Office space crunch hits Vancouver

Office space crunch hits Vancouver

Vancouver is facing an office space crunch with declining vacancy rates and rising lease rates. While more supply is on the way, some are concerned the lack of available space will push Vancouver off the radar screens of international companies seeking to expand. Amid the shortage, some developers have said they are not interested in building office space because other real estate classes are more stable and more profitable.

Business In Vancouver

REIT pioneer Ed Sonshine discusses RioCan legacy

VIDEOS: RioCan CEO Ed Sonshine talks to Financial Post’s Larysa Harapyn about his plans for retirement, as well as the shifting market for Canadian retail real estate developments. In the second video, Sonshine discusses his concerns for Canada’s economic future as deficits pile up and transnational projects fail to get built.

Financial Post Video I – Financial Post Video II

UPS building largest Canadian warehouse in GTA

International delivery and logistics service UPS (UPS-N) says it will build its largest Canadian facility, a $200-million, 850,000-square-foot distribution centre, in the Town of Caledon, just north of Toronto. In a release Tuesday, UPS says ground has broken on the project, which will help it meet growing business and residential customer demand. The small package operations hub will provide additional processing and service capacity to the Greater Toronto Area. 

Property Biz Canada

Canadian Tire, CT REIT raising $300M through share offerings

Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC-T) and CT REIT (CRT-UN-T)  will issue up to $300 million in shares to help fund its growing expansion, acquisitions and development plans. The offerings would leave Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC) owning approximately 75.1 per cent of shares in CT REIT if the offerings, plus a 10 per cent over-allotment provision, are all fully exercised. 

Property Biz Canada

MasterBUILT Hotels expands partnership with FN communities

MasterBUILT Hotels, Canada’s leader in the development and management of select-service hotels, continues to expand its investment in First Nations communities with new properties in Alberta, Manitoba, B.C. and Quebec. The Calgary-based company recently announced a partnership with the Long Plain First Nation and Arrowhead Development Corporation to develop Manitoba’s first Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham.

Canada Newswire

LeBreton Flats development applications ‘incomplete’

The up-in-the-air status of RendezVous LeBreton Group’s planning applications is one piece in the larger mystery surrounding the progress of the massive LeBreton Flats redevelopment project. Coun. Jan Harder, who chairs the planning committee, said she hasn’t heard much about RendezVous’s municipal land-use applications for the historic site, but she’s been told the package, so far, is “incomplete.”

Ottawa Citizen

Canada’s BOMA BEST expanding into Mexico

BOMA Canada is introducing its BOMA BEST program to Mexico in partnership with BOMA Mexico, and more international expansion is in the works. “We’ve had such high take-up that we’re recognizing that the next frontier lies outside the borders of this country,” said Benjamin Shinewald, president and chief executive officer for BOMA Canada.

Sustainable Biz Canada

Firm Capital expands to Quebec and opens Montreal office

Firm Capital Corporation announced the opening of their new office in Montreal and the appointment of Roberto D’Abate, managing director, Quebec. Firm Capital will focus on short term lending by providing construction, bridge, equity, alternative residential mortgages and conventional real estate financing to builders, developers and real estate investors.

Firm Capital News Release – Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

Montréal top economic performer in 2018

Although its economic growth has been easing in 2018, Montréal will still come out on top as the metropolitan growth leader in Canada this year, with real GDP expected rise by 2.9 per cent, according to The Conference Board of Canada’s Metropolitan Outlook: Autumn 2018. Hamilton and Québec City are also expected to be among the top performers this year, ranking third and fourth nationwide.

Canada Newswire – Canada Newswire – Ottawa Business Journal

Montreal theatre chain eyes expansion to Calgary, Vancouver

Cinemas Guzzo is looking to expand beyond Quebec to other major Canadian cities. The Montreal-based cinema chain says it has been looking for opportunities in areas including Vancouver and Calgary. Guzzo Cinemas president Vince Guzzo says he’s hoping the expansion will allow him to take advantage of opportunities in other cities and find new synergies for his business, which also includes a construction company and Giulietta Pizzeria restaurants.

CBC

Metro profit boosted by Jean Coutu Group

Metro Inc. (MRU-T) says it earned $145 million in its latest quarter as its sales grew by more than 15 per cent compared with a year ago, boosted by its acquisition of the Jean Coutu Group. The grocer says the profit amounted to 56 cents per diluted share for what was its fourth quarter, compared with a profit of $154.9 million or 66 cents per diluted share in the same quarter last year.

Bloomberg – Canada Newswire – Canada Newswire

Loblaw cranks up self-checkout with app

Loblaw Cos. (L-T) is ramping up self-checkout with new technology called “shop and scan” — a system that lets people scan their items with a phone app while shopping, saving time at checkout. On Thursday, Loblaws will begin testing shop and scan at five grocery stores in the Greater Toronto Area, and will expand to three more locations in the region in the coming weeks.

CBC

How Amazon played us all: Editorial

There’s a lesson to be drawn from how Amazon.com Inc. got cities across North America to fight for the prize of subsidizing the tech and retail giant’s second headquarters. There is also the fact HQ2 has been awarded to the Washington area and New York – the two places that likely would have won on their merits even if Amazon had never been subsidized by taxpayers.

Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail (Subscription required

Oxford enters Paris luxury retail property market

Oxford Properties has expanded its luxury retail property portfolio with the acquisition of its first Paris asset. The $45-billion Cdn global real estate arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) said it has bought the 273 rue Saint-Honoré building for an undisclosed sum. The 15,400-square-foot flagship store is fully leased to the Italian luxury brand Valentino.

IPE Real Assets

QuadReal, Round Hill buy first Irish BTR development

A newly created Irish residential property venture, set up by QuadReal Property Group and Round Hill Capital, has bought its first build-to-rent (BTR) development. The partners said the joint venture will forward purchase a 216-bed development in Dublin 9 for an undisclosed sum. The new development will provide three one-bed, 195 two-bed and 18 three-bed apartments across three separate six-storey buildings.

IPE Real Assets

Featured Column

10 questions to ask if you’re considering a career in CRE

You might be in your last year of university and considering your career options, or have just come to the realization that your current professional path is not going to be your life work. The idea of a career in commercial real estate sales is appealing. What’s your next step?

Read more

REOC Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* Gazit Globe, (GZT-T), Globe Newswire

REIT Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* Lanesborough REIT, (LRT-UN-X), Canada Newswire

Real Estate Investment Trusts

GRL announces merger into REIT INDEXPLUS Income Fund

Middlefield Limited, the manager of Global Real Estate Dividend Growers Corp. (GRL-T) and REIT INDEXPLUS Income Fund (IDR-UN-T), announced GRL will merge into REIT INDEXPLUS  on or about Feb. 12, 2019, with REIT INDEXPLUS being the continuing entity following the merger. REIT INDEXPLUS is expected to undertake a Conversion into an exchange-traded fund named Middlefield REIT INDEXPLUS ETF later in February.

Canada Newswire

Retail

MEC to open first Saskatchewan store

MEC will open a new 20,000 square-foot store in Saskatoon in spring 2020, the Co-op’s first retail location in Saskatchewan. Centrally situated at Midtown shopping centre, the store will be easily accessible for people travelling to the city from the north or south via Highway 11, to the west via Highway 14 and to the east via Highway 5.

Canada Newswire

Lowe’s aims to sell Mexico stores

Lowe’s Cos Inc. (LOW-N)  said on Tuesday it was looking to shed its retail operations in Mexico and two of its smaller U.S. businesses as the country’s second-biggest home improvement chain strives to compete with rivals including Home Depot. Shares of the Mooresville, N.C.-based company fell nearly 3.6 per cent in morning trading after Lowe’s blamed inventory missteps for a smaller-than-expected rise in comparable store sales.

Reuters

Cannabis industry news

Alberta blowing away B.C.’s claim as Canada’s pot capital

B.C.’s reputation as Canada’s pot capital is stuck in red tape, while Albertans next door roll freely from store to store. One month into legalization, Alberta has issued nearly 70 private retail licences, while British Columbia has issued one to a public retailer and another to a private store.  Bob Kay stopped selling marijuana from his Be Kind dispensary in Kelowna after legalization on Oct. 17, as he awaited his licence to operate as a store.

CBC

New Development

Ford government rejects Ryerson’s plan for new law school

The Ontario government has rejected Ryerson University’s bid to fund a new law school, the latest blow to Ontario universities following the cancellation of three proposed satellite campuses and a francophone university. Training, Colleges and Universities Minister Merrilee Fullerton reviewed the proposal and concluded, based on a number of factors including a surplus of students for articling positions, another law school in the province isn’t needed.

Globe and Mail

Luxury hotel built in former pit mine to open in China

A luxury hotel opening outside Shanghai is offering guests with deep pockets the chance of a very deep sleep. The 18-storey Intercontinental Shanghai Wonderland Hotel has been built into the side of a huge hole in the ground left by a former pit mine. Sixteen of its floors are below ground level, looking out onto the rest of the former quarry. Two floors are underwater.

Winnipeg Free Press

SNC-Lavalin signs agreement for development of Aussie plant

SNC-Lavalin (SNC-T) announced it has signed an agreement with Perdaman Chemicals and Fertilisers Pty Ltd (Perdaman) for the continued development of the two million ton per annum (Mtpa) Urea fertiliser plant located in Western Australia. Once the project is approved, its estimated capital cost is $4.3 billion. The contract forms an exclusive three-phase agreement between SNC-Lavalin and Perdaman.

Canada Newswire

Renovation and Restoration

Grant to help transform vacant buildings into Edmonton arts hubs

Two vacant buildings on the east side of Edmonton’s downtown will be renovated, retrofitted and reborn as permanent arts hubs in The Quarters district, thanks in part to a $1.5 million contribution announced Friday by the federal government. Half the money will go toward renovations to a 1962 two-storey building at 9604 101A Ave. which will become the home of the Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective, which has operated since 2015 without a location.

CBC

Other

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