Caisse pitches new Montreal rail network

Caisse pitches new Montreal rail network

The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is proposing to build a $5.5-billion automated rail network connecting downtown Montreal with the south and north shores and the airport. The pension fund unveiled details of the 67-kilometre project which would generate an estimated $5-billion in private real estate developments along the route.

Globe and Mail – Canada Newswire – Montreal Gazette

Public saga erupts about the future of Couche-Tard

Concerns about family succession and the abilities of the children of Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.A-T) founders to steer the convenience store chain into the future has erupted into a public saga, putting the Quebec company at odds with some of its biggest institutional investors. 

Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail

GM buys TO site for “mobility campus”

General Motors of Canada has purchased a seven-acre site on the east side of Toronto’s downtown from Cinespace Film Studios and plans to transform it into the “Toronto GM Mobility Campus.” GM plans to develop a multi-use property comprised of: office space; research and development facilities; vehicle sales and services, including sales of electric vehicles; and a public experience centre featuring innovations in mobility.

Property Biz Canada

Fire in Gatineau building displaces 1,800 staff

The Department of National Defence is trying to determine what to do with as many as 1,800 of its employees after a fire closed the Louis St. Laurent building in Gatineau this week. The department is the main tenant for the building at 555 Boul. de la Carrière.

Ottawa Citizen – CBC.ca

Divided Edmonton city council approves 16-storey tower

Edmonton city council passed zoning changes Wednesday to allow a 16-storey tower just south of Whyte Avenue, overruling advice from its professional planners and volunteer design committee. After the motion passed 9-3, Coun. Ben Henderson railed at his colleagues for also ignoring a neighbourhood plan yet again.

Edmonton Journal – Edmonton Journal – Edmonton Journal

Calgary developer behind oceanfront project

The Royer brothers — Terry, Randy and Greg — who amassed a lot of experience during their 30 years in the hospitality industry starting with the launch of Relax Inns are behind the Pacific Landing development in Victoria. With Royal Host they managed 27 TravelLodge properties, 121 hotels in the United State and the Grand Okanagan Resort and Conference Centre in Kelowna.

Calgary Herald

CalgaryNEXT proposal double original estimate

The Calgary Flames’ ambitious vision to build a professional and amateur sports complex in the West Village hit a major roadblockWednesday following the release of a city analysis showing CalgaryNEXT could cost ultimately about $1.8 billion and have taxpayers pay up to two-thirds of the tab.

Calgary Herald

Calgary looks to incentivize higher-density development

Darrell Sargent, Calgary’s co-ordinator of citywide planning, hasn’t lived in Calgary long, but the New Zealander says he understands one of the city’s most pressing problems.   Addressing that issue has been a priority for the municipal government for the past seven years and, in 2016, it hopes to introduce incentives for developers to help the city grow upwards, not out.

Globe and Mail

Councillors pursue polluter pay principle for CalgaryNEXT

City councillors say it’s time for the provincial government to enforce the polluter pay principle after a new analysis of the CalgaryNEXT proposal shows it would cost as much as $140 million to clean-up contaminated land in the West Village. 

Calgary Herald

Giant Tiger founder recognized at Franchise Awards gala

Giant Tiger founder Gordon Reid was honoured Monday night with the Lifetime Achievement Award at a gala event that was part of the Canadian Franchise Association’s 25th annual national conference. “It was time to recognize Gordon Reid for his insight, for his innovation, for his success, for the quality of the brand that Giant Tiger is,” CFA president and CEO Lorraine McLachlan said.

Ottawa Business Journal

Crowdfunding: An alternative to direct real estate investment

The shock from the relentless slide in oil prices is spreading ever further into our economy and financial markets, with the dollar, the stock market and bond yields all descending to new lows. Public markets today are extremely interconnected and if China sneezes, the rest of the world catches pneumonia!

Read more

Crowdfunding’s move to platform white labeling in 2016

The real estate crowdfunding industry has been flooded with marketplaces over the last several years. Some of the more prominent industry-leading marketplaces have raised considerable amounts of venture funding to staff their platforms and present opportunities for investment, particularly for accredited investors.

CP Executive

Digital disruption is shaking up banking and real estate

Europe’s business leaders may recognise the need to evolve to take on the disruptors like Uber and AirBnB, but they’re still not moving quickly enough, experts are warning. “Time and time again we have seen the mighty fall because they didn’t pay attention until it was too late,” Adam Graham, chair of digital industry association BIMA.

CNBC.com

FIRPTA revisions free foreign capital to invest in U.S. REITs

Prentiss Feagles, a partner at Hogan Lovells LLP, recently noted foreign investors “have always had a problem in the United States. (Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act) reform has freed them up to invest like other large institutional investors in REITs.” Qualified foreign pension firms can also invest in REITs without being subject to FIRPTA, he noted.

REIT.com

SL Green, Citigroup speed up sale of Manhattan office

SL Green Realty Corp. and Citigroup Inc. have agreed to speed up the $2 billion sale of 388-390 Greenwich St. in downtown Manhattan by more than a year. Citigroup is saying the earlier purchase will result in “significant cost savings” and SL Green plans to pay off the mortgage early. SL Green has owned the property since late 2007, when it acquired it with an affiliate of Ivanhoe Cambridge. 

CP Executive

Featured Column

An anti-anti-development rant

I’ll start with a warning that anyone who doesn’t like exclamation marks should stop reading right now. This story makes me angry. It is the inspiration for this anti-anti-development rant and and I know my natural tendency towards overusing the e-point.

Read more

Market Trends and Research

U.S. office market sending mixed signals

The U.S. office market appears to be at the stage in the real estate cycle that analysts often describe as a turning point or tipping point. Overall, the U.S. office market continued to post solid fundamentals during the first quarter, including very strong net absorption, while traces of a slowdown in demand appeared in some markets.

CoStar Group

Investors should look beyond REITs: Jeffery Kolitch

The real estate market, in general, still has plenty of potential for growth, but investors should start thinking beyond just real estate investment trusts to gain exposure.  “Given where we are right now in the cycle, we advocate a broader more inclusive approach to real estate investing,” said Jeffrey Kolitch, portfolio manager of the $1.5 billion Baron Real Estate fund.

Investment News

Real Estate Companies

Real estate firms putting portfolios into play

Spurred by ongoing trends of investor activism and peak property evaluations for long-held assets, five publicly held U.S. REITs and real estate investment companies announced plans this month to pursue strategic alternatives.

CoStar Group

REOC Financial Reports

	REITs & REOCs – First-quarter 2016 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. First-quarter results are now arriving. Canadian REITs & REOCs – First-quarter 2016 report

 

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Granite appoints Brydon Cruise director

Granite Real Estate Investment Trust and Granite REIT Inc. (TSX: GRT.UN / NYSE: GRP.U) have appointed Brydon Cruise to their respective Board of Trustees and Board of Directors effective immediately. Mr. Cruise is currently Chairman and Managing Partner of Brookfield Financial Corp. and has been a senior member of the Brookfield group since 2003. 

Canada Newswire

Lanesborough REIT announces sale of Beck Court in Yellowknife

 Lanesborough Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX: LRT.UN) has agreed to sell a 120-suite apartment property located in Yellowknife, known as Beck Court, for $23 million, subject to the customary closing adjustments.

Canada Newswire

REITs counting on JV partner capital

REITs looking for capital are turning to joint venture partners to help finance growth. The dollar volume of REIT joint venture activity surged 50 per cent in 2015, according to a new EY research report. One of the key drivers behind the spike in joint venture activity is the current climate for REITs on Wall Street.

National Real Estate Investor

REIT governance influenced by institutional shareholders

One of the most prominent corporate governance issues pertaining to REITs today is the increased influence of major institutional shareholders, according to Jim Hanks, a partner at Venable LLP.  Hanks noted that a concentrated group of sophisticated institutional investors exists in the REIT industry today, which REITs have had to be mindful of.

REIT.com

Retail

Int’l chains, off-price concepts driving store openings

The retail sector is rebounding, albeit slowly. At a time when a lot of chains are closing underperforming stores, there are five sectors where the industry will see an influx of brick-and-mortar openings, according to Neil Stern, senior partner with the retail consulting firm McMillan Doolittle.

National Real Estate Investor – National Real Estate Investor

New Development

Plan for former police station site in Saskatoon abandoned

A $500-million plan to redevelop the Saskatoon’s old police station site to include student housing, a new downtown library and a grocery store was rejected when the cost of the library was deemed too high. City hall accepted a conditional $14-million offer last July to sell the police station and resurrect the site.

The Star Phoenix

Build to Lewis Farms number-one for Edmonton LRT

City officials said Thursday building LRT to Lewis Farms in west Edmonton is a priority.  The move would promote redevelopment along Stony Plain Road and serve West Edmonton Mall, one of Alberta’s top tourist destinations.

Edmonton Journal

Contested Regina development sent back to the drawing board

Parking was a recurring concern at Wednesday evening’s City of Regina planning commission meeting, and ultimately it was parking that led to the commission asking for changes to a proposal for a new development in the Cathedral area.

Regina Leader Post

Keeping The Bay’s facade in downtown Winnipeg

Some may see the downtown Hudson’s Bay store as the city centre’s big white elephant, with all that empty room.  Others, me included, see the iconic 90-year-old, six-storey building as a historical and architectural treasure, anchoring the western entrance to downtown Portage Avenue that was once Winnipeg’s grand promenade.

Winnipeg Free Press

Sports Venues

LeBreton decision looms a pivotal moment

The Senators may not be in the playoffs this spring but a massive waiting game the club is playing will come to an end next Thursday at 2 p.m. when the National Capital Commission’s board of directors will confirm which group they’re going to negotiate with for the valuable land at LeBreton Flats.

Ottawa Citizen

Saying farewell to Mosaic Stadium

Regina’s Mosaic Stadium, alias Taylor Field, will see its last season of Saskatchewan Roughriders use this year. And to see off its stadium in style, the City of Regina says more than 280 hours of community events and programming are planned for it over the next few months.

Regina Leader Post

Many Ontario and Quebec ski hills suffer devastating season

Ski conditions flipped this year in Canada with Western operators popping champagne and those in Central Canada bidding good riddance to one of the poorest seasons in memory.  While the amount of snowfall at Western Canadian resorts nearly doubled from last year, warm weather melted away revenues and profits from Ontario and Quebec’s most frequented ski regions.

Montreal Gazette

Infrastructure

Halifax Port Authority revenue grows almost five per cent in 2015

Revenues at the Halifax Port Authority increased almost five per cent to $35.4 million in 2015, reflecting a solid year for the authority’s three lines of business — cargo, cruise and real estate.  In figures released by the HPA Tuesday, net revenues increased 2.88 per cent over 2014 to $4.395 million.

The Chronicle Herald

Via Rail on right track with ‘frequency over speed’ proposal

Canadians love their cars, and finding ways to break that bond — or at least loosen it — will remain a challenge for many Earth Days to come. Around the world, transportation is among the fastest-growing contributors to climate change, and though car emissions are only part of the problem, getting more people out of their vehicles is certainly part of the solution.

Montreal Gazette

Other

New Holiday Inn opens in downtown Oshawa

A new $25-million, six-storey hotel that includes 125 guest rooms and suites has opened in downtown Oshawa, Ont. on Simcoe Street North.  The Holiday Inn Express & Suites includes an indoor heated pool, 24-hour fitness facilities and underground parking, explains a release.

Daily Commercial News

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