07:59 AM EDT, 05/26/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Primaris Real Estate Investment Trust (PMZ-UN.TO) on Monday said the monitor overseeing Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) bankruptcy proceedings has informed it that five of the nine HBC leases within the Primaris portfolio did not receive any bids and have been disclaimed.

Primaris will assume control of these sites effective June 16. The disclaimer of the five locations will result in 532,100 square feet of vacancy, reducing first-quarter 2025 pro forma in-place portfolio occupancy by 3.7 percentage points from 93.2% to 89.5%.

It will cost Primaris $50 million to $60 million to complete its repurposing and redevelopment plans for the five leases, with initial tenant occupancy expected in the second quarter of next year.

"Regaining control of five of our valuable anchor locations allows Primaris to commence repurposing a significant amount of low productivity space, and marks the beginning of our value surfacing exercise," said Alex Avery, chief executive officer. "While HBC has been the focus of a lot of discussion and attention, the real story is just beginning, as the disclaiming of leases has finally removed obstructionist barriers enabling us to enhance our properties. We are confident that the quantitative and qualitative benefits of regaining control of these spaces will be materially positive for our properties and our unitholders."

Primaris has four remaining HBC locations that are subject to bids from qualified bidders.

The REIT confirmed that it has over 2,800 leases, of which there are only 27 with co-tenancy clauses that pertain to HBC. Primaris estimates that the total impact on 2025 rental revenue from the co-tenancy provisions will be less than $2 million and is working to reduce this impact to zero.

Primaris reaffirmed its financial and operating guidance for the fiscal year 2025.