Vancouver CRE deals shatter record

Vancouver CRE deals shatter record

Real estate activity in Vancouver is spilling over into the commercial sector which saw sales activity jump 34 per cent in just one quarter, easily eclipsing the previous high, according to a new report. Commercial real estate service provider Altus Group said Wednesday that there were $3.75 billion in real estate transactions in the second quarter of 2016.

Financial Post

Golf Town to be bought by Fairfax and CI Investments

Fairfax Financial and CI Investments have agreed to buy retailer Golf Town from the chain’s U.S. parent, which is seeking protection from its creditors. The deal, which is scheduled to close on Oct. 31, will see Canadian Golf Town stores change hands and be owned by Fairfax and CI, which already own 40 per cent of the debt of Golfsmith International — Golf Town’s U.S. parent.

CBC – Winnipeg Free Press

Fintrac found ‘significant’ deficiencies in real estate firms: data

Canada’s anti-money laundering agency conducted on-site examinations of more than 800 real estate companies over four-and-a-half years and found “significant” or “very significant” deficiencies during 60 per cent of those visits, new data shows. The Canadian Press through an Access to Information request shows that Fintrac conducted 823 examinations of companies in the real estate sector between 2012 and mid June of this year.

Globe and Mail

Canadian banks’ mortgage guidelines favour foreign home buyers

Canadian banks allow foreign clients with no credit history, including students, to qualify for uninsured mortgages without proving the sources of their income – a practice that exempts non-Canadians who have money in the bank from the scrutiny domestic borrowers face when buying a home or an investment property. Those exceptions to the regular rules are outlined in internal documents from Scotiabank and the Bank of Montreal reviewed by The Globe and Mail.

Globe and Mail

Bri-mor builds a winner on 85th Street S.W.

Bri-mor Developments has proven that if you build with quality and value, and in the right location, tenants will come, even in this difficult economy. Company president Fatima Dhanani and her son, managing director Aleem, began planning a mixed-use development on a 10-acre parcel in West Springs in 2007.

Calgary Herald

Holt Renfrew, Tsawwassen Mills ready for retail launch

Several new or expanded retail projects are slated to open in the next few months, but analysts say Metro Vancouver can accommodate a lot more retail space even as consumers increasingly turn to e-commerce. The region ranks last among major cities in Canada when it comes to per-capita retail space in a combination of shopping malls and unenclosed power centres like Tsawwassen Mills.

Business in Vancouver

Broker a deal on Winnipeg’s Kapyong Barracks

There is a 160 acres of prime real estate in one of Winnipeg’s toniest neighbourhoods, a vacant and undeveloped eyesore to the thousands who drive past it daily on Kenaston Boulevard. The abandoned Kapyong Barracks has been the subject of much legal wrangling between the federal government and Treaty 1 First Nations governments. In 2007 Ottawa decided to sell it to the federal agency that markets this type of surplus property.

Winnipeg Free Press

Red River Ex plans 390-acre expansion … over the next 30 years

The Red River Exhibition has big expansion plans over the next 30 years — and they don’t just involve roller coasters. This evening, the Ex will come before city council’s Assiniboia community committee with a long-term plan to nearly double its footprint on the western edge of Winnipeg.

CBC

Metro Vancouver invites feedback on regional growth strategy

There have been repeated calls this year for someone to show leadership when it comes to planning for growth, particularly around housing affordability. This past January, at the Urban Development Institute’s annual forecast luncheon, Reliance Properties Ltd. president Jon Stovell called for immediate amendments to Metro Vancouver’s Metro 2040 regional growth strategy to mandate residential development targets.

Business in Vancouver

Transit-oriented suburbs for managing the GTHA’s growth

How the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) manages its suburban growth over the next 25 years is critical to the sustainability and future livability of Canada’s most populous region, a new report contends. Titled Suburbs on Track, the report explores the benefits of transit-oriented communities and is the joint work of the Ryerson City Building Institute (CBI) and the Ontario Home Builders’ Association.

Sustainable Biz Canada

Who pays for Fort McMurray? The world, in reinsurance

Fires, floods, earthquakes. Once the realm of nightmares or fiction, worst-case natural disasters are increasingly becoming real-life headlines for Canadians. Even while May’s devastating Fort McMurray inferno remains a fresh memory, climate scientists warn of more frequent flooding and wildfires as rainfall patterns change. The Alberta fire, estimated to have generated insured losses of $3.6-billion, is now listed as Canada’s costliest natural disaster.

Globe and Mail

W. Galen Weston steps down as executive chairman of George Weston

W. Galen Weston is stepping down as executive chairman of George Weston Ltd., the country’s largest food processing and distribution company, and will be succeeded by his son. The elder Weston will become chairman emeritus of the company, while his 43-year-old son Galen G. Weston, becomes chairman.

Globe and Mail

Brexit no dampener on London skyscraper project

When the plans were unveiled to build a 73-storey office tower called 1 Undershaft in London nearly a year ago, the British district known as the Square Mile was still an undisputed centre of world finance. That was before Brexit. Today, nevertheless, plans are going ahead for this tower, to be tucked between other distinctive modern London office buildings known as the Cheesegrater and the Gherkin.

Globe and Mail

Sell H.K. property stocks on Trump win, manager

Investors should dump Hong Kong real estate stocks if Donald Trump wins the U.S. presidential election in November, according to a Dutch pension fund manager who oversees almost $13.5 billion of property equities globally. A win for the billionaire real estate mogul could bring about more protectionism and hurt world trade.

Bloomberg

Watch New York City wake up from Empire State Building

The Empire State Building (ESB) today announced the “Sunrise Experience,” an unprecedented opportunity to watch the sunrise over New York City from ESB’s world-famous 86th floor Observatory. Guests will share a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see, hear and feel the city wake up with unobstructed, 360-degree open-air views in the heart of NYC. No more than 100 tickets will be sold per sunrise. 

Canada Newswire

Market Trends and Research

Tariff sends drywall price soaring; could affect Fort McMurray rebuild

Drywall prices across Western Canada have shot through the roof after the federal government imposed preliminary anti-dumping tariffs of up to 276 per cent on gypsum board products imported from the United States. Builders and suppliers fear the ruling could disrupt the supply of the boarding used in walls and ceilings and threaten the completion of residential, commercial and public projects.

Calgary Herald

More flexible work rules mulled for federally regulated employees

Any new rules to provide flexible work options for federally regulated workers will not become a burden on small businesses, the federal labour minister says. Labour Minister MaryAnn Mihychuk said small- and medium-sized businesses will have the right to refuse a request if they need to protect their companies.

Ottawa Business Journal

Real Estate Companies

4Degrés data centre opens at Technoparc, Saint-Laurent campus

Technoparc Montreal is pleased to welcome the new data center of the company 4Degrés. The data centre is a 43,000 sq.ft. building with an available load of 16 megawatts. It will serve to meet the ever-growing data processing and management needs of today’s businesses.

Canada Newswire

Carlyle hires Jenkins to head Global Credit from CPPIB

Mark Jenkins is joining Carlyle Group LP as head of global credit, exiting the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board amid a shakeup of the country’s largest pension fund. Jenkins will also become a member of Carlyle’s management committee, the Washington-based asset manager said in a statement Monday. He’ll start later this month and be based in New York.

Bloomberg

Rhapsody Hhires Ryan Funt as Regional Property Manager

Rhapsody Property Management Services, Canada’s premier third party management firm, brings new talent to the company’s eastern region with the addition of Ryan Funt. Based in Toronto as a regional property manager, he will oversee Rhapsody’s upcoming luxury rental communities with a concentration in Toronto and Ottawa. Funt reports to Senior Vice President Rob Martin.

Marketwired

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

NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT files prospectus

NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT (NWH.UN-T), Canada’s leading global diversified healthcare real estate investment trust announced that it has filed and obtained a receipt for a final base shelf prospectus.  The intention of the base shelf prospectus is to allow the REIT to more quickly access capital when market opportunities permit.

Montreal Gazette

Legal Corner

Nova Centre suit moves forward

The defendants involved in the Nova Centre lawsuit have been served with Notices of Negotiation. The Biscuit General Store, Attica, The Carleton, The Economy Shoe Shop, Indochine, Drala Books & Gifts, and the Wooden Monkey have sued parties involved in the Nova Centre project for compensation due to the lengthy construction process involved with the building.

The Chronicle Herald – The Chronicle Herald

Ex-Montreal mayor fails to have fraud case dropped

Former Montreal mayor Michael Applebaum has failed in his bid to have his fraud case dropped, meaning his trial will begin as scheduled this fall. Applebaum was arrested in June 2013 on various fraud-related charges linked to alleged real-estate bribery when he was mayor of the borough of Cote-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grace.

The Chronicle Herald

Retail

IKEA posts record full-year sales

Sweden’s IKEA, the world’s biggest furniture retailer, reported on Tuesday its fiscal full-year sales grew 7 per cent to a record €34.2-billion. IKEA Group, which owns most IKEA stores world-wide, said in a statement comparable stores accounted for 5 per cent of growth in the 12 months through August. Canada’s IKEA’s are some of the fastest growing in the world.

Globe and Mail

IKEA Montreal employees vote to strike

Montreal IKEA union members rejected their employer’s latest offer at a general meeting on Sunday and provided a mandate for pressure tactics including a 24-hour strike. Employees voted 92 per cent in favour of the strike, which will be triggered at an appropriate time, according to the union.

Montreal Gazette

New Development

Demolition begins on Toronto’s North St. Lawrence Market

The demolition and archeological assessment of the North St. Lawrence Market in Toronto has begun. Work has been underway at the market building since July to prepare for the structural demolition, which marks an important step in the redevelopment project. A City of Toronto release indicates the demolition and archeological assessment will take about six months to complete.

Daily Commercial News

NCC board votes for new Fifth-Clegg bridge design despite criticism

The National Capital Commission board is starting to show sympathy for Ottawa’s property taxpayers, voting unanimously Monday to approve a new design for a Rideau Canal bridge despite criticisms from an advisory committee. The city is eager to build a $21-million pedestrian and cycling bridge between Fifth Avenue and Clegg Street to connect the Glebe and Old Ottawa East.

Ottawa Citizen

NCC process eliminates hospital Experimental Farm field number 1

The National Capital Commission was given an unenviable task by boss Melanie Joly.  Take over the controversial discussions on finding a new location for an expanded Civic campus of The Ottawa Hospital, consider all federal land available and report back in six months, the minister of Canadian Heritage said in May.

CBC

Sports Venues

Bear Mountain readies its real estate for world

Dan Matthews is about to have millions of people peering into his back yard, and he could not be happier about it or have timed it better. The chief executive of Ecoasis, owner of the Bear Mountain development, has invited the world to check out his resort, its golf course and the potential for the community when the 2016 Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship, a PGA Tour Champions event, tees off next week.

Times Colonist

Little appetite to spend tax dollars on CalgaryNEXT

While some sports fans may be green with envy of new facilities set to open in Edmonton and Regina, many Calgarians remain opposed to spending public money on the CalgaryNEXT proposal. One year after ambitious visions of the sports mega-complex — with a price tag ranging from $1.3 billion to $1.8 billion — on Calgary’s west end were unveiled to the public,Calgarians remain divided on the plan.

Calgary Herald

Jim Taylor stepping down as Rogers Place opens

One of downtown Edmonton’s biggest cheerleaders is retiring. Jim Taylor served as a downtown city councillor from 1995 to 2001. He took a month off, and then spent the next 15 years as executive director of the Downtown Business Association. Taylor is hanging up his hat just as Rogers Place opens its doors.

Edmonton Journal

Sustainability

Wilderness wins in tussle over Halifax park

Raymond Plourde walked into last week’s Halifax Regional Council meeting with a lump in his throat. After more than a decade of hemming, hawing, studies and negotiations, the municipality’s government was set to vote on the future of a 1,681-hectare plot of land – a bus ride northwest of downtown. Councillors have opted to accept a compromise with the landowners on the conceptual park’s boundaries.

Globe and Mail

Other

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