Whistler’s Marketplace is now under local ownership — if you define “local” as the Lower Mainland, that is.

Vancouver-based Headwater Projects on Wednesday (Aug. 25) announced that it had purchased the 70,000-square-foot commercial and office property, comprising 36 commercial units that currently house the likes of TD Canada Trust, Whistler Real Estate, McDonald’s, the B.C. Liquor Store and Escape Route. The sale closed on July 28, company officials said in a statement.

The acquisition from Hospitals of Ontario Pension Plan did not include the Marketplace IGA, the independently owned and operated grocery store.

The acquisition did, however, include three sides of the Marketplace square and the building that includes Starbucks and the Beet Root Café, Erin Gibault, the managing partner and quarter-share owner of Headwater Projects, said in an interview on Thursday (Aug. 26).

When the complex changed ownership, it also came under new management. PCI Warrington, which also manages the Crystal Lodge, has taken over as property manager for Marketplace from the previous managers, Trilogy. Gibault said PCI Warrington also manages other Headwater properties, including a similar-sized shopping complex Headwater acquired earlier this year in the City of Langley.

The Marketplace acquisition is Headwater’s eighth property acquisition since the company was formed in December 2007 and its first investment in Whistler, officials said.

In a statement, the company vowed to set high standards of maintenance and cleanliness and made a commitment to “improving the outdoor amenity and access areas, especially those spaces facing onto the new Olympic Celebration Plaza.”

Gibault said the new owners plan to repair and maintain paving stones around the storefronts, do more landscaping work on that side of the building and work to enhance the usefulness of patio spaces facing the plaza.

“Patio areas that have been overlooked for many years and now the retailers have come to us and asked about using those areas, so they can attract customers on both sides, which is great,” he said. “They want to take advantage of that and we want to make it more comfortable and plant some areas that haven’t been planted recently. That’s something we’ll be looking at next year.”

Gibault said all four Headwater Projects partners have been coming to enjoy Whistler for many years, and own residential properties here, so they have lots of ties with the community.

“At the end of the day, what motivated us most in this acquisition are the personal ties we have with Whistler,” he said in a statement. “We always felt a sense of attachment to this great local resort, and now we have the opportunity to be part of the exceptional worldwide brand that Whistler has created.”

He said it’s his understanding that Whistler’s total retail area is something like 700,000 square feet, so Marketplace is an important part of the resort’s business landscape.

Marketplace isn’t strictly a tourist-oriented centre, but also attracts lots of locals to shop for groceries, liquor and other household needs. That makes it more of a year-round centre than many retail locations further up the Village Stroll, Gibault said.

The new Marketplace owners have formed a partnership with the IGA owners, committing them to working together on issues that affect the overall retail experience in the square.

“It’s (Marketplace) used 12 months of the year, as opposed to shops that are a little more oriented toward full-on tourism. We wanted to acquire something that gets used year-round,” Gibault said.

He said the company’s time horizon for its new acquisition is long-term, meaning they’re keen to work with existing tenants to help make doing business there more enjoyable and profitable.

“All the properties we’ve bought so far, we’ve tried to make sure they’re near the epicentre of the community. We think that by buying Whistler’s Marketplace, we’ve protected ourselves by buying the best property we can buy, just because of all the products and activities that happen around that centre.”