Economics of building new apartments in TO just got worse

Economics of building new apartments in TO just got worse

Ontario’s new plan to battle home prices, particularly its expansion of rent control, shouldn’t take a bite out of the profits of most Canadian apartment REITS, but some winners and losers may emerge. The decision to expand rent control to all private rental units in Ontario could also lead to some strategy adjustments within the sector.

Financial Post

Workspace rental options grow for business travellers

On a recent trip to Silicon Valley, Elizabeth Caley and her team from Toronto-based artificial-intelligence-powered search engine, Meta, scheduled an early-morning strategy session in San Francisco. “We had several hours to kill before our afternoon meeting,” she says. So Caley turned to a service she has relied on in the past. She pulled out her phone and accessed breather.com.

Financial Post

Algoma selloff continues: Corporate Park property sold

The selloff of properties owned by the Algoma Central Corporation (ALC-T) continued this week with the sale of its Corporate Park holdings in St. Catharines, Ont.

Property Biz Canada

Canadian Tire wants bigger piece of home renovation pie

Canadian Tire (CTC-T) has its sights set on Canada’s booming home renovation market, hoping a relaunch of its in-house paint line, Premier, will generate the kind of returns the retailer reaped after it made a similar move in camping goods. When successful, private label programs typically yield large retailers a higher profit on goods sold. 

Financial Post

Outlet mall to pummel Winnipeg retailers: Expert

With Winnipeg’s massive new fashion outlet mall set to open in less than two weeks, Fang Wan, a marketing professor with the Asper School of Business. says existing businesses should get ready for tough retail competition ahead. “Existing retailers, they’re going to have a brutal, brutal suffering from this opening. I have no doubt about it,” said Wan.

CBC – Winnipeg Free Press

Canadian retailers can give U.S. competitors a run for their money

From Le Chateau to Smart Set, Canada’s retail landscape is littered with examples of players who have failed to capitalize on their home-field advantages such as a stable economy, relatively high salaries and a fraction of the competition faced by retailers in the U.S. Ultimately, what really holds us back may be a state of mind.

Financial Post

Ontario unveils energy, water reporting program

Ontario will be the first province to introduce an energy and water reporting and benchmarking regulation for large privately owned buildings next year, and the Canada Green Building Council held an April 6 workshop in Toronto to help owners prepare.

Property Biz Canada

Kasian Architecture’s workload a good sign for Calgary

A positive signal for the local economy is the amount of work on the drawing boards of Calgary’s architectural firms. One of the busiest is Kasian Architecture, which is also working on some of the area’s most interesting projects, including The Pavilion at the planned Kiyooka Ohe Arts Centre in Springbank.

Calgary Herald

Trudeau downplays idea of Canadian airport sales

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he’s more interested in attracting outside capital through his proposed infrastructure bank than selling off the nation’s airports to fund the construction of new roads, hospitals, and other projects. “The fact is that’s always one of the easy, quick things people jump to,” Trudeau told Bloomberg News when asked about the prospect of privatizing the nation’s airports.

Ottawa Citizen

What a billion-dollar LRT line means for Hamilton

Patrick Guilbault picked the spot to open a café specifically because a light-rail line was being proposed to run right by. A few kilometres east, Tina Pellegrini is planning to close her collectibles business. These are the two solitudes of Hamilton, a city in the midst of renewal and bitterly divided about its future.

Globe and Mail – CBC – Global News – Hamilton Spectator

SNC-Lavalin makes largest deal in its history

SNC-Lavalin (SNC-T) is buying British-based WS Atkins PLC in a deal worth $3.6 billion, the biggest ever takeover for the Canadian company it pushes into the top tier of engineering firms worldwide. Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin announced Thursday after markets closed it struck an agreement to buy Atkins, a multinational engineering and design consultancy.

Globe and Mail – CBC – Canada Newswire – Canada Newswire

Subway closes 359 U.S. stores

Subway Restaurants closed hundreds of domestic locations last year, marking the biggest retrenchment in the history of a chain that spent decades saturating America with restaurants. The company lost 359 U.S. locations in 2016, the first time Subway had a net reduction. The store count dropped 1.3 per cent to 26,744 from 27,103 in 2015, but Subway remains the nation’s most ubiquitous eatery.

Winnipeg Free Press – Reuters

Subway appoints senior V-P of marketing for N.A.

Subway restaurants announced Karlin Linhardt has joined the Subway team as senior vice-president of marketing for North America. In this new role, he is responsible for brand management and the guest experience at more than 30,000 Subway restaurants in the U.S. and Canada, serving almost 1.5 billion guests per year. Linhardt will oversee North American marketing teams.

PRNewswire

Chair of embattled Home Capital remains ‘confident’

Home Capital Group Inc.’s (HCG-T) chairman says he is “confident about the company and its future” the day after the firm lost more than a fifth of its stock market value. In a press release Friday morning, Kevin Smith sought to assuage investor concerns after the Ontario Securities Commission brought a series allegations against the company. 

Globe and Mail – Financial Post – Globe and Mail

Record U.S. development features maze of stairwells

New York City’s Hudson Yards — the biggest private real estate project in American history— is getting a massive public centerpiece that looks like it was inspired by M.C. Escher. Vessel — part interconnected stairway, part tower, part art piece — will stand in the heart of the development’s outdoor public space. 

Business Insider – Curbed NY – CBS

Featured Column

Empowering entrepreneurs in Saskatchewan

Seeing a business plan grow from a dream to a reality is not for the weak of heart. Financing and strategy necessitate accessing the best advice to develop a sound concept.

The Saskatchewan Edge

Real Estate Companies

Real Matters picks bankers, readies for IPO

Real Matters has filled out the underwriting syndicate for its initial public offering, a transaction the mortgage services technology company hopes will raise upwards of $125 million, according to sources. Real Matters, whose two largest shareholders are Altus Group Ltd. and Toronto fund manager Edgepoint Investment Group Inc., has raised $164 million US to date in private capital.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Marketwired

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Fronsac REIT announces financing

Fronsac Real Estate Investment Trust (GAZ.UN-X) announced its intention to undertake a prospectus exempt private placement of units raising up to a maximum offering amount of $5 million. Under the terms of the offering, Fronsac may sell up to 10,204,080 units at a price of $0.49 per offering unit, each comprised of one unit of Fronsac and one-half of one purchase warrant. 

Marketwired

Allied Properties completes debentures offering

Allied Properties REIT (AP.UN-T) announced today it has completed its previously announced issuance of $200 million aggregate principal amount of series C senior unsecured debentures. The debentures bear interest at a rate of 3.636 per cent per annum and mature on April 21, 2025. The debentures were offered on an agency basis by a syndicate of agents. 

Marketwired

Milestone updates details of Starwood takeover

Milestone Apartments REIT (MST.UN-T) has announced details regarding the closing of the previously announced going private transaction whereby an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group will acquire all of Milestone’s subsidiaries and assets and Milestone unitholders will receive US$16.25 per trust unit. The REIT announced an additional US$0.05041 per unit will be included in the amounts payable on closing. 

Canada Newswire

Nexus comes with an eight per cent yield

With a market capitalization of $106 million, Nexus Real Estate Investment Trust (NXR.UN-X) owns a portfolio of 36 properties and is focused on acquisition growth. It came about several weeks ago when Edgefront and Nobel REITs merged. Nexus  pays its unitholders a monthly dividend of 1.333 cents per unit, which equates to an annualized distribution yield of eight per cent.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Summit files preliminary base shelf prospectus

Summit Industrial Income REIT (SMU.UN-T) announced it has filed and obtained a receipt for a preliminary base shelf prospectus. The preliminary base shelf prospectus was filed with securities regulatory authorities in each of the provinces and territories of Canada on April 18, 2017 but has not yet become final for the purpose of the sale of securities. 

Canada Newswire

Retail

Casey Carl, Target’s innovation chief, is leaving

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Walmart laying off employees in store restructuring

Walmart Canada (WMT-N) is laying off an unspecified number of employees as it undergoes a restructuring. Spokesman Alex Roberton denied a media report 475 workers would be let go, saying the actual number is lower. Walmart Canada, which employed about 91,000 associates as of October, operates 410 stores in Canada, according to its website. 

CTV – Business Insider – Forbes

Sports Venues

‘Plan B’ vision for Calgary arena expected Monday

Details about a proposal for a new Calgary arena are expected to be made public Monday. For months, there have been hints about the so-called “Plan B.” The proposal is to build a replacement for the Saddledome in Victoria Park, instead of the proposed CalgaryNext project in the West Village that includes an arena, stadium and fieldhouse.

CBC

Infrastructure

Calgary terminal improvements an ongoing project

Bob Sartor, CEO of the Calgary Airport Authority, says more changes will be coming to the new international terminal over the next two years. The new facility opened last fall, but travellers have since complained about a lack of seating at the gates and the distance they must go to make their connections.

CBC – Calgary Herald

Rail bridge to be Canada’s first elevated park

This summer, a former St. Thomas, Ont., rail bridge will gain new life as Canada’s first elevated park. Its owner, On Track St. Thomas, a non-profit group of local railway heritage aficionados, is spearheading the venture. Completed in 1930 and built to house two tracks, the 30-foot-wide-by-855-foot-long Michigan Central Railroad bridge crosses the Kettle Creek valley 90 feet below.

Daily Commercial News

Technology

Outdated office technology could lower productivity

It was the third hour of doing nothing that broke James Scott. The 25-year-old researcher was sitting at his desk at an insurance firm in northern England when the Internet went down. And with it went access to all of his files, which were sitting on a company server. “Being unable to access any files for half a day meant I was totally unproductive,” he said.

Bloomberg

How the real estate industry is monitoring you

The real estate industry is tired of trying to guess whether you’re interested in buying or selling a home. It’s now adopting new technology that claims to predict your future behaviour with unnerving accuracy. And this technology does so by collecting and analyzing data you might not even share with family or friends.

TheTyee.ca-

Other

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