A company whose beneficial owner is the crown prince of Dubai has listed four penthouse units at the Fairmont Pacific Rim condo tower in downtown Vancouver in a potential sale that offers a rare glimpse into the upper echelons of the city’s luxury real estate market.
Leemar Investments FZE has owned these units since 2013, when it was reported that it bought the main penthouse on the top floor for $25 million and then a unit one floor below, on the 46th floor, for $15 million.
At the time, the combined $40 million purchase was hailed as the most expensive condo purchase in Canada.
Leemar also then bought two other sub-penthouse units on the 46th floor for $9.75 million and $3.9 million, for a grand total of almost $54 million for the four units.
They’re now listed on MLS this week and, over a decade later, asking about $10 million less as a whole: $21 million for the main penthouse and $10 million, $8.5 million and $5 million for the units on the 46th floor for a total of $44.5 million.
Before this, the penthouse had sold in 2010 for $17.5 million.
Sotheby’s International Realty real estate agent Tanis Fritz now has the listing for the condos, which can be bought separately or together.
In Instagram and YouTube posts that feature sweeping sunrise and sunset views, the units are described as “one iconic collection,” forming Vancouver’s “only sky estate.” The “crown jewel” 6,480-sq.-ft. penthouse unit is said to contain soaring, 21-foot, floor to ceiling windows with views of the ocean, mountains and city lights.
The penthouse spans two levels, consists of three bedrooms and 3 1/2 bathrooms, and has a private interior elevator. There is a rooftop deck and private, walk-out terraces that add 2,582 sq. ft. of outdoor space.
The largest of the sub-penthouse units is 4,016 sq. ft. with three bedrooms, plus another 1,800 sq. ft. of outdoor deck space.
“I’m cautiously optimistic that Vancouver’s luxury market will be more active in 2025 given lower interest rates, but the economy and geo-political turmoil continues to pose risks,” said Fritz in an email to Postmedia News.
She added that in 2025 Sotheby’s “has identified Vancouver’s luxury condo market as presenting some of the most promising long-term investment opportunities for buyers because there is an abundance of supply and softening prices, which open up opportunities for savvy purchasers.”
Since the last sale of these units in 2013, the province, in November 2022, implemented new rules requiring the identification of beneficial owners on a Land Owner Transparency Registry. These are individuals who own or control a property indirectly such as through a corporation, partnership or trust.
This registry lists the relevant corporation as Leemar Investments FZE and the interest owner of the four properties as “H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohd Bin Rashid Almaktoum crown prince of Dubai,” who is known as H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum on his official website and has been the crown prince since 2008.
Leemar is an investment firm that, on the registry, notes its registered address as being in Dubai’s Jebel Ali Free Zone and its head office address as being on the 117th floor of the Burj Khalifa building.
The crown prince, who was educated in the U.K. at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst and at the London School of Economics, is more popularly known for writing poetry under the penname of Fazza, according to his official biography.
Over the years, he has shared with his large online following photographs of holidays spent in Vancouver and ski trips to Whistler, which have also been reported on by local media in the UAE.
In July 2024, he was appointed deputy prime minister and the minister of defence for the United Arab Emirates, succeeding his father, who is the PM and ruler of Dubai.
Fritz declined to comment when asked if she had any sense why the owner was selling.
“The privacy of our client is of the highest importance to Sotheby’s International Realty Canada, and I am not able to comment on that.”
