HBC, RioCan exploring sale of downtown Van. store

HBC, RioCan exploring sale of downtown Van. store

A joint venture between Hudson’s Bay Co. and RioCan REIT is exploring the sale of HBC’s flagship store in downtown Vancouver, the companies said Monday, stepping up efforts to extract value from the department store owner’s substantial real estate holdings. Hudson’s Bay, which owns Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor, would lease back space in the property if it is sold.

Reuters – Vancouver Province – BNN – CBC

HBC offered $4.5 billion for Kaufhof: Sources

Signa Holding, the Austrian property and retail group that owns German department store chain Karstadt, has made a $4.5 billion Cdn offer to acquire Hudson’s Bay Co’s German peer Kaufhof, sources said. The bid comes one week after HBC demonstrated a willingness to consider a sale of some assets, agreeing to sell its flagship Lord & Taylor building in New York for $1.1 billion to WeWork Cos.

Reuters

Artis sells 4 Alberta office properties, hits strategic goal

Artis Real Estate Investment Trust has sold four more office properties in Calgary and Red Deer, completing its goal to reduce the trust’s Alberta office weighting to less than 10% of its portfolio. The sale of the Quarry Park Portfolio in Calgary and the Millennium Centre in Red Deer means Artis has, so far in 2017, disposed of 15 properties worth about $350 million.

Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

WiredScore certifies its first Canadian buildings

Seven Toronto office buildings have received Canada’s first Wired Certifications from WiredScore, recognizing their ability to provide best-in-class connectivity infrastructure. “These are Toronto’s leaders in digital connectivity,” said WiredScore CEO and founder Arie Barendrecht at an Oct. 26 launch event.

Property Biz Canada

MEC breaks ground on Vancouver flagship store

Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) has broken ground on its new Vancouver flagship retail store on the edge of the Olympic Village. The three-storey, 60,000-square-foot building is going up on land that has been owned by the Beedie Development Group since 2007. When construction of the store is completed in mid-2019, MEC will operate the LEED Gold-standard building on a lease from Beedie for 20 years.

Vancouver Province

CAPREIT appoints David Ehrlich president/CEO

Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate Investment Trust announced David Ehrlich has been appointed president and chief executive officer, effective today. The appointment follows the loss of the Company’s founder and CEO, Thomas Schwartz, who passed away on Aug. 15, 2017. Ehrlich will step down as CEO of Irish Residential Properties REIT Plc but will remain on the board of IRES.

Canada Newswire

New Fairfield Inn coming to Edmonton airport

Construction is underway on a second Marriott hotel at the Edmonton International Airport near what is thought to be the site of a future Costco store. The five-storey Fairfield Inn by Marriott will be located  close to the outlet mall, featuring 135 rooms and suites, a swimming pool, hot tub, fitness room and lobby bar, said Nick Kary, V-P of operations for his family’s K5 Investment Group.

Edmonton Journal

AHIP acquires two hotels; to rebrand rail portfolio

American Hotel Income Properties REIT announced it has entered into a branding agreement with Wyndham Hotel Group to rebrand 44 hotels in the company’s rail hotel portfolio under Wyndham’s Baymont Inn and Suites, Travelodge, and Super 8 brands. AHIP also announced it has acquired the 74-guestroom Days Inn Fargo, located in Fargo, N.D., for a total investment of $3.8 million and a 64-guestroom hotel in Whitefish, Mont., for  approximately $3.7 million.

Marketwired – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

Summit JVs on Laval industrial property

Summit Industrial Income REIT announced it has waived conditions and will acquire a 50 per cent interest in a 70,000-square-foot light industrial property well-located in Laval, Quebec. The REIT is purchasing the property with its Quebec joint venture partner Groupe Montoni. The REIT will pay $3.1 million for its 50% interest, financed by a new $2 million two-year mortgage.

Canada Newswire

Bids are in to transform Toronto’s Kipling station

The Province of Ontario and City of Toronto have reached a new milestone in their plan to redevelop Kipling Station into a hub connecting subway, light rail and buses across three transit services. On Tuesday, officials said three companies submitted bids for the project, which is scheduled to be completed by 2019.

CBC

Transit, health groups call for Metrolinx reform

A coalition of transit, environmental and health advocacy groups is calling on Metrolinx to improve its governance practices as the agency conducts public consultations on its new $45-billion regional transportation plan. Metrolinx has been holding public consultations across the GTHA for the past month. The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday evening at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Toronto Star

Falling glass could be prevented with stricter standards: Architect

Calgary should consider new safety standards for attaching windowpanes to skyscrapers in the wake of several cases of glass shattering on the streets below, says an architect and professor. A pane of glass fell from the corner of the 23rd floor of Brookfield Place Calgary on Sunday morning, smashing on the pavement. Two weeks earlier, a window-washing crew broke a window on the same building.

CBC – CBC – CBC

Quebec mayors grapple with ‘new normal’ after latest floods

Joanne Hamilton heard the water before she saw it. It was 5:30 a.m. Monday, and the rain had been pouring down all night. “It’s very scary,” Hamilton said. “All of a sudden climate change is so real to us when we have a disaster that affects us personally.” That’s how many municipalities across west Quebec are feeling this week in the aftermath of the record-breaking storm.

CBC

America’s largest development taking shape

Related Companies’ redevelopment of Hudson Yards, which will transform it from an industrial zone to an entirely new neighborhood on Manhattan’s West Side, is an ambitious project. “No one has ever built anything like this,” said CEO Jeff Blau during a panel discussion at Fast Company’s Innovation Festival. “This is the largest real estate development ever done.” Well, at least in America.

Co.Design

Teachers’ selling part of its stakes in U.K. airports

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan says it is selling off 30 per cent of its stakes at two United Kingdom regional airports to broaden its investment strategy. The deal will see Australia’s New South Wales Treasury Corporation and Sunsuper Superannuation Fund each acquire a 15 per cent stake of Ontario Teachers’ ownership in Bristol Airport and Birmingham Airport.

Globe and Mail – Reuters – IPE Real Estate – Benefits Canada

Featured Column

Sears is out, but CRE possibilities are endless

Sears Canada has finally pulled the plug, granted permission on Oct. 13 by the courts to start liquidation of the company’s remaining stores. So I posed the following question to my friends and social media followers last week: If Sears is out of Saskatoon’s Midtown Plaza, what should be in?

Read more

Market Trends and Research

Top 11 female CRE executives

SLIDE SHOW: At the executive level in the CRE industry, it’s a man’s world. While residential real estate boasts a higher female-to-male ratio, diversity lags on the commercial side. Some progress has been made in recent years, but there are still advancements to be made.

National Real Estate Investor – CTV – Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail

TO office market remains tight: NKF Devencore

Newmark Knight Frank Devencore (NKF Devencore) Tuesday announced the vacancy rate for all office classes in downtown Toronto continues to remain very tight. The most substantial delivery of new space was the E&Y Tower at 100 Adelaide Street West, a 905,000-square-foot building that is almost fully occupied. The 800,000-square-foot One York Street was also recently delivered and is almost fully leased.

Marketwired

Real Estate Companies

Aurora Cannabis gets go-ahead to grow pot in Pointe-Claire

The first legal cannabis production facility in Montreal — the second one in Quebec — is set to start growing. On Oct. 27, Aurora Cannabis received a Health Canada licence to cultivate at a Pointe-Claire facility, and the company expects to start growing there before the end of the month, said Cam Battley, Aurora’s executive vice-president.

Montreal Gazette

Starlight Investments names Glen Hirsh COO

Starlight Investments announced the appointment of Glen Hirsh as chief operating officer effective immediately. Hirsh, who has 20 years of experience in the real estate and financial services sectors, previously served as vice-president in the Strategy and Finance Group at Oxford Properties. He has also held the position of managing director and head of Real Estate Investment Banking Group at National Bank Financial.

Canada Newswire

	RENX 2018 media kit now available
	A blended ad program, take-over advertising, writing services and a second weekly edition of Property Biz Canada in 2018. Advertising that reaches thousands of professionals in the commercial real estate industry every business day. Contact sales@renx.ca, 1-855-569-6300

 

REIT Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* Maplewood International REIT, Sedar filing

* Morguard North American Residential REIT, Canada Newswire 

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Dream increases interest in Dream Office REIT

Dream Unlimited Corp. announced it has acquired 725,765 REIT units, Series A of Dream Office REIT, representing approximately 0.9 per cent of the issued and outstanding units, on the Aequitas NEO Exchange Inc. for aggregate consideration of $15,270,096 or $21.04 per unit. Dream and its joint actors now own approximately 17.6% of the issued and outstanding units.

Globe Newswire

Retail

Watchdog raids grocer offices over alleged price-fixing

The Competition Bureau says it has raided the offices of certain companies in a criminal investigation tied to alleged price-fixing following statements released by some of the country’s largest grocery chains. The bureau says the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Ottawa granted search warrants based on evidence there are reasonable grounds to believe certain individuals and companies have engaged in activities contrary to the Competition Act.

CBC – Toronto Star – Global News – Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Ontario to introduce legislation to sell, distribute marijuana

Ontario was set to introduce legislation later today that would regulate the sale and distribution of recreational marijuana. The province was the first to announce detailed plans last month for cannabis once the federal government makes it legal in July 2018. Cannabis will be sold in up to 150 stores run by the Ontario Liquor Control Board — separate from outlets selling alcohol — and illegal dispensaries will be shut down.

CBC

Resorts

Sun Peaks housing can’t keep up with ski hill boom

Last winter, Sun Peaks Resort had one of its busiest seasons ever. The number of rooms booked jumped 15 per cent from the previous winter, and all indications point to an even better 2017. The ski resort has a scheduled opening date of Nov. 18, which would make it the first mountain to open in B.C. this year.

Business In Vancouver

Technology

Shopify shares tumble on earnings forecast

Shopify’s share price sagged at much as 13 per cent in early morning trading Tuesday following the company’s posting of third-quarter financial results. It finished the day at $128.26 on the TSX, down 8.5 per cent. The seller of e-commerce technology on Tuesday had published better-than-expected revenues of $171.5 million US for the quarter ended Sept. 30 — well in excess of analysts’ projections of $166 million.

Ottawa Citizen – Ottawa Business Journal – Globe and Mail

Chatting with Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke

Shopify co-founder and CEO Tobi Lütke didn’t set out at first to build an e-commerce giant. A decade and a half ago, he was new to Canada and simply wanted to sell snowboards online to make a bit of extra cash. The software behind Lütke’s original store would later become the foundation of Shopify’s online retail platform.

Ottawa Business Journal

Other

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