A big real estate deal means new owners for a retail complex in the heart of uptown Waterloo.
The Shops at Waterloo Town Square have been sold to a group of local private investors.
The purchase price was not divulged, but according to real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield Waterloo Region, which handled the transaction, it is higher than any other price paid for a single site in Waterloo Region’s history.
For that price, the new owners get the site’s three buildings and a total of 240,000 square feet of retail space.
Sources in the real estate community tell CTV News one of the buyers is Herri Polzl, who also owns the Deer Ridge Centre in Kitchener and is a part-owner of the Bauer Lofts in Waterloo.
Jo McClelland, a sales associate at the mall’s Colour clothing store, says she hopes the new owners will see the mall’s community feel and look for ways to enhance it.
“It’s a great community here in uptown,” she says.
Yvette Cybulski, a regular shopper at the mall, says she’s heard stories of businesses leaving the mall – which does have several empty storefronts – due to high rents, and hopes that won’t be the case with the new owners.
“I see a whole lot of emptiness, and not a lot of customers,” she says.
“It’s missing so much. It’s missing a fast food place, it’s missing menswear. They could even have a toy store in here.”
