Canadian investment firm buys Millville land

The style of homes for the proposed Egret Shores subdivision. | PHOTO COURTESY OF THE TOWN OF MILLVILLE

MILLVILLE — An arm of a Canadian alternative asset manager, Brookfield Asset Management, has bought undeveloped land in Millville for $1.75 million, according to county land records.

Brookfield Asset Management is a Toronto-based asset manager that ranks one of the world’s largest alternative investment companies. The firm focuses on real estate, renewable power, infrastructure, credit and private equity. Overall, the firm manages $725 billion assets, according to its 2021 annual report.

Brookfield Holdings Egret LLC, a limited liability company that shares the same address as Brookfield Property Partners, bought 50 acres of land on Substation Road in mid-June.  The land sits between Burbage Road and Beaver Dam Road, and is south of the Millville By the Sea community.

Back in February, the land was approved for a 135 single-family home community called Egret Shores in Millville, according to the Coastal Point. Millville town officials confirmed that no new plans for the land have been filed as of July 22.

Brookfield Property Group maintains a diverse portfolio, including office assets like One Manhattan West in New York City as well as 19 malls which total 24 million square feet of retail space. Primarily, its objects focus on raising the value of properties through leasing and select redevelopment, according to its annual report.

Its residential development business operates primarily in North America, including 18 markets in Canada and the United states, and Brazil. In North America alone, Brookfield Property Group controls 77,000 lots. By December 2021, there were 69 active housing communities and 16 active land communities.

In that report, Brookfield described its positive outlook for its North America residential development that mirrored a strong housing demand.

“We are well-positioned around the housing and residential land development sector in the near and medium-term, as we continue to see strong demand supported by solid underlying fundamentals and demographics and a persistent supply shortage in the markets in which we operate,” the report reads.

Brookfield Property Group reported $2.2 billion in revenue and $256 million in funds from operations in its residential development business in 2021. 

Overall, Brookfield Property Group revenues increased by $1.1 billion year over year, while funds from operations were raised by $390 million.