Landlords game for Toys “R” Us RE: Sonshine

Landlords game for Toys “R” Us RE: Sonshine

The CEO of Canada’s largest REIT says he’d have no problem filling any space vacated by Toys”R”Us, but he doubts it will reach the market. Ed Sonshine, whose RioCan REIT (REI.UN-T) counts the retailer as a tenant in two of its facilities, said Tuesday there would be strong demand for the space because of the prime locations – a feeling echoed by others. 

Financial Post – Bloomberg – Financial Post – Financial Post

Calgary-based Landmark Cinemas chain sold to Belgian firm

Canada’s second-largest chain of movie theatres is being sold to a Belgian firm for about $123 million. Calgary-based Landmark Cinemas says a deal to be purchased by Kinepolis Group of Ghent is expected to close by year-end if it receives Canadian regulatory approvals. Landmark, founded in 1965, operates 44 cinemas and a total of 303 screens in Western Canada, Ontario and the Yukon.

Calgary Herald – Canada Newswire

Customized, luxury storage condos growing CRE trend

A Calgary developer of luxury storage space is planning to expand its unique idea across the country. The Vaults provides secure condominium space for cars, boats, RVs and other valuable belongings. Amenities include a private on-site clubhouse and a fully-equipped wash bay. The owner’s space is personal and customized for their storage needs.

Property Biz Canada

Gas station companies cashing out on value of Van. RE

Vancouver will likely lose more gas stations as land values soar and high-density zoning along major corridors in the city encourages more fuel companies to cash out, says Curtis Scott, manager of market intelligence for Western Canada with Colliers International. “Gas stations are typically located in prime areas on corners of major crossroads . . .,” said Scott.

Vancouver Province

Labatt investing $460 million to enhance operations

Labatt Breweries of Canada says it is investing $460 million between 2017 and 2020 to enhance its operations and help boost growth. The maker of Labatt Blue, Budweiser and Alexander Keith’s says the figure includes $62.2 million towards brewery operations this year. Each of Labatt’s six breweries has already received at least $19 million in recent years, as it invested $546 million in capital improvements between 2011 and 2016.

CTV

Winnipeg’s Portage Place: 30 years later

It’s around 3 p.m. on Monday and sunshine streaks through the glass ceiling of Portage Place Shopping Centre. A man who appears to be in his 20s, sporting blond bedhead and a ripped pea green sweater, is playing the keys in Edmonton Court. He entertains customers who ebb and flow down the escalators and echoing halls.

Winnipeg Free Press

Harvard denied right to expand Winnipeg surface lot

The company that owns Winnipeg’s tallest office tower has been denied the right to expand a surface-parking lot within barricade-hopping distance of Portage and Main. Harvard Developments, which owns the 201 Portage office tower at Portage and Main, asked the City of Winnipeg for permission to add 36 parking spots to its surface lot at 416 Main St., north of its tower.

CBC – Winnipeg Free Press

Graywood project seeks seamless heritage blend

It’s a tall order to successfully incorporate substantial heritage elements into a modern tower that rises 47 storeys, but an executive with Graywood Developments feels his firm has managed the feat seamlessly as it prepares to market its new downtown Toronto mixed-use project this fall. The Peter & Adelaide building from Graywood pays tribute to the architectural heritage of existing buildings.

Daily Commercial News

Couche-Tard looks toward Asia

After gobbling up convenience-store chains in North America and Europe, Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (ATD.B-T) has its eyes on Asia, where the owner of Circle K is seeking to enter the Thai and Indian markets. Co-founder and chairman Alain Bouchard told shareholders on Tuesday the Canadian company is crafting a strategy for the two countries, while also looking for ways to increase its presence in southern China. 

Bloomberg – CBC – Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Canada Goose’s success built on ‘made in Canada’ roots

Dani Reiss, CEO of Canada Goose, is well aware the vast majority of people who wear his company’s products will never visit the North Pole. In fact, some of Canada Goose’s most enthusiastic markets are in countries that rarely see snowfall. Still, the underlying importance of product leadership, says Reiss, is how his company has remained fad-proof.

Maclean’s – Bloomberg

TO, Van. insiders weigh in on value of snagging Amazon HQ

It seems like a can’t-miss opportunity. Amazon’s announcement it’s searching for a second North American home caused mayors and municipal leaders across the continent to jump at the chance to play host. A number of Canadian cities have put themselves forward as suitors, including Halifax, Montreal, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and others.

CBC – CBC – CoStar Group – Vancouver Province

	U.S. hurricanes’ impact on real estate
	The following section of the RENX newsletter is dedicated to news about Hurricanes Harvey and Irma in the U.S. and its impact on real estate.

 

Self-storage units highly sought in recovery efforts

Self-storage properties will have an important role to play in the recovery from the hurricanes that recently struck Florida and Texas. “Historically, hurricanes have been very favorable in boosting demand for self-storage,” says Jay Crotty, president of SkyView Advisors, a national brokerage firm specializing in self-storage. Earlier this year, experts worried developers had built more new self-storage properties than there was demand for.

National Real Estate Investor

Assessing the damage from hurricane season

Hurricane Harvey devastated the Houston area, and Irma destroyed homes and businesses across Florida, as well as damaged properties throughout the Southeast with high winds and flooding that reached all the way to the Carolinas. Category 5 hurricane Maria is currently on the way to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

National Real Estate Investor

Ottawa RE firm Sakto faces money-laundering allegations

Lawyers for a Swiss advocacy group pursuing allegations of financial crimes against Ottawa real estate company Sakto Corp. are turning to Ontario’s courts to obtain sensitive financial records from three Canadian banks and a major accounting firm. For years, the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF), a Basel-based charitable group critical of deforestation in Malaysia and related issues of corruption, has investigated the family and business interests of Abdul Taib Mahmud.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

The plan to make Cadillac Fairview a household name

Owners and managers of CRE don’t usually do much brand-building, but Cadillac Fairview is attempting to become a household name. That marketing push now includes an Olympic sponsorship. The company today announced an 11-year deal with the Canadian Olympic Committee to become a “national partner.” It is the first time the COC has had a sponsor in the commercial real estate category.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Canada Newswire

Entertainment districts rejuvenating cities

The Irving (Texas) Music Factory, a 17-acre entertainment district anchored by a 103,620-square-foot, 8,000-seat-capacity pavilion, was scheduled to open Aug. 31, with no less a headliner than comedian Dave Chappelle. The entertainment district encompasses 25 restaurants and bars, a 35,000-sf Alamo Drafthouse cineplex, and 100,000 sf of office space.

Building Design & Construction

NHL arena stands out – even in Las Vegas

While most NHL teams are easing into their preseasons this week, the new Vegas Golden Knights will be putting on a show right from the get-go at the new T-Mobile Arena on the famed Las Vegas Strip. The challenge for the $350-million US arena, operated by MGM Resorts International, was to try to stand out in Las Vegas.

Globe and Mail

Featured Column

Calgary’s Calaway Park still thrills, 35 years later

I spent this past Saturday enjoying the sights and sounds of Calgary’s entertainment wonderland, Calaway Park. Not much has changed since my last visit over 20 years ago, which though nostalgic also led me to wonder, ‘Why’? By most accounts Calaway Park is a beloved local attraction, but it did not start out that way.

Read more

Market Trends and Research

Canadian farmers’ debt relative to asset value increased in 2016

The amount of debt Canadian farmers collectively carried relative to the value of their assets increased in 2016 for the first time since 2009. Further, roughly 70 per cent of farm assets are tied up in land. The value of land is expected to increase more slowly, according to Farm Credit Canada (FCC), the country’s largest agricultural lender.

Globe and Mail – Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Real Estate Companies

RealtyShares raises $28 million for CRE investing

CRE can be a lucrative investment, but it can be hard to come up with the money to buy a stake in the first place. That’s the idea behind RealtyShares, a platform which pools together debt and equity investments for apartments, office buildings and retail centres. Now the San Francisco-based startup has gained enough traction to find another big investment for itself.

TechCrunch – Business Wire – TechCrunch

CEO/founder resigns from Mainstreet’s board of directors

Canada Newswire – Canada Newswire

	RENX 2018 media kit now available
	A blended ad program, take-over advertising, writing services and a second weekly edition of Property Biz Canada in 2018. Advertising that reaches thousands of professionals in the commercial real estate industry every business day. Contact sales@renx.ca, 1-855-569-6300

 

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Agellan unitholders seek new board trustees

Agellan Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust (ACR.UN-T) announced today its board of trustees received a unitholder requisition Tuesday requesting the REIT call a special meeting of unitholders for the purpose of reconstituting the board with five new trustees and seeking an advisory vote of unitholders in respect of the REIT’s previously announced agreement to internalize management. 

Canada Newswire

Three top REITs for retirees’ dividend income

Allied Properties REIT (AP.UN-T) focuses on the office space in Canada’s biggest cities. It transforms light industrial structures into modern office facilities. RioCan (REI.UN-T) manages 300 retail properties across Canada and has some of the biggest retail names as its clients. Chartwell Retirement Residences (CSH.UN-T) is the largest operator in the Canadian senior-living space and manages more than 175 locations. 

Motley Fool

Cominar’s dividend yield more than eight per cent

Income investors are always on the lookout for stocks that pay quality dividends. Cominar REIT (CUF.UN-T) pays a hefty dividend, but does that make it a good buy? Cominar, headquartered in Quebec, specializes in commercial properties. It currently has a portfolio of approximately 570 properties across the country. Let’s take a look at how this company is doing. 

Motley Fool

Hungary looks to REIT market in bid to attract share listings

The Budapest Stock Exchange’s long-delayed plan to create one of eastern Europe’s first REIT markets may be about to bear fruit. As many as three closely held Hungarian companies are expected to set up REITs next year, according to Rita Szalay, director of the exchange’s listing division. The first could be developer Granit Polus.

Bloomberg

Retail

RYU Apparel opens first Toronto location

Canada Newswire

New Development

Brookfield’s Multiplex to build Melbourne biomedical facility

Multiplex, a Brookfield company, will develop a $81-million Cdn world-class biomedical learning and teaching building for Australia’s Monash University at its Clayton campus in Victori. Multiplex is also currently constructing a new $206-million Learning and Teaching Building at the university, which will include a large underground parking facility and regional transport interchange.

CP Executive

Technology

100,000 Canadians impacted by Equifax data breach

It’s been nearly two weeks since Equifax admitted it had suffered one of the largest data breaches in recent memory — exposing the personal information of a whopping 143 million U.S. consumers.Tuesday, the company finally confirmed approximately 100,000 Canadians were affected too, with names, addresses, social insurance numbers (SIN) and, in limited cases, credit card numbers among the personal information potentially accessed.

CBC – BNN – CTV – Globe and Mail

Other

	RENX has surpassed 10,150 Twitter followers
	Recent follower Kent-Macpherson, established in 1973, is a leading Western Canadian authority in independent real estate valuation.
	Follow RENXca, the most comprehensive news feed on Twitter for Canadian real estate professionals.