Nortel Selling Brampton Campus for $84M

BRAMPTON, ON-Nortel Networks has agreed to sell its one-million-sf headquarters campus on 63 acres here to Rogers Communications for $84 million (C$100 million). Expected to close in early January, the transaction includes fixtures and certain personal property located at the award-winning facility.

Rogers currently has its corporate offices in several buildings in Downtown Toronto, which is where Nortel says it will relocate the 1,000 or so employees now at the Brampton campus. A Nortel representative tells GlobeSt.com the company will relocate its employees to two facilities in the Toronto area–a “sales studio” and a “larger corporate center”–but could not say whether the facilities currently exist. A Rogers representative did not return a phone call seeking additional detail on exactly what operations it will move to the campus.

Nortel converted the former manufacturing plant into office space in 1996 and it remains one the largest office transformation efforts in North America. The interior of the main building was designed as an “indoor city” with themed murals defining different “neighborhoods,” including a “Main Street,” park-like areas with real trees, a health and wellness center and fitness facilities. Outside the building there is a walking path around the property, basketball and volleyball courts, a pond and a waterfall. The facility received several regional and national environmental and design awards.

Nortel’s Brampton headquarters houses myriad company divisions, including Canadian Sales, Marketing, Global Operations, Enterprise Networks, Human Resources, Finance, Information Services and Legal. Nortel chief executive Bill Owens says the sale is part of the company’s effort to size its real estate requirements to “the needs of the current business realities.”