$4.6B development planned for Lake Ontario shores

$4.6B development planned for Lake Ontario shores

Move over, Google. There’s a new urban oasis coming to the shores of Lake Ontario. A former 177-acre coal power plant site will be transformed into a mixed-use community in Mississauga, a city west of Toronto that could be worth as much as $6 billion once complete, according to Fabio Mazzocco, president of Lakeview Community Partners Ltd., a group of developers.

Bloomberg

KTB Asset to invest up to $600M in Canadian CRE

A Korean real estate fund manager is hunting for Canadian property and plans to invest up to $600 million over the next year. Fresh off its first Canadian real estate investment in October, KTB Asset Management Co. Ltd. is scouring Toronto and Vancouver for offices, hotels, distribution centres and other large properties. The interest from South Korea comes as investment wanes from China.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Slate to add to rapidly growing Calgary office portfolio

Slate Asset Management has a renewed interest in the Calgary commercial real estate market, and has returned to the city in a big way in recent months. Brian Bastable, Slate’s chief operating officer, told RENX the company has purchased 24 properties in Calgary, primarily downtown office buildings, in the past 18 months and there is more to come. What’s made the Calgary market so attractive?

Property Biz Canada

Partners REIT might be about to sell assets, shut down

Management of Partners Real Estate Investment Trust (PAR-UN-T) has called a meeting of shareholders on Dec. 10 to seek permission to consider selling all its assets and winding up the REIT. In a release Wednesday night, Partners also announced it has closed the sale of nine of its 10 remaining properties in Western Canada. The release also notes Partners continues to seek purchasers for its portfolio of 11 retail/commercial properties in Quebec.

Property Biz Canada

Urban tech powers downtown Ottawa office revival

A major cultural shift going on in downtown Ottawa is having a positive impact on the city’s office market. An influx of growing urban tech tenants, new developments, the looming impact of LRT, and federal government leasing prospects were among the subjects discussed by panelists exploring the transformation at the Ottawa Real Estate Forum on Oct. 16.

Property Biz Canada

Montréal’s Sun Life Building celebrates 100th anniversary

Property manager Bentall Kennedy, on behalf of co-owners Sun Life Financial, Groupe Petra and Groupe Mach, marked the 100^th anniversary of the Sun Life Building Wednesday evening at a special gathering of partners, tenants and friends. From the time the company first moved to downtown Montréal in 1918, through two expansions in 1926 and 1933, and the many renovations conducted over the years, the Sun Life Building has retained its unique character.

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

Devimco to build condos atop Montreal’s historic Sportif MAA

Devimco Immobilier will spend $150 million to build a 31-storey condominium building atop the historic Club Sportif MAA (formerly the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association) in downtown Montreal and to restore the 137-year-old sports club’s Peel Street facilities. The real estate developer has purchased air rights to build 306 condo units above the 2,800-member club’s four-storey building. The agreement includes $20 million to reconstruct the sports club.

Property Biz Canada

Carbonleo/LCRE Royalmount project is underway

Carbonleo and L Catterton Real Estate, the developers of the spectacular mixed-use project Royalmount, announced site preparation is underway at the corner of Décarie Expressway and Highway 40 to prepare for the construction of the new destination in the Town of Mount Royal. The privately funded project will become a world-class lifestyle hub and a state-of-the-art destination for the surrounding community, the city as a whole, and visitors from abroad.

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

True North tower spikes Winnipeg vacancy rates

The latest snapshot of the real estate market in the country’s major cities shows once again Winnipeg’s cautious, slow growth in the sector equals a healthy market. The completion of the True North Square office tower — the only new downtown office building to come on the market in the country during Q3 — adds 365,000 square feet of space to the market.

Winnipeg Free Press – Property Biz Canada

Millions in works for Portage and Main improvements

The resounding “no” vote in Wednesday’s Portage and Main plebiscite won’t stop the city from pursuing millions of dollars worth of repairs to the intersection even as it remains closed to pedestrian crossings. John Kiernan, Winnipeg’s planning, property and development director, is poised to amend a request for proposals to redesign the intersection. The city still plans to spend up to $2 million above ground — plus $1.5 million below ground.

CBC – Winnipeg Free Press

B.C. container terminal investments buck global trend

Globally, investors have become wary of sinking dollars into port and terminal projects, but in B.C. they are far less cautious. Global Container Terminals (GCT) recently went live with its $300-million rail densification project at GCT Deltaport. The investment in the Roberts Bank container cargo terminal is part of what GCT president and CEO Doron Grosman sees as one of his three main objectives: increase GCT’s return on capital.

Business In Vancouver – Property Biz Canada

Air Canada opens new facility at Edmonton International Airport

The Edmonton International Airport (EIA) is continuing to expand with the construction of a new Air Canada facility. A groundbreaking ceremony was held Thursday morning on the 50,000-square-foot, $19-million building that will house Air Canada’s ground support equipment service and cargo teams. “Edmonton is a strategic distribution point for the oil and gas industry here in the province, in this cargo facility,” said Air Canada’s Kevin Howlett.

Global News

York U will push ahead with campus despite setback

York University said it remains committed to launching a new campus in Markham despite the provincial government’s decision to pull funding for the project just weeks before construction was slated to begin. Following an emergency meeting Friday afternoon, York and its partners issued a joint statement saying they remain “steadfast in their commitment to seeing this project through to a successful completion.”

Globe and Mail – CBC

Giant Tiger CEO earns Lifetime Achievement Award

Few things have changed across one lifetime more than the state of retail. From strip malls to e-commerce, following retail trends and keeping a franchise not only in business, but in growth, is something worthy of recognition. The Ottawa Business Journal and Ottawa Board of Trade will honour Gordon Reid, chairman and CEO of Giant Tiger Stores Limited, with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2018 Best Ottawa Business Awards.

Ottawa Business Journal

Restaurants hungry for unique spaces

With restaurants hoping to be more Instagram-friendly, some of Canada’s top chefs are looking to interior designers to make their spaces stand out and be even more reflective of their food. And that means high ceilings, lots of natural light and breaking down barriers between the kitchen and dining room. It also means scouting out unique or historic spaces that are more than just four walls.

Globe and Mail

Market Trends and Research

Global CRE allocations rise, but still lag targets

Although the average target allocation to real estate among global institutional investors increased 30 basis points to hit 10.4 per cent in 2018, with a further rise of 20 basis points forecast for the next 12 months — and despite a rise in confidence—“institutions remain meaningfully under-invested in real estate,” according to Hodes Weill & Associates’ and Cornell University’s sixth annual Institutional Real Estate Allocations Monitor.

CP Executive

Restaurants and Eateries

Technology to the rescue of restaurant sector

Metro Vancouver’s severe shortage of hospitality workers has restaurant owners tweaking business plans and looking to new technology to operate efficiently with fewer servers. Fast-food restaurants have long been adopting self-serve kiosks to enable customers to order meals without speaking with restaurant employees. Pubs and more casual restaurants are starting to test technology to allow customers to order food and pay bills from their smartphones.

Business In Vancouver

Restaurants shrink as food delivery apps get more popular

Don Fox, Firehouse of America LLC CEO, noticed something strange a couple of years ago: during the midday lunch rush, his sandwich shops were relatively empty, but sales were better than ever. “I’d be thinking, ‘Boy, business must be pretty bad.’ But the numbers were telling me a different story.” People are still eating restaurant food – they’re just not doing it at restaurants as much thanks to delivery apps.

Bloomberg

Cannabis industry news

Canadian banks remain cool to red-hot sector

Cannabis might be legal, but major Canadian banks — with the exception of the Bank of Montreal — appear to be exercising a significant degree of caution when it comes to providing their full suite of services to the cannabis sector. “You check every box, and they still don’t like you,” said Bruce Linton, CEO of Canopy Growth Corp. “They are opening up, but reluctantly. What I need is everything that they do.”

Financial Post

Nevada pot group projects billion-dollar industry by 2024

A report for a marijuana trade group says pot production, processing and sales could reap more than $1 billion in tax revenue for Nevada over seven years. That’s a key finding in an economic analysis released Friday by the Nevada Dispensary Association. It projects pot-friendly policies in tourist-oriented Las Vegas and Reno could make Nevada one of the nation’s largest marijuana marketplaces by 2024.

Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Sports Venues

Horse racing coming to Edmonton’s Century Mile

After 118 years, Northlands Park is shutting its doors to horse racing after this weekend. “After the last race on Saturday we turn off the lights on live horse racing,” said Northlands director of racing and gaming Scott Sinclair. Horse racing will move to Century Mile next door to the Edmonton International Airport. The Century Mile casino is to open April 1 and the first day of racing will be April 28.

Edmonton Journal

Future of Calgary ski jumping complex in doubt

It was an inauspicious way to christen a ski jump – by almost sacrificing a ski jumper. It happened when Horst Bulau officially opened Calgary’s 70-metre hill little more than a year before the 1988 Winter Olympics. Canada’s top jumper easily stuck his landing only to slide through the end run, out the 50,000-seat spectator bowl, off the edge of the counter slope before falling nine metres down a dirt ridge.

Globe and Mail

Renovation and Restoration

Owner has big plans for dilapidated Windsor building

Friends warned him to not invest in downtown Windsor, but Ibrahim Zwayyed is pushing ahead with his plan to convert a long-vacant eyesore into “something really nice.” Zwayyed plans to convert the upper floor — more than 5,000 square feet of vacant commercial space — into eight apartments, turn the main floor into three commercial units and fix up the facade, at a cost of up to $500,000.

Windsor Star

Infrastructure

$60.6M Saskatchewan overpass set to open early

A massive infrastructure project aimed at easing traffic in the Saskatoon region is expected to open one year early. The $60.6-million Martensville and Warman overpass will have traffic flowing through the project this fall, according to the provincial government. “Martensville and Warman are two of Saskatchewan’s fastest-growing communities and we are thrilled to see the opening of these overpasses to traffic,” highways and infrastructure minister Lori Carr said.

Regina Leader-Post

Is Vancouver’s approach to transportation sustainable?

Vancouver is a city that enjoys basking in its own press. Each year, when the Economist or Mercer puts out its “best” or “most livable” list, Lotusland regularly cracks the top five. But every so often, a contrarian report puts Vancouver in a less flattering light. The 2017 Sustainable Cities Mobility Index, produced by Arcadis, ranked Vancouver 28 out of 100 global cities on urban mobility.

BC Business

Other

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