Here’s what Calgary’s 27.7% vacancy rate looks like

Here’s what Calgary’s 27.7% vacancy rate looks like

It’s no secret one result of the collapse of the price of oil four years ago was a dramatic emptying out of Calgary’s downtown office towers as energy companies laid off thousands. The vacancy rate in Calgary’s core skyrocketed from about 10 per cent at the end of 2014 to very nearly 28 per cent last year, according to the latest real estate market outlook from CBRE.

CBC

Crestpoint acquires False Creek Flats MEC building

A Toronto-based real estate investment company has acquired $500 million in new property so far this year, including several Metro Vancouver office and industrial buildings. Crestpoint Real Estate Investments Ltd.‘s most recent Metro Vancouver acquisition includes the head office of Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC), located in the False Creek Flats neighbourhood. No financial details were released.

Western Investor – Property Biz Canada

Investors Group sells Montreal industrial portfolio to Fiera

Investors Group Trust Co. has sold the nine-property Investors Group Industrial Portfolio to Fiera Properties in the largest industrial transaction in Montreal in five years. LL Capital Markets Group issued a release Tuesday afternoon announcing the sale of the nine “prime industrial assets,” which together comprise 925,807 square feet. The industrial portfolio was a part of the Investors Real Property Fund, an investment vehicle of Investors Group.

Property Biz Canada

Building, seven acres on market in Victoria

A nearly seven-acre assembly of land including the historic Capital Iron building, running from the foreshore of Victoria’s Upper Harbour east to Government Street, is going on the market for an unspecified price. The land and buildings are owned by Victoria’s Greene family. Morris Greene founded Capital Iron as a scrap business. The business was taken on by son Ronald Greene and its retail offerings have grown ever since.

Victoria Times Colonist

Feds, FN finally reach deal on Winnipeg land

After more than a decade of court wrangling and negotiation, the federal government and Treaty 1 First Nations have reached an agreement in principle on Winnipeg’s Kapyong Barracks. The announcement came from seven First Nations and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan on Wednesday morning. The agreement will be used to develop a final settlement agreement, which will include terms for the sale and future use of the property, said Sajjan.

CBC – Winnipeg Free Press

Richmond Centre’s ‘pre-zoned’ site handcuffs city

CF Richmond Centre sits on a pre-zoned site and its massive redevelopment will not be subject to the usual demands made by municipalities to ensure developers and new residents contribute fairly to the community’s growth. “The City’s ability to secure community amenities, such as affordable housing, is severely compromised because Council does not have the discretionary power of a rezoning application,” notes a staff report to city council.

Business In Vancouver

ENERGY STAR building certifications now in Canada

Natural Resources Canada has taken the next step in Canada’s push to promote a low carbon economy, launching its ENERGY STAR certification program for commercial and institutional buildings. The program uses ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, a free, interactive energy management and benchmarking tool which allows a building owner or energy manager to track and assess energy and water consumption across a portfolio of buildings.

Sustainable Biz Canada

Edmonton approves controversial high-rises

Edmonton city council approved a contentious two-tower rezoning proposal in Strathcona at Monday’s public hearing, despite residents concerns. “I think once people realize what they’re going to have in the end they’ll be a lot more accepting of what we’re doing,” said Michael Bateman of Bateman Properties. “It’s kind of surreal that it has come to this.”

CBC – Edmonton Journal

Sturgeon Refinery costs balloon to $9.7 billion

The cost of the Sturgeon Refinery has ballooned again, rising by $300 million to $9.7 billion. The latest increase follows a set of delays and gradual bumping up of project costs over the last few years. The refinery is the first in three decades to be built in Alberta, located northeast of Edmonton in the Alberta’s Industrial Heartland. It’s supported by the Alberta government through loan guarantees and a royalty-in-kind program.

Calgary Herald

Toronto’s portion of SmartTrack $900 million: Report

The City of Toronto will need to come up with nearly $900 million to pay for its share of SmartTrack as well as some related infrastructure improvements but staff contend about two-thirds of the cost can be recouped through an expected increase in property tax revenue and proceeds from development charges.

CTV

Office renovation sticker shock

The first sticker shock for National Public Relations came when it had to renew the 10-year lease on its office at 320 Front St. W. in downtown Toronto. The PR consultancy was looking at a 35 per cent increase in rent. “The only choices were to move to the suburbs where rents were lower— which wasn’t an option . . . — or reduce our footprint by a third,” says executive Royal Poulin.

Globe and Mail

Tim Hortons franchisee organizer has licence revoked

A group representing about half of Canada’s Tim Hortons franchisees is vowing “to do everything in our power” to assist a prominent member whose licence renewal was denied amid his ongoing tensions with the fast food giant. The Great White North Franchisee Association board said it is “appalled” Mark Kuziora was allegedly told by Restaurants Brands International (QSR-T) he would be denied a renewal for one of his restaurants.

CBC – Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Tishman Speyer set to start Hudson Yards tower

Tishman Speyer said it plans to commence construction in June on The Spiral, a 65-storey office tower in Manhattan’s emerging Hudson Yards area, after securing financing and finalizing a 20-year lease for 800,000 square feet with Pfizer in the developer’s planned 2.08 million-square-foot office tower. Pfizer will relocate its headquarters from 235 East 42nd St. to Tishman’s new tower in 2022, where it will occupy 15 floors plus portions of the lobby level.

CoStar Group

Foreigners betting big on Japanese real estate

Foreigners have poured money into Japanese real estate in recent years, amid expectations investment yields in the market relative to government bonds will stay higher than other countries due to the Bank of Japan’s easy policy, according to CBRE K.K. Closed-end real estate funds focusing on the Asia-Pacific region invested $15 billion in Japan between January 2014 and September 2017.

Bloomberg

New luxury hotel will be 200 miles up

What if your chance of having the right stuff for NASA’s astronaut corps is, to say the least, minimal? Aurora Station, billed as the “first luxury hotel in space,” might be for you. Houston-based Orion Span Inc. hopes to launch the modular station in late 2021 and welcome its first guests the following year, with two crew members accompanying each excursion.

Bloomberg

Featured Column

Saskatoon’s STC lands acquisition gives city some options

It was made public last week the City of Saskatoon has purchased one of the last properties held by the now-mothballed Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC). The timing is especially interesting as the city recently commissioned a report regarding the feasibility of a downtown arena. Could this be part of a bigger plan?

Read more

Market Trends and Research

Ottawa development applications rise, but processed slower

Increased development activity this past year has been largely concentrated in central Ottawa, according to a recent report by city staff. Ottawa’s Planning, Infrastructure and Development Department presented a year-end report to planning committee Tuesday that showed the number of development applications grew over 2017.

Ottawa Business Journal

Patience key in recovering Regina and Saskatoon CRE

After several years of an underperforming economy affecting the retail, office and industrial sectors in Saskatchewan’s two biggest cities, nobody is going to start popping any champagne bottles just because commodity prices have stabilized. “I think everybody has positive attitudes. They’re looking forward to some positive activity but there is just a little bit of hesitation,” said Glen Hill, Regina-based senior vice-president at Colliers International.

Western Investor

Paris office market boosted by French economy

Demand for office space in the Paris area rose in the first quarter to its highest since 2006, driven by improving economic growth, data from Immostat showed on Monday. With the French economy growing at a 2 percent rate and unemployment hitting a nine-year low, increased business confidence has helped spur demand for office space in the city, which is also picking up financial market business leaving London due to Brexit.

Reuters

How U.S. CRE owners should prepare for coming recession

Commercial real estate owners, and their brokers, are optimists. Real estate is cyclical. It’s impossible to predict exactly when the U.S. economy will tip into the next recession, but most experts agree we’re in the ninth inning of this current cycle. The scary part is a recession is typically triggered by an adverse event causing panic that sends the market spiraling out of control.

Forbes

Real Estate Companies

Real Property Management For Growth opens in Port Moody

Real Property Management welcomes Chris Clarke to its network of franchisees as it opens Real Property Management For Growth. Clarke will be servicing Port Moody and the surrounding area under the brokerage Real Property Management Central. Real Property Management is the largest residential property management company in North America.

Globe Newswire. – Globe Newswire.

RBC Wealth signs 310,000-square-foot office lease

RBC Wealth Management has signed a lease at United Properties’ Gateway, a mixed-use tower in downtown Minneapolis. United Properties revealed a new design for the 33-story building. According to the Minneapolis StarTribune, the million-square-foot tower — valued at approximately $330 million — will include office space, a Four Seasons hotel and residential condos.

CP Executive

Real Estate Investment Trusts

InterRent’s strategy makes for suite returns

Most investors buy REITs for their juicy yields and modest growth. Apartment owner InterRent (IIP-UN-T) flips the traditional REIT model on its head: It yields a ho-hum 2.7 per cent, but the units have posted a sizzling annualized total return, including reinvested distributions, of about 14 per cent over the past five years – nearly three times the return of the S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Property Biz Canada

Ashford Hospitality refinances 22-hotel portfolio

Ashford Hospitality Trust (AHT-N) has refinanced 22 hotels in a new loan totalling $985 million, as it continues to take advantage of the lending environment that will allow the REIT to save about $11 million annually in interest. The portfolio was part of a mortgage loan known as the Highland Pool loan that had an existing outstanding balance of approximately $972 million and a final maturity date of April 2021.

CP Executive

Retail

Liquor Stores name Paul Reid president/COO

Liquor Stores N.A. Ltd. (LIQ-T) announced Paul Reid will serve as president and chief operating officer of its Liquor Division. Reid replaces David Gordey, who will again be the company’s chief financial officer. Reid most recently was vice-president – Corporate Retail Operations at FGL Sports where he was responsible for $1.2 billion sales from 216 corporate retail stores and 13,000 sales associates for Sport Chek, Nevada Bob’s Golf, Atmosphere, and Hockey Experts.

Globe Newswire

Alberta grocery chain sees bright future

The head of a provincial grocery chain says his company will thrive despite stiff competition and online shopping by developing a niche selling Alberta products. “If we follow the well-trodden beaten path of a conventional grocer, we’re not going to win,” Freson Bros. president Doug Lovsin said, adding big supermarkets such as Superstore, Sobeys and Walmart are based in other provinces or other countries.

Edmonton Journal

Infrastructure

Halifax Convention Centre costing more than expected

Halifax’s regional council has unanimously agreed to pay an additional $301,000 for the Halifax Convention Centre for the 2016-17 fiscal year, as well an undetermined amount for this fiscal year. And a new staff report presented to council Tuesday suggests that’s not the end of the unexpected costs.

CBC

Human Resources

Ivanhoé appoints Karim Habra as Head of Europe

Ivanhoé Cambridge Tuesday announced the appointment of Karim Habra as Head of Europe. He will be responsible for Ivanhoé Cambridge’s European platform and its future growth. Habra began his career with GE Real Estate in 1998, and was given responsibility for its Central European operations in 2003, before joining JER Partners in 2008 as Managing Director, European Funds. In 2012, he joined LaSalle Investment Management.

Canada Newswire

Other

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