Amazon files patent for a flying warehouse

Amazon files patent for a flying warehouse

Amazon his filed a patent for a flying drone the size of a warehouse. We’ve known about Amazon’s drone delivery ambitions since 2013, but a new patent circulated today via CB Insights Zoe Leavitt indicates the online retailer is working on plans to scale up this concept through “airborne fulfillment centers”  or AFCs.

Financial Post – Winnipeg Free Press

CPPIB pockets $1B on sale of NYC office stake

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board has let go of its 45 percent ownership stake in 1221 Avenue of the Americas, a 2.6 million-square-foot office tower at Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan. The Toronto-based pension fund sold its share of the 50-story skyscraper to a global institutional investor for $1 billion in a deal valuing the asset at a whopping $2.3 billion.

CP Executive – CoStar Group

So long to iconic Honest Ed’s: Editorial

Like a loud tie, Honest Ed’s has garishly announced its presence at the corner of Bathurst and Bloor for 68 years. But late on New Year’s Eve, the 23,000 lights that festoon the creaky old building will be turned off for the last time and the iconic bargain store will close its doors forever.

Toronto Star – CBC

Why losing Mirvish Village is like losing a piece of Toronto

A tree-lined side street so unique to Toronto that it became known as a village will empty out next month with long-term tenants bemoaning the loss of an important part of the city’s history. Mirvish Village located in the shadow of the iconic Honest Ed’s building has approximately 70 tenants — some who have worked on the block since the 1970s — will be evicted.

CBC

Ukrainian museum to sell Brighton Block to local developer

The long-derelict Brighton Block — a Jasper Avenue heritage landmark — may soon have a new owner. And a new future. The building’s current owner, the Ukrainian Canadian Archives and Museum of Alberta, has just come to an agreement to sell the 1912 building to Edmonton businessman Ken Cantor and his company, Primavera Development Group.

Edmonton Journal

Colliers rethinks the marketing strategies of tech firms

B.C.’s technology sector is maturing with more first-generation start-ups stabilizing and seeking newer, higher-quality downtown office space, according to a new report by Colliers International. Tech firm growth in Metro Vancouver, Victoria and Kelowna has been changing tech companies’ office space and design needs, while more start-ups are emerging as stable businesses with larger staffs, according to the firm’s TAMI report.

Vancouver Sun

Shipping container hotel opens in Bruderheim, Alberta

A new hotel in Bruderheim is thinking outside the box by inviting guests to sleep inside refurbished shipping containers. The $6-million structure is almost entirely built out of shipping containers — making it the largest structure of its kind in North America. The new hotel offers 63 rooms, all with kitchenettes. Room rates range from $119 to $139 per night.

CBC

Owner vows to rebuild historic Banff hotel after fire

Nearly 300 people escaped an early morning fire Thursday that badly ravaged the historic Mount Royal Hotel in Banff. Fire crews from across the Bow Valley converged on the blaze that began on the 108-year-old hotel’s roof and wrecked all of its 135 rooms. The blaze is a big blow to Banff’s tourist industry and a setback for an historic asset, said Mark Hendrikse, VP for the owner Brewster Travel Canada.

Calgary Herald

Calgary’s Rocky Ridge recreation centre too shiny

Shiny and new is usually a good thing, but not in the case of the Rocky Ridge Recreational Facility in northwest Calgary where too shiny is causing problems. Councillor Ward Sutherland  said “The panelling outside is various colours but in particular the gold panelling is extremely shiny right now. Unfortunately, depending on time of day and where the sun is positioned, it does create a glare.”

CBC

Ottawa’s Embassy West retirement home eyes expansion

The owners of an Ottawa retirement residence are asking the city to ease height restrictions on the property, located on Carling Avenue near Highway 417, as part of a long-planned expansion. The original five-storey Embassy West building is more than 50 years old and operated as a hotel until the late 2000s, when it was converted in stages to a retirement residence.

Ottawa Business Journal

New wood technology may offer hope for struggling timber

John Redfield watches with pride as his son moves a laser-guided precision saw the size of a semi-truck wheel into place over a massive panel of wood. Redfield’s fingers are scarred from a lifetime of cutting wood and now, after decades of decline in the logging business, he has new hope that his son, too, can make a career shaping the timber felled in southern Oregon’s forests.

Montreal Gazette

Real estate mogul remembers humble beginnings

On May 14, 1963, a determined young man from Greece took a step that would change his life and the entire City of Halifax. On that day, Eddie Rouvalis, founder of what would become 29th and State Streets Ltd., would follow in the footsteps of the thousands of immigrants who arrived at the city’s famed Pier 21.

The Chronicle Herald

Another banner year for commercial real estate

For all its ups and downs, U.S. commercial real estate enjoyed another banner year in 2016, thanks in large part to the unprecedented run in multifamily rents and property values and the fact that the U.S. continues to be viewed as a ‘safe haven’ by global property investors.

CoStar Group

Manulife US REIT mulls office building acquisitions

Manulife US REIT, which bills itself as the first pure-play US office REIT listed in Asia, intends to pursue additional office acquisitions in the US, according to a recent report posted on the Singapore Exchange.  Manulife US REIT intends to target one major asset purchase per year, with a price tag ranging from $100 million to $150 million, according to Jill Smith, CEO of Manulife US Real Estate Management.

CoStar Group

Manulife Asset Management concludes another successful year

Manulife Asset Management  is concluding another strong year, with growth in both sales and assets under management. It also continues to invest in the firm’s leadership, multi-asset solutions and thought leadership capabilities. Total global assets managed by the firm were $450 billion as of September 30, 2016, up 10 per cent from September 30 last year.

Canada Newswire

Market Trends and Research

2017 may challenge Canadian investors

Beginning with real estate, we remain worried that the recent government restrictions on foreign ownership in Vancouver along with new qualification requirements for new homebuyers could limit further appreciation in the residential housing market.

Financial Post

	RENX top story picks for 2016
	The past year generated more real estate news than any year since RENX started publishing in 2001.  Instead of 5 top stories we selected ten and while we have confined our entire list to 100 stories in the past we let it run on this year. RENX top story picks for 2016

 

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Morguard REIT completes previously announced public offering

Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust (MRT.UN-T) has completed its previously announced public offering, on a bought deal basis, of $175 million aggregate principal amount of 4.50% convertible unsecured subordinated debentures due December 31, 2021. The Debentures are convertible, at the option of the holder, into trust units of Morguard REIT at $20.40 per trust unit.

Canada Newswire

Restaurants and Eateries

McDonald’s fights to shed junk food image

The head of McDonald’s Canada wants you to know one thing as the Golden Arches prepares to mark their golden anniversary. “I will tell you straight out that the reputation we have for food is absolutely unfair, unrealistic and a total … fill in the blank,” says president and CEO John Betts, slamming his hand on a table during a recent interview.

Ottawa Business Journal

Renovation and Restoration

“Europeans do it better” says Vancouver designer

As a Vancouver-based interior designer, Chrissy Cotrell has had a life-long love affair with Europe, specifically France and Italy. Her latest blog explains her bias for strategically introducing a few restored antiques into her designs. According to Chrissy, these pieces not only combine the past and present in a marvellous rhapsody of colour and texture-they also pull double-duty as great conversation pieces.

Marketwired

Infrastructure

Independent report clears City of Ottawa in Rideau sinkhole

The massive, van-swallowing sinkhole that opened up on Rideau Street earlier this year was not the city’s fault, according to an external investigation the city commissioned.  The sinkhole opened up on Rideau Street near Sussex Drive earlier this year above where the Confederation Line’s tunneling was taking place.

CBC

Other

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