Aspen Skiing, KSL Capital Partners buy Intrawest

Aspen Skiing, KSL Capital Partners buy Intrawest

The company behind the Mont Tremblant and Blue Mountain ski resorts has signed a deal to be acquired in a friendly deal valued at US$1.5 billion, including debt. Intrawest Resorts Holdings Inc. (SNOW-N) says U.S. ski resort company Aspen Skiing Co. and private equity firm KSL Capital Partners has agreed to pay US$23.75 per share in cash. 

CTV – Reuters

Oxford, startup to create TO innovation district

Oxford Properties Group and technology startup accelerator OneEleven are aiming to turn Toronto into the next San Francisco with Union Park, a long-term redevelopment of Front Street meant to transform it into a downtown innovation cluster. The linchpin is the reopening in May of 325 Front Street West, a 250,000-square-foot space that used to serve as an RBC data centre.

Globe and Mail

Crombie REIT wants to be a multi-family player

Crombie REIT (CRR.UN-T) is best known as a retail-focused landlord with 280 commercial properties comprising approximately 19 million square feet with an enterprise value of $4.8 billion. While that won’t change, president and chief executive officer Don Clow said at CIBC’s recent real estate conference Crombie is looking to make better use of many of those properties and their air right

Property Biz Canada

Tory open to sale of Toronto’s real estate assets

Toronto’s mayor won’t rule out selling some of the city’s prime downtown real estate as he looks to make better use of assets amid an unprecedented property boom. “Would I take that off the table? No, I wouldn’t,” said John Tory, who added selling buildings probably wouldn’t be “quite as politically charged” as divesting other types of assets.

Bloomberg

TO’s Kipling Station to be redeveloped as regional transit hub

Ontario has announced plans to turn Toronto’s Kipling Station into a major transit hub that integrates subway, regional rail and inter-regional bus services. At the same time, Infrastructure Ontario (IO) and Metrolinx issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to invite three prequalified teams to design, build and finance the Kipling Bus Terminal project.

Daily Commercial News

Concert moves to contend with CRE crescendo

A new division of Concert Real Estate Corp. has made its first acquisition as the company hunts for growth in a frenetic commercial real estate market. After nearly 30 years of developing properties – with roots building rental housing in B.C. – Vancouver-based Concert recently opened its doors to new investors, looking beyond its 19 pension-plan owners for capital.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Ad agency to anchor Winnipeg pumping station

An anchor tenant has been found for the office atrium portion of the $20-million James Avenue Pumping Station redevelopment on Winnipeg’s Waterfront Drive. Think Shift, a local advertising agency, has signed a tentative agreement to lease most of the roughly 12,000-square-foot atrium, which will sit on steel girders suspended three metres above ground level.

Winnipeg Free Press

Canadian REITs should get lift from rent price inflation

Some investors may have fallen out of love with Canadian REITs, but the prospect of rent price inflation could provide another leg up for the sector. The latest round of data on home prices in the Greater Toronto Area marked a 33 per cent year-over-year increase for February. That is not sustainable, according to Martin Roberge, portfolio strategist at Canaccord Genuity.

Financial Post

Metro Vancouver businesses must prepare for earthquake: Expert

Businesses in Greater Vancouver must prepare for a major earthquake, including seismically improving their physical assets, a risk consultant from Los Angeles told a Greater Vancouver Board of Trade business forum on Friday. Alex Yanev is a principal with EQE Consulting, a pioneering California firm that specializes in risk management.

Vancouver Sun

Growth slows for Canadian farmland value

The surge in the value of agricultural real estate is cooling along with crop prices and farm revenues. Average farmland values rose by eight  per cent in 2016, down from 10 per cent in 2015 and 14 per cent in 2014 according to Farm Credit Canada. The biggest driver of the decline in growth is lower global prices for field crops.

Globe and Mail – Winnipeg Free Press – Regina Leader-Post – Financial Post

Boutique eyewear retailers eyeing Canada

Boutique eyewear retailers from around the world have set their sights on Canada as a hotbed for growth, hoping to capitalize on the country’s aging population and its taste for haute couture. Several companies including Japan’s Mujosh, U.S.-based Warby Parker and Bailey Nelson of Australia have plans to open dozens of new stores over the next few years.

CTV

HBC to invest in Europe in attempt to grow sales

Hudson’s Bay Co (HBC-T) said Friday it planned to invest around $567 million Cdn in Europe this year in a bid to grow its sales by 20 per cent over the next two years. Profits in Europe will grow even faster than sales, CEO Jerry Storch said. HBC Thursday named Dr. Wolfgang Link new chief of its European business. 

Reuters – Business Wire

Deal of the century created Town of Mount Royal

Montreal a century ago, like many parts of the country, was in the grip of a building boom. Some real estate companies were cautioning it might be years before buyers recouped their investments. Nevertheless, it was out of this speculative frenzy the Town of Mount Royal was born and this year celebrates its centenary.

Montreal Gazette

Conditions right for U.S. expansion: New BMO CEO

Bank of Montreal (BMO-T), Canada’s oldest lender, has turned to a former investment banker with an interest in continued U.S. expansion to lead the firm into its third century. Chief operating officer Darryl White was named Friday to replace Bill Downe when he retires at the end of October. 

Bloomberg

U.S. pot warehouses going through a boom

With voters approving marijuana ballot initiatives in November, it is now legal for recreational and/or medical uses in 28 U.S. states. States legalizing marijuana for medical use only allow use in forms other than the flower and license a limited number of dispensaries. Maryland, for example, has only 10 dispensaries statewide, fewer than the number of dispensaries in L.A.

National Real Estate Investor – TIME – Regina Leader-Post – Globe and Mail

Featured Column

Caveat Emptor: The Romans still have it right

I’ve said it before and I’ll no doubt say it again. The Ancient Romans may not have been thinking about real estate when they coined the term “caveat emptor” (buyer beware), but if the sandal fits …

Read more

Market Trends and Research

Gatineau Park has major economic impact: NCC study

The National Capital Commission says Gatineau Park is responsible for $241.5 million in annual economic impact and 4,728 jobs in the region. The statistics were released as part of a new study that was revealed on Tuesday by the NCC.

Ottawa Citizen

Real Estate Companies

Questions linger about scope of Onni rental scheme

The discovery last week a major Vancouver developer was running a short-term rental operation out of a Yaletown building was nearly as shocking as discovering the city planned to do nothing much about it. Onni fessed up to renting short-term apartments through sites like Booking.com.

Vancouver Sun

B.C. universities leasing spaces to Chinese schools

Looking to boost revenues and create a pipeline of future international students, some B.C. universities are turning to a novel — and controversial — idea: letting Chinese companies open private high schools on their campuses. So far, Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops and Kwantlen Polytechnic University  have agreed to lease campus spaces.

Vancouver Sun

Real Estate Investment Trusts

RioCan announces completion of public offering

RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust (REI.UN-T) announced today it has completed its issuance of $300 million principal amount of Series Z senior unsecured debentures. The agency syndicate was co-led by RBC Capital Markets, TD Securities and BMO Capital Markets. The debentures, which were sold at par, carry a coupon rate of 2.194 per cent and will mature on April 9, 2021. 

Marketwired – Property Biz Canada

Automotive Properties completes acquisition of Calgary dealership

Automotive Properties REIT (APR.UN-T) announced it has closed the previously announced acquisition of the Heritage Honda dealership property in Calgary for $23.6 million. Heritage Honda, owned by the Dilawri Group, will be the operating tenant of the property and has entered into a 18-year, triple-net lease with the REIT. 

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

PROREIT offeres double-digit return forecast

PROREIT (PRV.UN-X) comes with a 9.7 yield with an average 14 per cent price return forecast. It focuses on building a portfolio of properties located in suburban areas, primarily small cities in Eastern Canada. At the end of 2016, 68 per cent of the REIT’s base rent stemmed from the Maritimes, 21 per cent from Quebec, seven from Ontario and the balance from Alberta. 

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

17 takeaways from the NYU REIT Symposium

Disruption – and investment strategies being pursued to mitigate negative aspects of it – dominated most of the discussions at New York University’s 22nd annual REIT Symposium in New York City. Major disruption is taking place in industrial, office and retail real estate sectors, in the political environment, the current unique real estate cycle and new technologies, according to most panelists.

National Real Estate Investor – REIT.com

Legal Corner

Sakto Corporation’s ties to Malaysia questioned

A Swiss NGO says financing for an Ottawa company’s high-profile real-estate projects comes, at least in part, from corruption in the Borneo rainforest — an allegation the company denies. The Bruno Manser Fund says Sakto Corp., grew quickly after it was founded in 1983, despite continuous operational losses and a resulting capital deficiency that had grown to nearly $10 million by 1993.

Ottawa Citizen

Retail

RYU among competitors out to eat Lululemon’s lunch

Smaller and nimbler competitors have been nipping at Vancouver-based yoga wear giant Lululemon Athletica Inc.’s customer base and grabbing market share. The result is that Lululemon’s late-March earnings report disappointed investors, and CEO Laurent Potdevin forecast sluggish sales – something that sent its shares (LULU-Q) below the US$50 mark in early April for the first time since 2014. 

Business In Vancouver

Behind Sunrise Records’ plan to bring back record stores

Hamilton-born entrepreneur Douglas Putman, the owner of Sunrise Records, says he’s going to make the business of brick-and-mortar record stores viable in an age where people have abandoned the CD stacks for the Spotify playlist. “We know we can make it work,” Putman says. In 2014 the  company, founded in Toronto in the 1970s, closed its flagship Yonge Street store.

CBC – Saskatoon StarPhoenix – CBC

Restaurants and Eateries

Restaurant Brands could be in for ‘some major indigestion’

In February, Restaurant Brands International Inc. (QSR-T) swooped in to buy Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen PLKI in a $1.8 billion deal that was recently completed. This company is the mother ship of Burger King and the same outfit that purchased Tim Hortons in 2014, a change of ownership proving particularly tempestuous as franchisees rebel against RBI’s practices. 

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Sports Venues

Hockeytown, Windsor say goodbye to the Joe

A sea of fans in red and white jerseys stood outside of the Joe Louis Arena, waiting to catch a glimpse of their favourite player before the final hockey game in the arena. The Joe has been a staple for Detroit hockey since 1979. The Red Wings have won four Stanley Cup Championships while calling the arena its home.

CBC – Windsor Star

Infrastructure

Innovative design for Eaton Centre pedestrian bridge

Cadillac Fairview unveiled plans today for a new pedestrian bridge across Queen Street to better integrate CF Toronto Eaton Centre with the Hudson’s Bay and Saks Fifth Avenue flagship locations in downtown Toronto. Construction is slated to begin this month.

Canada Newswire

Cochrane intersection to be replaced with interchange

Alberta will spend up to $50 million on a new interchange to get traffic moving at one of the most frustratingly slow intersections Anyone who goes through Cochrane to get on Highway 1A to get to the mountains has probably sat through several lights before getting across Highway 22 at the northwestern edge of town.

CBC

Lakehead U to build new centre for engineering

A new facility for engineering and sciences at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont., will increase lab space, boost research and innovation and create 67 new local jobs. Ontario is investing $5 million in this project through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC).

Daily Commercial News

Human Resources

Lawyer Anne M. Stewart joins Fengate as consultant

Fengate Real Asset Investments announced Anne M. Stewart, Q.C., renowned corporate, infrastructure and project finance lawyer, has joined Fengate as a consultant. Building on her extensive experience acting for public and private companies, major infrastructure projects and business transactions across Canada, Stewart will provide her proactive legal and business advice on major project financings, contract negotiations and business arrangements.

Canada Newswire

Technology

FN company plans to lay fibre optics in Manitoba

Unreliable, constantly buffering and just plain slow: these are some of the words used to describe internet connections in northern Manitoba. But the Manitoba First Nations Technology Council is hoping to change that in the near future by bringing high-speed fibre optic connections to northern communities — which would be good news for people like Dallas Dettanikkeaze. 

CBC

Other

	RENX has surpassed 9,830 Twitter followers
	Follower Building Energy Innovators Council is comprised of corporate leaders accelerating collaboration, innovation, and adoption of clean building principles.
	Follow RENXca, the most comprehensive news feed on Twitter for Canadian real estate professionals.