Global investors to consider Canada’s infrastructure projects

Global investors to consider Canada’s infrastructure projects

Justin Trudeau and nine members of his cabinet are in Toronto today to meet with some of the world’s most powerful institutional investors with trillions of dollars at their disposal to persuade them that Canada offers a stable economic and political environment in which to safely invest.

Financial Post – Globe and Mail

JLL adds PMX to help with infrastructure projects

JLL has acquired PMX Inc., a Toronto-based project management firm that specializes in public and private infrastructure projects, to expand its project and development services (PDS) platform across Canada. “This acquisition is very much in line with our Canadian and American growth strategy,” said JLL Canada president Brett Miller, who added that PMX is a good fit culturally and will complement his company’s existing range of services.

Property Biz Canada

Morgan Stanley to buy Macy’s building in San Francisco

Morgan Stanley Real Estate is under contract to buy the Macy’s building in San Francisco for $250m, according to several sources. The purchase of the 248,000 sqft Macy’s Men’s retail asset in Union Square is likely to be completed by early next year. Macy’s has also formed a strategic alliance with Brookfield Asset Management to create increased value within its real estate portfolio.

Real Estate IPE

Dream Global REIT lists on Frankfurt Stock Exchange

Dream Global REIT, DRG.UN-T today reported its financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2016.  Its quarterly highlights includ securing a listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange with Dream Global REIT’s units starting to trade under the ticker symbol DRG on November 15, 2016. It also received Moody’s investment grade issuer rating of Baa3 stable.

Marketwired

Greybrook’s impressive pipeline of property investments

Greybrook Realty Partners Inc. made headlines with the sale of a residential condominium site in October, one of the largest sales measured in dollars of its type in Toronto’s history. The company however has an impressive pipeline of investments in property developments primarily in the GTA but also in Florida and Manhattan.

Property Biz Canada

Gildan Activewear signs deal to buy American Apparel

Gildan Activewear Inc. (GIL-T) says it has signed a deal to buy the American Apparel brand for $66 million. American Apparel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday. Under the deal, Gildan has agreed to acquire the intellectual property rights related to the American Apparel brand.

The Chronicle Herald – Globe and Mail – Montreal Gazette

LCBO launches innovation hub in Kitchener to explore new technology

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario, the government agency that manages alcohol sales across the province, is tapping into Kitchener-Waterloo’s startup community as it seeks to modernize the way it interacts with customers at its retail stores.

Globe and Mail

Waterloo Region has fastest-growing tech market: CBRE

A new report on Canada’s 10 leading tech markets says Waterloo Region is the fastest-growing, with the largest increase in new tech jobs over the past five years. The 2016 Scoring Tech Talent Report, issued Monday by commercial real estate and investment firm CBRE Canada, found that Waterloo Region recorded an increase of 74.4 per cent in new tech jobs.

The Record

Vancouver’s Terminal Ave. dream becomes multi-sector reality

There was a time not too long ago when Vancouver city planners thought that the False Creek Flats would be, by now, the beating heart of B.C.’s tech sector, a mini-Silicon Valley and among the largest innovation clusters in the province. Today, walking down Terminal Avenue that large tech community remains elusive.

Vancouver Sun

Pickering is asking for airport to be expedited

The city of Pickering plans to ask the federal government on Monday to “expedite planning and development” of the controversial Pickering airport, in what residents say is a “stunning” reversal of the city’s long-standing opposition to the decades old project. Officials says the move is part of a review of the city’s official plan.

Toronto Star

Future uncertain for Charlottetown, Summerside development corporations

P.E.I.’s two regional development corporations were established decades ago to pursue urban economic development. The province is the majority shareholder in both corporations which manage several properties including Harbourside Complex, Peakes Wharf and Marina, Founders Hall, the CGI Building and the Invesco Building.

CBC

Curve appeal: Vaughn Public Library

How one architecture firm torqued familiar forms and planes to create a building that serves both an aesthetic and social purpose. Start with a book. Choose a paperback – a rectangle full of flat rectangular pages; then push the pages apart between your fingers, until the stolid right angles open up into a complex splay.

Globe and Mail

Flush with pride: Whitecourt Esso station has Canada’s best loo

Motorists travelling on Highway 43 northwest of Edmonton will be relieved to find Canada’s best restroom can be found at the Whitecourt Esso Super Station. The business was declared the winner Thursday of the 2016 Canada’s Best Restroom Contest, put on annually by Cintas Canada Ltd.

Edmonton Journal

One Kendall Square trades hands in largest 2016 Boston sale

Alexandria Real Estate Equities (ARE-N) has completed the largest acquisition year-to-date in the Boston market with the firm’s purchase of One Kendall Square in Cambridge, MA from DivcoWest Properties. The Pasadena, CA-based urban office REIT paid $725 million, or approximately $1,124 per square foot, for the nearly 700,000-square-foot office and laboratory campus.

CoStar Group

Trump awakens the bond vigilantes. Is danger ahead?

Beware what you wish for, Mr. Trump. On Labour Day, Donald Trump, then a long shot for the White House, now president-elect, decried ultralow interest rates. They have created a “false economy,” the Orange One bellowed, and that “at some point, the rates are going to have to change.” They’re changing, fast, maybe faster than Mr. Trump wants.

Globe and Mail

Featured Column

Buyer beware

Property owners need to be on top of environmental regulations It’s a challenging time in the commercial property development industry. The present economic uncertainty means everyone is looking for ways to save costs. Add the myriad of government environmental regulations introduced in recent years and there are many companies running hard just to keep up.

Read more

Market Trends and Research

Vancouver in top for economic growth in 2016, 2017

Vancouver will be the fastest growing metropolitan economy in the country this year and next, according to The Conference Board of Canada’s Metropolitan Outlook: Autumn 2016. Vancouver’s real GDP is expected to grow by 4 per cent his year, and slow to a still solid 2.8 per cent in 2017.

Canada Newswire

Calgary economy poised to grow in 2017: Conference Board

Calgary’s economy will see a modest recovery next year after two consecutive years of declines, the Conference Board of Canada predicts. The city’s economy will contract by 2.1 per cent this year after shrinking 3.2 per cent in 2015, the board forecasts in its latest Metropolitan Outlook.

Calgary Herald

Real Estate Companies

Shareholders rewriting the rules for public company directors

The job description for Canadian directors has changed. The problem is no one told them. The owners of public companies, shareholders, have re-written their expectations when it comes to the level of access they demand from those they elect. In fact, director-shareholder engagement is becoming a prerequisite for high shareholder support.

Globe and Mail

Real Estate Investment Trusts

CAPREIT chosen (again) as one of Canada’s best employers

Canadian Apartment Properties REIT (CAR.UN-T) has once again been selected as a Platinum Level Aon Best Employer in Canada. Aon reserves Platinum status for organizations who perform strongly on employee engagement, leadership, performance, culture and employment brand. The list of the Aon Best Employers will be published in Canadian Business magazine.

Marketwired

Dream Office REIT reports Q3 financial results

Dream Office REIT (D.UN-T) announced its financial results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016 and provided an update to its three-year strategic plan.  In February 2016, we announced that we were looking at Dream Office REIT with a view to maximizing net asset value.

Market Wired

Dream Global REIT reports Q3 financial results

Dream Global REIT, DRG.UN-T

MarketWired

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Retail

3 new Save-On-Foods ‘tailor-made for Winnipeg’

Winnipeg shoppers will have a few more places to buy groceries by the end of the week. “These stores have been tailor-made for the city of Winnipeg,” Save-On-Foods president Darrell Jones said. Three Save-On-Foods are expected to open to the public by Saturday.

CBC

J.C. Penny suffers Q3 decline

J.C. Penney (PFH-N) cut its sales outlook for the year after reporting a surprise decline in a key sales figure for the third quarter as it wrestled with sluggish clothing sales. The report is a setback for Penney, whose business has been volatile, bouncing back in the summer after a tough start to the year.

The Chronicle Herald

New Development

Video: Architect speaks out on balancing development

Conversations That Matter features Gregory Henriquez, the architect that re-imagined the old Woodwards site, turning it into a model of community redevelopment.  He talks about creating a model that respects the needs of the Downtown Eastside and appreciates the market value of the site.

Vancouver Sun

Other

Final design chosen for downtown Ottawa monument

A chalice standing more than three metres tall and made of silvered aluminum bands that people can walk between is the chosen design for a downtown Ottawa monument to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Stanley Cup. The Covit/Nguyen/NORR design team based in Montreal beat seven other teams in a competition to design a new monument to Lord Frederick Stanley’s eponymous silver bowl.

CBC

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