BMO Funds $112M in Major Land Acquisitions in GTA

The Robins Appleby Lending Team of Leor Margulies, Ladislav Kovac, Cindy Applegath and Natalie Mulhall assisted Bank of Montreal in funding 2 major land acquisition transactions in the Stouffville/Markham area in 2024. The first was completed in the summer of 2024 with BMO providing $37M for a complex share acquisition transaction involving a 25 acre site that was zoned and draft plan approved for a mixture of low and medium density units totalling 882 units.

Subsequently, in the late Fall, the Robins Appleby lending team again represented BMO to fund a further land acquisition of a 133 acre site again in the Stouffville/Markham area by the same borrower via a $75M financing. The site had draft subdivision approvals which would ultimately result in over 1,200 apartments, towns and singles plus a large greenbelt area when it is all built out.

There has been a dearth of land financing and acquisitions since the market downturn of April 2022, but these 2 major transactions give hope that there is enough confidence by at least some builders and lenders that this market is going to return and that there is value in acquiring entitled land that is ready to go to servicing and sale.