Cenovus offers Calgary office as sub-lease

Cenovus offers Calgary office as sub-lease

Cenovus Energy Inc. is shopping for replacement tenants to fill unused office space and is now expected to occupy just half of what it agreed to in the new Brookfield Place Calgary tower, sources say.  It’s the latest sign that cash-strapped energy companies are looking beyond field operations for cost savings.

Globe and Mail

Microsoft president considers moving Canadian HQ to Vancouver

Following festivities related to officially opening a 142,000-square-foot, $100 million office above Pacific Centre, Microsoft Corp. president Brad Smith told Business in Vancouver that he likes the concept of moving the headquarters of the company’s Canadian division to Vancouver.

BIV

Canderel’s Bentall Centre win a game changer

Montreal-based real estate firm Canderel Group of Companies this month celebrated a British Columbia game changer, landing the mandate to act as property and leasing manager for Vancouver’s  huge Bentall Centre.

Property Biz Canada

Diamond, Tricon and RioCan to redevelop Yonge St. corner

Diamond, Tricon Capital Group Inc. (TCN-T) and RioCan REIT (REI.UN-T) have closed two separate transactions which include the acquisition of approximately one acre of land at the northeast corner of Yonge and Price Streets from Woodcliffe Landmark Properties.

Canada Newswire

RioCan partners with Plaza to redevelop Eastcourt Mall

RioCan REIT (REI.UN-T) and Plaza Retail REIT (PLZ.UN-T) have entered into a 50/50 joint venture focused on redeveloping the mall, currently owned by RioCan.  Under the terms of the arrangement, Plaza will manage the mall and oversee redevelopment efforts.

Choose Cornwall

Pomerleau makes bid for B.C. construction trade

Quebec construction firm Pomerleau Inc. is making a bigger bid for work in B.C.’s infrastructure sector by buying assets of competitor Giffels Westpro.  Pomerleau is taking over the Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal offices of Giffels Westpro.

Montreal Gazette

Ivanhoe, Callahan become full owners of NYC office

It’s all theirs. Ivanhoé Cambridge and Callahan Capital Properties have gone from majority owners to full owners of 1211 Avenue of the Americas, a 2 million-square-foot office tower in Midtown Manhattan. The joint venture partners purchased the remaining 49 percent interest in the Class A property from Beacon Capital Partners for approximately $895 million.

CP Executive

Katz Group seeks temporary 800-car gravel parking lot

The Katz Group has applied to rezone an area the size of two city blocks to accommodate a gravel parking lot north of the downtown arena. The zoning would be temporary – expiring after 10 years – but it has at least one city councillor shaking his head.

Edmonton Journal

West End strata council considers selling building

Recently a developer approached the strata council of 1188 Cardero in the West End of Vancouver about buying the property. As part of the city’s West End plan, the site has been rezoned for a building up to 190 feet tall. And the real estate sharks are circling.

Vancouver Sun

Winnipeg’s Bishop Grandin Crossing will have it all

Site-servicing work is expected to get underway next spring on Hopewell Developments long-awaited new Fort Garry subdivision that’s expected to provide hundreds of new customers for the city’s controversial southwest rapid transit service. The Calgary firm’s proposed $500-million Bishop Grandin Crossing is a mixed use residential/retail/office/industrial project.

Winnipeg Free Press

Councillors to discuss Calgary 2026 Olympic bid

Calgary city councillors are slated to discuss behind closed doors on Monday whether there’s any appetite for entertaining a bid for the 2026 Olympics, Postmedia has learned. A local group has been working for months to drum up support to bring the Winter Olympics back to Calgary, and will present councillors with a proposal on Monday.

Calgary Herald

Royal Bank of Canada eyeing more expansion in U.S.

Royal Bank of Canada plans further expansion in the United States following its US$5 billion acquisition of Los Angeles-based City National in November, Chief Executive Dave McKay said on Friday.  McKay said acquiring City National gave the bank an “enormous opportunity” to grow in the U.S. and it could look at further acquisitions to supplement organic growth.

Financial Post

Couche-Tard to acquire 23 Premium 7 locations in Estonia

Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (ATD.A-T, ATD.B-T) is expanding its European network of filling stations and convenience stores. The Quebec-based company has agreed to acquire 23 locations in Estonia, currently operated under the Premium 7 brand.

Montreal Gazette – Globe and Mail

Shuttered Geneva offices show impact of lost banking secrecy

Three years after Lloyds Banking Group sold its private bank in Geneva, Switzerland, the only signs of life at the now-empty building are piles of cigarette butts and nutshells lying on its dirty window ledges. The riverside offices at Place de Bel-Air are a short walk away from the remaining private banks, hedge-fund managers and luxury-goods stores in the heart of the Swiss city.

The Journal

Why China will continue to invest in US real estate

Chinese investors spent more than $100 billion on U.S. real estate in the last five years, an amount that’s expected to double by 2020. Can this pace continue? China has quickly earned the title of Biggest Foreign Investor in the U.S. Real Estate Market, with investments in the residential and commercial sectors totalling $110 billion between 2010 and 2015.

CP Executive

Featured Column

The superhero secret-power of women in real estate

About a month ago I was asked to attend the UDI Women Celebrating Women event in Vancouver, and to write this story about what I saw there. As a man, I was a little afraid to accept, to be honest, because I was worried about what I could write without sounding sexist and dumb.

Read more

Market Trends and Research

Pimco says ‘storm is brewing’ in U.S. CRE

U.S. commercial real estate prices may fall as much as 5 percent in the next 12 months amid tightened regulations, a wall of debt maturities and property sales by publicly traded landlords, Pacific Investment Management Co. said in a report Monday. A global surge in demand for U.S. property investments that pushed real estate values to records may wane.

Bloomberg

Yardi wins NREI/IMN commercial real estate award

Building automation software and energy procurement services from Yardi^® give commercial property managers new opportunities to lower energy costs and meet sustainability benchmarks. The National Real Estate Investor and Information Management Network recently recognized Yardi for its energy suite, naming the company an NREI/IMN 2016 Commercial Real Estate Award winner.

Businesswire

Real Estate Companies

Extendicare upgraded as challenges considered temporary

Extendicare Inc. (EXE-T) was upgraded to sector out performer from sector performer at CIBC World Markets, as recent weakness in the stock is considered the result of temporary factors. Analyst Yashwant Sankpal sees a buying opportunity in shares of the Canadian senior care and living centre company, after the stock fell more than 14 per cent so far in 2016.

Financial Post

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

Six analysts give this REIT a ‘buy’ rating

On Wednesday, the S&P/TSX composite index ended its five-day losing streak, closing the day with a 0.3-per-cent gain, with gold stocks charging higher. There were 133 stocks that closed higher, 94 stocks declined, and seven stocks were unchanged.

Globe and Mail

Retail

Wal-Mart’s Visa fee fight signals market shift

As Wal-Mart Canada Corp. (WMT-N) and Visa face off in a game of brinksmanship, which of the corporate giants has more to lose?  Their squabble surfaced on June 9 when Wal-Mart posted signs in its three Thunder Bay stores warning that it will stop accepting Visa on July 18.

Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail

Wal-Mart in talks to sell China e-commerce unit

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is in talks to sell its Chinese e-commerce business, Yihaodian, to JD.com Inc, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation. The exact terms of the proposed deal are unclear and discussions remain fluid.

Reuters

New Development

Harold Hague has hope for Regina’s downtown

The Capitol recently hosted a 95th birthday party for one of the Regina Downtown Business Improvement District’s (RDBID) founding members, Harold Hague. The Hamilton Street bar replaced Hague’s century-old store, Loggie’s Shoes. Natascia Lypny chatted with the Regina resident about his memories of downtown, how it’s doing, and what it needs.

Regina Leader-Post

Sports Venues

Golf resort spurs Inverness land boom

Cabot Links Enterprises, the company behind Cape Breton’s award winning premier golf course, is keeping mum on why it’s buying land — much of it with water views — in and around Inverness. The company bought 31 properties totalling 320 hectares on September 4 2015.

The Chronicle Herald

Infrastructure

Halifax library’s views threatened by neighbouring development

Larry Haiven stands at the edge of the Halifax Living Room, a fifth-floor reading space at the city’s new Central Library that overlooks downtown while cantilevering over a north-facing plaza. Halifax’s skyline has been littered with cranes lately, and the library, which opened in 2014 and just received a Governor-General’s Medal in Architecture, has been a boon for development.

Globe and Mail

Other

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