AY’s ‘full global expansion’ kicks into high gear

AY’s ‘full global expansion’ kicks into high gear

Avison Young CEO Mark Rose says his firm has been hoping to purchase U.K.-based GVA for years. This week, the rapidly growing Toronto-based real estate services firm hit paydirt, and in the process ramped up the pace of its global expansion plans. “We knew the company very well, we knew the owners,” Rose told RENX on Thursday, hours after announcing Avison Young will acquire GVA, its 15 offices and 1,500 employees.

Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

AIMCo relocating Edmonton HQ to HSBC Place

Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) Wednesday announced plans to relocate its Edmonton-based headquarters to HSBC Place, recently acquired by AIMCo on behalf of its clients. HSBC Place, located at 10250 101 St. NW in Edmonton, is an 18-storey office tower located in the heart of Edmonton’s Financial District. The 317,000-square-foot office tower  is currently undergoing an extensive redevelopment.

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

PortLiving Gateway to bite into Vancouver industrial shortage

PortLiving will take a small bite out of Vancouver’s extremely tight industrial market with a development in the most northeastern corner of the city. The Vancouver developer recently broke ground on Gateway, a six-storey light strata industrial building which includes three floors of self-storage at 3333 Bridgeway Street. The site sits just north of Hastings Racecourse and next to Highway 1, the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge and the waterfront rail lines.

Property Biz Canada

Groupe Mach plans 4.5M-square-foot Montreal Lights District

Groupe Mach plans to build a 4.5-million-square-foot development called Quartier des Lumières (Lights District) next to the existing CBC building in Montreal. The project includes transformation of the CBC’s 24-storey Maison de Radio-Canada into office space, a hotel with up to 200 rooms on the upper floors and a conference centre. Surrounding it would be a number of buildings with more than 3,000 residential units.

Property Biz Canada

CRE in plans for Winnipeg urban reserve

A redeveloped Kapyong Barracks may include a sports facility, hotel, convention centre, war museum and an Indigenous hospice, a new drawing of the site reveals. The rendering shows Winnipeg’s abandoned military base could also house numerous commercial and residential complexes and gas bars. The seven Treaty 1 First Nations taking over the site revealed a vision for the urban reserve at the Aboriginal Chamber of Commerce gala dinner in Winnipeg.

CBC – CTV

GTA CRE leased space up 29.2% year-over-year

Toronto Real Estate Board Commercial Network members reported 2,331,390 square feet of total leased space for all lease transaction types across the industrial, commercial/retail and office market segments in October. This result represented a 29.2 per cent year-over-year increase. The great majority of the leased space was accounted for by the industrial market segment, representing nearly 73 per cent of all leased square footage through TREB’s MLS System in October.

Globe Newswire

Growing PropTech sector offers opportunity, challenges

In all of 2013, venture investors sank $650 million into property technology. That number ballooned to $2.2 billion in September 2018 alone, according to MetaProp NYC partner Zak Schwarzman. PropTech has obviously become a growing factor in an industry that’s been accused in the past of being slow to change and adopt new technology. The advent of tech-driven smart buildings has become a hot topic.

Property Biz Canada

DelSuites expands portfolio with The Livmore

DelSuites, the largest leading corporate housing provider in Toronto, has just announced the addition of The Livmore to its portfolio. “This is an exceptional property located in one of Toronto’s greatest communities, and we are excited to add The Livmore to our current portfolio and will continue to provide an unparalleled level of service,” said Dan Henderson, president of DelSuites.

Canada Newswire

Toronto looking for ‘transit czar’ to speed up expansion plans

Toronto’s transit system needs a czar, Mayor John Tory announced Thursday. Tory says the city will create a transit expansion office that will be the “single point of contact” for city divisions, the TTC, Metrolinx and other levels of government working on projects in Toronto. The transit czar’s role, Tory said, is to smash down any obstacle to getting transit built, while also ensuring billion-dollar projects stay on budget.

CBC

Landmark has plans for vacant Winnipeg bowling alley

A local developer is hoping to roll a strike with councillors Tuesday when he unveils his plan to redevelop the historic Academy Uptown Lanes building in River Heights. The developer wants to convert the building at 394 Academy Rd. into a mixed-use, residential, commercial and office space. The project is being spearheaded by Jeff Pratte of Landmark Planning. He did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.

Winnipeg Free Press

Startup allows small-timers to invest in Vancouver’s RE

Gerhard Maynard had been looking around for a property investment, but he wanted to go in with a group of investors. Maynard already owns property in Vancouver, but he wanted another real estate asset, because he believes it’s a far more reliable investment than products such as mutual funds, with what he considers their exorbitant and often hidden fees. He also wanted something socially responsible.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Can co-working revolution survive a market downturn?

The largest occupier of office space in Manhattan is WeWork Cos., a provider of co-working office space, which left JP Morgan Chase and Co. behind in September. The company rents 5.3 million square feet of space in Manhattan alone. It already attained the same status earlier in London, where it opened in 2014.

Financial Post – CBC

NYSTRS puts $300M into Brookfield, Gaw Capital funds

New York State Teachers Retirement System (NYSTRS) is investing $300 million in three real estate funds managed by Brookfield Asset Management (BAM-A-T) and Gaw Capital Partners. The pension fund told IPE Real Assets it will commit $100 million to Brookfield Strategic Real Estate Partners III (BSREP III), $100 million to Brookfield Senior Mezzanine Real Estate Finance Fund and $100 million to Gaw’s Gateway Real Estate Fund VI.

IPE Real Assets – Property Biz Canada

Northland Properties opens first U.S. hotel

Northland Properties Corporation, owner of Sandman Hotel Group, the Dallas Stars, and the Texas Stars, announced the official opening of Sandman Signature Plano – Frisco Hotel, the company’s first hotel in the U.S. The opening of this new four-star hotel signifies the latest in a multitude of openings for the fast-growing Vancouver-based full-service hospitality leader, which is actively growing its footprint in Canada, the U.K., and the U.S.

Globe Newswire

16 questions with Avison Young’s Steve Dils

The man who leads Avison Young and its stellar growth in Southeastern U.S. once sold club memberships and home lots at a golf club in San Juan Capistrano, California. By the summer of that year, that man, Steve Dils, would lead the Atlanta Falcons on the gridiron, starting three games before sustaining a season-ending injury in his final career season in 1988.

Bisnow

Featured Column

Does Saskatoon need a daily Farmers’ Market?

The City of Saskatoon has officially put out a tender to lease the Farmers’ Market building in Riversdale. The facility is currently leased to, and operated by, the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market Co-operative Ltd. In its original agreement to lease the property, the co-operative outlined plans to expand the market hours over time.

Read more

Market Trends and Research

U.S. office market enjoys economic tailwinds

In the third quarter of 2018, the U.S. office market again showed steady improvement, according to Transwestern’s national outlook for the sector. Absorption reached 22.7 million square feet, vacancy remained stable at 10.1 per cent, and asking rents increased by four per cent, annually.  Ryan Tharp, Research Director in Dallas, said the strong economy has contributed to the office market’s momentum, despite softer income growth in a very tight labour market. 

Building Design & Construction – National Real Estate Investor

Real Estate Companies

Invesque announces normal course issuer bid

Invesque (IVQ-U-T) today announced the Toronto Stock Exchange has approved its notice of intention to make a normal course issuer bid for a portion of its common shares as appropriate opportunities arise from time to time. Invesque is authorized to acquire up to a maximum of 2,647,954 of its units, or approximately five per cent of its 52,959,070 outstanding shares as of Nov. 1, 2018, for cancellation over the next 12 months.

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

REOC Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* Brookfield Asset Management, (BAM-A-T), Globe Newswire

* Chartwell Retirement Residences, (CSH-UN-T), Canada Newswire

* Firm Capital Mortgage Investment Corporation, (FC-T), Canada Newswire

* Holloway Lodging Corporation, (HLC-T), Canada Newswire

* Morguard Corporation, (MRC-T), Canada Newswire

* Tricon Capital Group Inc., (TCN-T), Canada Newswire

REIT Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* Allied Properties REIT, (AP-UN-T), Globe Newswire

* American Hotel Income Properties REIT, (HOT-UN-T), Canada Newswire

* BSR REIT, (HOM-U-T), Canada Newswire

* Choice Properties REIT, (CHP-UN-T), Canada Newswire

* Crombie REIT, (CRR-UN-T), Canada Newswire

* Dream Global REIT, (DRG-UN-T), Globe Newswire

* Dream Office REIT, (D-UN-T), Globe Newswire

* Killam Apartment REIT, (KMP-UN-T), Globe Newswire

* SmartCentres REIT, (SRU-UN-T), Globe Newswire

* True North Commercial REIT, (TNT-UN-T), Canada Newswire

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Co-working providers not a threat to U.S. REITs: Experts

Some CRE observers might be a little worked up about how office REITs might be affected by WeWork and its co-working brethren. Yet, WeWork and its rivals still account for a tiny slice of the U.S. office market. A February report from real estate data provider Yardi Matrix found in 20 major markets, co-working consumed 26.9 million square feet of office space — or just 1.2 per cent of all office space.

National Real Estate Investor

Retail

Alcanna intends to establish new discount liquor partnership

Alcanna Inc. (CLIQ-T) today announced it has entered into a non-binding letter of intent with a discount liquor store operator in Alberta, Ace Liquor Corporation, to form a new partnership in the discount liquor store business. The proposed partnership – Canadian Liquor Retailers Alliance – is anticipated to include all of Ace’s current 12 locations and three additional locations under construction.

Globe Newswire – Globe Newswire

Higher margins, gasoline prices help Canadian Tire beat estimates

Canadian Tire Corp Ltd. (CTC-T) reported a better-than-expected third-quarter profit on Thursday, driven by higher demand for its home, kitchen and personal care products, along with a rise in gasoline prices. The company, which sells products ranging from automotive spare parts to kitchen appliances, said its total comparable same-store sales in its retail unit rose 2.5 per cent in the quarter, beating analysts’ average estimate of 1.6 per cent.

Reuters – Global News – Canada Newswire

Renovation and Restoration

PCs yank $20M to relocate Windsor law school

A catastrophic blow has been dealt to the city’s longstanding dream of moving the University of Windsor law school into the downtown Paul Martin Building. The $20-million commitment made just before the June 7 election by the previous Ontario government under Kathleen Wynne — to renovate the federal heritage building into a landmark law school — has been cancelled by the ruling Doug Ford government.

Windsor Star

Infrastructure

U.S. judge blocks $10B Keystone XL pipeline

TransCanada’s $10-billion Keystone XL pipeline project has suffered another setback after a U.S. federal judge blocked its construction to allow more time to study the potential environmental impact. The Great Falls Tribune reports U.S. District Judge Brian Morris’ order on Thursday came as the Calgary-based energy giant was preparing to build the first stages of the oil pipeline in northern Montana.

Victoria Times Colonist

Other