Brookfield Properties

Brookfield Properties is a North American subsidiary of commercial real estate firm Brookfield Property Partners, which itself is a subsidiary of alternative asset management company Brookfield Corporation. It is responsible for the asset management of the company's real estate portfolio, including office, multi-family residential, retail, hospitality, and logistics buildings. Brookfield Properties acquired General Growth Properties, one of the largest mall operators in the U.S., and merged it into Brookfield Properties in 2018. As of 2024, Brookfield Properties operates corporate offices in nine countries around the world, including China, India, Germany and the US.

The company's roots go back to the early 1900s in Montreal, Quebec. It was known then as the Canadian Arena Company and operated the Montreal Arena. In a partnership with Toronto investors, it built Arena Gardens in Toronto. In the 1910s, it opened an office and began business in Brazil, while in the 1920s, it built the Montreal Forum to house the Montreal Maroons and Montreal Canadiens National Hockey League franchises; from 1935 to 1957, the company also owned the Canadiens. The company was acquired by Edper Investments in 1970. During the 1970s, when the company was known as Carena Properties, it expanded its business into commercial real estate. After the Montreal Forum closed, the Forum was sold to competitor Canderel Properties.

In 1989, Carena acquired a 33% interest in Olympia & York Developments Ltd., developers of the World Financial Center in New York, and in 1990, Brookfield acquired a 50% interest in a portfolio of office properties in Toronto, Denver and Minneapolis from BCE Development Corporation. In 1994, this holding was increased to 100% and included BCE Place, now Brookfield Place, Brookfield Properties' flagship office complex in Toronto.

In 1996, Carena acquired a 46% interest in World Financial Properties, a corporation formed from the bankruptcy of Olympia & York, which included three of the four towers of the World Financial Center, One Liberty Plaza, 245 Park Avenue in Manhattan. That year, Carena changed its name to Brookfield Properties Corporation.

In 1997, Brookfield Properties purchased 45% of Gentra, Inc., owner of several commercial properties in Toronto.

In 2000, Brookfield Properties acquired a portfolio of Calgary office properties, including the Bankers Hall complex.

In April 2001, the company lost out to Silverstein Properties, Inc., on the lease of the World Trade Center in New York City before the complex was destroyed during the September 11 attacks.

In 2003, Brookfield Properties completed the spin-off of Brookfield Homes, now part of Brookfield Residential, Brookfield Asset Management's U.S.-based home building business.