Months after purchasing the Gateway Mall in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Toronto-based Alrifai Real Estate has plans to build 500 modular apartments on top of the 429,000-square-foot shopping centre.
Louai Alrifai, founder and CEO of Alrifai Real Estate, told Retail Insider the pre-engineered modular residential village would integrate the rooftop superstructure over the mall structural footprint and underutilized surface parcels.
“Prince Albert faces an acute post-secondary student housing shortage driven by rapid regional enrollment growth across three key institutions: University of Saskatchewan (Prince Albert Campus), First Nations University of Canada (Northern Campus), and Saskatchewan Polytechnic (Prince Albert Campus). Northern and regional students currently face near zero dedicated campus adjacent housing. Gateway Mall connects housing directly with grocery, transit, dining, retail, and municipal services under one roof,” he said.
“Modules are pre engineered and fabricated off site in controlled Canadian manufacturing facilities, then assembled rapidly via crane. This cuts standard construction timelines by half and creates zero disruption to ground floor retail tenants or customer operations.”
Alrifai said the target is to start in the Spring of 2027 with completion for the Fall of next year to accommodate the beginning of the school season.
“The development aligns directly with the City of Prince Albert Downtown Revitalization Incentive Framework, qualifying for a 10 year municipal tax abatement and expedited approvals,” he said.
Privately held company
Alrifai Real Estates is completely privately held, backed by over $120 million of his own personal private equity deployed directly across the portfolio.
“Unlike publicly traded REITs tied to quarterly committee panic and heavy syndicated debt, our private balance sheet allows us to execute with total agility, deploying millions into major capital improvements on day one without outside lender paralysis,” explained Alrifai.
“We are intentionally doubling down on dominant, essential needs regional retail centres with captive community foot traffic. We are actively avoiding commodity office towers, where work from home structural headwinds continue to prevent institutional recovery.”
Alrifai said there’s an active $1.8 million complete roof rehabilitation and heating plant overhaul currently underway on site. The Brick extended its lease through 2031, Dollarama expanded and renewed, Urban Planet is thriving, and the Saskatchewan Provincial Government is occupying key regional offices.
“We’re also finalizing terms on a 3,576-square-foot Virtual Reality Arena, creating destination family entertainment that e-commerce cannot replicate.”
Single level neighbourhood grids
Alrifai said the rooftop community planned for Gateway would be arranged in single level neighbourhood grids with illuminated pedestrian boardwalks and courtyards.
“What we are advancing at Gateway Mall is the exact high density mixed use model currently being executed by Canada’s largest institutional Landlords,” he said, noting how RioCan, Cadillac Fairview, Oxford Properties and QuadReal have embarked on density projects for their retail sites.
“While institutional REITs typically require five to seven years of disruptive, heavy poured concrete construction, we are taking that proven Canadian mixed use model and modernizing it with precision pre engineered modular construction.
“By utilizing off site volumetric modular fabrication, the structural load is engineered to distribute across our existing 429,000 square foot building grid.
“Modules are fabricated in a controlled Canadian plant and assembled rapidly via crane with virtually zero disruption to our ground floor retail concourses below. It cuts the delivery schedule in half and delivers 500 desperately needed student beds to Prince Albert years faster than traditional builds.”
In early October, the company announced that Louai Alrifai had surpassed $120 million in portfolio value. The portfolio spans more than 800,000 square feet of gross leasable area and over 100 commercial acres across Ontario and Saskatchewan.
Established in 2008 and headquartered in Toronto, the firm has grown into one of Canada’s most active private buyers of distressed and undervalued commercial assets. Its holdings include regional enclosed shopping centres, medical and urban core commercial buildings, and strategic industrial land along the Highway 401 corridor.
“We buy what institutions walk away from,” he said. “Power of sale, court ordered, complex files. We close unconditionally, reposition the asset, and hold it. No partners, no funds, no outside capital. Every acquisition is made with our own money, and every dollar of equity stays in the portfolio.”
Strategy is contrarian and disciplined
The firm’s most prominent recent acquisition was Gateway Mall, marking the firm’s expansion into Western Canada.
Since its founding, Alrifai Real Estates has completed more than 20 commercial acquisitions. The firm’s strategy is contrarian and disciplined: buy below replacement cost in situations that demand certainty and speed, close without financing conditions, and create equity on the day of closing rather than waiting for the market, he said.
“Sole ownership is the edge,” Alrifai added. “When one person can commit, close, and carry an asset, you win the files that take too long for committees.”
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