Maple Leaf consolidating into $660-M London plan

Maple Leaf consolidating into $660-M London plant

Maple Leaf Foods (MFI-T) has announced plans to build a $660-million fresh poultry facility south of Hwy. 401 in London, with doors set to open in 2021. “This leading-edge facility will represent the largest single site investment ever in the Canadian food industry history,” said Maple Leaf Foods president and CEO Michael McCain on Tuesday. The new 640,00-square-foot facility will employ 1,450, but comes with job losses in three other Ontario centres.

CBC – London Free Press – Globe Newswire

Obsolete factories in inner suburbs find new life

Big-city dwellers have come to expect multiple bids and record-breaking prices for teardown properties in older, up-and-coming residential areas, but a red-hot market with competing offers for old factories in Toronto’s inner suburbs? Even industry insiders who saw the trend coming sound surprised by how fast e-commerce is turning around the fortunes of industrial areas in Scarborough, Etobicoke and Mississauga, places that once languished with functionally obsolete manufacturing plants.

Globe and Mail

Industrial land prices rise as supply dwindles

While industrial land continues to be developed at an increasing pace in Canada, the amount available is dwindling, especially around Toronto and Vancouver where defined boundaries limit expansion. “This means that if vacant industrial land continues to be absorbed in the markets because developers are building more space to meet demand, then industrial land prices should continue to go up,” said Thomas Forr, research manager for JLL Canada.

Property Biz Canada – Vancouver Sun

ONE and Revera partner on retirement communities

ONE Properties and Revera Inc. have entered into a joint venture to develop new retirement communities in urban markets across Canada. “The opportunity to develop a relationship began through discussions about common potential strategic opportunities,” Revera vice-president of property development Mike Brcko told RENX. “Revera and ONE Properties each contribute complementary expertise to the relationship and, as a result, will provide an enhanced offering for our customers and communities.”

Property Biz Canada

Northview buys six apartment buildings; shifts its focus

Northview Apartment REIT (NVU-UN–T) says it expects its frenetic pace of acquisitions to slow down in the wake of its announcement this week it will purchase six more Ontario apartment properties for $131.9 million. The acquisitions, four buildings in Toronto, plus individual properties in Guelph and London, mean Northview has bought $535 million in property since December 2017.

Property Biz Canada

Hearn sale another bad deal for Toronto

In Toronto, single-family mansions and even a condominium are currently priced at more than $16 million. And yet, that’s all a provincial corporation decided a landmark building on Toronto’s waterfront — along with 16 hectares of land — was worth. Such a seemingly low price would raise eyebrows in almost any circumstance. There’s extra cause to think this was a terrible deal for the future of the city’s waterfront redevelopment plans.

Toronto Star

Brookfield Asset Management top investment manager

The global real estate investment management industry has almost doubled in size over the past five years, from $2.52 trillion Cdn in 2014 to $4.5 trillion today. The sector continues to be swelled by growing allocations from institutional investors and rising asset prices. The Top 10 continues to shuffle, although Brookfield Asset Management (BAM-A-T) has retained the top spot throughout. Ivanhoe Cambridge and Oxford Properties Group were at No. 27 and 37, respectively.

IPE Real Assets – Bloomberg

Vacant Regina lots could potentially house 11,000: Report

The City of Regina is looking at transforming some parking buildings and parking lots for infill housing. In the downtown and surrounding area, there are 330 of those sites, according to a report by executive council. Using those areas, the city could potentially build housing for nearly 11,000. Vanessa Mathews, assistant professor in the department of geography and environmental studies, says increasing the downtown population that much would transform the area.

CBC – Regina Leader-Post

Repurposing 20th-century garages for 21st-century RE needs

Like many large cities across the country, Boston is known for a dearth of sites suitable for development. But it is dotted with a number of decades-old, underused parking garages. This merging of factors is giving rise to a new trend, the redesign of Boston-area parking garages for an era of lessened dependence on automobile travel.

Forbes – Globe and Mail

Melnyk tried to halt Ottawa mega-project in September

The company owned by Eugene Melnyk said it had no idea its partner Trinity Development Group had filed the planning applications for their $4-billion project to redevelop LeBreton Flats. In fact, a lawyer for Capital Sports Management Inc. (CSMI) emailed Trinity chairman John Ruddy to object to the fact the Senators organization did not approve of — nor were consulted on — the applications before they were filed.

CBC – CBC – Ottawa Citizen

Did Calgarians dodge a bullet by rejecting Olympics?

Despite pledging to reduce the need for new buildings and infrastructure by reusing venues from the 1988 Winter Games, as well as staging some events in Edmonton and Whistler, B.C., Calgary’s recent 2026 bid was partly derailed by the potential for cost overruns and white elephants that loom over all such projects. Here are five other notable examples of property-related success, turmoil and failure in the wake of the Olympic Games:

Globe and Mail

Atlas Development acquires Banff’s Cascade Shops

Banff’s dominant retail centre has been purchased by Calgary CRE partners Michael Evans and Bernie Slogotski of Atlas Development. Cascade Shops combines retail, office and multi-family rental in the heart of the Rocky Mountain resort town. Built by Banff resident Sam Schultz 28 years ago, for the past 13 years it was owned by Investors Group and was sold by Jason Cottle of RBC Capital Markets Real Estate Group.

Calgary Herald

Activist Litt renews call for HBC board changes

Activist investor Jonathan Litt is renewing his calls for change at Canadian retailer Hudson’s Bay Co. (HBC-T), saying he intends to talk to fellow investors about calling a special meeting to elect new board members. “We believe Hudson’s Bay could see its share price double or triple if the company takes the necessary steps to maximize long-term shareholder value,” Litt said in a letter to shareholders Wednesday.

Bloomberg – Winnipeg Free Press

Vancouver data archiving company opening new U.K. offices

In The Art of War, Sun Tzu posited that in the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity. Global Relay Communications Inc. is taking that sentiment to heart with a major expansion into Britain and Europe. The Vancouver-based data archiving company is in the process of opening new offices in London that will see total staff increase by 50 per cent to nearly 700 over the next two years.

Globe and Mail

Google drops $1B on real estate near HQ

The Googleplex is getting bigger. Alphabet Inc.’s Google has closed a $1-billion deal for a 51.8-acre business park next to its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters. The purchase adds to a mammoth real estate expansion the company is in undertaking in both California and New York City.  It’s the largest real estate purchase this year in Silicon Valley, where competition for offices among tech firms is fierce. 

Bloomberg

Featured Column

A ‘discretionary use’ is just that: It’s no slam dunk

Whether you’re buying or leasing commercial real estate, zoning bylaws regulate where you can locate a business. The City of Saskatoon bylaw lists permitted uses and prohibited uses, which are pretty straightforward. A discretionary use, however, is a use the city might allow, but requires more investigation.

Read more

Real Estate Companies

Dozen Wyndham Trademark destinations debuting in Canada

Since launching less than 18 months ago as Wyndham Hotels & Resorts‘ (WH-N) first soft-brand, Trademark Collection by Wyndham is continuing its rapid growth around the world and raising its flag in Canada with a dozen recently signed hotels and resorts. Five additions have opened in B.C. and Ontario, and another seven are set to open within the next year in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.

Canada Newswire

REIT Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* European Commercial REIT, (ERE-UN-X), Globe Newswire

Real Estate Investment Trusts

High-flying Summit Industrial yielding 5.4%

Brampton-based Summit Industrial Income REIT (SMU.UN-T)  holds a portfolio of 92 properties across the country: 59 in Ontario, 22 in Quebec, eight in Alberta, two in B.C. and one in New Brunswick. Management remains focused on expanding in the Greater Toronto and Greater Montreal regions due to the strong industry fundamentals in these markets. These two markets represent 81 per cent of Summit’s total portfolio.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Property Biz Canada

Macerich trying to lure online brands into brick-and-mortar stores

Macerich (MAC-N) is trying out a new program in its malls to make it easier for e-commerce brands to open bricks-and-mortar stores. The $7- billion REIT – the ninth-largest U.S. mall owner with some 51 million square feet of retail space – is cutting through the red tape of opening a store. Instead of a traditional lease, Macerich is offering retailers co-tenancy agreements that come with the turnkey space.

The Real Deal

Retail

Couche-Tard quarterly profit beats expectations

Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (ATD-A-T) topped analysts’ quarterly profit estimate on Tuesday as the world’s second-biggest convenience store operator earned more from improved fuel sales. Revenue from the company’s fuel retail business, its biggest, increased 24.5 per cent to about $10.90 billion. Couche-Tard has more than 8,000 outlets in the U.S. The same-store fuel volumes rose 1.2 per cent in the United States, its biggest market, while same-store merchandise revenue was up 4.4 per cent.

Reuters – PR Newswire – Montreal Gazette

Shopify acquires Swedish e-commerce firm Tictail

The Ottawa company known for helping merchants sell online made a major purchase of its own just before one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year. Shopify has acquired another company in the e-commerce space, Sweden’s Tictail, which operates a marketplace for emerging brands to sell clothing, decor and other lifestyle products. Founded in 2012, Tictail has raised more than $30 million in venture capital to date, according to Crunchbase.

Ottawa Business Journal – Ottawa Citizen

Sears secures court approval for additional $350M loan

Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD-Q) won court approval on Tuesday for $350 million in critical bankruptcy financing that will keep the 125-year-old retailer operating through the holidays while it attempts to reorganize. Sears reached the deal with Cyrus Capital Partners LP for the financing just before a hearing began in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on the retailer’s so-called debtor-in-possession financing arrangements, according to a source.

Reuters

Restaurants and Eateries

Unhappy Second Cup franchisees sue coffee chain

A group of Second Cup Ltd. (SCU-T) franchisees is suing the struggling Canadian coffee chain, alleging the company’s actions have been detrimental to them. The current and past franchisees outline a long list of complaints against their franchisor in a lawsuit filed earlier this month in the Superior Court of Quebec. None of the allegations has been proven in court. The company and its lawyer declined to comment.

CBC

Other

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