Massive casino in the works for Pickering

Massive casino in the works for Pickering

A major casino could be coming to Pickering, a major gaming service operator announced in a news release Tuesday. Durham Live, the future entertainment complex, is expected to house an indoor water park, film studios, hotels and a convention space. Ontario Gaming GTA LP, the organization behind the plan, is a partnership between Great Canadian Gaming Corporation and Toronto-based Brookfield Business Partners (BBU-UN-T).

CBC – Canada Newswire

Priciest piece of Cominar deal fetches $195.1 million

The most expensive property in Cominar REIT‘s (CUF.UN-T) sale of $1.14 billion of its assets was an 18-storey building Slate Acquisitions resold for $195.1 million, according to land transfer records. Winnipeg-based I.G. Investment Management Ltd. was the buyer of Toronto’s 55 University Ave. but the company appears to be a subsidiary of Investors Group, a brand of IGM Financial Inc. (IGM-T), itself a subsidiary of Power Corp. of Canada. 

CoStar Group – Property Biz Canada

Electra America’s bid ‘remains inadequate’: Pure Multi-Family

Canadian-based Pure Multi-Family REIT LP (RUF-UN-X) said in a Tuesday night media release Electra America‘s revised proposal to purchase its outstanding class-A shares “remains inadequate.” Electra America, a Florida-based owner and operator of multi-family properties, announced it had extended its previously submitted offer to the board of Pure Multi-Family for an all-cash offer of US$7.59 (equivalent to CDN$9.79) per class-A share to acquire all of its outstanding units.

Property Biz Canada

Broccolini plans Montreal’s tallest residential tower

Broccolini plans to build the tallest residential tower in Montreal on land it recently acquired near the Tour de la Bourse, in a move that would replace its own L/Avenue development as the city’s highest residential skyscraper.  The mixed-use building, at 700 Saint-Jacques St. would be 56 storeys. It would include 400 condominium units and 300,000 square feet of office and commercial space at its eight-storey base.

Property Biz Canada

Prime Winnipeg development site up for grabs

One of the last development sites on Waterfront Drive is about to go on the market. The 32,550 square feet represent the final development site on the 12-block Waterfront Drive completed in 2004 for about $9 million. CentreVenture, the arm’s-length agency of the city, has co-ordinated development for Waterfront Drive to the tune of $250 million in private investment, including nearly 500 new housing units and the conversion of 12 vacant or derelict buildings.

Winnipeg Free Press

Manitoba pork producer finalizes $176M expansion

Manitoba pork processing company HyLife has completed a $176-million expansion and modernization of its Neepawa processing plant, making it one of the most sophisticated facilities of its kind in Canada. Company officials said the capital investment was made in response to increasing market opportunities for the company in Japan, China, Mexico and South Korea, where export demand is focused on fresh chilled pork.

Winnipeg Free Press

KingSett buys American Business Park near Toronto airport

KingSett Capital says it has re-acquired the 33-acre American Business Park, located on the Toronto-Mississauga border near Pearson International Airport, after selling the property to Cominar REIT (CUF-UN-T) in early 2014.  The American Business Park comprises 552,675 square feet of “highly functional small-, medium- and large-bay industrial and flex office located in the Pearson International ‘Airport Megazone’ ” KingSett says in a post. No financial details were disclosed.

Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

Canadian hotel profits, occupancy show promise: CBRE

It’s a good time to own a hotel in Canada, suggests a new hotel investment and operations report from CBRE. The Canadian hotel market remained strong in 2017, buoyed by robust investment and operations performances in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, according to CBRE’s 2018 Canadian Hotels Outlook. The strong demand for hotel rooms and for the hotels themselves is expected to continue through 2018, the report said.

Property Biz Canada – CBC

R&R REIT selling three hotels for $10.2M US

R&R Real Estate Investment Trust  (RRR-UN-X) Tuesday announced it has entered into an agreement to sell three of its hotel properties for an aggregate price of US$10.2 million, subject to adjustment, to The Siegel Group Nevada. Two of the disposition properties operate under the HomeTowne Studios brand and the other under the HomeTowne Suites brand. The disposition properties are located in Montgomery, Ala., Gautier, Miss., and Alexandria, La.

Canada Newswire

N.S. hotel that hosted Alexander Graham Bell for sale

The owner of a historic hotel in Cape Breton where famous thinkers and politicians slept is waiting patiently for someone to buy the building and restore it to its status as a busy landmark. Elaine MacNeil and her husband Terry bought the Grand Narrows Hotel in Cape Breton in 1998 and have been operating the once-prominent hotel as a bed and breakfast on the eastern shore of the Barra Strait.

CBC

Beat goes on at landmark Winnipeg hotel

Where some see headaches, the new owner of one of Winnipeg’s most historic — and rundown — hotels sees business as usual. As an independent developer and property manager, Neil Soorsma has plenty of experience taking on troubled tenements in the city. “It’s not all that bad,” he says about the Royal Albert Arms Hotel, which opened in 1913 in Winnipeg’s then-booming downtown as migrants poured in by the thousands.

Globe and Mail

Toronto’s CRE leased space up 13.5 per cent: TREB

TREB Commercial Network Members reported 6,277,221 square feet of combined industrial, commercial/retail and office space leased during Q1 2018, representing a 13.5% year-over-increase when 5,532,412 square feet was leased. More than 70 per cent of total space leased was in the industrial market segment, with deals reached on more than 4.5 million square feet. This result was up from approximately 3.9 million square feet reported during Q1 2017.

Globe Newswire

Women’s co-working spaces coming to Toronto

A co-working space exclusively for women is coming to Toronto, joining a growing number of similar ventures aimed at women entrepreneurs. The Wing, a networking and social club for women, announced Tuesday Toronto will be among six new locations of the co-working by day, community space by night company. Toronto’s Verity, the co-working and wellness space Shecosystem, and Make Lemonade are also geared toward career women.

Toronto Star – Canadian Business – Bloomberg

Colliers, First Capital buy Coldwell Banker Commercial Advisors

New York City-based First Capital Master Advisor LLC  has acquired 12 offices of Coldwell Banker Commercial‘s largest affiliate to establish a new CRE brokerage firm with more than 150 brokers in offices across six states. In addition, Colliers International Group Inc. (CIGI-T) said Tuesday it acquired CBC Advisors’ three offices in greater Salt Lake City and one in Glendale, Calif., under a separate agreement.

CoStar Group – GlobeSt.com – Globe Newswire

GGP shareholders fret over Brookfield takeover deal

Shareholders of U.S. mall owner GGP Inc. (GGP-N) are upset with Brookfield Property Partners’ (BPY.UN-T) sweetened deal to buy their company, but they face an uphill battle if they hope to derail the acquisition. “We think the price is dramatically low,” said Jeffrey Olin, chief executive with Toronto-based Vision Capital Corp., who says his real estate investment company will not support the current offer.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Property Biz Canada

Featured Column

With rapid transit expansion, today’s outliers are future darlings

Earlier in the year, I wrote a piece about the draw of the urban core for the kinds of businesses which traditionally flocked to suburban business parks, but what about that big swath of real estate in the middle? It recently made headlines in Ottawa when venerable satellite firm Telesat announced it would give up its home of nearly three decades out toward the eastern ‘burbs in exchange for a pricier downtown address.

Read more

Real Estate Companies

Impasse leaves boarded-up Fort Langley buildings

Earlier this year, as the Township of Langley announced ambitious plans to develop several city-owned lots near the Fort Langley waterfront, developer Eric Woodward was in the process of withdrawing three development applications for projects along Glover Road, the village’s main street. In February, he boarded up the buildings on the sites, stating he could not come to an agreement with Township planners over “onerous and ridiculous” development requirements.

Vancouver Province

HNA Group’s selloff picks up steam in San Fran

HNA Group Co. is in discussions to sell a San Francisco office building to private equity firm Gaw Capital Partners, according to a source, as the Chinese conglomerate tries to shed billions of dollars in assets. Discussions are preliminary and there is no guarantee of any agreement, said the source. HNA and Gaw Capital didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Bloomberg – Xinhua

Publix owns 371 of its 1,167 stores, keeps buying more

Publix Super Markets, one of the top grocery chains in the U.S., is  also becoming a major real estate investor, buying up its own stores and self-anchored shopping centres when they hit the market. The Lakeland, Fla.-based retailer has been steadily increasing its ownership of retail real estate and currently owns 371 of its 1,167 stores, or nearly a third, according to the company’s 2017 annual report.

CoStar Group

REOC Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* Firm Capital American Realty Partners Corp., (FCA-U-X), Globe Newswire

Real Estate Investment Trusts

InterRent has quintupled in value

InterRent REIT (IIP.UN-T) holds a portfolio of mid-sized, multi-family residential properties located primarily in Ontario. At the start of the year, the REIT had 8,660 suites and its top four regions were: the National Capital Region, which represented 33 per cent of its suites, the Hamilton/Niagara region (18 per cent), Montreal (16 per cent) and the Greater Toronto Area (15 per cent).

Globe and Mail (Subscriptiion required)

Rate reaction opens U.S. REIT opportunity

Despite a generally healthy real estate market, U.S. REITs  have been held back amid heightened short-term sensitivity to interest rates. While rates could remain a factor, we see the recent pullback as a chance to build allocations to REITs: they look attractive next to stocks, bonds and private real estate; equity correlations are at a 16-year low; and better fundamentals may be on the horizon.

IPE Real Estate – MarketWatch

Retail

Walmart opens first small high-tech supermarket in China

Walmart Inc (WMT-N) has opened its first small high-tech supermarket in China, where smartphones can be used to pay for items mostly available on the U.S. retailer’s store on online platform JD Daojia, an affiliate of JD.com, it said on Monday. The world’s largest retailer, known for its hypermarkets, is expanding in China as shopping with mobile devices gains popularity in the country.

Reuters

The world needs parkas: Canada Goose CEO

In just a few years, Canada Goose Holdings (GOOS-T) CEO Dani Reiss has taken an image Canadians have long been trying to downplay — our inhospitably cold winters — and built a global luxury brand around it. In the process, he’s turned the bulky, utilitarian parka into something desirable. As a bonus, he’s given Canada a quick-footed consumer goods contender on stock exchanges more accustomed to our resource sluggards.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Restaurants and Eateries

DavidsTea turnaround plan has shareholders steaming mad

Some DavidsTea Inc. (DTEA-Q) shareholders are pushing back against a turnaround plan and new board of directors proposed by a large shareholder group controlled by its co-founder, Herschel Segal. A joint letter to the tea chain’s board from Porchlight Equity Management LLC, TDM Asset Management PTY Ltd. and Edgepoint Wealth Management Inc. says they have “serious concerns” with Rainy Day Investments Ltd.’s proposal.

Toronto Star

Cannabis industry news

Sundre, Alta., welcomes planned multi-million-dollar pot plant

The town of Sundre, Alta., is ready to embrace Alberta’s cannabis boom, following in the footsteps of nearby communities like Cremona and Olds in welcoming a medical cannabis producer to town. Calgary-based Candre Cannabis wants to build its Calyptra facility there this year and already has plans in place to expand.

CBC

Flower growers benefit from cannabis boom

Erin Nathanielsen, who co-owns McIntosh Greenhouses in Surrey, B.C., had heard about a number of fellow flower growers across Canada selling or switching their businesses over to marijuana production, hoping to cash in when the drug is fully legalized. However, it wasn’t until a few months ago she started noticing the reduced number of competitors was having a positive impact on her family business.

Globe and Mail

Infrastructure

Wait for spring before judging King Street pilot: Opinion

Haven’t heard much recently about the once-hotly contested King Street Pilot project between Jarvis and Bathurst in Toronto, but in a letter to city council, more than 50 business owners are requesting modifications that would, they say, help them recover from their economic losses. Changes to the King Street rules enacted at the end of November mean no through traffic along this traditionally super-clogged artery.

Newinhomes.com

Victoria unveils new Johnson Street Bridge

It’s a bridge for the next 100 years, a modern design that might one day carry self-driving, fuel-free cars. Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps Saturday officially opened the new Johnson Street Bridge, a project a decade in the making. The bridge’s design led to a higher price tag — now at $105 million, up from $63 million in 2009 — and a later opening date. It was originally scheduled to be completed in September 2015.

Victoria Times Colonist

Other

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