Cressey moves on Surrey mixed-use site

Cressey moves on Surrey mixed-use site

A section of one of Burnaby’s town centres is slated for a facelift that will add to the city’s collection of towering hubs built up near rapid transit nodes, says Cressey, the developer behind Kings Crossing. Kings Crossing will include three residential towers — ranging from 26 to 36 storeys — a six-floor office tower, and several retail businesses and services.

Vancouver Sun

Vancouver CRE owners eye rising assessments

Metro Vancouver homeowners aren’t alone in their angst over skyrocketing property assessments — commercial property owners have experienced similar volatility in the valuation of their holdings, with potential financial impacts in terms of property taxes, according to industry experts.

Vancouver Sun

Industrial bellwether for Vancouver in 2016

The past decade has seen repeated studies of Metro Vancouver’s industrial land base; now, another round of studies and statistics say it is on the brink of running out of developable land. The topic is set to be a hot one this year as Port Metro Vancouver inches toward the expansion of facilities at Roberts Bank and elsewhere.

Business In Vancouver – Business In Vancouver

The death of the Alberta dream

Late last year, Brandon MacKay listed his Kawasaki dirt bike for sale on Kijiji, the online classifieds site. It was the only treat the 25-year-old had given himself in three years living in Fort McMurray. The rest he’d spent on supporting and visiting his wife and kids in Pictou County, N.S. But in crafting the ad for the bike, he revealed his desperation to sell.

Maclean’s

Economic downturn erodes Calgary CRE values

Relentless and unwavering, Calgary’s economic downturn has resulted in significant drops in commercial property values, particularly downtown, according to city assessments released Tuesday. While the assessed value of a typical non-residential property dropped about four per cent year from last year, office properties declined as much as 12 per cent with downtown being a particular sore point.

Calgary Herald

CBC set to sell Calgary building

The CBC announced Monday it will be selling its Calgary building. Johnny Michel, senior managing director for B.C. and Alberta for CBC English Services, said the building is not yet listed for sale and there is currently no list price. “The Calgary building is too large for our needs as well and it does require extensive repairs,” said Michel.

Calgary Herald

Winnipeg’s skyline looking up

North American cities are often judged by their skylines. The postcard image of towers set along the horizon seem to stand like a bar-chart representation of a city’s power and affluence. By this metric, 2015 was a pretty good year for Winnipeg, with five new downtown highrise towers under construction.

Winnipeg Free Press

Investors Group Field costs pile up

Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger is confident taxes and levies coming out of continued development at Polo Park will pay a significant portion of the debt to build Investors Group Field. Figures show the total cost for the Winnipeg project now stands around $376 million when interest payments are included.

CBC News – Winnipeg Free Press – Winnipeg Free Press

Manulife seeks to revive Singapore REIT IPO

Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC-T) is looking to revive a plan to list a REIT in Singapore this year after an IPO was shelved last year due to poor market conditions. “We’d very much like to bring it back,” CFO Stephen Roder said at the launch of a 15-year life bancassurance partnership with Singapore’s DBS Group Holdings Ltd. on Tuesday.

Reuters

Killam’s REIT conversion is complete

Killam Properties Inc. (KMP-T) is now a real estate investment trust. The Halifax REIT said Monday the conversion from a corporation was completed New Year’s Day, as planned. Killam Apartment REIT units will trade on the TSX starting Thursday. Killam is one of Canada’s largest residential landlords.

Halifax ChronicleHerald

Colony Starwood completes massive merger

Colony Starwood Homes (SFR-N), the single-family rental REIT created from the merger of Starwood Waypoint Residential Trust and Colony American Homes, began trading on the New York Stock Exchange today. The combined company said Tuesday evening the merger had been finalized, creating a REIT with an asset value of approximately $7.7 billion.

Globest.com

ARC Hospitality Trust cancels hotel purchases

American Realty Capital Hospitality Trust has agreed to terminate its real estate purchase agreement to acquire 10 hotels containing 996 guestrooms from Summit Hotel Properties Inc. It was the second deal termination for ARC Hospital Trust following the cancellation of fundraising.

CoStar Group News

Honest Ed’s makes list of 50 global buildings

“There’s no place like this place … anyplace.” That’s the message a brightly coloured banner hanging in Honest Ed’s has proudly proclaimed to customers for years. It seems the Guardian agrees, including Toronto’s iconic discount store in an interactive list telling the “History of cities in 50 buildings.”

Toronto Star

Dollarama’s push to hike prices hits a wall

Canada’s dominant bargain-store chain made headlines last month when it confirmed plans to introduce prices that will be much closer to $5 (with taxes) rather than a buck. Dollarama (DOL-T) has made a pretty good run in recent years by introducing new products at higher prices on everything from food to seasonal products to houseware shoppers have eagerly embraced.

Global News

The 10 biggest U.S. CRE stories of 2015

PHOTO GALLERY: Whatever else you can say about 2015, it was without a doubt a very big year for the U.S. commercial real estate industry. Here we look back at some of the biggest deals and trends that happened in the past 12 months.

National Real Estate Investor

Featured Column

Security deposits: failing to leave premises in good repair

Virtually all leases provide for tenants to maintain and repair premises to a certain standard during the term and return them in certain condition at the end of the term. That standard is often qualified by ”reasonable wear and tear excepted” at the request of the tenant.

The Legal Corner

Building bragging rights into your project story

Even though I’m in the business of helping companies figure out their best and most interesting story, I get overwhelmed by the number of stories being lobbed at me daily like promotional hand grenades. Then why do some stories stick out at all? Why are some stories so good at becoming part of our conversational repertoire?

Let’s Make Things Interesting

Title insurance: Helping you get the deal closed

In previous columns, I’ve discussed the usefulness of title insurance, particularly in relation to claims and fraud scenarios. In this column, I would like to explore other situations where title insurance can help prior to closing, or even before the lender has issued a commitment. Read the story in The Title Page, October 28, 2015. Contributed by Eric Haslett, Vice-President, Commercial Solutions, FCT

 

Market Trends and Research

GTA CRE leasing soars in Q4 2015

Toronto Real Estate Board president Mark McLean announced TREB Commercial Network Members leased almost 6.1 million square feet of combined industrial, commercial/retail and office space in the fourth quarter of 2015. This result represented a 19.6 per cent year-over-year increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2014.

Marketwired

Rising rents push tech to secondary areas

During the past year, 73 per cent of the sector’s office leases represented occupancy growth. With Northern California holding nine of the top 15 most expensive in-demand technology submarkets — led by Downtown Palo Alto at $98.68 per square foot — tech firms are looking to other zip codes to fuel their future, according to JLL’s 2015 Technology Office Outlook.

Globest.com

U.S. real estate to draw more foreigners: Survey

Most foreign investors expect to put more money into U.S. property this year than they did in 2015, with New York remaining the top target market worldwide, according to a survey by the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate. Sixty-four per cent of respondents said they intend to make modest or major increases to investments this year.

Globe and Mail – Pensions & Investments – CoStar Group – Bloomberg

Real Estate Companies

All In West! sells Alberta Econolodge Inn

All in West! Capital Corporation (ALW-X) announced it has conditionally agreed to sell the Econolodge Inn & Suites in Hinton, Alta., effective Jan. 31. All in West! obtained an updated independent third-party appraisal of the Econolodge Hinton as at Dec. 31, valued at $3,810,000. The corporation is currently in default of its obligations to pay interest on the mortgage loan.

Canada Newswire

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

 

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Baskin president likes H&R REIT

H&R REIT (HR.UN-T) is a solid industrial and commercial REIT with revenues approaching $1 billion and a conservative balance sheet. The company has continued to use both long leases and long mortgages to lock in its operating income on major projects. The current dividend yield of 6.7 per cent is highly attractive compared to yields on corporate bonds and similar instruments.

BNN.ca – The Motley Fool Canada

U.S. REITs poised for solid 2016: Experts

After outperforming the S&P 500 in 2015, market observers expect REITs to offer solid growth prospects in 2016. The FTSE NAREIT All REITs Index had a total return of 2.3 per cent for 2015, compared to a return of 1.4 percent for the S&P 500 Index. In December, the FTSE NAREIT All REITs Index gained 1.2 per cent, while the S&P 500 Index dropped 1.6 per cent.

REIT.com

Legal Corner

Winnipeg Airports Authority back in court

The Winnipeg Airports Authority has gone to the courts once more to recoup expenses from the construction of its airport terminal building that opened in the fall of 2011. In a new statement of claim filed in late December, the WAA is seeking $6.14 million from general contractor EllisDon Corp. for almost two dozen specific issues.

Winnipeg Free Press – Winnipeg Free Press

Retail

Amazon sets Cyber Monday milestone

Amazon‘s (AMZN-Q) sellers had a strong Cyber Monday. The largest U.S. retailer said Tuesday customers ordered more than 23 million items from its sellers on Cyber Monday, the popular online shopping day after Thanksgiving. That was up 40 per cent from the previous year.

Winnipeg Free Press

Sports Venues

Ski resorts battling unpredictable winter

For the ski industry, unpredictability is becoming the new normal, and the industry is starting to adjust. Take Lake Louise Ski Resort, for example. According to figures supplied by the resort, the amount of snowfall received each year has varied wildly over the last 16 years, even if identifying long-term trends is elusive.

Calgary Herald

Infrastructure

Union Station’s lower concourse plan approved

Toronto’s government management committee has approved a proposal to create a “culinary, cultural and retail” experience beneath the Great Hall at Union Station. The committee is recommending council authorize an amendment to a 2009 lease agreement between the city and Osmington, the company that manages and leases space in the historic transportation hub.

Toronto Star

Gordie Howe bridge cost could soar

The federal government will need to find $3.5 billion more to pay for a new bridge at the bustling border crossing between Canada and the United States. Documents show PM Justin Trudeau has been warned the cost of building the new Windsor-Detroit bridge has likely gone up by at least $2 billion, thanks to the declining value of the Canadian dollar.

CBC News – Windsor Star

Other

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