The Ontario government is looking to buy office properties in downtown Toronto, the Globe and Mail reported.

The Globe cited documents on a government procurement website that state the province’s “mandatory requirements” include buildings with 200,000 to 600,000 square feet of office space within a 10-minute walk of the subway or a 10-minute drive to a major highway.

Infrastructure Ontario has contracted JLL to advise it during the search process and will consider buildings with an estimated value of less than $500 per square, according to the Globe, which cited the provincial procurement website..

Interested sellers have until October 17 to submit detailed information about properties that they may wish to divest.

“The province aims to improve public sector efficiency and reduce operational costs,” Jeff Giffen, a spokesman for Infrastructure Ontario, told the publication via email. “This process is in its early stages and no decisions about purchasing have been made.”

Carl Gomez, chief economist and head of market analytics at CoStar, believes the province is attempting to prop up Toronto’s beleagured office values

“Obviously, there’s a conceptual element to this – purchasing office buildings to keep the office market alive,” he told the Globe. “I think that’s the optics.”

Adam Jacobs, head of Canadian research for Colliers, praised the government’s plan. He told the Globe that there is “quite a bit of opportunity” in Toronto’s office market, especially for governments with ample financial resources as private buyers have difficulty obtaining capital from lenders who remain sour on office investments.

“If you’re a government and you have access to capital, I think it makes sense,” he told the Globe. “It’s a good time to buy in that sense.”

The province wants to occupy all of the office buildings that it acquires, the Globe reported.

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