Foreign investors gobble up Canadian CRE

Foreign investors gobble up Canadian CRE

Investment in Canadian commercial real estate in the third quarter reached almost $11.2 billion, setting a record for any 90-day period and marking the second consecutive quarter for a new high.  CBRE Canada said foreign capital continues to be a driver of the market with $3 billion coming in from abroad 90 per cent of the amount directed at hotels.

Financial Post

Venture capital heavyweight backs meeting space startup

Silicon Valley venture capital heavyweight Menlo Ventures has made its biggest investment since it financed Uber leading a $40-million (U.S.) venture financing of hot Montreal startup Breather.  The investment is to fund Breather’s rapidly expanding network of close to 300 professional meeting spaces in 10 cities across North America.

Globe and Mail

Skyline Commercial REIT buying Cervus portfolio

Skyline Commercial REIT is branching into a new area after agreeing to purchase 11 Western Canadian dealership properties from Cervus Equipment Corporation for $55.7 million. Cervus operates authorized agricultural, construction, materials handling and transportation equipment dealerships, working with brands including John Deere, Bobcat, JCB, Clark, Sellick, Doosan and Peterbilt.

Property Biz Canada

Remco Daal, President, Canadian real estate, QuadReal

“Still waters run deep” is the saying that comes to mind at the 12th-floor offices of QuadReal Property Group, which appear calm and unruffled as the staff of 30 people prepare for a year of explosive growth. In June 2016, the property management wing of B.C. Investment Management Corp. (bcIMC) assumed oversight of $2.5 billion in international assets.

Business in Vancouver

SmartREIT signs lease for Harley Davidson Canada head office

Smart Real Estate Investment Trust (SRU.UN-T) and Mitchell Goldhar have completed a lease transaction with Harley Davidson in the KPMG Tower at SmartCentres Place in Vaughan. These new premises of Harley Davidson will be opening in January, 2017 and will represent Harley Davidson’s new Canadian head office. 

Marketwired

Brookfield leases NHL 160,000 SF at One Manhattan West

Brookfield Property Partners LP (BPY-N) has signed a long-term lease with the National Hockey League (NHL) to locate its headquarters to the in-development One Manhattan West office tower at 400 W. 33rd St. in New York City. The NHL is the third major sports league to sign office leases in Manhattan this quarter.

CoStar Group

Imperial Equities rides out latest oil price storm

When I last interviewed Imperial Equities CEO Sine Chadi in early 2013, the oilpatch was booming and so was the local industrial real estate developer he founded in 1998. Imperial’s earnings, revenues and rental income were levitating at record highs, assets topped the $100-million mark for the first time.

Edmonton Journal

PBA Land securs two new downtown Calgary hotel sites

Real estate developers require confidence, support, solid relationships, deep pockets, and above all — patience. PBA Land has all of them, and while its plan to build a downtown hotel under two flags on 5^th Avenue S.W. has taken some time to reach the stage when construction can begin, its patience has been rewarded with required approvals.

Calgary Herald

Federal government spent $416K to renovate new office building

The federal government spent more than $416,000 to renovate a two-year-old office building specifically the 17-floor of an Elgin Street office tower in downtown Ottawa including paying more than $5,000 for 56 coat hooks.

CBC

‘World class’ green neighbourhood steams ahead at Blatchford

Plans for a 100-per-cent renewable energy neighbourhood  on the site of the old municipal airport in Edmonton took a leap forward Tuesday. The executive committee recommends $19.4 million be used for Stage 1 of the project’s utility infrastructure needs.

CBC

Developer wants to build on Yorkville heritage site

City planners — and fans of Toronto’s folk music heyday — are arguing against a condo developer’s plan to erect a 30- storey tower in Yorkville. Empire Communities applied last month for a demolition permit that would allow it to bulldoze the Purple Onion, a coffee-house that in the 1960s hosted the likes of Carly Simon, Gordon Lightfoot and Buffy Sainte-Marie.

CBC

Highrise residential could replace old Children’s Hospital

The site of the former Montreal Children’s Hospital may be razed to make way for residential and commercial towers. The building, sold by the MUHC last Thursday to a real estate developer, has been sitting empty since the hospital moved to the Glen site about a year and a half ago.

CBC Montreal

Starbucks says it will open 12,000 more stores

Starbucks Corp unveiled a five-year growth plan, under which it would open more stores around the world, including several high-end coffee shops, while targeting annual revenue growth of 10 per cent. The company said it would add 12,000 stores globally by 2021.

Financial Post

Equinix to acquire Verizon data center portfolio for $3.6B

Continuing the trend of large telecommunications companies divesting their data center properties, Verizon Communications Inc. has agreed to sell sites across 15 metropolitan areas of the U.S. and South America to Redwood City, CA-based Equinix, Inc. for $3.6 billion cash.

CoStar Group

Aberdeen to launch global real estate secondaries fund

Aberdeen Asset Management is planning to launch a fund to invest in global real estate secondaries. The investment manager is seeking to raise €500m for the strategy, which involves buying stakes in existing property funds. Capital raising is expected to begin early next year.

IPE Real Estate

Market Trends and Research

City of Toronto’s 2017 budget unveiled at special meeting

How will Toronto start paying for some $33 billion worth of capital projects? That’s at the heart of the budget committee’s meeting at city hall Tuesday. The committee is presenting its proposed 2017 budget – which does not include a major residential tax increase or service reductions – at what budget chief Gary Crawford called a “special” meeting.

CBC

Real Estate Investment Trusts

PROREIT completes $7.4 million property acquisition

PRO Real Estate Investment Trust (PRV.UN-T) has successfully closed a previously announced transaction to acquire a mixed use office and retail building in L’Ancienne Lorette, Quebec for $7.4 million.

Retail

HBC focuses more on home goods as fashion sales suffer

As Hudson’s Bay Co. (HBC-T) struggles with soft sales in its core women’s apparel business, it is shifting more attention to another, less prominent, category that is starting to get a bounce: home goods. Toronto-based HBC isn’t alone in trying to cash in on a rise in home-related sales.

Globe and Mail

Restaurants and Eateries

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New Development

Halifax regional council approves Benjamin Wier house addition

Halifax Regional Council has approved a proposal to build a six-storey addition to the Benjamin Wier house at 1459 Hollis Street that will have both residential and office space.  A heritage planner with the municipality recommended that the project should go ahead even though some dormers and a Juliet balcony at the back of the building will have to come down. 

CBC

Infrastructure

RBC makes donation to new Inuit Art Centre in Winnipeg

The RBC Foundation said it is thrilled to donate $500,000 to help build the new Inuit Art Centre in Winnipeg. The facility will help bring the north and the south together, she said. The new four-floor, 40,000-square-foot facility is estimated to cost $65 million.

CBC

Toronto voters will pass judgment on road tolls, Mayor Tory says

Toronto voters will pass judgment on his plan to toll the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway in the next municipal election, Mayor John Tory said on Tuesday. Mr. Tory said that by November of 2018, when he next faces voters, the city should be well on its way to implementing toll road plan.

Globe and Mail

International

U.S. CMBS is ready for fresh start in 2017

CMBS is proving yet again that the market may be down, but it is by no means out as a key capital source for commercial real estate. Despite looming risk retention rules set to go into effect Dec. 24, many in the industry are looking ahead to 2017 with more optimism.

NREI Online

Technology

Virtual reality is disrupting architectural design

When I was little, my parents would take us to antique markets. While much of my nine-year-old brain was preoccupied with Star Wars, I’d pause at tables featuring boxes filled with old stereoscopic cards from the late-1800s and early-1900s. I trained myself to cross my eyes until the two images came together and popped out.

Globe and Mail

Other

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