What is HBC’s real estate actually worth?

What is HBC’s real estate actually worth?

There has been an increased focus on Hudson’s Bay Co’s real estate portfolio of late, particularly after an activist investor pressed the company to squeeze more cash out of its properties. But how much its properties are worth, and whether that value can be readily accessed, are questions. HBC (HBC-T) Tuesday suggested it could sell more leases or properties if the price is right.

Financial Post – Financial Post – Globe and Mail – Financial Post

Summit Industrial Income REIT in major growth mode

Summit Industrial Income REIT (SMU.UN-T) could invest $250 million in new real estate this year as it looks to achieve a billion-dollar portfolio in 2018. “I think there are going to be some bigger portfolios coming to the market in the next year or so,” said CEO Paul Dykeman.

Property Biz Canada

B of C surprises with rate hike increase, eyes future moves

The Bank of Canada raised interest rates on Wednesday, surprising many, and left the door open to more rate hikes in 2017 even as it pledged to pay attention to how higher borrowing costs would hit Canada’s indebted households. The 25-basis-point increase to one per cent followed a hike in July and puts Canada ahead of the curve in returning borrowing costs to more normal levels.

Reuters – Toronto Star – CBC – BNN

InterRent buys Montreal, Hamilton apartment buildings

InterRent Real Estate Investment Trust (IIP.UN-T)  will spend $65 million to purchase two neighbouring high-rise apartment buildings in Montreal and a mid-rise apartment complex in Hamilton. “We are extremely pleased to announce these two acquisitions,” InterRent CEO Mike McGahan said in a release announcing the purchases.

Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

Ubisoft announces major Quebec expansion

Twenty years after coming to Quebec, French video game giant Ubisoft announced plans Tuesday to invest $780 million in the province by 2027, hire more than 1,000 people and open two new studios. Ubisoft’s expansion includes a $135-million investment to open a studio in early 2018 in Saguenay, said co-founder and CEO Yves Guillemot. The company also plans to open a fourth bureau in the province.

Ottawa Citizen – CBC – Montreal Gazette

Royop Development purchases Matrix Real Estate Services

Royop Development has operated a successful property management division for many years. It has now doubled the size of its portfolio and staff with the purchase of Matrix Real Estate Services. Not only has Royop added 1.5 million square feet of buildings to manage, the company is also merging its staff with Matrix owner Vyetta Sunderland and her 16 employees.

Calgary Herald

Commercial condos catch on in Calgary

The concept of the commercial condo is fitfully gaining recognition in some markets, including Calgary, said to be benefiting from a spillover effect from the exceptionally strong industrial strata market in Vancouver. Colliers notes in the number of sales transactions of commercial office strata projects in Calgary has declined, but says it is more a question of scarcity, rather than diminishing demand.

Globe and Mail

Birks, Ivanhoe announce the opening of five Birks stores

Birks Group Inc. (BGI-A), and Ivanhoé Cambridge announced an agreement for the opening of five Birks stores at Ivanhoé Cambridge shopping centres. Two new Birks stores will open in October at Oshawa Centre and Guildford Town Centre (Surrey). Birks stores located at Bayshore Shopping Centre (Ottawa), Southgate Centre (Edmonton) and Place Ste-Foy (Quebec City) will be relocated to new, renovated spaces. 

Canada Newswire

Amenity Health Care bought by TorQuest Partners

The growing Winnipeg-based operator of retail pharmacies across Western Canada, Amenity Health Care, has been acquired by the Toronto private equity firm, TorQuest Partners . Founded in 2013 by David Asper, Dalbir Bains and other Winnipeg investors, it has grown steadily by acquiring independent pharmacies mostly located in communities typically with underserviced health and wellness facilities.

Winnipeg Free Press – Canada Newswire

Will Whole Foods acquisition eat up the net lease industry?

The acquisition of Whole Foods will give Amazon’s physical distribution network a larger footprint. Currently, “Amazon Locker” pickup points, while many in number, are constrained by both their physical size and the number of available lockers. Now Amazon customers will be able to pick up larger items and even return products via Whole Foods locations. 

GlobeSt.com – Canadian Grocer

Amazon fears sink Blackstone’s Australian mall sale

Blackstone Group (BX-N) has called off the sale of its $3.5-billion Cdn Australian shopping mall portfolio as the looming arrival of Amazon.com spooks buyers of bricks-and-mortar stores. With no interest in the entire 10-mall package, the cancelled sale is also the latest sign of stress in Australia’s east-coast real estate market, where population growth and booming property prices have underpinned landlords’ profits.

Reuters – IPE Real Estate

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

 

Harvey hurts Houston mortgage bonds already feeling oil pain

Declining energy prices have already battered Houston’s real estate market. Now, Hurricane Harvey is making it even worse. Some $8.9 billion of loans packaged into commercial mortgage-backed securities since the financial crisis are supported by Houston-area offices, malls and hotels, Morgan Stanley analyst Richard Hill said in a note Monday.

Bloomberg – Commercial Property Executive – Canada Newswire

PIRET properties suffer only minor damage

Pure Industrial Real Estate Trust (AAR.UN-T) owns two industrial properties in Cedar Port Industrial Park, approximately 35 miles east of downtown Houston, which have sustained only minor damage. PIRET’s properties in the San Antonio and Austin areas were not impacted by the storm. 

Canada Newswire

More than 200 B.C. buildings destroyed by wildfires

The Cariboo Regional District says 62 homes and 140 outbuildings have been destroyed during this wildfire season. Several communities in the region, located in central B.C., have been devastated by flames during what is the now the province’s worst recorded wildfire season. 

CBC – CBC – Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail

Think beyond Canada when investing: Experts

Just as with equities and fixed-income investments, a domestic focus on real estate can be shortsighted. “In Canada right now, a lot of commercial real estate is fully priced, so it’s quite expensive,” says Frank Magliocco, national real estate leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in Toronto. “When investors look across the pond, they see more opportunity.”

Globe and Mail

NYC market may not handle a Chinese exit very well

When Barry Sternlicht talks, people listen. Earlier this month, the Starwood Capital chief used his pulpit to address a subject New York players often like to downplay: the city’s increasing dependency on foreign capital even as geopolitics is being upended. “If you are having a fight with our administration, you are just not going to invest here,” Sternlicht said.

The Real Deal

Is Jared Kushner the world’s worst real estate investor?

In 2007, a 26-year-old Jared Kushner made a splash in the New York City real-estate world when his family firm bought a Midtown tower with the inauspicious address 666 Fifth Avenue for what was then a record-setting $1.8 billion. Kushner, who had been helping run Kushner Companies since his father, Charles Kushner,was sentenced to prison in 2005, was eager to prove himself (he would be named CEO in 2008). 

Vanity Fair – The Real Deal – Business Insider – Fortune

Real Estate Companies

Online rental company makes bid for commercial leasing market

Online residential rental service Biddwell is making a bid for a share of the commercial leasing market. CEO Jordan Lewis joins the show to discuss.  CEO of Biddwell, Jordan Lewis discusses his companies move into the commercial leasing market. Lewis joins Business in Vancouver’s Kirk LaPointe and Hayley Woodin on Roundhouse Radio 98.3.

Business In Vancouver

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Another take on H&R

In a recent report, RBC Dominion Securities Inc. analyst Neil Downey argued H&R REIT‘s (HR.UN-T) “business may simply be too complex.” H&R began in 1996 with a focus on office and industrial properties in Canada but has since expanded into retail and residential real estate and also built a large presence south of the border.

Globe and Mail

Should you buy Allied Properties or Dream Office?

With the economy strong, corporations need a place to conduct their business. Two REITs in Canada worth considering to capitalize on this need are Allied Properties REIT (AP.UN-T), whose focus is almost entirely on the major cities in Canada and Dream Office REIT (D.UN-T),  a bit of a project.

Motley Fool

Legalization of marijuana will hurt residential REITs

Canadian Apartment Properties REIT  (CAR.UN-T) and Boardwalk REIT (BEI.UN-T), operate apartments and townhomes — properties where people could legally grow marijuana. When marijuana becomes legal in Canada it can have serious impacts beyond just the ability of people to consume it for recreational purposes. The new legislation would allow any adult to grow up to four plants in a residence.  

Motley Fool

Retail

Couche-Tard’s adjusted earnings up 17 per cent

The CEO of Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.B-T) says its Texas team is “working tirelessly” to get its conveniene stores and fuel stations back to full capacity as it continues to integrate CST Brands Inc. into its North American retail network. Since the acquisition of San Antonio-based CST Brands, including its 666 stores in Texas, Couche-Tard has been grappling with the impact of storm-related flooding. 

Montreal Gazette – Canada Newswire

New Development

Edmonton debates plan to sell developer land for a buck

Several Edmonton councillors balked Tuesday at the fine details of a plan to hand over $10-million worth of land for $1 to a new non-profit developer. The land includes several gravel parking lots, a construction laydown area and other blighted sites, but councillors worried the non-profit developer might sit on the land, or sell it to a private developer who could sit on it even longer.

Edmonton Journal

Renovation and Restoration

Merchant House unveils plans for Times Colonist Building

Private real estate investment equity firm Merchant House Capital Inc. says it will restore and renovate its recently purchased Times Colonist Building in Victoria. Plans include an urban campus-style mixed-use environment, featuring street level retail and 120,000 square feet of large floor-plate office. “The Times Colonist Building represents such a unique cultural landmark for Victoria,” says Merchant House Capital CEO David Fullbrook.

REMI Network – CHEK – Canada Newswire

Infrastructure

Experts mull future of transportation in Metro Van.

While Lower Mainland drivers enjoyed their new toll-free rides over two major bridges across the Fraser River this weekend, many transportation observers are trying to map out what will or should happen next with the disappearance of this source of revenue for transportation in the region. Local mayors and transportation experts are anticipating major changes in driving patterns starting this month as drivers can now use the Port Mann and Golden Ears bridges for free.

theglobeandmail

Human Resources

Vancouver Canada’s hottest major city for jobs: Report

Vancouver is tops when it comes to job markets in the country’s major cities – defined as those with populations over 250,000 – according to an Express Employment Professionals report released Aug. 30. For every 1,000 people in the city, there are 2.82 jobs currently available, according to the report. Vancouver is followed by Laval (2.71), Edmonton (2.7), Montreal (2.64) and Gatineau (2.52).

Business In Vancouver

Other

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