The owner of three shopping centres in British Columbia will take on the leases for more than two dozen Hudson's Bay stores across the country.
The Bay, in a press release Friday, May 23, announced that it has come to an agreement to pursue the assignment of up to 28 lease locations to Ruby Liu Commercial Investment Corp., an affiliate of Central Walk. Weihong (Ruby) Liu is chairperson of Central Walk, which owns Woodgrove Centre in Nanaimo, Mayfair Shopping Centre in Victoria and Tsawwassen Mills in Metro Vancouver.
Hudson's Bay stores in those three malls are part of the transaction as well as 25 other Bay locations in B.C., Alberta and Ontario. The purpose of the agreement is to launch "a new modern department store concept in Canada," noted the press release.
The Bay is undergoing restructuring under the companies' creditors arrangement act, and previously made it known it was seeking sale proposals with respect to its leases. Approximately 80 stores are being liquidated as part of the CCAA proceedings.
"The company remains in discussions with other qualified bidders in respect of certain other lease locations," the release added.
Earlier this month, Canadian Tire Corporation announced that it had agreed to buy Hudson's Bay Company's intellectual property including the HBC stripes and various names, logos, designs and trademarks.
READ ALSO: Nanaimo's Woodgrove Centre listed for sale
