A critical piece of Toronto’s famed retail “Mink Mile” has hit the marketplace with sources telling CoStar News the price range for 15 Bloor St. West is between $75 to $100 million as buyers circle for what is considered a key long-term development opportunity in the city’s core.

The three-storey property, currently home to fashion retailer H&M, is situated right next to The One, which developer Sam Mizrahi touts will be the country’s tallest residential tower once completed in 2022.

CBRE, which is marketing the 15 Bloor listing, wouldn’t comment, but market watchers suggest the price could top levels reached for an adjacent building at 19 Bloor West, which sold for $74 million in December 2016 at $5,449 per square foot and a 3.25% cap rate to Belgian buyers Mappro Realty Inc., according to CoStar data.

“(15 Bloor St. West) is an elite high street real estate opportunity at the heart of Toronto’s prestigious Bloor-Yorkville neighbourhood,” touts the brochure from the real estate brokerage, which is listing the property on behalf of Altavista Properties Inc.

The Toronto shopping district has continually ranked as one of the most prestigious in the world with the highest rental rates in the country. Cushman & Wakefield, in its retail report Main Streets Across the World, now in its 29th year, put the Mink Mile as the sixth most expensive in The Americas and 25th globally to rent. It surveyed 451 centres.

According to the report, 2017 rents along the Bloor Street corridor were US$231 per square foot per year, down from US$250 per square foot per year in 2016.

The ownership of the property can be traced back to a private Canadian individual who owns street-front retail in a number of different cities, according to a source.

“This is the meat in the sandwich, the space in between,” said Jeff Thomas, executive vice president of capital markets with Cushman & Wakefield, referring to its spot between the Mizrahi development and the Bank of Nova tenanted building. “Key assets on Bloor Street and the right part of Bloor Street are so few and far and in between.”

The H&M tenancy is considered important because the world-renowned international retailer is locked into a lease in the building, which was constructed in 2004 and has 19,465 square feet of leasable area with 47 feet of frontage on Bloor. H&M signed a 15-year lease that runs until January 2020 and will pay more than $1.5 million in rent in 2017, according to sources.

“It’s adjacent to the Apple Store, if it ever opens, at One Bloor,” said Thomas, referring to the long-rumoured deal Mizrahi is said to have for the maker of the ubiquitous iPhone, which is said to be set to open a multi-level flagship store at the developer’s One Bloor St. West location. CBRE also suggests in its brochure that the value of its offering is enhanced by the proposed Apple store.

Based on their respective current holdings, Mizrahi and the Belgian group that bought the Scotia building could compete as part of a development plan. But others buyers may be happy to just sit on the income from H&M.

“There are a handful of private high net worth individuals who could take a run at it,” said Thomas. “There are strategic individuals that might take a run at it.”

Factor in ongoing doubts about Mizrahi successfully finishing his project, despite the developer’s insistence that the condominium portion of his 82-storey tower is selling well with some units now topping $3,000 per square foot, and some market watchers wonder if the entire block could become part of a larger development play should The One not get completed.

“It’s probably a 3% cap or sub 3% cap rate and basically that’s just holding income for one of the best pieces of land you could buy for some future event for whatever that event will be,” said Thomas.

CBRE is clearly marketing the property that way and notes the Bloor-Yorkville corridor is experiencing a dramatic intensification near 15 Bloor St. West that is “destined to enhance the property’s long-term profile and positioning.”