’s luxury status, and the proposed long-term sublease would compromise 50 years of planning by Oxford and negatively affect the mall’s existing tenants.

Fairweather, a womenswear brand founded in 1867 and now owned by Isaac Benitah, declined to comment when contacted by The Canadian Press, citing ongoing court proceedings. The Benitah family previously operated Wyrth, Bombay, Bowring, and International Clothiers, and has been reviving legacy retail banners, including Zellers.

The Yorkdale property became available earlier this year after the Bay, an anchor tenant, filed for creditor protection and closed its stores. The three-floor space was leased through a joint-venture between HBC and RioCan REIT. The JV is now in receivership following the collapse of the once iconic HBC chain.

Receiver FTI Consulting sought buyers for the leases, and Fairweather emerged with support from FTI and RioCan.

Oxford argues that Fairweather is being put forward as subtenant only because RioCan wants Oxford to buy out the lease, allowing the REIT to address a $75-million loan tied to the property. Forcing Oxford to accept Fairweather at “a fraction of the already below-market rent previously paid by HBC, defies both commercial and common sense,” said Daniel O’Donnell, Oxford’s senior vice-president of corporate affairs, in a statement to The Canadian Press.

“The creation of this dynamic appears to be an attempt by RioCan to shift its own obligations onto Oxford regarding the $75-million guarantee that it gave to its lender for the Yorkdale HBC premises,” he added.

The JV’s leases are separate from 25 agreements covering former Bay stores in B.C., Alberta and Ontario that were part of the defunct chain’s creditor-protection process. The leases were to be returned to landlords, including Oxford, after the court rejected B.C. mall owner Ruby Liu’s proposal to purchase them, The Canadian Press reported.

Liu had planned to deploy that spaces as part of a new department-store chain bearing her name. She was able to acquire leases covering former Bay stores at three B.C. malls that she owns for $6 million through the creditor-protection process.