More than one-quarter of Houston’s CRE might be damaged

More than one-quarter of Houston’s CRE might be damaged

An initial assessment of the potential impact of the epic storm on the Houston commercial real estate market by CoStar Group reveals 27 per cent of the market’s gross leasable area, representing $55 billion in property value, is located in flood zones and may have potentially suffered damage. $16 billion of the $55 billion in property at risk is comprised of apartment buildings within the 100-year flood zone.

CoStar Group – Globe and Mail – Ottawa Citizen – Maclean’s

Harvey’s lesson for Canadian real estate: Analysis

This week, tropical storm Harvey offered a lesson that helps us think about Canadian real estate. Market theory tells us people who wanted to protect their property from the hurricanes and floods that plague the Gulf Coast should have had insurance. The fact is, only about 20 per cent in the Houston area did, says Robert Hunter, a U.S. insurance expert.  (Please see further tropical storm Harvey coverage in Section 3).

CBC – Globe and Mail – Daily Commercial News – CBC

Calgary’s CrossIron Mills shopping centre ‘wild success’

When CrossIron Mills opened in August 2009, there were many nabobs of negativity questioning the logic of placing a shopping centre on Calgary’s northern outskirts. After all, it was entering the market just following the vicious global financial crisis that took a heavy toll on the economy and the new venture was built in Rocky View County, outside of city limits along the Queen Elizabeth II Highway.

Property Biz Canada

Timing is right for major hotel investments: C & W

A rollback of the welcome mat to many foreign tourists south of the border means Canada’s hotel industry staying strong for at least the next few years, says Curtis Gallagher, vice-president – hotel investments at Cushman & Wakefield. “Canada is very well positioned in the world right now,” he says.

Property Biz Canada

True North Square development plans unveiled

The full scope of a development touted as being transformational for downtown Winnipeg was unveiled Thursday. Developers of True North Square unveiled details of the two-tower Sutton Place Hotel and Residences that will break ground next spring. That site will include a 288-room, 18-storey Sutton Place Hotel and a 130-room, 13-storey, luxury rental apartment building owned by Vancouver-based Northland Properties Corp.

Winnipeg Free Press – CBC – Global News

Scotiabank adds ACC to its stadium name collection

For Scotiabank, the attraction was simple. In a country where hockey is king, having your name up in lights on the home of the Toronto Maple Leafs is where you want to be. The Air Canada Centre will become Scotiabank Arena next July when a 20-year agreement between Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment and Scotiabank kicks in.

Calgary Herald – Globe and Mail – TSN – Toronto Star

SpaceList, Common Areas team up on CRE listings

A Vancouver CRE listings start-up has joined forces with an American software company to reinvent and expand its business model. Formed about five years ago, SpaceList said it has teamed-up with Common Areas, a software firm from California that created a cloud-based property management platform for building managers to interact with service, security and maintenance firms that do work at a property.

Property Biz Canada

Yorkville faces another wave of change

Sometimes, a city gets exactly what it needs when it needs it. For instance, the year the CN Tower opened was the same year Toronto finally eclipsed Montreal to become the largest and most economically powerful city in Canada. For Toronto to get there, however, it needed confidence; it needed places that felt new, different and worldly.

Globe and Mail

Firm Capital helping to finance The One

Canadian real estate lender Firm Capital Corp. is helping to finance the country’s tallest condominium building. Firm Capital is lending $135 million toward a first mortgage on The One, an 82-storey tower under development in downtown Toronto, according to chief executive officer Eli Dadouch. The company is the mortgage banker for the publicly traded Firm Capital Mortgage Investment Corp. (FC-T).

Bloomberg – Canada Newswire – Canada Newswire

Yonge St. businesses to get reduced property tax bills

Municipal Property Assessment Corp. (MPAC ), the Province of Ontario agency that assesses property values, has agreed to lower the value of some Yonge St. properties hit with exorbitant tax increases, but says it’s up to Queen’s Park to change how such calculations are made.

Toronto Star

Sears Canada executive chairman rushing to assemble takeover bid

Sears Canada Inc.’s executive chairman is scrambling to put together a last-minute takeover proposal for the company as a court-imposed deadline looms for bids to buy the insolvent retailer. Brandon Stranzl, who was removed two weeks ago from his day-to-day duties as executive chairman, entered the bidding race this summer with the advantage of having some members of his management team on his side.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Financial Post

	Tropical storm Harvey’s impact on real estate
	The following section of the RENX newsletter is dedicated to news about tropical storm Harvey in the U.S. and its impact on real estate.

 

Damage minimal to H&R REIT properties

H&R REIT (HR.UN-T), through its wholly owned division Lantower Residential, reports damage has been minimal to Magnolia Grove and South at Parc Green  multi-family properties in Houston. Three multi-family properties in Austin and one multi-family property in San Antonio have not been impacted. Hess Tower, H&R’s 29-storey office building in downtown Houston, has also reported no damage. 

Canada Newswire

CRE firms contributing to relief efforts

Commercial real estate firms across the U.S. are pursuing relief efforts to support those impacted by the storm and rescue workers, law enforcement officials and volunteers on the ground. From financial donations to providing temporary housing and offices for those displaced by floods, here is a partial list of CRE firms that have joined the fight against this natural disaster:

Bisnow – Marketwired – Winnipeg Free Press

Home Capital stands behind Buffett’s bid

Home Capital Group Inc. (HCG-T) is standing behind Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A-N) bid to increase its stake in the company after leading proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services advised investors to vote against the deal. The Toronto-based alternative lender said Wednesday its prospects have improved since the conglomerate announced it would support Home Capital through an initial investment of $153 million. 

Toronto Star – Financial Post – Bloomberg – Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

After 15 months, Fort Mac wildfire finally extinguished

A wildfire that forced 80,000 people in northern Alberta to flee more than a year ago has finally been extinguished. Wildfire information officer Lynn Daina says the Horse River fire that started on May 1, 2016 and destroyed more than 2,400 buildings in Fort McMurray and area was deemed officially out on Aug. 2. The massive fire was dubbed “The Beast.” 

Globe and Mail – Calgary Herald

B.C.’s tourism industry taking a significant hit due to wildfires

British Columbia’s tourism industry is taking a hit with businesses reporting rising cancellations and decreased traffic over fears of wildfires. Maya Lange with Destinations BC, the province’s tourism planning and marketing corporation, said Wednesday preliminary results from a survey of businesses in the Kootenay-Rockies region found that 32 per cent are anticipating losses due to perceptions of the fires.

Globe and Mail – CBC

Apple to develop $1.38 billion data centre in Iowa

In the latest move by a Silicon Valley tech giant to establish a presence in the rural state of Iowa, Apple, Inc. (AAPL-Q) has announced plans to build a $1.38 billion, 400,000-square-foot data centre in the Des Moines suburb of Waukee. Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple plans to purchase 2,000 acres, with the first phase of the project to include two proposed data centre facilities. 

CoStar Group

Featured Column

Too hot or too cold – MPAC struggles to find the Goldilocks zone

I don’t want to sound like sour grapes here, but there needs to be a better time to be asking a property owner for a once-a-year income and expense return. I’ve written many times about how important it is for owners of commercial, industrial and multi-residential properties to ensure any information they submit to Ontario’s Municipal Property Assessment Corp. (MPAC) be as timely and accurate as possible.

Read more

Market Trends and Research

U.S. demand for medical space going up

The U.S. healthcare system has undergone a transformation in the past few years. An aging population, expanded health insurance programs, and new high-tech treatments combined to boost demand and increase the need for efficiency, according to CBRE (CBG-N). As a result, caregivers need to change the way they operate, and that presents opportunities for commercial real estate providers. 

GlobeSt.com

U.S. lodging sector seen as ripe for more consolidation

The growing size and pricing power of the two mega U.S. hotel brands is altering the competitive landscape of the hospitality industry and will likely lead to more consolidation, according to recent analysis by Fitch Ratings. Marriott and Hilton, which stand head-and-shoulders above their peers, also appear to be taking development share away from smaller brand operators.

CoStar Group

Myth and architecture in the futuristic city of Astana

Astana, the futuristic capital of Kazakhstan, has been described as the greatest city you’ve never heard of. Frank Albo, adjunct professor of history at the University of Winnipeg, wants to change all that with his newest book Astana: Architecture, Myth & Destiny. The volume wraps an exhaustive study of the city around a central puzzle.

Daily Commercial News

Real Estate Companies

Japan-based Softbank invests $4.4B in WeWork

WeWork Cos. has confirmed Japanese telecommunications conglomerate Softbank Group Corp. will invest $3 billion directly into the office-sharing startup and $1.4 billion into three newly created subsidiaries to expand the company into China, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia.

CoStar Group

Carl Icahn sells unfinished Fontainebleau Las Vegas resort

Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn’s Icahn Enterprises L.P. sold the Fontainebleau Las Vegas resort project to a group led by New York developer Steve Witkoff’s The Witkoff Group LLC and New Valley LLC for $600 million. The $3 billion casino located at 2755 South Las Vegas Boulevard, was purchased in 2010 for $148 million after the developer ran out of money and filed for bankruptcy during construction.

Jewish Business News – Forbes – New York Post

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Three REITs every portfolio must have

Melcor Developments Ltd. (MRD-T) is beginning to come onto the radars of investors, and for good reason. Canadian Apartment Properties REIT‘s (CAR.UN-T) portfolio consists of residential properties in and around the major metro areas of Canada, catering to the commuter communities. Killam Apartment REIT (KMP.UN-T) has a massive portfolio encompassing nearly 14,000 apartment units and more than 5,000 manufactured home communities.  

Motley Fool

U.S. REITs join ranks of non-bank lenders

With cap rates for commercial property sales reaching new lows and pricing climbing to new highs, a growing number of REITs are joining other institutional investment players in providing financing to CRE borrowers by originating mortgage loans as an alternative investment choice. The trend is most evident in the public REIT arena.

CoStar Group

Retail

Grocery business ripe for disruption by Amazon: Analysts

When Amazon officially took over Whole Foods this week, the e-commerce giant immediately made changes. It drastically cut prices on some organic foods, by as much as 43 per cent, and set up in-store displays to sell its smart speaker, the Amazon Echo.  But the biggest disruption may still be in the works: an expansion of its online grocery ordering and delivery service.

CBC – Bloomberg – Business Insider – Halifax ChronicleHerald

Lululemon stock surges after earnings beat expectations

Vancouver-based sportswear retailer Lululemon Athletica Inc (LULU-Q) saw a 13 per cent boost in revenue in the second quarter and beat analyst estimates for the period as industry watchers eye the athleisure market for signs of softness. “I am excited by the momentum in our business as we enter fall,” CEO Laurent Potdevin told a conference call after market close.

Financial Post – Business In Vancouver – Bloomberg – Forbes

Restaurants and Eateries

Asian franchise restaurants flock to B.C.

Metro Vancouver has become ripe as the landing spot for a new type of import: overseas restaurant franchises. The latest example of a new restaurant making its way to Vancouver is The Holy Crab, a Louisiana-style seafood eatery that originated in Indonesia and now counts a number of locations across the Southeast Asian nation. 

Western Investor

New Development

Montrealers oppose plan to build science hub on green space

Concordia University’s plan to build a new science centre on its Loyola campus could be in jeopardy because some residents are unhappy it will be built on green space. The $52-million research centre is scheduled to be built behind the Richard J. Renaud Science Complex in western Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. Plans call for the building to take up about 15 per cent of the grassy field.

Montreal Gazette

50-acre waterfront redevelopment underway in Tampa

Earlier this summer, the installation of more than $200 million in infrastructure, including new roadways and utilities, began in support of Water Street Tampa, a mixed-use neighborhood on 50 waterfront acres that, when completed in 2027, will include more than nine million square feet of residential, commercial, entertainment, cultural, and retail space. The $3 billion Water Street Tampa project is the vision of Strategic Property Partners (SPP).

Building Design & Construction

University of Ottawa branches out with new STEM complex

The University of Ottawa is in the midst of building a state-of-the art facility designed to significantly increase space for research, innovation, experiential learning and entrepreneurship. The Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) complex will house open-concept “super labs,” 3-D printing Makerspaces, an entrepreneurship hub and multidisciplinary spaces.

Daily Commercial News

Infrastructure

Hydro offers 900-page report defending Site C

B.C. Hydro is not giving up on Site C without a fight, judging from the almost 900-page defence it submitted this week to the NDP-government ordered review of the controversial project. “The best option for ratepayers is to complete Site C as currently planned,” Hydro wrote at the outset of a submission to the B.C. Utilities Commission.

Vancouver Sun – Victori Times Colonist

Technology

Despite initial REXMLS loss, blockchain has arrived

There’s a new player in real estate technology raising funds and distributing tokens backed by ethereum (ETH), a blockchain-based currency. In an effort to create a decentralized real estate data and listings platform, REXMLS just launched their first token sale. Is REX just the next penny stock pump and dump scheme or is there a real value and market fit?

Forbes – Mondaq – Toronto Star

Other

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