GLOBAL - Two Canadian pension funds, OMERS Worldwide Group of Companies and CPP Investment Board (CPPIB), have entered into a new joint venture to develop an office building in Toronto.

The 930,000 square foot property, which will be built by the real estate arm of OMERS - Oxford Properties - and CPPIB, will be the new headquarters of Royal Bank of Canada (RBC).

The 50/50 joint venture will be in charge of all aspects of the development and manage the property once completed.

Peter Ballon, CPPIB's vice-president and head of real estate investments for the Americas, said: "RBC WaterPark Place provides us with the opportunity to add a major, state-of-the-art office tower to our Canadian real estate portfolio with a premier tenant in place."

The development project will also include the renovation of WaterPark Place I and II.

On completion, the three-building WaterPark Place complex will occupy more than 1.7m square feet.

RBC WaterPark Place will begin construction in late 2011 and is scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2014.

Blake Hutcheson, president and chief executive at Oxford Properties, said: "Oxford has over 10m square feet of office space and approximately 6.5m square feet of retail under management in the city of Toronto alone.

"The addition of RBC WaterPark Place, on the heels of our acquisition last month of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre Complex, reflects our belief in the City of Toronto and in the downtown market."

In August this year, Oxford Properties Group announced it was in the process of acquiring the Metro Toronto Convention Centre Complex from Canada Lands Company.

The convention centre comprises three properties in total - the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, the 277 Front Street Office Tower and the InterContinental Hotel.

Oxford and CPPIB co-own a portfolio of office properties across Canada valued at around $3bn (€2.1bn) and are currently also developing 1021 West Hastings in Vancouver.

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