Press releases: archive

Shares issued:  Class A - 168,412,323    Class B - 31,514,782

 

Halifax, Nova Scotia, November 27, 2008 (TSX: HII.A & HII.B and NYSE Euronext Amsterdam: HII) - In the heart of the birthplace of Canada Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Mr. Richard Homburg, Chairman and CEO of Homburg Invest Inc. ("HII" or "Homburg Invest") is pleased to announce that Homburg Invest has undertaken a three staged re-development of the Confederation Court Mall which will significantly improve services and commercial spaces of the historic downtown of Charlottetown.

 

Phase 1 has already commenced construction and will be a new eight-storey Class A commercial office building on Fitzroy Street and when completed will be comprised of 50,000 square feet featuring all the latest amenities.  The entire top floor has already been leased to a financial brokerage company and the building continues to have strong, on-going interest from additional prospective tenants. 

 

The early stages of Phase 2 began last year with the re-development of the food court in The Shops of Confederation Court Mall and with the creation of the Urban Eatery, which offers quality fresh food in a market-style atmosphere. The next component of Phase 2 will begin in the coming weeks and will involve a major refurbishment of the interior and exterior of the entire Confederation Court Complex.  This 400,000 square foot office and retail complex was built 30 years ago and requires modernization and expansion to ensure it remains the major anchor in the capital city of the province.   A highlight of this phase of the re-development will be the restoration of the façade of the historic Holman Building on Grafton Street, re-furbishing its beautiful rich island stone.   

 

Phase 3 of the development will be a 10-storey, 82-room boutique hotel that will be located above The Shops of Confederation Court Mall.  Construction for the hotel is scheduled to commence early in 2009. This will be the first new hotel development in Downtown Charlottetown in over 25 years.  The top floor of the hotel will be a single level, 2,200 square foot super luxury presidential suite with a large wrap around terrace and 360 degree views of the city.

 

All three phases are scheduled to be completed in the next 24 to 30 months.  The economic spin offs of this project are expected to exceed $100,000,000 with 75,000 person days of employment.  Once completed, the benefits will include 200 direct new jobs, 300 indirect jobs, and new opportunities for the tourism, convention and cultural sectors.  It is anticipated that the new economic activity and the confidence it will inspire in these difficult economic times, will have an ongoing economic impact in the order of $30,000,000 annually for the Province of Prince Edward Island.

 

Homburg, with its head office in Halifax, Nova Scotia, is an international real estate investment and development company that owns a diversified portfolio of quality real estate, including office, retail, industrial and residential apartment and townhouse properties in Canada, Europe and the United States.  The Company also owns land assets for development in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta; Montreal, Quebec; and Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.  In 2007, Homburg completed significant acquisitions totaling over approximately CAD$ 1.1 billion and as of December 31, 2007 has assets of over CAD$ 3.8 billion with an approximate aggregate of 18.2 million square feet of gross leasable area.

 

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Mr. Richard Homburg,

Chairman and CEO

Homburg Invest Inc.

902-468-3395

 

or

 

Richard Stolle

President and COO

Homburg Invest Inc.

011 31 20 573 3855