Toronto rental boom drives record sales in apartments

Toronto rental boom drives record sales in apartments

Rising rents across Toronto led to record-breaking sales for multi-residential apartment buildings in the third quarter, according to a report released Friday by commercial real estate firm Avison Young Canada Inc. Demand for other commercial real estate assets continued to outstrip supply, the report said. Investors racked up more than $4 billion worth of deals in the third quarter.

Bloomberg

Morguard, partner buy Ottawa’s Jean Edmonds Towers

Morguard Corporation (MRC-T) has purchased the Jean Edmonds Towers office complex in Ottawa with an unnamed institutional partner. The acquisition is the final piece in Morguard acquiring ownership interests in a full block of downtown Ottawa property. The 552,000-square-foot complex consists of two towers and is located at 300 Slater St. and 365 Laurier Ave. The acquisition was completed for $186 million, not including taxes and other costs.

Property Biz Canada

LRT inspiring Ottawa’s business community to think bigger

The much-anticipated arrival of Ottawa’s Confederation Line has inspired local businesspeople to think bigger – whether it’s exploring new types of retail opportunities near the stations or proposing ambitious new mixed-use projects such as Trinity Development Group’s plan to build a soaring trio of residential and office towers near the intersection of the Trillium and Confederation lines at Bayview Station.

Ottawa Business Journal

Create experiences and retail can thrive, ICSC members hear

“The future of retail real estate is strong.”  That was a sentiment expressed numerous times in a keynote presentation by retail consultant Michael Brown at the International Council of Shopping Centers’ Canadian convention at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Oct. 3. Brown, a partner at global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney in New York City, has written several retail research papers and helped clients redefine their stores.

Property Biz Canada

L’Oréal unveils renovated Montreal head office

L’Oréal’s Canadian head office is celebrating its 60th anniversary this fall and inaugurating its completely redesigned and renovated 117,000-square-foot head office in the heart of downtown Montréal. The new head office offers 656 open-plan workstations on two floors. Due to the nature of its industry, the new space provides original areas for an office such as a Hairdressing Academy and a technical centre where hair colour products are tested.

Canada Newswire

New project planned for vacant downtown Montreal site

]The site where the Spectrum theatre once stood has been empty for a decade, a phantom place for those who recall the downtown Montreal corner’s storied past. Discussions on what to do with the site at Ste-Catherine St. W. and Bleury St. started up again last month after developer Canderel backed out of building a $150-million office complex planned since 2013.

Montreal Gazette

Office occupancy growing in Canada’s largest cities

The Canadian office market saw overall occupancy grow by an annualized 2.3 per cent in the third quarter, and vacancy rates continued to fall in most of the country’s six largest cities, according to a new Colliers International report. The report looked at office activity in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa, where there was more than 2.8 million square feet of occupancy growth during the quarter. 

Property Biz Canada

Digging deep: A look at the Well

You wouldn’t want to fall down this Well. There’s a wide and enormously deep, abyss-like hole — 20 metres down — at the corner of Spadina Avenue and Front Street where a massive construction project is going on. When it’s completed, the mixed-use development will have as many as 20,000 people living, working and shopping on the property on any given day, say those close to the project.

Toronto Star – Property Biz Canada

Toronto’s historic Jarvis House property for sale

Avison Young, the world’s fastest-growing commercial real estate services firm, announced today it has received the exclusive sale listing for the historic Jarvis House property in Toronto. Located at 1067 Yonge Street, the Jarvis House has remained in the hands of the same owner for half a century. The 12,500-square-foot commercial retail/office property will be up for sale on Tuesday.

Canada Newswire

Toronto privacy expert resigns from Sidewalk Labs

A privacy expert who resigned this week from her role as an advisor to Sidewalk Labs, the Google sister company set to build a “smart” neighbourhood on Toronto’s waterfront, is concerned the “treasure trove” of data collected there will be vulnerable to attacks. The departure of Ann Cavoukian, Ontario’s former privacy commissioner and current Ryerson University fellow, is just the latest blow to the ambitious, data-driven project.

CBC – Property Biz Canada

One York Street debuts Infinite Energy art installation

Menkes Developments Ltd. Friday announced One York Street is now home to Infinite Energy II by world-renowned Japanese artist Mariko Mori. This is Mori’s official debut of the exclusive piece on Canadian soil.  Infinite Energy II showcases floor-to-ceiling spirals. Constructed of fibreglass, foam, acrylic mirror, aluminum, cable with an LED light control system, the installation gives guests the illusion of a never-ending work of art.

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

77,000 square feet for lease at Wascana Centre

More than 77,000 square feet of space in the future Brandt building at Wascana Centre has been put up for lease. Colliers Canada has posted the first look at the building which is going up at 2550 Broad Street, on the east side of Wascana Park. Brandt Developments has partnered with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) in the creation of the building.

CBC

Fulfilling the dream of the Mount Royal Tunnel

It was a crazy idea, but one that shaped downtown Montreal and gave birth to the region’s first transit-oriented suburb. Sunday marked 100 years since the first passenger train was pulled through the Mount Royal Tunnel. Its construction was a remarkable engineering feat, especially for the time, and at 4.9 kilometres, it is still one of the world’s longest train tunnels.

Montreal Gazette

Fortress misled investors about land valuation, RCMP alleges

Officials at Fortress Real Developments Inc. told investors in 2013 that land slated for a new condo development in Winnipeg was worth more than three times the value cited in an independent appraisal commissioned by the company, the RCMP alleges. In a search-warrant application filed in court on Oct. 4, RCMP investigators outlined new information that they had gleaned from an earlier search of Fortress’s head-office location in April.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Steel, aluminum tariffs driving up pot expansion costs

The rush to build and expand cannabis production facilities for the newly legal market means some companies are absorbing extra costs for steel and aluminum due in part to American tariffs. With steel also changing from day to day in price, it’s left some marijuana growers having to eat the extra cost in order to meet what’s expected to be huge demand in the coming months.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – CBC

Market Trends and Research

U.S. industrial sector on fire

The industrial real estate sector in the U.S. is firing on all cylinders, as e-commerce continues to grow at a rapid clip. Experts in the field say this is just the beginning. Even the name — industrial — is changing, with companies now preferring “logistics” (as is common in the rest of the world). A report from CBRE found online retail is behind many of 2018’s largest distribution deals. Southern California’s Inland Empire topped the list with 14 transactions totaling 11.6 million square feet.

CP Executive

China’s real estate investment slows in September

Growth in China’s real estate investment eased in September and home sales fell for the first time since April, as developers dialed back expansion plans amid economic uncertainties and as additional curbs on speculative investment kicked in. A cooling market could increase the downside risks to the world’s second-largest economy, which faces broader headwinds including an intensifying trade war with the U.S.

Reuters

New rules to stop U.K. CRE fire sales may fall short

New rules proposed by a British regulator to avoid fire sales of commercial real estate by open-ended investment funds may not be enough if the sector increases in size, the Bank of England said Wednesday. CRE was the financial sector most hit by turbulence after June 2016’s Brexit vote, as open-ended funds’ assets such as office blocks are hard to sell in a hurry.

Reuters

Legal Corner

How criminals used Canada’s casinos to launder millions

The briefing took place just a few days after David Eby began his new job as British Columbia’s attorney general – and it began a warning. “Get ready,” Eby remembers being told by casino regulators. “I think we are going to blow your mind.” What they showed him was footage of individuals wheeling suitcases stuffed with $20 bills into casinos. Others used hockey bags to haul the cash. 

The Guardian – Bloomberg

Retail

Trying to save Sears cost Edward Lampert

By age 25, Edward S. Lampert was already a Wall Street wunderkind, celebrated for his intellect, ambition and prodigious work ethic. The famed investor Richard Rainwater, the billionaire Hollywood mogul David Geffen, and Michael Dell and Thomas J. Tisch were among the prominent backers who gave him more than $200 million US in startup capital.

Toronto Star

Seattle retailer evo buys Whistler Village Sports

The five-location, Whistler-based, ski and bike shop Whistler Village Sports Ltd. has been sold to Seattle-based action-sports retailer evo for an undisclosed amount, evo announced today. Founded in 1980, Whistler Village Sports Ltd. has grown to one of Whistler’s leading independent retailers under owner Dave Milley. The company operates five retail stores in the Whistler region: Whistler Village Sports, Excess Backcountry, Excess Ski + Sport, Mountain Riders and Sportstop.

Business In Vancouver

Cannabis industry news

More pot stores coming to B.C.: AG

British Columbia cabinet ministers defended the provincial government’s pace in approving marijuana stores as they toured the only brick-and-mortar shop in Kamloops Friday. Attorney General David Eby and Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth visited the new BC Cannabis Store in the province’s Interior. The Liquor Distribution Branch is currently engaged with a number of municipalities about opening additional stores, Eby said.

Victoria Times Colonist

100 more Alberta stores to roll-out by mid-November

Albertans could witness a cannabis retail boom over the coming weeks as the provincial government expects more than 100 stores to be operating by mid-November, but the aggressive roll-out has left some industry watchers wondering whether the province will have enough supply to meet demand. While most provinces ushered in the legalization of recreational cannabis with a handful of stores on Wednesday, Alberta saw 17 private retailers open their doors.

Globe and Mail – Global News

New Development

$70-M plan to mill lumber, create wood products

Calling it a return to forestry’s roots on Vancouver Island, a Langley-based company is betting heavily on the Alberni Valley with plans to build both a sawmill and a plant to manufacture wood products. The 39-year-old San Group is doubling down on its commitment to Port Alberni with a new $70-million lumber manufacturing facility that will employ 135 people. San Group already owns Coulson Manufacturing in Port Alberni, which produces cedar building materials.

Victoria Times Colonist

Infrastructure

Downtown Toronto relief line gets green light

The downtown relief line is one small step closer to be becoming reality after the province gave it the green light following its environmental assessment of the project.  In a letter dated Wednesday, Ontario’s Environment Minister Rod Phillips gave notice to Metrolinx and the City of Toronto to proceed with the project, following an environmental assessment.

CBC

Human Resources

CPPIB advocating for more women on boards

While there’s much talk about companies bringing broader perspective to the boardroom, it’s not consistently accompanied by action. Corporate governance matters, and as chief executive of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, I believe it’s crucial for companies in which we invest capital to assemble boards that reflect the full range of talent available.

Globe and Mail

Other

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