Liu Weihong (Ruby Liu), a billionaire real estate investor based in British Columbia, has received court approval to acquire three former Hudson’s Bay store leases, in a transaction valued at $6 million. The locations are three B.C. shopping centres she owns: Tsawwassen Mills in Delta, Mayfair Shopping Centre in Victoria, and Nanaimo’s Woodgrove Centre.
Liu’s ambition is to establish a new national chain under the brand Ruby Liu, and to that end she’s eyeing leases at 25 other former HBC locations. Landlords for those properties object to what they say is a lack of transparency around the proposal. Their lawyers have vowed to fight if Liu asks to order the leases be assigned to her.
