AGF moving Toronto head office to CIBC Square

AGF moving Toronto head office to CIBC Square

AGF Management Limited (AGF-B-T) is the latest firm to announce it will relocate its Canadian headquarters to CIBC Square, a two-tower office complex under construction in downtown Toronto. AGF’s head office will occupy 97,000 square feet on the 38^th, 39^th and 40^th floors at 81 Bay Street, the first tower of the project, which is co-owned by Ivanhoé Cambridge and Hines.

Property Biz Canada

$120M hotel-residential project in works for Amherstburg

Amico Construction unveiled plans Friday for a riverfront hotel, condominium and residential property development combination that, once completed, will equate to an investment of $120 million in the community. “I’m overwhelmed, the impact a project like this will have on the town,” said Amherstburg Mayor Aldo DiCarlo. It was the second hotel development announcement in two days for the Windsor-area town that currently boasts no such accommodations.

Windsor Star

Intermarket to build major Waterloo Region industrial site

It took 12 years to assemble the land and go through the approvals process, but Intermarket Developments is ready to launch the 400-acre IP Park Industrial Campus in Cambridge, Ont. Intermarket Real Estate Group founder and president Mark Kindrachuk expects his Toronto-based development and management company and the City of Cambridge to start construction on the first two phases of IP Park Industrial Campus next summer.

Property Biz Canada

Technology strategies for making buildings smarter

Property technology is making buildings smarter, and a recent RYCOM Corporation presentation offered insights into how owners and operators can best exploit the growing trend. “Smart innovation can transform engagement with a tenant, impact capital, operational costs and savings and the ability for staff to leverage tools and access to data,” said RYCOM vice-president and general manager Jennifer Sicillia at an Oct. 9 event.

Property Biz Canada

Shrinking value of Calgary towers leaves huge tax gap

Calgary city council has a hot potato in its hands and needs to come up with a plan that doesn’t leave local businesses getting burned. But part of the solution could mean tossing higher property taxes on to anxious homeowners across Calgary. As the city goes through its annual budget planning, council is again confronting a two-year-old concern: the shrinking value of downtown office buildings.

Calgary Herald – Property Biz Canada

Vancouver’s Beedie branches out, grows residential business

For Ryan Beedie and the development firm that shares his last name, the past couple of years have included a personal loss and frustration over a contentious project, but also major growth for the 65-year-old company, founded by Ryan’s late father Keith. “Our business has evolved and changed a lot, especially in the last two, three, four, five years,” Ryan Beedie said in a recent interview.

Property Biz Canada

Omicron’s Victoria shopping centre project cancelled

Sidney Crossing, a proposed $35-million shopping centre on a parcel of land owned by Victoria International Airport, has failed to launch. Developer Omicron announced Monday it’s pulling out of plans to build a 100,000-square-foot commercial centre on 10 acres of airport land at Patricia Bay Highway and the southwest corner of Beacon Avenue. The company blamed rapidly rising construction costs for killing the project. 

Victoria Times Colonist – CHEK

True North acquires Burnaby office property for $35.25M

True North Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust (TNT-UN-T) today announced it has agreed to acquire a 90,550-square-foot high quality office property located at 9200 Glenlyon Parkway in Burnaby. The purchase price for the Burnaby property, a three-storey high quality office building with 90,550 rentable square feet and 310 parking stalls. situated on 5.97 acres in the heart of Glenlyon Business Park, is approximately $35.25 million, exclusive of closing costs.

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

BTB sells six Sherbrooke properties for $31M

BTB REIT (BTB.UN-T), further to the conclusions of its strategic review of its portfolio, Monday announced the sale of six properties located in Sherbrooke, Que., for total proceeds of $31 million. BTB now owns 65 retail, office and industrial properties for a total leasable area of 5.2 million square feet. BTB’s asset value is approximately $800 million.

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

Nexus REIT acquires Calgary industrial property

On Oct. 17, Nexus Real Estate Investment Trust (NXR-UN-X) completed the purchase of an approximately 37,000-square-foot industrial property in Calgary. The purchase price of $8.5 million was satisfied in part through the issuance of 1,214,286 REIT units at $2.10 per REIT unit, a premium to the current market price of the REIT’s units. The balance was satisfied in cash generated through new mortgage financing.

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

RCMP allege obstruction in Fortress fraud investigation

RCMP believe “key evidence” in its investigation into syndicated mortgage fraud was deliberately hidden during an April raid of Fortress Real Developments’ Richmond Hill headquarters. An anonymous tipster who worked for one of the six targeted companies told police Charene Bunnett, a manager of operations for Building & Development Mortgages Canada, hid her laptop and external drive while officers searched the office building.

CBC

Online merchants venture into the real world

Some businesses and industry experts believe a renewal is happening with the retail aspect of cities. The old guard, punctuated by high-profile bankruptcies or store closures, such as Sears, Hudson’s Bay, Toys “R” Us and Target, is slowly giving way to a newer generation of retailers, many born and bred on the internet. This new wave is expected to be defined by fewer, smaller retailers, data-driven and highly specialized.

Globe and Mail

Sears, retail rivals leave long-lasting mark on Chicago’s skyline

Even if Sears Holdings’ (SHLD-Q) days are numbered, the retailer’s impact on Chicago’s skyline seems likely to last generations. Many of the city’s biggest and most recognizable buildings sprung from the decades when Sears, Roebuck & Co. and its rivals — including Montgomery Ward & Co., Marshall Field & Co. and Carson Pirie Scott & Co. — made Chicago the capital of department store chains and mail-order catalogs.

Chicago Tribune – CP Executive

Northern Virginia seen as Amazon HQ2 favourite

Amazon won’t say where it plans to put its much-hyped second headquarters. (Toronto is the only Canadian city among the 20 finalists.) The growing consensus among investors, economic officials and developers is Northern Virginia is the favourite. In online betting forums, it has the best odds of landing the project. Analysts at Citi recently said most investors they spoke with also expected HQ2 to end up in the Washington area.

Financial Post – Forbes

Dean Shapiro, Oxford believe in Hudson Yards

“I have to tell you,” Dean Shapiro said, when he first heard about Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group’s plan to rebuild the Far West Side of Manhattan, “I came into it with a little cynicism. It had been talked about for decades. Particularly in 2011 when we were still reeling from the financial crisis — it sounded like a bit of a pipe dream.”

Commercial Observer – Property Biz Canada

Featured Column

Saskatoon industrial vacancy drops in Q3 2018

Our quarterly market reports have just been released and we’re pleased to report the overall industrial vacancy rate is heading in the right direction! The increase in absorption over the last quarter has resulted in just over a 50-basis point decrease in vacancy from 7.5 per cent to 6.9 per cent.

Read more

Market Trends and Research

Bank of Canada raises key interest rate to 1.75%

In a widely anticipated move, the Bank of Canada (BoC) raised its trend-setting interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 1.75 per cent Wednesday. It marked the fifth time BoC governor Stephen Poloz has lifted rates since mid-2017. The move appeared all but sealed after the signing of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which removed considerable uncertainty analysts worried had been weighing on Canada’s growth.

Global News – CBC – Ottawa Citizen

Montreal urged to develop industrial East End

The Advisory Committee on the Economic Development of the Territory of Montréal, formed at the initiative of Mayor Valérie Plante, released its report Monday. “The redevelopment of huge pieces of land in the east end of the city presents challenges for the city administration,” Michel Leblanc said. “The committee believes that it’s time to bring about a recovery in this area . . .”

Canada Newswire

Real Estate Companies

Fiera Capital reports September preliminary AUM

Fiera Capital Corporation (FSZ-T), a leading independent asset management firm, Monday reported its preliminary estimate of assets under management of approximately $143.5 billion as of Sept. 30. The distribution of AUM by clientele is comprised of $76.4 billion for the institutional sector, $31.0 billion for private wealth, and $36.1 billion for the retail segment. It marks a $4.1 billion increase in AUM over June 30.

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

New Mexico SIC boosts portfolio with Brookfield funds

New Mexico State Investment Council (SIC) has approved $175 million US of new commitments for its $1.9 billion real-return portfolio. A spokesperson for the institutional investor confirmed it plans to invest $75 million in Brookfield Senior Mezzanine Real Estate Finance Fund and $100 million in BlackRock Global Energy & Power Infrastructure Fund III. The first fund is an open-ended vehicle targeting net returns of six to seven per cent.

IPE Real Assets

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Allied provides leasing update on 400 West Georgia

Allied Properties REIT (AP.UN-T) today provided a leasing update on 400 West Georgia Street in Vancouver, an urban office development financed by Allied. Westbank has initiated construction of the building on the property. Scheduled for completion in 2020, the building will be a distinctive urban office environment located squarely within an emerging part of Vancouver’s Downtown and in relatively close proximity to Allied’s Yaletown portfolio.

Globe Newswire – Property Biz Canada

Dream Office announces securities repurchase plan

Dream Office REIT (D-UN-T) Tuesday announced that in connection with its previously announced normal course issuer bid, which commenced on Aug. 17, it has entered into an automatic securities repurchase plan  with its designated broker in order to facilitate purchases of its REIT units, Series A under the bid.

Globe Newswire – Property Biz Canada

Retail

Sporting Life, Golf Town become Sporting Life Group

Sporting Life Inc. and Golf Town Limited announced today their merger to become Sporting Life Group Limited, a premium sports and lifestyle retailer that provides a unique shopping experience, and an extensive assortment of high-end sport and lifestyle brands coupled with a focus on premium customer service. It currently has 11 locations operating in Ontario, Alberta and Quebec, following the recent opening of a 27, 500-square-foot store in Le Quartier DIX30.

Globe Newswire

Restaurants and Eateries

Restaurant Brands profit misses on weak Burger King sales

Restaurant Brands International Inc. (QSR-T) reported a quarterly profit Wednesday that missed analysts’ estimates as its Burger King unit struggled in a fiercely competitive U.S. market, offsetting gains in its Tim Hortons cafes. Comparable sales at Burger King rose one per cent in the third quarter, compared with a 3.6 per cent increase a year earlier. Restaurant Brands has been investing heavily to attract more diners to Burger King.

Reuters – Canada Newswire

McDonald’s shares rise as global strength offsets U.S. weakness

McDonald’s Corp.’s (MCD-N) investment in online and touch-screen ordering drove a 13th straight rise in global same-store sales in the third quarter, allaying concerns about the world’s biggest fast food chain’s poor growth in the U.S. Shares of the company rose as much as 6.7 per cent in response and were on track for their best day in three years as the company beat forecasts.

Reuters

Cannabis industry news

Alberta retailer says cannabis sales leave booze in the dust

Its cannabis sales numbers are smokin’ their booze side, says marijuana-liquor retailer Alcanna. And the more potent the pot, the faster it sells, said company CEO James Burns. Revenue from those pot sales — totalling $1.3 million from its five Nova Cannabis stores in the first five days of legalization — left its alcohol figures in the haze, said Burns.

Calgary Herald

Infrastructure

Montreal presses forward with transit expansion

Montreal will spend $1 million making the case for an ambitious expansion of its public transit network, hoping to persuade a new provincial government already skeptical about the idea. Mayor Valérie Plante announced Monday her administration is creating a project office to study the benefits of the Pink line, which would connect Montreal North to Lachine.

CBC – Montreal Gazette

Other

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