Edmonton’s first new office tower in decades opens

Edmonton’s first new office tower in decades opens

Over the course of a century, the Kelly Ramsey Building has gone from a thriving commercial block in downtown Edmonton to a burned out hulk. On Thursday, the circle closed with the grand opening of the rebuilt and renamed Enbridge Centre, the first new office tower in the financial district in nearly three decades.

Edmonton Journal – Edmonton Journal

Calgary DT office rents down 60 per cent since 2012

Net rental rates for downtown offices are down 60 per cent from their pre-downturn peak as the vacancy rate in the core marches toward 25 per cent, according to Colliers International. Colliers predicts it will reach 25.9 per cent by the end of 2018, as three new towers — Telus Sky, Brookfield Place and 707 Fifth — come onto the market.

Calgary Herald

The graying REIT C-suite, Cominar and crowdfunding

CEO and board succession in the real estate industry, particularly the graying REIT C-suite was raised by Alex Avery, managing director of Institutional Equities at CIBC World Markets  in 2016 as a major issue for REIT and REOC investors.

Property Biz Canada – Part one – Property Biz Canada

La Caisse invests in the future of Harnois Group

Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec announced today a $30-million equity investment in Harnois Groupe pétrolier, Québec’s largest independent distributor of petroleum products. The Fonds de solidarité FTQ has invested$15 million as part of this transaction. This transaction will finance the acquisition of 36 Esso service stations located in the Montréal and Québec City regions.

Canada Newswire

Halifax’s Fenwick Tower gets energy-efficiency makeover

The view from the top floor of Fenwick Tower — now called the Vüze at South Village — in the south end of Halifax is breathtaking. But, these days, there’s no one there to see it.  The 33-storey apartment building’s top 10 floors are empty. Joe Metlege’s Templeton Properties, the building’s landlord, has gutted those floors right down to the concrete.

The Chronicle Herald

Oshawa Centre reno comes with sustainable features

After a three-year renovation, an aging mall in Ontario has re-emerged as a sustainable showcase. Originally built in 1956, Oshawa Centre reopened at the end of September with LEED Canada Core and Shell certification. The LEED certification is a green building system that covers such elements in a building as the structure, envelope and things like central HVAC.

Sustainable Biz Canada

GTA office leasing: downtown periphery vs. suburbs

“The downtown periphery is in many ways very different from the suburban market in terms of fundamentals, product, proximity to the core and amenities,” said Cushman & Wakefield vice-president of office leasing Matt Stesco to open a panel at The Real Estate Strategy & Leasing Conference.

Property Biz Canada

Audit of Saskatchewan’s GTH land deal to clear the air

A forensic accounting expert is surprised the Saskatchewan government hasn’t ordered a forensic audit of the Global Transportation Hub land deal in light of the revelations contained in the provincial auditor’s June report.  Marc Tassé said the report does a good job of highlighting a wide range of problems but it doesn’t explain why they were allowed to happen.

CBC

Lawsuits against SkyCity developer allege land overvaluation

The developer planning to build Winnipeg’s tallest tower faces three proposed multimillion-dollar class-action lawsuits that allege overvaluation of land used to back projects in Ontario. Fortress Real Developments, based in the Toronto suburb of Richmond Hill, is in the process of raising money to build SkyCity, a 45-storey, 388-unit condo tower.

CBC

Donald Trump still faces claims in Toronto tower case

Donald Trump can be pursued for some claims made by investors in a hybrid hotel-condo tower in Toronto bearing his name, the Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled. The court reversed an earlier decision to throw out a case brought against Mr. Trump and associates by the investors, who said they were misled into investing in the development in Toronto’s financial district.

Globe and Mail

Opening of Trump hotel in Vancouver delayed until 2017

The opening of the Trump International Hotel and Tower in downtown Vancouver has been delayed until at least January. The hotel’s opening, originally scheduled for summer and then fall of 2016, has been postponed again because of construction delays, said Philipp Posch, general manager of the Trump International Hotel Vancouver.

Vancouver Sun

Canada’s biggest pension plans, new ‘masters of the universe’

They are among the world’s most famous landlords with stakes in major airports in Europe, luxury retailers in New York and transportation hubs in South America. They rank as five of the top 30 global real estate investors, seven of the world’s biggest international infrastructure investors, and were at the table during six of the top 100 leveraged buyouts in corporate history.

Financial Post

U.S. tech giants, retailers spar over online shopping duties

An intense battle is raging in Ottawa over how Canadians shop online. At issue is how much consumers should be able to spend on goods purchased and shipped from foreign merchants before they have to pay duties and taxes. Since 1985, that amount has been stuck at $20.

Globe and Mail

Crowdfunding racks up noticeable volume in CRE financing

Marketplace lenders (also known as crowdsourcing or peer-to-peer lenders) comprise a small but growing sliver of the multi-trillion dollar U.S. commercial real estate (CRE) finance industry. These nonbank lenders that rely on online marketing and underwriting platforms to raise investment funds are beginning to do enough business to attract increased scrutiny from bank regulators and rating agencies.

CoStar Group

Workspace’s president talks about bold contrarian play

Workspace Property Trust this week closed one of the largest suburban office portfolio acquisitions of the year, acquiring 108 office and flex buildings and 26.7 acres of land in five markets from Liberty Property Trust (LPT-N). The $969 million purchase with partners Safanad expands Workspace’s holdings to 149 properties to 10 million square feet.

CoStar Group

Featured Column

A frank discussion about the open office concept

There has been much written about the benefits of the “new” open office concept. On the other hand it’s not difficult to find articles which state the open office concept has been proven to not be effective.

Read more

	Multi-residential Property Biz Canada in 2017
	In 2017, or sooner, RENX is going to publish a second weekly edition of Property Biz Canada focused primarily on the multi-residential sector in Canada. This is a great new advertising opportunity to reach professionals in this sector of the industry. Contact sales@renx.ca, 1-855-569-6300

 

Market Trends and Research

Vancouver the most sustainable city in North America

Strong employment and solid work-life balance are two of the reasons Vancouver is tops in North America when it comes to sustainability, according to an Arcadis report released October 10. The study ranks 22 cities across the continent, as well as several other world cities, and measures sustainability using quality of life, environmental and economic factors.

Business in Vancouver

Co-working spaces fill different needs

Even the smallest of businesses need a leg up when it comes to working with their clients. This means a growing number of startups and entrepreneurs are looking to co-workspace options to present a more professional face to their public while keeping their overhead costs in check. Wayne Berger, executive vice-president for Regus Canada in Toronto, says the choice depends on the maturity of a business.

Financial Post

REOC Financial Reports

	REITs & REOCs – Second-quarter 2016 report
	RENX has prepared a table with a convenient list of the companies and a summary of links to their second-quarter 2016 results. Have we missed any?  Canadian REITs & REOCs – Second-quarter 2016 report

 

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Why REIT fears are overdone

The domestic real estate investment trust sector never regained the heights hit just before the taper tantrum of 2013 and, with the U.S. Federal Reserve threatening to tighten monetary policy in December, the sector is once again under pressure. The performance history of the industry, however, suggests fears are overdone.

Globe and Mail

Retail

PetSmart Canada cashes in on the ‘premiumization of pets’

PetSmart’s growth in Canada over the past 20 years has escalated naturally due to the rising number of households keeping pets. But what’s really helped fuel the specialty retailer’s business of late is the increasing number of people who dress up their pets in sports jerseys and Hallowe’en costumes and splash pictures of them across social media.

Financial Post

Fast food chain Freshii prepping a fall IPO

Canadian quick-service restaurant chain Freshii is preparing to go public, a deal that is scheduled to launch this fall and build on the success of Aritzia’s recent initial public offering. For a full year there has been chatter that Freshii wanted to pursue an IPO.

Globe and Mail

New Development

University of Ottawa files plans for new building

The University of Ottawa has filed development plans for its next large-scale construction project, a new science, technology, engineering and math building planned for the southwest corner of campus where demolition work has already started. The proposed University of Ottawa STEM building.

Ottawa Business Journal

Infrastructure

Ottawa funds flood protection in three Alberta towns

Three years after floods devastated southern Alberta, the federal government has committed more than $20.5 million to protect three Alberta towns: Canmore, Bragg Creek and Raymond. Federal Infrastructure and Communities Minister Amarjeet Sohi was in Canmore on Thursday to make the announcement.

Calgary Herald

Montreal metro marks 50th anniversary

These days, not many people would say they hop on the Montreal Metro for fun, but that’s exactly what Montrealers were doing 50 years ago today. Cardinal Paul-Émile Léger, then the Archbishop of Montreal, was on hand to bless the brand new subway system before passengers boarded the trains for the very first time.

CBC

Other

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