Urbancorp hopes restructuring will ease woes

Urbancorp hopes restructuring will ease woes

Toronto developer Urbancorp Group has filed for bankruptcy restructuring, saying it hoped a court-ordered sale of some of its assets would help the builder cope with its mounting financial woes. The company said it was working with trustee KSV Advisory Inc. and has started restructuring proceedings under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act in hopes of reducing its debt.

Globe and Mail – Toronto Star

Winnipeg landlords not panicking

A rash of store closings over the last 18 months has pushed Winnipeg’s retail vacancy rate to its highest level in more than 15 years. A new commercial market report by Winnipeg’s Stevenson Advisors Ltd. says the overall rate at the end of 2015 was 6.0 per cent. Royal LePage Dynamic Real Estate’s Wayne Johnson pegs the rate at 5.8 per cent, the highest since 6.1 per cent in 1999.

Winnipeg Free Press

Fengate creates Oakville office-industrial node

Betting heavily on the continued growth of the Oakville, Ont., market and the GTA in general, Fengate Capital Management recently unveiled real estate deals that, combined with prior acquisitions, give it 47 acres of contiguous lands with over 1.1 kilometres of unobstructed highway exposure. Fengate’s latest buy is made up of six industrial and office buildings.

Property Biz Canada

NAIOP Greater Toronto chapter gives out REX Awards

The Greater Toronto chapter of the Commercial Real Estate Development Association (NAIOP) honoured five individuals and seven projects at the 15th annual NAIOP Real Estate Excellence (REX) Awards on April 11 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Property Biz Canada

What motivates developer Ryan Beedie?

Real estate scion Ryan Beedie is in a confessional mood this afternoon. Amid talk about his latest developments —including the much-touted new Mountain Equipment Co-op building — our conversation seems freighted with a dissection of his own character and leadership of Beedie Development Group (BDG).

BCBusiness

Michael Sabia, from outsider to rainmaker

Michael Sabia is seen by many in Quebec as the man with the golden touch. When he took over the provincial pension fund, it was $40 billion in the hole. He’s managed to grow its asset base by $130 billion since then. Now for his next trick, Sabia is promising to finance the world’s third-largest light-rail network — at minimal costs to users and government. 

CBC News

First infrastructure funding to cover new projects

Provincial governments are being told the first phase of the Liberal infrastructure program will cover the cost of new projects, as long as they are completed in three years. The message is contained in letters to be made public today from federal Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi to his provincial counterparts.

Globe and Mail – Winnipeg Free Press

Vancouver developers eye car-sharing

Vancouver is in the midst of a car-sharing boom, with developers eyeing it as an amenity and a way to save on expensive parking infrastructure and planners evaluating how much it should be incorporated into the future of development in the region. On Tuesday, a panel hosted by the Urban Land Institute tackled car-sharing and examined the degree to which it should be incorporated into the future of development in the region.

BCBusiness

Why commercial real estate projects need video

Getting media attention for commercial and industrial real estate developments can be pretty tough these days. In a world of shrinking media and mass layoffs, there are fewer and fewer news outlets that write about real estate in Canada.

Read more

Edmonton Riverboat Queen attracts CRE interest

Saturday’s open house of the Edmonton Queen Riverboat drew about 100 paddlewheel kickers, including plenty of serious, prospective buyers, said auctioneer Mickey Spencer. “The big interest has been from the restaurant business and we’ve had some developers in, too. Mainly, it’s been either keeping it as a running ship business for dinner cruising, restaurant business and then developers.”

Edmonton Journal

PJ’s Pets closing 27 stores across Canada

The pet store chain that includes PJ’s Pets and Pets Unlimited has announced it will be closing 27 locations across Canada. Gordon Brothers Group, the company that owns PJ’s Pets, announced the closures on Friday. The company operates a total of 39 stores across the country, including Petculture, Pets Unlimited and Oliver and Pets Co.

CTV News

Morguard sustainability report shows increased efficiency

Morguard Corporation (MRC-T) continued to make improvements in its environmental, social and governance indicators in 2015, according to its recently released “Focusing on Sustainability” report. “Our overall strategy hasn’t shifted much since we set it back in 2010,” said corporate sustainability and responsibility national manager Neil Pegram, who leads Morguard’s sustainability program companywide.

Property Biz Canada

Ottawa construction industry braces for quiet 2017

Construction groups are bracing for a dip in business as Ottawa primps for Canada’s 150th birthday celebrations next year. City staff said last week this summer’s downtown construction season will be busier than usual in an effort to reduce the amount of roadwork underway when millions of tourists descend upon the capital for the year-long birthday party in 2017.

Ottawa Business Journal

I.M. Pei turning 99

World-renowned architect, I.M. Pei is set to celebrate his 99th birthday on Tuesday. Ieoh Ming Pei was born in Guangzhou, China in 1917 and moved to New York to study architecture and established his first architectural firm in 1955. Pei became famous for designing the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong and the Pyramid at the Louvre in Paris.

Canada Newswire

Owners of U.K. property may be forced into spotlight

Offshore companies buying U.K. property could be forced to reveal their ultimate owners under plans being considered by ministers to crack down on tax evasion and money laundering. The proposals would shine a spotlight on the foreign firms that hold billions of pounds in British property without having to declare who is behind them.

The Guardian

Featured Column

Title insurance —a matter of opinion

“What more am I getting?” This is one of the first questions people ask when their lawyer suggests purchasing title insurance on a transaction. Traditionally, when a real estate deal closed, the purchaser and lender relied on a lawyer’s opinion letter.

Read more

Market Trends and Research

Traffic up at Winnipeg airport

Traffic grew by almost three per cent at Winnipeg’s international airport in its first quarter. Traffic at Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport grew by 2.86 per cent compared to the first three months of 2015. Revenue and earnings were also up in the quarter.

Winnipeg Free Press

Strong demand sends Investors to secondary markets

Morguard Corporation‘s (MRC-T) first quarter 2016 Economic Outlook and Market Fundamentals Report indicates that despite uncertainty in Canada’s economy, a number of real estate asset classes continue to attract strong investor interest  – particularly in Ontario and in B.C.

Canada Newswire

Real Estate Companies

TD closes more than 300 U.S. CRE transactions in 2015

TD Bank (TD-T) announced today its Commercial Real Estate Group closed more than 300 transactions totalling $5.1 billion in commitments in 2015, highlighting the continued demand for TD’s range of real estate financing products and the continued strength of the U.S. CRE sector.

PRNewswire

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

 

REIT Financial Reports

First Q1 reports:

* Maplewood International REIT, (MWI.UN-X), Marketwired 

Final fourth-quarter reports:

* Maplewood International REIT, (MWI.UN-X), Marketwired 

* PROREIT, (PRV.UN-X), Marketwired 

Real Estate Investment Trusts

WPT Industrial extends, expands revolving facility

WPT Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust (WIR.U-T) announced today it has amended its senior secured revolving credit agreement to, among other things, increase availability under the revolving facility to $100 million and extend the term of the revolving facility for three years.  As a result of the amendment, availability increased from $75 million to $100 million.

Canada Newswire – Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

NorthWest Healthcare exercises over-allotment option

NorthWest Healthcare Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (NWH.UN-T) announced today the issuance of an additional 982,500 trust units of the REIT at a price of $9.20 per unit for incremental gross proceeds of approximately $9.0 million.

Canada Newswire

Activists harming other shareholders: Ashford CEO

In addition to overseeing more than $6 billion in hotel assets, Monty Bennett, chairman/CEO of Ashford Hospitality Trust (AHT-N) and Ashford Hospitality Prime (AHP-N), is a prodigious tweeter on all issues pertaining to the companies and the hospitality sector. Bennett recently checked in with REIT.com about the issues highest on his agenda.

Reit.com

US REITs a sector to buy in May

The stock market adage is one should “sell in May and go away”, but there is one sector where investors might want to turn the recommendation on its head this year. When it comes to U.S. property, investors who buy in the coming month could get a one-off boost they can cash in when they return from holiday.

Financial Times

Restaurants and Eateries

McDonald’s sales up, enjoys Canadian growth

McDonald’s Corp. (MCD-N) posted a banner first quarter on the strength of all-day breakfast and value meals as the world’s biggest burger chain saw a sales jump in its high-growth “international lead markets” unit, which includes Canada. Sales rose 5.2 per cent in the unit, which also includes the U.K. and Australia.

Financial Post – Montreal Gazette

South Africa’s first Starbucks opens to long queues

Scores of Johannesburg’s caffeine crowd lined up in the shopping hub of Rosebank on Thursday to buy a first cup of Starbucks coffee in sub-Saharan Africa. Not to worry, though, rooibos, the local bush tea favourite, also features on the menu. Starbucks (SBUX-Q) was brought in under license by South Africa’s Taste Holdings.

Reuters – Reuters

New Development

EllisDon reaches deal on Penticton hospital

B.C.’s Interior Health and EllisDon Infrastructure have announced the finalization of the contract for a new $312.5-million patient care tower and parkade at Penticton Regional Hospital.  The new patient care tower will be six storeys high, with an additional mechanical penthouse on top.

Daily Commercial News

Ontario to fund new Durham College centre

Ontario will spend $22 million towards a new Centre for Collaborative Education at Oshawa’s Durham College that will replace the college’s historic Simcoe Building. The centre will include a business incubator to connect young entrepreneurs with the expertise of local experts and the resources they need to develop their ideas and launch start-ups;

Daily Commercial News

Technopole Angus, Lansdowne Park design winners

Projects in nine cities across Canada have been honoured with urban design awards that recognize “remarkable urban design initiatives,” says the jury of the 2016 National Urban Design Awards. The winning projects range from urban infill to renewed public spaces and playful installations.

Daily Commercial News

Renovation and Restoration

A sneak peek at The Empress’ renovations

The first glimpses of renovations at the Fairmont Empress Hotel reveal a fresh look in the historic setting. Huge beams and lattice work are being installed on the veranda — just the way it used to be. When Nat and Flora Bosa of Vancouver bought the landmark property in 2014, a major renovation was on their agenda.

Victoria Ttimes Colonist

Infrastructure

Ontario providing funds for roads, bridges

Ontario is providing $20 million in 2016-17 to 23 municipalities across the province through its Connecting Links program. The program funds upgrades to municipal roads or bridges that connect two ends of a provincial highway through a community, or near a border crossing. Connecting Links funding covers up to 90 per cent of eligible project costs, to a maximum of $3 million.

Daily Commercial News

Other

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