EnCana sells land for headquarters to H&R REIT

TORONTO (Reuters) - EnCana Corp. said on Friday it has sold the land on which its headquarters will be built in Calgary, Alberta, to H&R Real Estate Investment Trust for C$70 million ($59 million).

It also signed a 25-year lease with H&R for all of the office space to be built on the downtown Calgary site.

The project is expected to be completed for 2011 and is intended to consolidate all of EnCana's downtown office space.

EnCana said the C$70 million sale price largely represents its investment in the project to date.

H&R, which said the 25-year lease is the largest single-tenant lease signed in Canadian history, owns a North American portfolio of 34 office, 115 industrial and 143 retail properties.

($1=$1.18 Canadian)