Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) office buildings in Vancouver are set to hit the market as two of Canada's largest pension funds, Oxford Properties and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), plan to sell the properties, Bloomberg News has reported.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the report said, the buildings - located at 402 Dunsmuir Street and 401 West Georgia Street - are expected to fetch around $350 million.
The Vancouver properties would mark the first major office transaction in the country since April of the previous year when a downtown Toronto tower changed hands for approximately $380 million, as reported by CBRE Group, Bloomberg News noted.
The sources indicated that the pension funds are seeking to manage their exposure to Vancouver's office market, particularly as they approach the completion of another new office tower encompassing around 51,100 square meters of space. The buildings up for sale are fully leased, with the Dunsmuir property being completed in 2020, the report added.
Vancouver's office market has experienced an increase in vacancy rates due to the surge in remote work, with CBRE data showing a vacancy rate of 8.4% in the first quarter of this year, Bloomberg News said.
Amazon, however, has implemented a policy requiring employees to be present in the office three days a week.
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