KRP Properties expands Ottawa area portfolio

KRP Properties expands Ottawa area portfolio

Ottawa-based KRP Properties has acquired nine new properties, expanding the company’s presence in Kanata and – for the first time – in other parts of the National Capital Region. The deal, valued at $70 million, will see KRP take possession of nine buildings with a total of about 426,000 square feet of commercial office space.

Ottawa Business Journal

Tsawwassen Mills: The last new Vancouver mall for a while?

Tsawwassen Mills, Metro Vancouver’s huge new outlet shopping centre set to open in October, has been slowly rising from the ground just north of the ferry terminal for the last two years. The reality, said the mall’s director of development Jeff Brown, is that those two years was just the construction phase.

Vancouver Sun

Starlight poised for ‘aggressive, visible’ growth

A year after formation of Northview Apartment REIT and the recent hiring of Raj Mehta as global head of private capital and partnerships the stage is set for the next phase of Starlight Investments Ltd.’s evolution.

Property Biz Canada

Mainstreet makes acquires Saskatoon buildings

Economic weakness caused by cratering commodity prices allowed Mainstreet Equity Corp. (MEQ-T) to save an estimated 10 to 20 per cent on a massive $32 million real estate deal in Saskatoon, according to the company’s chief financial officer. “A lot of people, they’re really scared of investing right now, but Mainstreet sees this as a great opportunity for us to expand our portfolio in Saskatchewan,” said Johnny Lam.

The Star Phoenix

Hungerford acquires Edmonton’s Royal Alex Place

Long-term thinking and avoiding reliance on the oil and gas industries were behind Hungerford Properties’ recent decision to purchase Edmonton’s Royal Alex Place. The 11-storey building has 44 residential units and three storeys of commercial space.

Property Biz Canada

A look at 10 Edmonton developments

Real estate developments can be like flowers in spring — they grab your attention with colours and pizzazz, but if the climate doesn’t co-operate they eventually fade from view. The local economic climate has been uncertain for most of the last decade, so Edmonton hasn’t always provided fertile ground for new construction projects.

Edmonton Journal

Vancouver hires former Portland city planner

The City of Vancouver has appointed a successor to fill the crucial position left vacant when Brian Jackson, its last head of planning, retired last winter. Gil Kelley is slated to start Sept. 15 as chief planner and general manager of the newly created department of planning, urban design and sustainability.

Vancouver Sun – Business in Vancouver

Railway tracks removed from Vancouver’s Arbutus corridor

Vancouver’s Arbutus greenway is finally free of the railway track that for decades ran down the centre of the city like a nasty scar. The ties and rails have been pulled up, clearing a path for walkers, runners and cyclists who can now traverse the length of the 9-km route from Kitsilano to the Fraser River.

The Province

Nordstrom Rack discount retail stores to open in Calgary and Toronto

As part of its continuing expansion into Canada, Nordstrom Inc. announced plans Tuesday to open new locations of its discount Nordstrom Rack brand in Calgary and Vaughan, Ont., by spring 2018. Nordstrom Rack is part of the upscale department store’s off-price retail division, with products discounted by 30 per cent to 70 per cent off Nordstrom’s regular store prices.

CBC – Canada Newswire – Canada Newswire

Office Depot to shut another 300 stores

Office Depot Inc., which scrapped a plan to merge with larger rival Staples Inc in May on antitrust concerns, said it would close about 300 more stores in the next three years to help cut annual costs by $250-million by the end of 2018. The company, which had closed 400 stores by the end of the second quarter. 

Globe and Mail

Getting through tougher times

Businesses are bound to go through ups and downs. That’s normal. As a property owner, learning how to mitigate long-term risk takes some experience, but also common sense. Unexpected occurrences will happen.

Read more

Altus Group strengthens UK CRE property tax services

Altus Group Limited (AIF-T) has acquired R2G Limited, a specialist chartered surveyors firm focused on business rates services. The acquisition of RatesRecovery strategically enhances the Company’s business rates offerings in the UK immediately ahead of the 2017 Business Rates Revaluation.

Marketwired

An aging lock one breakdown from crippling the N.A. economy

The dispatch tower above the Soo Locks on a fine July day offers a spectacular view, but there is little time to admire it. There are five telephones and five radios, and at 9 a.m. a radio squawks. Few people ever think about locks. But the two U.S.-owned ones here are linchpins of the Canadian and U.S. economies. 

Financial Post

JLL reports strong second quarter 2016

Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (JLL-N) reported diversified revenue growth for the second quarter of 2016 resulting in earnings per share of $1.73 and adjusted earnings per share of $1.93. Record second-quarter revenue with double-digit growth. LaSalle Investment Management assets under management reach record high of $59 billion.

Marketwired

Coach monetizes space at 10 Hudson Yards

Coach Inc. has sold its stake in10 Hudson Yards skyscraper in a sale-leaseback that was part of a larger deal that saw Allianz take a 44 percent interest in the building and the investor group refinance with a $1.2 billion mortgage. The company is the largest tenant in the 1.8 million-square-foot office tower constructed by Related Cos. and Oxford Properties Group.

CP Executive

Market Trends and Research

Real estate GDP now represents half of Canada’s economic growth

Real estate is like a crutch now, propping up Canada’s economy as oil has taken a tumble. Canada’s GDP fell by 0.6 per cent last month, but the real estate sector has kept growing. It has grown so much that it represents approximately half of the country’s economic growth, Brian DePratto, an economist with TD Bank, told BNN.

Huffington Post

Westmount seeks anti-corruption screening for contractors

The city of Westmount passed a resolution Monday night requiring any company bidding on a public construction contract of $100,000 or more be required to pass a background check by the province’s financial regulator. The resolution would put Westmount on par with the city of Montreal, which has had similar measures in place since 2014.

Montreal Gazette

Hydro-Québec seeks rate hike of 1.6 per cent for 2017

Hydro-Québec, denied a 1.7 per cent increase in electricity rates the last time it asked, is seeking 1.6 per cent more from residential and most business customers for the 12-month period beginning April 1, 2017. In last year’s application, Hydro-Québec asked initially for 1.9 per cent more, then reduced it to 1.7 per cent.

Montreal Gazette

Real Estate Companies

Former District Realty employee launches new Ottawa brokerage

Ottawa’s newest independent commercial leasing broker knows he has his work cut out for him, but he says he’s up for the challenge. After nearly a decade as head of District Realty’s leasing operations, John Zinati has left to start his own firm, Zinati Realty. The 36-year-old Ottawa native said he felt he’d advanced as far as he could at family-owned District and decided it was time to venture out on his own

Ottawa Business Journal

Northern Alberta work camp on the auction block

Looking to upgrade from a small bungalow to something to fit a growing family? What if that family is growing to 1,200 people? Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers just might have your answer. Amid slow oilsands production, a northern Alberta work camp has been put up for sale, lock stock and fully furnished gym.

Edmonton Journal

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Pure Multi-Family REIT LP closes equity offering

Pure Multi-Family REIT LP (RUF.UN-X) announced the closing of its previously announced bought deal public offering of 4,884,000 Class A units, inclusive of 444,000 Units issued pursuant to the full exercise of the over-allotment option, at a price of CDN$7.64 per Unit, for gross proceeds to Pure Multi of CDN$37.3 million.

Pure Multi-Family REIT News Release

CAP REIT closing equity financing

CAP REIT (CAR.UN-T) has closed its previously announced issue and sale of 5,126,000 units for $32.20 per unit for aggregate gross proceeds of $165,057,200, which includes the exercise in full of the over-allotment option. The offering was sold through a syndicate of underwriters led by RBC Capital Markets on a bought-deal basis.

Marketwired

2 REITs with high and safe yields of 4-5%

Investing in real estate investment trusts (REITs) is a great way to diversify your portfolio while adding a reliable stream of monthly income. If you’re interested in doing these two things, then check out these two REITs with high and safe yields of 4-5% that you could buy today.

The Motley Fool

New York REIT cancels merger with JBG

New York REIT, Inc. (NYRT-N) and private real estate firm The JBG Companies announced Aug. 2 that they have agreed to terminate their previously announced merger due to a lack of shareholder support for the deal. Instead, New York REIT will adopt a plan of selling individual assets, the company said.

REIT.com

Retail

Jewelry chain shutting after more than 100 years

After more than a century in business, Winnipeg-based jewelry chain Ben Moss Jewellers is closing its doors. On July 29, Gordon Brothers Canada announced going-out-of-business sales will begin at all 54 Ben Moss Jewellers Western Canada Ltd. locations across Canada, five of which are in Manitoba.

Winnipeg Free Press

New Development

Nova Scotia government to evaluate two historic buildings

The provincial government is considering a number of submissions in deciding the future of two historic buildings in downtown Halifax the seven-storey Dennis Building site on Granville Street which includes the three-storey Hansard Building and the adjacent parking lot.

The Chronicle Herald

Sports Venues

Pacific Coliseum looks to a future without Vancouver Giants

The operators of the Pacific Coliseum say they are in the early stages of trying to recruit another main tenant, possibly a sports franchise, to replace the Vancouver Giants after the Western Hockey League team announced it is moving to the Langley Events Centre for the coming season.

Vancouver Sun

Northlands CEO warns of revenue shortfall

Northlands president and CEO Tim Reid warned this past K-Days could be the last should city council fail at the end of the month to reach a decision that would allow Northlands, a non-profit that operates the arena and the 64-hectare property around it to generate new revenue. The opening of Rogers Place this fall will effectively bring an end to business at Rexall Place.

Edmonton Journal

Infrastructure

Port, Hudson Bay Railway should be in public hands

It is becoming increasingly apparent that Omnitrax is seeking a buyout, and not a bailout. It’s been little more than a week since the Denver-based company that owns the Hudson Bay Port Company and Hudson Bay Railway stunned northern Manitoba by shutting the former and curtailing freight traffic on the latter.

Winnipeg Free Press – Winnipeg Free Press

Bombardier Transportation wins $428M contract in Ontario

Bombardier Transportation announced Tuesday that Ontario’s regional transit agency, Metrolinx, has exercised options to purchase 125 new commuter double-deck rail cars. Metrolinx is the Ontario transportation agency for the Greater Toronto area and Hamilton.

Montreal Gazette

Montreal will spend more than expected on lead pipes

The city of Montreal expects to spend $540 million — more than twice what was originally budgeted — to replace lead pipes that carry water to 69,000 homes. The new price tag is 118 per cent higher than the $248-million cost announced in 2007 when Montreal said it would replace the city-owned side of the pipes by 2026.

Montreal Gazette

International

Freddie Mac prices multifamily K-deal

Freddie Mac recently priced a new offering of Structured Pass-Through Certificates (K Certificates) backed by floating-rate multifamily mortgages with predominantly 7-year terms. The approximately $1.1 billion in K Certificates (K-F19 Certificates) are expected to settle on or about August 17, 2016.

Marketwired

2,000 community-development professionals meet in Detroit

An estimated $3.3 million boost is coming to the Detroit economy when more than 2,000 community development professionals from around the country convene in the city for the NeighborWorks Training Institute Aug. 8-12. The conference is hosted by NeighborWorks America, a national, congressionally chartered nonprofit.

Marketwired

Sustainability

Every business, government should prepare to be Fort McMurray

Like the 2011 Slave Lake wildfire, the 2013 flooding in southern Alberta and other costly, disruptive events that have affected Canadian communities in recent years, the Fort McMurray wildfire came as a surprise to everyone. This is largely because we do not have a very full and robust picture of natural catastrophe risk in Canada. So we continue to be surprised – and often unprepared.

Globe and Mail

Other

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