The Teslin Tlingit are setting up shop downtown Whitehorse.
On Thursday, the First Nation bought two prominent office buildings.
The First Nation now owns the Shoppers Plaza on Main Street and the Tutshi Building on the corner of Wood Street and Second Avenue.
The First Nation’s leaders expect future development on the undeveloped lots included in the purchase agreements, according to a news release from the First Nation.
Combined with recent acquisitions of vacant commercial properties along the Alaska Highway, the new deal makes the First Nation a major real-estate investor in Whitehorse.
No one from the Teslin Tlingit Council was available for comment.
The Tle’Nax T’awei Limited Partnership, which is owned by the First Nation and will manage the new properties, refused to comment for the story.
The news release did not disclose the details of the purchase. The cost of the two buildings is unknown.
The Tutshi Building is home to a law firm, Yukon Legal Services Society, the Council of Yukon First Nation’s justice office and the workers’ advocate office.
The Shoppers Plaza also houses several business and government offices.
Financing for the deal came in part from the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.
Chilkahit Holdings Inc., a subsidiary owned by the First Nation, holds the investments in trust.