Langham set to build two more Edmonton mixed-use towers

Langham set to build two more Edmonton mixed-use towers

The company responsible for four condo high-rises on downtown’s 104th Street is set to build two more. Langham Developments plans to build a 37-storey tower on the corner of 104th Street and 100th Avenue, with an adjacent 43-storey tower to follow. Falcon One will offer 296 units, while Falcon Two will contain 356. City council approved rezoning the empty lot on Wednesday to make room for the towers.

CBC – Edmonton Journal

New luxury hotels define Alberta’s economic confidence

The owners of the city’s newest luxury hotel think a close proximity to the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers will lead to championship-like success. The JW Marriott hotel is scheduled to welcome its first guests in March as the NHL playoffs get underway. “The amount of attention the district will get and the arena already gets is nothing but a benefit to us,” said Steve Walton.

Western Investor

QMLP buys 12 St. Catharines apartments from Skyline

Q Management LP (QMLP) has acquired 12 apartment buildings in St. Catharines, Ont. from Skyline Apartment REIT for $213.5 million.  “We’ve been focusing on the greater GTA and our strategy has been to focus on markets where we see long-term strong demand for rental properties before that demand really gets stabilized,” said QMLP president and chief executive officer Dan Argiros.

Property Biz Canada

Allied, Westbank ready to build KING Toronto project

After a two-year-long battle of wills between joint venture developers Allied Properties REIT (AP-UN-T) and Westbank Corp. and city planners, suites in the unique KING Toronto condominium and mixed-use development should go on sale in about a month. Bjarke Ingels Group designed KING Toronto with input from Toronto’s Diamond Schmitt Architects. It was inspired by architect Moshe Safdie’s Habitat 67, which was built for Montreal’s Expo 67.

Property Biz Canada

Reserve, Westdale bet on LRT to sell Line 5 Condos

Reserve Properties and Westdale Properties are banking on the Eglinton Crosstown light rail transit line bringing more activity to Toronto’s Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue area, and plan to add to it with Line 5 Condos. Line 5 Condos will be located at 117-127 Broadway Ave., currently home to a rental apartment building which will be demolished. The site, just west of Mount Pleasant Road, was purchased from that building’s ownership group.

Property Biz Canada

Sidewalk Labs forming advisory panel for Toronto project

Sidewalk Labs is forming an advisory council of Canadian executives and urbanists “to provide advice and input” on its plans to build a digital-first, sensor-filled Toronto waterfront community, reigniting debate about the project’s consultation process. The urban-planning firm has been sending invitations to private-sector, not-for-profit and academic leaders as it builds out plans for the eastern-waterfront “Quayside” project.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Property Biz Canada

Toronto must redefine core to fit Amazon HQ2: AY

The GTA, perhaps the hottest leasing market in North America, probably couldn’t even accommodate Amazon’s second headquarters today based on a vacancy rate Avison Young said is now below two percent. Bill Argeropoulos, AY’s principal and practice leader for research in Canada, said the market is in the hands of landlords driving rental rents up. Toronto is among the 20 cities Amazon is considering for its so-called HQ2.

CoStar Group

Dream Industrial acquires Ohio, Montreal properties

Dream Industrial REIT (DIR.UN-T) today announced the acquisition of two properties comprising approximately 3.5 million square feet in Columbus, Ohio  for $78.1 million and an unconditional purchase and sale agreement to acquire a property located in the Greater Montreal Area. The 121,000-square-foot class-A distribution facility located in Saint-Laurent, Que., was acquired for $13.6 million.

Globe Newswire – Property Biz Canada

CAPREIT sells non-core Montreal apartment property

Canadian Apartment Properties REIT (CAPREIT) (CAR.UN-T) announced it has sold an apartment on the south shore of Montreal, the Carrefour des Erables. The property includes 419 suites located in Longueuil. CAPREIT will receive approximately $35.8 million for the apartment complex. The proceeds from the sale will be used to repay $20.6 million in outstanding mortgages on the property, with the balance used to reduce CAPREIT’s acquisition and operating credit facility.

Globe Newswire

Shopify opens first brick-and-mortar spot in L.A.

When Shopify Inc. (SHOP-T) opened its first brick-and-mortar space to the public Thursday, it wasn’t crammed with aisles of products the Ottawa-based company helps its 600,000 merchants sell. The small selection of merchandise the location will showcase from primarily U.S.-based merchants – a term Shopify uses to describe the companies using its offerings – will only be available for purchase online.

Globe and Mail – Motley Fool

Giant Tiger opening three new stores on Saturday

On Saturday, Ottawa-headquartered Giant Tiger will celebrate the official opening of a new store in Hamilton. The new 24,750-square-foot Giant Tiger, which will be located at 1211 Barton Street East, is one of three new stores opening Saturday. The others are a 25,000-square-foot Giant Tiger at 7650-7780 Tecumseh Road East in Windsor and a 24,000-square-foot stare at 2325 Preston Avenue in Saskatoon. The privately held company has more than 245 locations across Canada 

Canada Newswire – Canada Newswire – Canada Newswire

Post-1980s upheavals mere ‘blip’: BCIMC ex-CEO

When the elder statesmen of the real estate industry speak to younger generations, the sky-high interest rates of the early 1980s stand out as one of the defining moments in their careers. Ensuing upheavals were merely “a blip,” according to Doug Pearce, the founding (now former) CEO of BC Investment Management Corp. (BCIMC), who spoke candidly about his career to members and guests of commercial real estate association NAIOP.

Business In Vancouver

Avison Young opens its first office in Asia

Mark E. Rose, chair and CEO of Avison Young, the world’s fastest-growing, private and principal-led, global commercial real estate services firm, announced the company has opened a new office in Seoul, South Korea. The new Seoul office represents Avison Young’s first office in Asia, 85th office globally, and an additional step in the firm’s ongoing aggressive global growth and expansion strategy. Full operations in Seoul will begin on Nov. 1.

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

KKR-led consortium buys South Korea CRE for $1.9B

A group led by KKR & Co. bought property in South Korea’s Gangnam business district for $1.9 billion US, the private equity firm’s third investment in the country’s hot real estate market. The consortium, which includes National Pension Service of Korea and IGIS Asset Management, South Korea’s largest real estate fund manager, bought the property from engineering firm Daor E&C, KKR and IGIS said in a statement.

Bloomberg

Hurricane Michael imperiled more than $25B in Florida CRE

Hurricane Michael smashed into beach resorts, shopping centres, apartments and office buildings with 155-mile-per-hour winds and rising seas, threatening more than $25 billion in commercial property along the Florida Panhandle. The 500-mile stretch of coastline includes about 18,000 commercial buildings valued at $25.5 billion at risk of flooding by surging storm water up to six feet above ground level.

CoStar Group

Featured Column

New Horizons idea failed miserably . . . or did it?

Have you ever stumbled onto one of those websites that features abandoned spaces? My favourites are old malls. Once a bustling retail centre and now so neglected. But what if you were looking at a vacant mall that was brand new?

Read more

Market Trends and Research

Economic slowdown on the horizon: Deloitte

Deloitte Economic Advisory, in its first outlook, anticipates that the Canadian economy will gear down. Real GDP growth in Canada is expected to slow to two per cent this year, edge slightly lower in 2019 and fall to 1.4 per cent by 2020. “The signs that the North American economy is in the late stages of a business cycle are all around us . . .” says Deloitte Canada’s chief economist Craig Alexander. 

Canada Newswire

Rising yields test ‘blind faith’ in real estate

There is almost a blind faith the investments that have worked in the past – dividends, fixed income, real estate – will outperform forever. As a result, most Canadians are overweight in these assets. I’m certainly not suggesting anyone immediately sell their house and all their REITs. Rather pay attention to the evidence and not take an extended future of low rates for granted.

Globe and Mail

Real Estate Companies

RBC leaving longtime downtown London home

The Royal Bank is moving from the downtown building that bears its name. The move next fall will consolidate its main branch with the RBC Dominion Securities division, according to a statement from Heather Austin, regional vice-president for the London market. Building owner Shmuel Farhi downplayed the loss of a tenant that took up about 30,000 square feet of space.

London Free Press

Retail

Ikea plans to expand to dozen new markets in coming years

Ikea plans to expand to about a dozen new markets in the coming years, including branching into South America, as the Swedish furniture giant aims to reach a total of three billion potential customers by 2025. The company will in the coming years open stores in Chile, Colombia and Peru through a new Ikea franchisee called Falabella as part of its first foray into South America, Inter Ikea said Wednesday.

Bloomberg

Restaurants and Eateries

Investor syndicate acquires Pump group of restaurants

Pump Hospitality Group, a private investor syndicate led by Scott Bonikowsky and Jaysen Steeves, Thursday announced the acquisition of the Pump group of restaurants, comprised of five premium casual restaurants: Port Credit Pump House Grille Co., Clarkson Pump & Patio, Erin Mills Pump & Patio, Pump on Brant, and Papa Giuseppe’s, an authentic Italian eatery. A purchase price was not disclosed.

Canada Newswire

Cannabis industry news

Cannabis, tech, retail driving Western Canada CRE

Kelowna and Edmonton are poised to become hot spots for Canada’scannabis market post-legalization with competing cannabis enterprises looking for operating space in both cities. While Kelowna’s commercial real estate market saw an eight per cent decrease in total sales value for commercial property types year over year, the city has identified more than 900 locations for retail spaces.

Canada Newswire

Canada’s growers behind on first orders as Oct. 17 looms

Canada’s largest cannabis growers are behind on their first orders for recreational marijuana, a development that will leave consumers with less product and fewer choices come Oct. 17, multiple provincial distributors and retailers are warning. Growers are experiencing issues such as lower-than-expected crop yields, a lack of packaging materials, problems with supply chains and product being sold elsewhere.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – CoStar Group

New Development

Alpha proposes 14-storey mixed-use tower for Victoria

A proposal to build 113 units of rental housing in a 14-storey mixed-use tower in Victoria will go to a public hearing. The project by Alpha Project Developments is planned for 1400-1402 Quadra and 840 Johnson Streets, across from the Victoria Conservatory of Music. Victoria councillors agreed the opportunity to net more than 100 units of permanent rental was worth considering an amendment to the Official Community Plan.

Victoria Times Colonist

Developer to pay for traffic calming in Oak Bay

The full cost of a restructured intersection to calm traffic at Cadboro Bay Road and Bowker Avenue will be paid for by Victoria’s Abstract Developments, which is building the mixed-use Bowker Collection nearby. Road improvements call for a pedestrian island, a pedestrian-activated flashing light at the existing crosswalk and building a bulge in the curb on the east side of Cadboro Bay Road to slow traffic, a municipal staff member said

Victoria Times Colonist

Sports Venues

Simon unveils NHL Seattle Ice Centre plans

Simon Property Group Inc.’s plan to add office and retail space – along with three ice skating rinks — to Northgate Mall is at the heart of Seattle’s dream to get an NHL franchise. Simon, the nation’s largest mall operator, and NHL Seattle – the group working to attract an NHL franchise to the city – said the privately funded, $70 million initiative involving 180,000 square feet of space will become an anchor tenant.

CoStar Group – PR Newswire

Resorts

Alberta’s Pomeroy Lodging to buy Alaska ski resort

A ski resort near Anchorage has agreed to sell its properties to a Canada-based hospitality company. Pomeroy Lodging has entered a contract to buy Alyeska Resort and Hotel Alyeska in Girdwood, the Anchorage Daily News reported Tuesday. Alyeska said it will “sell substantially all of its resort assets,” including the 300-room hotel and the popular Girdwood ski area. The resort is about 64 kilometres southeast of Anchorage.

Globe and Mail

Infrastructure

Calgary to be base for WestJet’s initial Dreamliner hub

WestJet (WJA-T) announced it is launching its first three Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner international destinations from Calgary. WestJet becomes the first Canadian airline to base its Dreamliner aircraft out of YYC Calgary International Airport. WestJet is launching non-stop service on board its Dreamliners from Calgary to London (Gatwick), Paris and Dublin on April 28, May 17 and June 1, 2019, respectively.

Canada Newswire – Calgary Herald – Fiinancial Post

Does B.C. need Site C to power massive LNG project?

It’s the equivalent of adding more than 185,000 new households to B.C.’s electrical grid. Once it’s up and running, LNG Canada will be BC Hydro’s third largest customer. So, where will all that electricity come from? For some environmentalists and politicians, there’s only one obvious answer: the controversial and legally contested Site C project.

CBC

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