Ivanhoe Cambridge investing $1B in Montreal

Ivanhoe Cambridge investing $1B in Montreal

Montreal’s iconic Place Ville Marie (PVM) will receive a $200-million makeover as part of owner and operator Ivanhoé Cambridge’s $1-billion investment in its downtown properties. The PVM renovations are the latest in a series of major announcements involving Ivanhoé’s flagship properties in Montreal, in what it calls Projet Nouveau Centre.

Property Biz Canada – Montreal Gazette – Canada Newswire

Toronto remains Canada’s top tech market: CBRE

A new report from CBRE Group Inc. has found that while Toronto remains Canada’s top market for tech talent by a substantial margin, the Waterloo region is growing at more than twice the speed. The CRE services’ 2017 Scoring Canadian Tech Talent report once again declared Toronto Canada’s top tech city thanks to its 212,500 tech positions, educated workforce and 31.8 per cent rate of tech-related job growth between 2011 and 2016.

ITBusiness.ca – Ottawa Business Journal – Business In Vancouver – betakit

Intracorp growth leads to North American consolidation

Intracorp is one of North America’s largest developers of multi-family homes, with about $4 billion worth of projects on the go. The company is moving to bring that sprawling organization under one leader, and one corporate banner. All of Intracorp’s North American operations will now be overseen by president and chief executive officer Don Forsgren.

Property Biz Canada

Video game firm to anchor new PC Urban Vancouver office

Relic Entertainment, one of Vancouver’s oldest gaming companies, will be the anchor tenant of a new office building in the city’s Mount Pleasant district. The SEGA-owned studio, with about 180 employees, will move into its new head office in the spring or summer of 2019 in the Nickel building at 285 West 5th – located on the former Hudson Plating site where for many years chrome-plated industrial metals were manufactured.

Property Biz Canada – Business In Vancouver – Western Investor

Planners refining Ogden Point redevelopment

The Greater Victoria Harbour Authority is seeking further professional help to craft plans to redevelop Ogden Point.  A call for proposals was issued this week to “develop and define a category of uses appropriate for the near, medium and long term” at the James Bay site. The site is 13.7 hectares and could host $300 million worth of development over several years.

Victoria Times Colonist

Victoria Airport Authority green lights $35-million retail project

Omicron, the developer behind the proposed $35 million, 100,000-square-foot Sidney Crossing retail project near Victoria International Airport, should have a permit in the next few months with ground-breaking expected next spring. The Victoria Airport Authority (VAA), which ultimately will approve the commercial project, essentially gave Omicron the green light last month when it handed the proposal over to Sidney for review and comment.

Western Investor

Toronto quickly becoming hub for financial services: Report

Toronto is steadily growing as a hub for financial services, piling on a larger proportion of the country’s jobs at banks, insurers, asset managers and other firms. The city’s metro area makes up a third of all financial-sector employment in Canada, securing its status as a vital engine for growth, according to a Conference Board of Canada report released on Thursday.

Globe and Mail

Winnipeg landlords enhance offerings thanks to competition

The competition for class-A office tenants is heating up, as another tower at Portage and Main gets a multimillion-dollar upgrade in the face of a spirited challenge from the $400-million True North Square development. Harvard Developments of Regina, which owns the 33-storey 201 Portage office tower, has spent just under $5 million on an overhaul of the building’s underground concourse and food court.

Winnipeg Free Press

Multimillion-dollar renovation pays huge dividends for The Forks

The multimillion-dollar reno of The Forks Market is paying big dividends for the downtown destination and its growing roster of tenants. “We haven’t necessarily seen a large increase in traffic. What we’ve seen is a large increase in sales,” Chelsea Thomson, manager of marketing and communications for The Forks North Portage Partnership, said in an interview.

Winnipeg Free Press

Will Edmonton’s massive TOD bet pay off?

Edmonton is investing $3.2 billion in a new LRT line from Mill Woods to downtown, then out past West Edmonton Mall, but the bet only pays off if it spurs Transit Oriented Development (TOD) and a massive increase in people living along the line. Part of the reason to build LRT is to densify the city and eliminate the need to chew up farm land to build unsustainable suburbs and road systems. 

Edmonton Journal

Labourers’ Pension Fund undertaking $300M Hamilton development

The Labourers’ Pension Fund of Central and Eastern Canada (LPF) is undertaking its second venture in Hamilton’s downtown core with a massive new development comprised of two 30-storey towers proposed for over half an acre of land for a total project value of more than $300 million.

Daily Commercial News

Majority of shareholders back $500-M Rhone investment: HBC

Hudson’s Bay Co.  (HBC-T) says shareholders representing almost two-thirds of its outstanding common shares have confirmed their support for the company’s deal with Rhone Capital. Land and Buildings Investment Management has criticized the deal and sought to have shareholders vote on the investment in the retailer by the private equity firm. The Toronto Stock Exchange has conditionally approved Rhone’s investment.

BNN – Reuters

Wal-Mart closes in on Amazon in online price war

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.(WMT-N) is within striking distance of matching Amazon.com Inc’s (AMZN-Q) online prices for the first time, a key milestone in its effort to regain the “low price leader” title.  Wal-Mart has aggressively invested in making its prices more competitive against brick-and-mortar rivals since the start of the year. Now, the shrinking gap is also becoming noticeable across a broad range of product categories online. 

Reuters – Reuters – Business In Vancouver

Canadian retailers face $38B double whammy if NAFTA fails

An end to the North American Free Trade Agreement could cost Canadian retailers as much as $21 billion per year and siphon as much as $17 billion annually from the retail economy, according to a new analysis. The report from A.T. Kearney and the Retail Council of Canada says eliminating the world’s second-largest free trade agreement would have a dramatic impact on the Canadian economy.

Financial Post – Financial Post – Financial Post

Merger madness: Marijuana industry enters consolidation phase

Canada’s cannabis industry is shedding its wild adolescence and maturing into adulthood as it prepares for the legalization of recreational marijuana this summer. Companies are bulking up, knowing the promise of billions of dollars will draw bigger players and more competition. It’s perhaps inevitable Canada’s cannabis players are looking to mergers to scale up and stave off competition.

CBC – Globe and Mail – Baystreet.ca – Motley Fool

Market Trends and Research

Invest Ottawa to narrow focus on globally competitive tech firms

The head of Invest Ottawa unveiled his vision for the city’s lead economic development agency Wednesday, arguing the organization needs to throw its full weight behind high-potential tech firms with global ambitions at the expense of companies serving local markets. Michael Tremblay, a former Microsoft executive who joined Invest Ottawa in March, presented a draft version of a five-year strategic plan.

Ottawa Business Journal

Toronto warehouses become a community hub

At the heart of the faded manufacturing belt in the old city of York, Industry Street winds it way past low slung warehouses and vacant lots. Industry Street near Weston Road and Eglinton Avenue West is now home to an increasing number of not-for-profits and small businesses fostering an urbanity that looks nothing like Queen West or the Annex – but is just as lively.

Globe and Mail

Real Estate Companies

Morguard Corporation filies final base shelf prospectus

Morguard Corporation (MRC-T) announced it has filed a (final) base shelf prospectus with the securities regulatory authorities in each of the provinces and territories of Canada, except Quebec. The base shelf prospectus is valid for a 25-month period, during which Morguard may offer debt securities having an aggregate offering price of up to $600 million. 

Canada Newswire

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Real Estate Investment Trusts

Three top REITs with yields of up to six per cent

SmartCentres REIT (SRU-UN-T) owns and manages a portfolio of 164 properties, including 155 retail properties, seven development properties, one office property, and one mixed-use property. CT REIT (CRT-UN-T) owns and operates a portfolio of 325 properties, including 320 operating properties and five development properties. CREIT (REF-UN-T) owns and manages a portfolio of 204 retail, industrial, office, and development properties. 

Motley Fool

Killam Apartment, CAPREIT hedges against inflation

For some time, Killam Apartment REIT (KMP-UN-T) has been a top pick for a number of reasons, among which is the company’s portfolio of real estate in the apartment sector. Apartments are the way to go for investors seeking portfolio diversification. Another REIT representing an excellent portfolio of apartments, land-lease communities, and townhouse real estate assets is Canadian Apartment Properties REIT (CAR-UN-T). 

Motley Fool

Retail

Competition Bureau probing Sears’ alleged price mark-ups

The Competition Bureau is investigating allegations some merchandise was marked up in price for Sears Canada liquidation sales, says a report by the court-appointed monitor for the retailer. Since Sears liquidation sales began, CBC News has heard complaints from several shoppers who found marked-up price tags. They believe prices were raised to offset advertised discounts.

CBC – Toronto Star

Large Japanese retailers gain ground in Vancouver

2017 in Metro Vancouver has been marked by the entry and proliferation of large Japanese retailers in the market – a trend set to continue Saturday, when the household and consumer goods purveyor Muji opens its second store in the region, on Robson Street. It’s rumoured Muji  will open a third store in a shopping centre south of the Fraser River next year – possibly at CF Richmond Centre.

Business In Vancouver

New Development

Ottawa embarks on fresh effort to revitalize Sparks Street

In its never-ending quest to breathe life into Sparks Street, the City of Ottawa is asking residents, business owners, community associations and government agencies what they want the oft-maligned pedestrian mall to be. The city recently posted a short questionnaire on its website as part of its long-term plan to revitalize the 50-year-old mall, which has a reputation for being a ghost town on evenings and weekends.

Ottawa Business Journal

Infrastructure

Montreal mayor won’t revisit REM light-rail project

The new administration at city hall is not interested in reassessing the controversial $6-billion light-rail project for Montreal, according to a spokesperson for Mayor Valerie Plante. A court challenge to the Réseau électrique métropolitain (REM) last week and the election of Projet Montréal have raised opponents’ hopes of derailing the suburban train, scheduled to go into operation in 2020.

Montreal Gazette

Record cheap electricity transforming world energy markets

A new world record price for electricity set earlier this month signals a radical disruption in global energy markets — and Canada, whose economy was once powered by some of the world’s cheapest electricity, will not escape the effects. The new price, described by the news site Electrek as the cheapest electricity on the planet, was less than two cents per kilowatt hour.”

CBC

Human Resources

Shopify CEO joins ranks of Canadian billionaires

An unapologetic computer nerd with a penchant for tweed caps has become one of Canada’s newest billionaires by helping small merchants sell online. Tobi Lutke, a 37-year-old German immigrant who built Shopify Inc. (SHOP-T) into one of tech’s hottest stocks, was worth $1.1 billion from company shares, options and sale proceeds at the close of trade on Friday. 

Bloomberg – Bloomberg

Technology

Ottawa launches 5G test site at City Hall

In an attempt to capitalize on coming next-generation network capabilities, the City of Ottawa is partnering with the federal government to set up a 5G testing site at City Hall. Companies working on 5G technologies will be able to test and demonstrate their advances, and given the chance to collaborate with the feds’ Communications Research Centre.

Ottawa Business Journal – Canada Newswire

Other

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