Key piece of Toronto’s “mink mile” for sale

Key piece of Toronto’s “mink mile” for sale

A critical piece of Toronto’s famed retail “Mink Mile”, 15 Bloor St. West is for sale for between $75 to $100 million.  The three-storey property, currently home to fashion retailer H&M, is situated right next to The One, which developer Sam Mizrahi touts will be the country’s tallest residential tower once completed in 2022. 

CoStar Group

Victoria prepares for development rush

Greater Victoria will accelerate into 2018 as B.C.’s second-busiest city for real estate development with existing major retail and residential projects surging forward and new ones firing up. The booming industrial sector is clamouring for space as the vacancy rate has fallen to near-record lows.  Building permit values as of the end of October were up 170% from the same time a year earlier to $184.7 million, according to Statistics Canada.

Business in Vancouver

Mainstreet buys 641 Regina apartments from Boardwalk

Mainstreet Equity Corporation continued expanding its apartment portfolio with the acquisition of 641 units in Regina, Saskatchewan for $71.65 million from Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust. The portfolio consists of 49 properties known as Boardwalk Estates, and includes two acres of residual land as well as a warehouse. 

Property Biz Canada – Calgary Herald

Strathallen markets industrial land north of Toronto

Strathallen Capital Corp. believes the time is ripe to release almost 100 acres of industrial and commercial land just north of Toronto, where land prices have risen rapidly and vacancy rates declined in recent years. The company launched site servicing of the land in Bradford-West Gwillimbury and has sold two parcels that will be developed in 2018.

Property Biz Canada

80 Atlantic Avenue, a collaboration in woodrise construction

Toronto’s first office building constructed of wood under the 2015 amendments to the Ontario Building Code will be on the rise early next year in the west end neighbourhood of Liberty Village. The project, known as 80 Atlantic Avenue, consists of four-storeys of nail-laminated timber (NLT) with glulam beams and columns above a one-storey concrete structure.

Daily Commercial News

Cree Nation invests in Kanata, Val-d’Or hotel project

The Cree Nation trust fund, James Bay Eeyou Corporation, is investing more than $5 million into two hotel projects — one in Val-d’Or, Que., and another in Kanata near Ottawa. “The market potential is very high given the development in both these areas, so it’s a good investment,” said Abel Bosum, grand chief of the Grand Council of the Crees.

CBC

Multimillion-dollar distillery under construction in Regina

Moni Minhas is currently working to build the biggest distillery in the history of Saskatchewan. By the end of February, he said he’ll have products on the shelf that were made in the province. The distillery will produce gin, vodka, whiskey, wine, cream liquor and ready-to-drink cocktails.

CBC

American Hotel Income Properties REIT LP CEO takes compensation in equity

American Hotel Income Properties REIT LP (HOT.UN-T) announced Rob O’Neill, CEO, has recently purchased 164,000 of its units in the open market and has requested to take 100% of his compensation for 2018 in the form of equity. Mr. O’Neill’s decision to increase his ownership in AHIP is based on his belief the Units are currently substantially undervalued given the long-term direction and value of the company.

Marketwired

Al Mawani resigns from Slate Office REIT Board of Trustees

Slate Office REIT (SOT.UN-T), a leading owner of office properties in Canada, announced today that Al Mawani has resigned from the REIT’s board of trustees. Mr. Mawani is resigning from the Board in order to focus on his other recent board appointments and non-profit sector engagements.

Globe Newswire

Mall REIT mergers: Shopping spree or defensive strategy?

Two mergers worth around $100bn have shown the continuing investment appeal of shopping centres. Westfield Corporation announced it will buy Unibail-Rodamco for $24.7bn less than a week after a similar tie-up between two listed European shopping centres owners Hammerson and Intu. Last month, US mall REIT General Growth Properties (GPP) confirmed that Brookfield Property Partners intended to acquire its remaining 66% stake in GGP.

IPE Real Estate

What WeWork’s jump into retail means for REITs

While lots of eyes and attention remain fixed on 2017’s string of retail bankruptcies and the growth of “clicks-to-bricks” retailers, WeWork may be quietly laying the foundation for a broader move into retail real estate. There certainly appears to be no shortage of funding momentum for the $26 billion startup.

CP Executive

SmartCentres REIT issues $500 million in two unsecured debentures

SmartCentres REIT (SRU.UN-T) has agreed to issue $250 million aggregate principal amount of Series R and $250 million aggregate principal amount of Series S senior unsecured debentures on an agency basis. The Series R debentures will carry a floating rate of 3-month CDOR + 66 basis points and will mature on December 21, 2020. The Series S debentures will carry a coupon of 3.834% and will mature on December 21, 2027.

Marketwired

KPMG: Not so happy holidays for many Canadian retailers

Changing consumer expectations and habits threaten to see even more Canadian retailers close in 2018, says KPMG‘s Willy Kruh, Global Chairman, Consumer and Retail National Leader, High Growth Markets Canada. Kruh notes that the fundamental changes that are impacting domestic retailers have been somewhat masked by a couple of key factors that they likely won’t continue into 2018 – a robust economy and low interest rates.

Canada Newswire

Dollar Stores remain retail success story

As the convenience of online shopping continues to propel its growth at the expense of some brick-and-mortar retail locations, one corner of the traditional retail market seems to be expanding along just fine: dollar stores.  Dollar General Corp. and Dollar Tree Inc. continue rolling out hundreds of new stores each quarter — and both announced plans to continue to do so next year.

CoStar Group

Shanghai seen replacing Paris as global growth center by 2035

Shanghai will replace Paris in the top five list of global city economies by 2035 in a sign the balance of the world’s economy is shifting east, according to an Oxford Economics study. The top 780 cities in the world, which already produce almost 60 per cent of global activity, will add almost half a billion more people and US$32 trillion in output over roughly the next couple of decades.

Ottawa Citizen

Market Trends and Research

Survey: 33 per cent of Canadian law firms plan to expand teams

Thirty-three per cent of Canadian lawyers interviewed by Robert Half Legal anticipate that their law firms or companies will add legal jobs in the first half of 2018. This compares to 32 per cent six months ago and 30 per cent one year ago. Forty-nine per cent of lawyers said they plan to only fill vacant posts in the next six months, while 15 per cent said they would neither fill vacant positions nor create new ones.

Canada Newswire

A deep dive into the financial statements of Canada’s biggest corporations

For every dollar corporations pay to the Canadian government in income tax, people pay $3.50. The proportion of the public budget funded by personal income taxes has never been greater. At a time when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made tax fairness a centrepiece of his government, the Toronto Star and Corporate Knights magazine spent six months poring over tax data to determine how much income tax corporations are really paying.

Toronto Star

Hospitality association finds Toronto’s King St. sales are down

Citing sales drops ranging from 5 to 25 per cent, King St. merchants want Toronto city hall to suspend the King St. pilot project on evenings and weekends — or cancel it altogether. “The problem is real,” Tony Elenis, chief executive of the Ontario Restaurant Hotel & Motel Association, said of sagging foot traffic and revenues for King St. West eateries since the year-long transit experiment started on November 12.

Toronto Star

Real Estate Companies

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Real Estate Investment Trusts

H&R REIT and H&R Finance Trust receive final order for reorganization

H&R Real Estate Investment Trust and H&R Finance Trust  (HR.UN-T and HR.DB.D) have announced today that they have received a final order from the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta approving the internal reorganization which was previously announced by the Trusts in a press release dated October 19, 2017.

Canada Newswire

Retail

London, Ontario maps 300 possible locations for pot shops

City staff released a map on Tuesday outlining more than 300 possible locations for pot shops across London. A report presented to city councillors outlined possible geographic guidelines for marijuana stores, including opening up shops with at least a 500 meter buffer from schools, community centres and libraries.

CBC

New Development

Brampton council to buy golf club without consulting residents

Brampton city council has voted in favour of purchasing and converting an existing golf clubhouse into a new seniors’ facility and recreation centre in a deal critics say lacked transparency.  It is to cost $11.6 million — $9 million for the land and $2.6 million to renovate the location and bring it up to city standards.

CBC

Infrastructure

Wild ideas for getting from Montreal to Quebec City

In a campaign-style speech last month, Premier Philippe Couillard mused about his desire to build a rapid transit link between Montreal and Quebec City.  He mentioned few specifics and made no reference to cost; in terms of detail, it fell somewhere between a rough draft and an exercise in free association.

CBC

Other

This ‘rooftopper’ became a star taking selfies atop skyscrapers

For months, Wu Yongning had climbed towers and buildings high above the streets of cities in China, turning a camera on himself as he teetered on ledges or clutched an antenna with one hand. Through his dizzying lens, he became a celebrity for his high-altitude stunts, amassing thousands of followers on Weibo, the Chinese microblogging site.

Toronto Star

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