Billionaires bid to redevelop LeBreton Flats

Billionaires bid to redevelop LeBreton Flats

Two Quebec billionaires are behind one of two bids to revamp LeBreton Flats, the Citizen has learned. Billionaire businessman André Desmarais and Cirque du Soleil co-founder Guy Laliberté are backing the group DCDLS, led by Gatineau-based Devcore Group, to redevelop the 9.3 hectares of prime real estate across from the Canadian War Museum.

Ottawa Citizen – Ottawa Citizen – Ottawa Citizen

German billionaire to buy Vancouver office tower

German multi-billionaire Klaus-Michael Kuehne is close to a deal to buy one of Vancouver’s largest office towers at 36-storey building at 493,000 square feet which houses Royal Bank of Canada’s B.C. head office. Kuehne is said to have paid about $725 per square foot for Royal Centre at 1055 West Georgia Street, a building owned by Brookfield Office Properties. 

Financial Post

Colliers, SVP Scott Chandler in a satisfying role

Most people would view going from the top job of president and CEO at one company to senior vice-president at another as a step down. Not so for industry vet Scott Chandler. Chandler, president and CEO of Cushman & Wakefield until last September, recently joined Colliers International Canada as senior vice-president of advisory and investment sales.

Property Biz Canada

Ivanhoe Cambridge and partner buy Chicago office building

Ivanhoe Cambridge and Callahan Capital Properties have purchased a 796,000-square-foot Class A office building in Chicago’s Central Loop located at 180 North LaSalle St. for $198 million.

CP Executive

Avison Young to manage D.C. area medical office portfolio

Avison Young‘s property management presence is growing in theWashington, D.C.area with its selection by Harrison Street Real Estate Capital to manage a 1.5 million-square-foot medical office building portfolio.

CP Executive

Startup boom revitalizing urban Kitchener

When Michael Litt was a kid growing up in suburban Kitchener, Ont., in the 1990s, “downtown” was off-limits. Kitchener’s core had become a virtual wasteland, as suburban malls sucked away retail space and customers in the 1970s and ’80s. It had a reputation for fighting, homelessness, and even drugs and prostitution.

Globe and Mail

Hamilton’s Cannon Knitting Mill up for sale

For 10 years, the city partnered with a private company to try to bring tenants to the vacant Cannon Knitting Mills.   Now the building is up for sale.  HRCC envisioned a building filled with software developers and animators, and street-level stores and coffee shops.

CBC

Allied Properties REIT provides leasing update

Allied Properties REIT (TSX:AP.UN) today provided a leasing update on several recently completed lease transactions. “While significant individually, the new leases are particularly important cumulatively,” said Michael Emory, President & CEO. “They reflect the depth and breadth of demand for urban office space in several of our target markets across the country.”

Marketwired

Decontaminating LeBreton sites could cost $50 million

Whoever wins the current competition to redevelop LeBreton Flats will likely be on the hook for tens of millions of dollars to remove contaminated soil said Carlos da Silva, the managing principal of Paterson Engineering Group in Ottawa who familiar with the site’s conditions.

Ottawa Citizen

Apple to open facility in Kanata, sources say

Ottawa Business Journal

True North Square to be new retail village

Winnipeg’s downtown development agency hopes to use the game-changing True North Square project as a springboard for turning the Portage and Graham retail district into the city’s next new retail “village.”

Winnipeg Free Press

Will retail shutdowns in U.S. affect Canadian malls?

Toronto Star

Walmart opening 15 Supercentres across Canada

Walmart Canada (WMT-N) will open 15 supercentres this month, completing its expansion plan for the company’s current fiscal year.  In addition to the 29 supercentre projects announced on February 22, 2015, 13 supercentres were announced on May 8, 2015 of which five will open next week. These grand openings bring Walmart Canada’s total store count to 400 stores, including 312 supercentres and 88 discount stores.

Canada Newswire

Walmart abandons plans to grow bigger

Wal Mart Stores Inc., the behemoth of suburban retail stores, last week ended its growth experiment to open mini-me clones of its large superstore concept in rural and suburban infill locations. The retailer will close all 102 of its Walmart Express outlets, which it launched in 2011 as a pilot program with much fanfare.

CoStar Group – Canada Newswire

Municipal infrastructure at risk: CIRC

The results of the 2016 Canadian Infrastructure Report Card (CIRC) show nearly 35 per cent of municipal infrastructure assets are at risk of rapid deterioration. With almost 60 per cent of the nation’s core public infrastructure owned and maintained by municipal governments, and the total value estimated at $1.1 trillion, the report states it represents “a call to action”.

Daily Commercial News

Featured Column

Thoughts on 2015 and 2016

Now that 2015 has ended and we begin 2016, we can wonder what lies ahead for this year. Before we take a look at the possibilities, let us review what 2015 produced. A review of the preceding year allows us to look for trends that occurred throughout the year which may hold true in 2016 or create other possibilities.

Read more

My commercial property is worth what?!

Like so many material things in the world, the value of commercial real estate can often be in the eye of the beholder. There are two sides to this story; the hard truth is, the value to an owner user can outweigh what the market may be prepared to pay.

Read more

Market Trends and Research

Data centers: An industry in growth mode

North American data centers saw tremendous growth in 2015, which came as a bit of a surprise to many experts, but that expansion has built confidence in the sector’s 2016 prospects, and Midwest cities like Chicago should get big shares of the new development. 

Globe St.

Real Estate Companies

Extendicare reaches agreement with Oxford Park Group

Extendicare Inc. (TSX: EXE) has reached an agreement with Oxford Park Group that is in the best interests of all of Extendicare’s shareholders and other stakeholders, which enables the Company to avoid what could have been an expensive and distracting proxy contest. 

Marketwired

Altus Group’s management update focused on global growth

Consistent with the Company’s overall growth strategy, Altus Group (TSX:AIF) is moving forward with a more focused and aligned business model to scale its data, software and analytics capabilities, while continuing to provide highly specialized real estate consulting services.

Marketwired

REOC Financial Reports

	REITs & REOCs – Third-quarter 2015 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. Fourth-quarter results will be available at the end of January, 2016. Canadian REITs & REOCs – Third-quarter 2015 report

 

REIT Financial Reports

OMERS Realty Corporation to redeem debt securities

OMERS Realty Corporation, one of the Oxford Properties group of companies, advised the Trustee it will exercise its right to redeem all of its C$170 million principal amount of 4.75% notes due May 5, 2016 (CUSIP No. 68216KAA0), pursuant to the terms of the trust indenture dated May 5, 2009.

Marketwired

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Slate Office REIT announces normal course issuer bid

Slate Office REIT (TSX: SOT.UN), a leading owner of office properties in Canada, announced the REIT may purchase for cancellation up to a maximum of 2,334,509 Units, or approximately 10.0% of the public float, over the 12-month period commencing January 26, 2016 and ending on January 25, 2017.

Marketwired

Lodging REITs – Is Airbnb really a threat ?

Lodging REITs over the past year or so got hammered. That’s a fact, not an opinion. The striking thing about the lodging REITs’ decline is the enormous gap in returns between the broader REIT market and the lodging REIT sub-sector.

Seeking Alpha

Indian REITs can earn significant income by 2019

Rental income potential of Grade A office space stock in eight major cities is estimated at nearly $8 billion (about Rs 51,800 crore) by 2019 which can be tapped by Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), according to a report by real estate consultant Cushman & Wakefield. 

The Economic Times

Retail

Sears Canada races to close more stores

Sears Canada Inc. (SCC-T) is stepping up its efforts to close another round of stores, raising more questions about its fate and putting pressure on landlords who already have a lot of empty retail space. The struggling Sears has instructed real estate firm CBRE to look for alternative uses for Sears’s weakest stores.

Globe and Mail

McDonald’s sales jump on all-day breakfast

Toronto Star – Winnipeg Free Press – The Province

Association News

Real Estate Forums 2016 – Winter / Spring Program
Quebec Investment Apartment Conference	Montreal	February 9, 2016
RealCapital	Toronto	February 23, 2016
Vancouver Real Estate Forum	Vancouver	March 30, 2016
Montreal Real Estate Forum	Montreal	April 5, 2016
Quebec City Real Estate Forum	Quebec City	April 27, 2016
Land and Development	Toronto	May 10, 2016
Edmonton Real Estate Forum	Edmonton	May 12, 2016
Winnipeg Real Estate Forum	Winnipeg	May 17, 2016
Calgary Real Estate Strategy and Leasing Conference	Calgary	June 2, 2016

 

New Development

Shannon Park to be leveled by year end

Demolition of the historic Shannon Park complex in Dartmouth will be complete by the end of this year, a spokesman for the development group says.  Shannon Park, 39 hectares of prime waterfront that was once home to hundreds of military families with schools, churches, and a community centre, has been unoccupied for 13 years. After several false starts, Halifax Regional Municipality wants it redeveloped.

The Chronicle Herald

Saucier + Perrotte to build Lewis Farms recreation centre

Edmonton is on the cusp of signing another big-name architect with Montreal’s Saucier + Perrotte asked to design the $180-million Lewis Farms Recreation Centre.Multiple sources at city hall have confirmed the contract was offered to the firm, which is ranked among the best in Canada.

Montreal Gazette

Kasian Architecture finds projects outside Calgary

Kasian Architecture’s Calgary office is very busy and looking to hire more staff.  Among its most noticeable projects is the National Music Centre, a Kasian project in collaboration with Allied Works Architecture of Portland, Ore., that is changing the face — rather dramatically — of 9th Avenue S.E. and East Village.

Calgary Herald

Deadline to bid on work on Paul Martin Building extended

There is still time to bid on government work to repair the historic Paul Martin Building in downtown Windsor now that Ottawa has extended the request for tender.  Contractors previously had until Jan. 21 to bid on the work but the deadline has been extended to Feb. 2.

CBC

Sports Venues

BMO field’s phase two expansion

Daily Commercial News

Infrastructure

AIMCo sells interest in Chilean toll highway

Alberta’s Crown-owned fund manager has sold its stake in a Chilean toll highway for about $1.5 billion to its partner.  Alberta Investment Management Corp., or AIMCo, bought a 50 per cent interest in Autopista Central de Chile in late 2010 for $878 million.

Calgary Herald

Officials say Iqaluit port could open by 2020

The Government of Nunavut says Iqaluit’s port project is back on track.  Now Jim Stevens, assistant deputy minister for Nunavut’s department of Economic Development and Transportation, says federal funding of $63.7 million for a port is in place and it’s going to move forward.

CBC

Don Cayo: $60 billion is a lot — it needs to be spent very carefully

How best to spend $60 billion?  Well, this much money would be difficult to spend all at once — I previously calculated that just $1 million would be a stack of loonies one and a half times higher than Grouse Mountain. A billion dollars would be a thousand of these stacks, and $60 billion would … you do the math.

Vancouver Sun

N.S. set to spend on infrastructure projects

The Nova Scotia government says it plans to spend $645 million on capital projects in 2016-17. The money includes $480 million for roads, schools and hospitals and a one-time expenditure of $162.2 million for the Halifax Convention Centre project. The plan includes $220 million for roads to be spent this year under the five-year highway improvement plan.

Daily Commercial News

Human Resources

Partners REIT appoints Paul Harrs as Chief Operating Officer

Partners Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX:PAR.UN) has appointed real estate veteran Paul Harrs to the position of the REIT’s Chief Operating Officer.  Mr. Harrs most recently served as the President of Paul Harrs Real Estate Brokerage, which was involved in the leasing operations of Partners’ real estate portfolio from Ontario to British Columbia.

Marketwired

Other

Museum of Vancouver explores city’s future

A new exhibition called Your Future Home: Creating the New Vancouver, is giving the public a chance to explore what Vancouver could look like in the future.  The exhibit features more than 20 multimedia scenarios created by a group of local architects, urban planners and visionaries

CBC.ca

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