REAL ESTATE : Canadian Developers Show Steady Interest in O.C. Properties

The Canadians are coming--still.

Orange County was a popular spot for Canadian real estate developers in the late 1970s, when the residential and commercial markets here were going wild. Several took big hits when the boom busted in the early ‘80s, but since the mid-’80s there has been a steady influx from the north country.

Among Canadian interests doing big business in Orange County these days are Bramalea Corp. in Irvine, a residential and commercial developer, and Bentall Development Corp. in Orange, a commercial builder.

The latest to join the Maple Leaf contingent is Strand Properties, a 14-year-old Vancouver-based company that acquires and develops residential income properties. Strand recently opened offices in Newport Beach.

The company, which says it has sponsored more than 50 real estate ventures involving some $300 million of equity capital, isn’t developing anything in Orange County yet but located here because the area is central to its planned activities in Southern California, Arizona and elsewhere in the Southwest, said Gary H. Goodman, senior vice president.

Strand’s closest properties right now are two recently acquired apartment complexes in San Diego County--one in Mission Valley and one in Pacific Beach.

Goodman said the Newport Beach regional office “is solely interested in acquiring” properties and wants to talk to sellers and potential joint development partners.