23 landlords oppose Ruby Liu's takeover of Hudson's Bay store leases | Daily Hive

23 landlords oppose Ruby Liu's takeover of former Hudson's Bay store leases

"Permanent closure" sign posted onto the entrances of Hudson's Bay in downtown Vancouver, shortly after 5 p.m. on Sunday, June 1, 2025. (Kenneth Chan)

Hudson’s Bay Company’s (HBC) court-appointed monitor has formally recommended the approval of a lease transfer deal with B.C. billionaire and real estate developer Ruby Liu’s (Weihong Liu) firm Central Walk, as the embattled department store chain — which closed all of its store locations early this month — continues to fully wind down all of its operations and dispose of its assets under court supervision.

In its fifth report filed today, Alvarez & Marsal Canada — monitor overseeing Hudson’s Bay’s restructuring under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) — confirmed the lease assignment of three British Columbia retail locations as the “most favourable” outcome for creditors, following an extensive marketing effort.

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As previously reported by Daily Hive Urbanized earlier this week, Liu’s Central Walk firm will buy back the leases held by the retailer at three B.C. shopping malls owned by the developer — the former Saks OFF 5th outlet store in Tswwassen Mills mall in Delta, and the former Hudson’s Bay department stores at Woodgrove Centre mall in Nanaimo and Mayfair Shopping Centre mall in Victoria. This is expected to be approved on Monday.

However, there is mounting opposition from numerous property owners against Liu’s much-publicized attempt to snap up dozens of other former HBC store locations in B.C., Alberta, and Ontario to create a new modern department store chain. These are the properties that she does not own.

According to the monitor, talks are ongoing between HBC and various landlords regarding the potential transfer of up to 25 additional leases under a separate agreement also involving Liu, with 23 of those landlords so far expressing opposition to transferring their leases to Central Walk. The precise locations and identity of the landlords have not been disclosed.

“Those Landlords would not consent to the assignment of their Leases to the Potential Lease Purchaser and would oppose any potential future forced assignment. The Monitor understands that the Potential Lease Purchaser and its legal counsel are working to provide the Landlords with further information,” reads today’s filing.

Although Liu has made headlines for her plans to reinvent the department store chain concept in Canada and her definitive agreement to buy the leases of up to 28 stores, including the three properties she owns, the transactions are subject to landlord and/or court approval.

The monitor today also noted that a different interested party cancelled their plans to buy a lease agreement, after they rejected the request to correct unspecified errors in a form originally submitted.

As well, another entity is looking to complete the transaction of up to eight leases in Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. The discussions with the impacted landlords are ongoing, with discussions described to “positive” and that one or more may agree to the lease purchase.

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