CF Promenade on the block

CF Promenade on the block

Cadillac Fairview confirmed the Promenade Mall in Thornhill is for sale. The mall has 117 tenants, including a Sears and a T&T supermarket. Cadillac Fairview spent $25 million redeveloping the 879,000-square-foot centre in 2009.

Toronto Star – YorkRegion.com

Rexall Place renovation could break arena deal

A Rexall Place renovation supported by the City of Edmonton looks like a deal-breaker. By advocating on behalf of Northlands’ plan to renovate the grand old barn as a six- or seven-sheet hockey tournament venue, it appears the city contravenes the 2013 master agreement with the Katz Group.

Edmonton Journal

Pressure on office market to continue: McNair

Changes in Canada’s office market will accelerate in 2016 and beyond, according to longtime real estate observer Sandy McNair. “We see the fragmentation accelerating, based on the users becoming more and more distinct and different,” said McNair, former president of Altus InSite who currently holds the title of Altus Data Solutions’ data curator at Altus Group.

Property Biz Canada

Waterloo next step in Regus expansion

Global workspace provider Regus’ explosive Canadian growth continued last week with the opening of what it believes is a groundbreaking technology-driven centre in Waterloo, Ont. “We look at Waterloo as both a great short-term and long-term investment,” said Regus Canada vice-president Wayne Berger.

Property Biz Canada

Hamilton ready for post-Steeltown boom

For Graeme Smith, cheese is the new steel. The laid-off steelworker-turned-entrepreneur serves gourmet grilled cheese to former co-workers at the restaurant he opened on gentrifying Ottawa Street, in the shadow of Hamilton’s steel mills.

Toronto Star – Toronto Star

Top planner has big plans for Saskatoon

As the City of Saskatoon prepares to unveil its Growth Plan to Half a Million, director of planning and development Alan Wallace says it’s time to embrace a new model of urban development, beginning with major transportation corridors like Eighth Street.

Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Estevan poster child of economy’s decline

If you want to find out what’s ailing Saskatchewan’s economy these days, you’ve come to the right place. Just as Estevan was at the heart of Saskatchewan’s economic boom, the self-styled Energy Capital of Saskatchewan is now the epicentre of the province’s economic slowdown.

Financial Post – Regina Leader-Post – Financial Post

How to keep your national tenants happy

If I’ve learned one thing about my tenants over the decades, it’s that it doesn’t matter if it’s national or local, you need to know their business well. However, there are certain nuances of working with a tenant national in scope.

Read more

Dream Office REIT shifting gears

Late Thursday, Dream Office REIT (D.UN-T), one of Canada’s largest office tower owners, announced sweeping plans to slash its distribution by one-third, top up its credit facility to $800 million and unload at least $1.2 billion worth of properties over the next three years. Slashing the distribution saves roughly $80 million annually.

Globe and Mail (Subscription Required)

Will 2016 be any better for retailers?

It’s been 13 months since Target Canada filed for bankruptcy protection, capping one of the most disastrous expansions in the history of the retail business. “That seemed to open the floodgates of bad retail news,” Edward Sonshine, the head of RioCan (REI.UN-T), one of the country’s biggest mall operators, said last week.

Global News

The Sak-ing of Hudson’s Bay

At the risk of dispelling some of the fairy dust that has settled over the opening of the Saks Fifth Avenue store, a question: what ever happened to HBC (HBC-T)? The bifurcated operation — Saks to the east side, Hudson’s Bay to the west — is a curious experiment designed, apparently, to drive consumers to and fro.

Toronto Star – Winnipeg Free Press

Laura Canada optimistic about future

Danier Leather Inc.’s recent insolvency filing is only the latest reminder Canada is a formidable market for its own legacy retailers. Having spent most of his life in retail, Kalman Fisher is more than aware of those challenges as president of Montreal-based Laura Canada, an 86-year-old family-run private womenswear company.

Financial Post

Real estate brokers masters of our own destiny

As self-governing, quasi-judicial bodies, we in organized real estate were charged with the responsibility of determining how the public will be served by our industry. This was not a responsibility that came easy.

Read more

U.S. CRE sales reach 60-day peak

Stock market volatility or no stock market volatility, preliminary data from Real Capital Analytics suggest January deal volume for U.S. commercial property sales remained elevated at $44.5 billion.

Globest.com – National Real Estate Investor – Orange County Register

NYC slender towers rise to dizzying heights

In New York City, there’s no escaping the pressure to be taller and thinner — not even for the skyscrapers.Changes in building technology and materials in recent years have made it possible to build slender towers that are among the tallest in the world. And some of these cloud-puncturing beanstalks are poised to transform the city’s iconic skyline.

Montreal Gazette

Market Trends and Research

Best U.S. hotel market in 20 years: Opinion

“We are currently in the hottest hotel development market in 20 years,” Jonathan Watts, a partner at KFA, tells GlobeSt.com. Watts recently joined the architecture firm as a partner and will be leading the firm’s hospitality design. According to Watts, this is a golden age for hotel and hospitality design.

Globest.com

The office campus is back in U.S.

Tampa, Fla., which was hurt as severely as any U.S. metro by job losses and the housing market collapse in the wake of the Great Recession, might not have appeared on the radar of most investors looking to buy a large corporate office campus, much less a property that includes a significant speculative development play.

CoStar Group – National Real Estate Investor

Latin America new hot spot for investors

Investors who feel they’ve been booted out of the U.S. real estate market may want to consider doing the cha cha cha in Latin America. Exchange-traded fund industry newcomer Tierra Funds believes Latin America is the new hot spot for real estate investors.

Forbes

Real Estate Companies

Dundee appoints Henderson Sotheby’s CEO

Dundee Corporation (DC.A-T) announced the appointment of Brad J. Henderson to the position of president/CEO of Sotheby’s International Realty Canada, effective immediately. Sotheby’s International Realty Canada is a key component of Dundee’s wealth management strategy catering to the high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth markets.

Marketwired

Ontario vows to work with Airbnb to collect taxes

Ontario is rolling out the welcome mat to Airbnb, the home rental company, with the two promising to work together including urging hosts to declare income. Finance Minister Charles Sousa announced a pilot project at a news conference on Friday with Aaron Zifkin, Airbnb’s manager in Canada.

Toronto Star – Financial Post

End tax plan for stock options: Shopify CEO

The CEO of one of Canada’s up-and-coming tech companies is calling on the federal government to abandon its plan to expand taxation of stock options, saying the move will make it more difficult for startup firms to attract talent. Tobi Lutke said the Liberal proposal would have it more difficult to launch his Ottawa-based e-commerce company, Shopify.

Globe and Mail – Financial Post

REOC Financial Reports

	REITs & REOCs – Fourth-quarter 2015 report
	RENX has prepared a table with a convenient list of the companies and a summary of links to their reports that will be updated quarterly. Fourth-quarter results are now arriving. Canadian REITs & REOCs – Fourth-quarter 2015 report

 

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Rona vs. RioCan REIT

In one case, a U.S. company, Lowe’s (LOW-N) — which recently struck a deal to purchase Rona (RON-T) — agreed to acquire all the outstanding preferred shares for $20 cash. The second case concerns RioCan REIT (REI.UN-T), which announced this month it was redeeming a $125 million issue of rate reset preferred units when it matures next month. 

Financial Post

Retail

Indochino CEO inspired by the journey

If you want to understand what inspires new Indochino CEO Drew Green, a good start would be to read the 1988 book The Alchemist. He still carries the book around in his handbag and he claims to have read it “1,000 times.”

Business In Vancouver

How store closures hit CRE investment

Store closures by Macy’s, Walmart, Sears and others are all over the news and, with these falling dominoes what others are at risk? Certainly lenders, owners, investors and other co-located retailers may be, but commercial real estate players and CMBS players alike must take note to ensure retailers’ falling dominoes don’t nick them.

Forbes

Restaurants and Eateries

Bridgehead doesn’t see Starbucks as a threat

Bridgehead Inc., a small Ottawa-based coffee shop business, continues to capture ground in a competitive local café environment. The number of Bridgehead Coffee locations will double in the city in the next three years, said Tracey Clark, owner of the coffee chain.

Financial Post

Second Cup reports positive same-store sales

Second Cup Ltd. (SCU-T) ended last year with its first profitable quarter since 2012. The chain of coffee shops had $94,000 of net income in the three months ended Dec. 26, or one cent per share, compared with a loss of $469,000 or four cents per share in the fourth quarter a year earlier.

Montreal Gazette – Canada Newswire

Renovation and Restoration

Former Winnipeg Legion rejuvenated

Winnipeg-based Sherwood Developments Ltd. has breathed new life into an old Winnipeg legion by converting it into a modern, energy-efficient office building with spectacular views of the Red River. The firm, best known for building apartment blocks and condominium complexes, spent an estimated $2.3 million upgrading and repurposing the former Royal Canadian Legion.

Winnipeg Free Press

Infrastructure

Macquarie raises funds for infrastructure strategy

Macquarie Asian Infrastructure Fund (MAIF) has broken its target by more than 50 per cent, raising a total of $3.1 billion US in its final close. The Macquarie Fund has attracted capital from Europe, the U.S. and Asia as global investors seek to capitalize on exponential growth in demand for infrastructure in Asia.

IPE Real Estate

Canadian infrastructure bank viable option: Report

A federal infrastructure bank is a viable option to finance, evaluate and deliver the country’s next wave of infrastructure investment as well as giving Canada’s economy a much-needed boost, says University of Toronto associate professor Matti Siemiatycki who authored the report “Creating an Effective Canadian Infrastructure Bank.”

Canada Newswire

Human Resources

Kit and Ace seeks top executives as CEO let go

Rapid growth at 19-month-old Kit and Ace has increased the size of the fashion retailer to around 700 employees and 61 stores in five countries, and with that growth comes opportunities for senior executives as well as entry-level staff.

Business In Vancouver

Frank Gehry contemplates return to Toronto

Frank Gehry, who turns 87 on Feb. 28 and is widely regarded as the greatest living architect, was born in Toronto. But if you didn’t visit the retrospective in the Pompidou Centre in Paris and can’t get to the museum exhibition of his career highlights wowing visitors to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art until March 20, then you will miss it.

Toronto Star

Other

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