Ottawa airport plans new hotel, major renovations

Ottawa airport plans new hotel, major renovations

A major redevelopment project that will see $25 million in renovations to the Ottawa international airport terminal and a new hotel next door is yet another sign the capital’s tourism sector keeps gaining momentum from 2017, industry officials say. A new hotel with between 150 and 200 rooms will be built south of the parking garage that is attached to the airport, a project that is expected to cost up to $45 million.

Ottawa Business Journal

Toronto won by losing bid for Amazon’s HQ2

Toronto’s bid for Amazon’s second headquarters lost out to New York and northern Virginia yet the Canadian city may be better off without the American retailing giant. Amazon’s initial HQ2 pitch promised as many as 50,000 jobs wherever they ultimately picked. As it turns out, those jobs will be split in two, with 25,000 in each new hub, along with another 5,000 jobs to a third city, Nashville.

CBC – PR Newswire – Globe and Mail

El-Ad bids to acquire Agellan Commercial REIT for $680M

Agellan Commercial REIT  (ACR-UN-T) has entered into an agreement to be acquired by an affiliate of its largest shareholder El-Ad Group, Ltd., in a transaction valued at about $680 million. Elad Genesis Limited Partnership will pay $14.25 in cash per share for units the group does not already hold. The $680-million valuation includes assumption of the REIT’s net debt.

Property Biz Canada

Allied adds to downtown Vancouver office holdings

Allied Properties REIT (AP-UN-T) is increasing its presence in Vancouver, acquiring two downtown office buildings. The trust paid $57.5 million for the two properties, which comprise 60,000-plus square feet of gross leasable area. “These are strategic acquisitions for Allied, in that we’re increasing our penetration in urban Vancouver just as it’s transitioning to a primary Canadian office market,” Allied president/CEO Michael Emory said in a statement announcing the purchases.

Property Biz Canada

Investment in Edmonton CRE up 26% year-over-year

Investors’ interest in the Edmonton market through September was such that year-over-year sales activity rose by 26 per cent. Commercial real estate (CRE) investment also rose substantially to more than $2 billion, a year-over-year increase of approximately $615 million. It’s worth noting two-thirds of this increase was due to the sale of of 10111 – 104th Avenue NW by Ice District Corp. This single event injected $400 million into office asset class investment.

Barclay Street Real Estate media release – Property Biz Canada

Dream companies invest in PropTech market

Toronto real estate mogul Michael Cooper and his portfolio of Dream real estate companies have become the latest big-name Canadian corporate players to invest in the booming technology business. Two of Cooper’s properties, Dream Unlimited (DRM-T) and Dream Office REIT (D-UN-T), have teamed up with Canadian venture capital firm Relay Ventures to create Alate Partners, a Toronto-based business that will invest in what’s known as the “property tech market.”

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – IT Business.ca – Property Biz Canada

The People Space: Kirk joins Cominar, Roth advises AY . . .

Cominar Real Estate Investment Trust (CUF-UN-T) has hired Heather C. Kirk as executive vice-president and chief financial officer effective Dec. 3. Kirk is a seasoned executive with more than 20 years of experience in real estate, capital markets, investment banking and equity research. She has a strong knowledge of Cominar, having served on its board of trustees since May.

Property Biz Canada

New Energy Star certification for high-rise residential

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has introduced an Energy Star certification for new mid- and high-rise residential buildings for an Ontario pilot program. “The Energy Star Multifamily High-Rise (New Construction) Pilot Program broadens the Energy Star program suite in Canada, starting with the Energy Star for New Homes program for low-rise homes,” said NRCan spokeswoman Catherine Leroux.

Sustainable Biz Canada

Vancouver’s Lions Gate Bridge turns 80

Foreign real estate investment, land speculation, traffic congestion and environmentalism — it’s hard to find a structure whose history epitomizes Vancouver more than the Lions Gate Bridge. Considered by many to be Vancouver’s crown jewel, the three-lane bridge that links Vancouver to the North Shore first opened to traffic on Nov. 12, 1938. The project was entirely financed by private overseas investors during the Great Depression.

CBC – CBC

Small biz hopes new Vancouver council brings tax relief

Vancouver’s property tax burden is being applied to commercial properties more than residential properties by a ratio of 4.4 to 1, according to a new report by Altus Group. Vancouver was only city among the 11 Canadian major markets reviewed in which the commercial-to-residential property tax burden ratio exceeded 4-1, according to the 2018 Canadian Property Tax Rate Benchmark report by the global commercial real estate data, software and service firm.

Vancouver Sun

Saskatoon backs planning for arena/convention centre

Saskatoon city council endorsed starting to plan for a new downtown arena and convention centre and identifying the best spot for a district around the facility. City manager Jeff Jorgenson said the decision, supported by council in a 10-1 vote on Tuesday, means the city will no longer focus on renovations to Saskatoon’s aging suburban arena, SaskTel Centre, or the downtown convention centre, TCU Place.

Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Ivanhoe Cambridge purchases Parisian office complex

Ivanhoé Cambridge , a real estate subsidiary of  Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, has acquired a 968,750-square-foot office campus sold by AEW on behalf of an institutional investor in the Saint-Denis Pleyel neighbourhood. This is the largest asset sold this year on the French office market. The campus includes four connected buildings built on a plot of four landscaped hectares. A purchase price was not disclosed.

Ivanhoe Cambridge media release – Property Biz Canada

Colliers to acquire majority interest in former CBRE U.S. affiliate

Leading global commercial real estate services firm Colliers International Group Inc. (CIGI-T) announced it has agreed to acquire a majority interest in the operations of the former affiliate of CBRE Group Inc, in Central and Southeast Virginia, which will be rebranded as Colliers International | Virginia. The current shareholders of Colliers Virginia will continue to retain equity in the business under the unique Colliers partnership model.

Globe Newswire – Globe Newswire – Property Biz Canada

Norway-based firm taps Ottawa for first N.A. office

A Norwegian firm designing tech to help aging adults stay active has landed in Ottawa, marking the firm’s first North American footprint. Norway-based Motitech announced Tuesday it will set up shop in the nation’s capital. The company is currently settling into soft-landing space at Bayview Yards, but will soon find local office space to grow a team of up to 15 in the next two years, according to a spokesperson.

Ottawa Business Journal

SACO, Coupland creating public artwork for TELUS Sky tower

SACO is working with development firm and culture company Westbank and renowned Canadian artist and author Douglas Coupland to feature one of the largest public art installations in Canada. Northern Lights, a 160,000-square-foot LED-based art installation on the new TELUS Sky tower, will add a new work of global significance to Calgary’s vibrant public art culture. TELUS Sky will open in 2019 and will be the city’s third-tallest building.

PR Newswire – Property Biz Canada

Featured Column

Worst timing in Vancouver history for ‘vacancy controls’

GUEST COLUMN: Rent controls already force Vancouver landlords to follow strict rules, but this is not enough for some tenant advocacy groups pushing a controversial policy they call “vacancy controls.” They argue the right of landlords to charge market rates when a suite becomes vacant is unfair to tenants, and that rents should be maintained at the previous rates upon new occupancy.

Read more

Market Trends and Research

Europe’s listed RE companies need economies of scale

Size matters for Europe’s listed real estate sector. As new players enter the market and tenant needs change, listed companies are finding being bigger brings valuable benefits in today’s competitive environment. Consolidation of major real estate companies in recent years has seen bigger players emerge from significant M&A activity. Deals as gargantuan as Unibail-Rodamco’s US$24.8 billion purchase of Westfield last year potentially provide a template for the future.

The Investor JLL

Foreign investors seek safe haven in U.S. industrial

Inflow of foreign capital to U.S. commercial real estate in the first half of 2018 increased 29 per cent over the previous year, reports real estate services firm CBRE. But some foreign investors are diversifying away from office assets and gateway markets, according to Mike Kendall, executive managing director of investment services with Colliers International.

National Real Estate Investor

Real Estate Companies

City quashes plans to buy Toronto Plaza Hotel

The City of Toronto is putting the brakes on the potential purchase of a financially troubled hotel now housing around 500 homeless people and asylum seekers, despite quietly making a bid for the facility earlier this year. With its shelter system at capacity, city officials have since 2017 used the Toronto Plaza Hotel to house newly arrived refugees and homeless families from the charitable Fred Victor Centre.

CBC

Rio Tinto sells Kitimat wharf to LNG Canada for $760M

Rio Tinto completed the lease and sale of a wharf and land in Kitimat to LNG Canada for a consideration of approximately $760 million. LNG has also agreed to build a replacement wharf for Rio’s export shipments of aluminum from the B.C. Works smelter. LNG Canada is a joint venture of Shell, Petronas, PetroChina, Mitsubishi and Kogas. Discussions of the various options for the wharf began in 2014.

Canadian Mining Journal

Ex-FCE CEO sues to postpone Brookfield merger vote

Albert Ratner Tuesday filed suit in Federal Court against Forest City Realty Trust, Inc. (FCE-A-N), seeking to postpone the Nov. 15 special meeting of stockholders related to its proposed merger into a wholly owned subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management (BAM-A-T) , in light of what he claims are materially inaccurate information and omission of material facts within the company’s proxy statement.

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

REOC Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* Dream Unlimited Corp.. (DRM-T), Globe Newswire

* Genesis Land Development Corp. (GDC-T), Canada Newswire

* Timbercreek Financial, (TF-T), Globe Newswire

* Trez Capital Mortgage Investment Corp., (TZZ-T), Canada Newswire

* Trez Capital Senior Mortgage Investment Corp., (TZS-T), Canada Newswire

REIT Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* Automotive Properties REIT, (APR-UN-T), Canada Newswire

* H&R REIT, (HR-UN-T), Canada Newswire

* Inovalis REIT, (INO.UN-T),  Canada Newswire

* Minto Apartment REIT, (MI-UN-T), Canada Newswire

* Plaza Retail REIT, (PLZ-UN-T), Canada Newswire

Retail

Loblaw beats profit estimates, boosted by online business

Loblaw Cos Ltd. (L-T) reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday, as the retailer benefited from efforts to refurbish stores and expand its online presence. The retailer, which sells everything from grocery to wireless mobile connections, has been renovating its stores and growing its online business as it fights for market share with bigger rivals such as Amazon.com Inc (AMZN-Q).

Reuters – Financial Post – Canada Newswire

Alibaba nets record $40.5B in Singles’ Day haul

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd cashed a record $40.5 billion Cdn in sales on Sunday during its 24-hour online retail frenzy Singles’ Day, but the event’s annual growth dropped to its slowest rate. Shoppers in China and across the world snapped up hot items including iPhones, furniture and milk powder starting pre-dawn, with Alibaba recording roughly $10 billion in sales in the first hour after midnight.

Reuters

HBC cancels Montreal’s Saks Off Fifth store

European sports chain Decathlon is replacing Saks Off Fifth in a spot over two floors at the Montreal Eaton Centre. Hudson’s Bay Company says it and mall developer Ivanhoe Cambridge have mutually agreed to no longer open a Saks Off Fifth location. The Toronto-based department store chain owner tells The Canadian Press plans for the location have been abandoned “due to a number of factors.”

CTV

Restaurants and Eateries

Starbucks to lay off 350 global corporate employees

Starbucks Corp. (SBUX-Q) is laying off about 350 global corporate employees, CEO Kevin Johnson said on Tuesday in a memo to employees. The elimination of the non-store employees is part of a restructuring plan Johnson unveiled in September in an attempt to make the company sufficiently nimble to tackle rivals in a competitive U.S. coffee market. The layoffs would primarily affect employees at its Seattle Support Center, the memo said.

Reuters

New Development

Delta casino gets green light from BCLC

The British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) has approved a new gambling and entertainment facility in Delta, B.C. The Cascades Casino Delta, which will be operated by Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Limited, is set to have a hotel, restaurants, meeting space and a casino with 500 slot machines, as well as table games. Construction will begin in early 2019 and the casino is expected to open in mid-2020.

CBC

Other

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