Multiple landlords fighting Hudson’s Bay’s plan to transfer 25 store leases to B.C. billionaire Weihong Liu told an Ontario court Friday that they see no way for Liu to execute her business plan with her financial forecast, and raised concerns about her ethical conduct.
The now-defunct retailer has spent two days in the Superior Court of Justice in Toronto seeking to compel transfer leases to Liu, the chairwoman of mall owner Central Walk, to allow her to launch a new department store chain under her English name, Ruby Liu.
She has already taken over three Hudson’s Bay leases in B.C. malls that her company owns.
Justice Peter Osborne said he will announce his ruling at a later date, after the court session ended at 7 p.m. on Friday, two hours past schedule.
“There’s a lot to think about,” Osborne said.
During the nine-hour proceeding, Osborne heard from five opposing landlord lawyers and other stakeholders who challenged nearly every aspect of Liu’s business plan. They argued the deal would lock them into a long-term contract with an “unsuitable” start-up with no retail experience, which they say would erode the value of their shopping malls.
Allowing Liu’s stores to go into a mall “will degrade the value of that mall and will affect the experience of other tenants in the mall,” said Linda Galessiere, the lawyer for Ivanhoe Cambridge and a group of landlords.
Galessiere told the court Friday that it is concerning that Liu is seeking to take the “largest” and “most prestigious” spaces in her clients’ shopping centres, which were often tasked with driving foot traffic.
She added that “there’s no evidence” Liu intends to hire qualified professionals to run her department store, noting that Liu’s company only appointed a CEO in May, Linda Qin, who had worked as a real estate agent for 15 years.
Galessiere also pointed to an incident involving Wayne Drummond, the former president of Hudson’s Bay, which she said raised ethical concerns about Liu’s conduct.
An affidavit filed by Galessiere in the case included emails showing that on June 7, Qin asked Drummond — who had previously been hired for five hours to attend landlord meetings with Liu and expressed interest in working with the billionaire — to join a media briefing and meet with Liu’s lawyer.
Drummond declined, according to emails, saying it would be inappropriate to appear before the media with only limited knowledge of Liu’s store concept, and was later told he no longer needed to meet with the lawyer.
Galessiere said Drummond later discovered that Liu continued to reference his name to the press despite having no intention of hiring him, prompting him to write to Liu demanding she take “immediate steps to correct the public record.”
“In no circumstance should the landlords be forced into long-term contracts with persons who conduct themselves in this dishonest, misleading conduct,” Galessiere argued.
Lawyers for Liu did not address Galessiere’s comments in court.
Matthew P. Gottlieb, the lawyer for KingSett Capital, a landlord of Hudson’s Bay stores who addressed the court first, said landlords have no right to enforce Liu’s fulfillment of the $400 million she pledged to fund Ruby Liu Commercial Investment, the new corporation she created to run the department store.
“The landlords’ fear is that she’ll just start this project, then say, ‘I can’t do this. I’m not spending any more of it. The money’s gone’,” Gottlieb added.
He further questioned whether Liu actually has $400 million to spare, pointing to evidence showing that as of July 31, 2025, she held a total of $263 million in her bank accounts, including $128 million held offshore.
Maria Konyukhova, Hudson’s Bay’s lawyer, dismissed the claim, saying the $400 million is included in a contractual commitment letter that is legally binding.
“The landlords have cherry-picked details from (Liu’s) financial statements, said Central Walk counsel R. Graham Phoenix, adding that Liu wholly owns three malls in B.C. and is prepared to sell them to raise funds if necessary.
Gottlieb argued that “it’s impossible” for Liu to open the 25 stores within six to 12 months on her total $400 million commitment or $120 million renovation budget, which he argued is an underestimation, noting that her business plan makes no mention of a head office or a distribution centre.
The financial forecast in Liu’s business plan for her planned department stores is “unreliable” and overestimates the revenue they would generate, Gottlieb told the court.
Sean Zweig, lawyer for Alvarez & Marsal, the court-appointed monitor, told the court on Friday that the monitor opposes the deal and concluded in its report that Liu could comply with the leases’ financial obligations but could fall short on non-monetary ones.
Zweig said circumstances have changed since the monitor backed Hudson’s Bay’s May 23 agreement with Liu to take over 28 leases. Liu has switched legal counsel three times, failed to take steps to obtain landlord consent, prompting Hudson’s Bay to threaten to walk away, and still has no viable business plan for its startup business.
“It is not unreasonable, we say, to expect the new business to be able to show some level of operating experience,” Zweig said.
Liu, holding a sign that read “Support Liu,” told the Star outside of the courthouse on Friday that “it’s impossible for the court not to approve my bid under the law.”
The billionaire said landlords’ opposition to her qualifications is unreasonable because they haven’t given her a chance to try.
“I am using my life savings to develop this. I have no debt. I will cherish this opportunity (if the deal is approved).”
The judge will deliver his ruling at a later date.
