BlackBerry is easing up on its real estate by selling five buildings to the University of Waterloo for $41 million. BlackBerry plans to lease two of the buildings for up to five years, while three of the office buildings on the northeast corner of the main campus will now belong to the University.
“The University of Waterloo has set a course to become one of the world’s top innovation universities and we must ensure that we have the space to meet that challenge,” said President and Vice-Chancellor of Waterloo, Feridun Hamdullahpur.
“Space is our biggest constraint, so the opportunity to get space that is essentially on our campus was one that we couldn’t let slip by,” said Vice-president of university relations Tim Jackson.
The deal adds 300,000 square feet and more than 1,000 parking spaces to the University’s campus. The deal is planned to be completed by February 14th, 2014.