Ontario cities refund millions in taxes to retail owners

Ontario cities refund millions in taxes to retail owners

Communities across Ontario are squirrelling away hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars to offset big property tax refunds to some of Canada’s largest corporations. This month, Cornwall sued the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, (MPAC) over the property values the company assigned to giant warehouses used by Shoppers Drug Mart and Walmart that turned out to be far too high.

CBC

H&R REIT makes ‘significant progress’

H&R REIT (HR-UN-T) president and CEO Thomas Hofstedter set out several goals in a February letter to shareholders, including streamlining the REIT’s portfolio and simplifying its capital structure. In the trust’s Q2 2018 report and conference call, H&R reported “significant progress in achieving these objectives.” The trust has been active on all fronts in 2018 including the disposition of its 50 per cent share in F1RST Tower in Calgary for Cdn$53.5 million.

Property Biz Canada

Proposed 24-storey Nanaimo tower wins praise from council

A 24-storey downtown condo tower is heading to public hearing in Nanaimo as its developer also rolls out plans for a four-storey condo project near Vancouver Island University. Wertman Development Corp. of Vancouver won praise around Nanaimo’s council table for its proposal which would be located in an area designated for high-rise development. The plan includes ground-floor commercial space, second-floor offices and a two-storey fitness club.

Victoria Times Colonist

Cidex buys high-density Calgary redevelopment site

Cidex Group of Companies, a real estate developer with several multi-residential projects in Calgary’s downtown area, has purchased a prime high-density development site in the Beltline neighbourhood previously owned by ATCO, RENX has learned. The 1.79-acre site was sold for $14.5 million, confirmed Kevin Morgans, principal, investment sales for Avison Young, which had the listing for the property.

Property Biz Canada

Hexagon gets a new Calgary home

This city has a thriving technology industry thanks to many homegrown businesses becoming hugely successful in the national and international markets. And they are big users of our commercial real estate. Cody Clayton, president of Remington Development, says its past three major commercial buildings have been occupied by high-tech firms. Remington has also completed a new home for Hexagon in Melcor’s The District development.

Calgary Herald

Anthem sees opportunities along Bow River

Eric Carlson believes in Calgary. In particular, he is bullish on the Bow River and the opportunities to build residential properties along its banks, where he has three projects in various stages of development. The CEO and core founder of Anthem Properties says he has been investing in this city for many years and is a frequent visitor to his Calgary office that employees a staff of about 40.

Calgary Herald

GTA CRE investment ahead of record 2017 pace

Commercial real estate investment in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) reached $11.3 billion in the first half of this year, surpassing the record-setting first half of 2017 by six per cent, according to Altus Group. “Toronto is one of the major global markets and there will always be interest in the Toronto marketplace just because of the population, its industries, its financial services . . .,” said Ray Wong.

Property Biz Canada

How Toronto’s architectural heritage was saved

For those who cry, “Toronto doesn’t respect its architectural heritage,” here’s a little story. A tale of moving heaven and earth – well, actually, brick, mortar, silicone moulds and some glass fibre-reinforced concrete – to create a heritage gateway at Yonge and Temperance Streets. This tale also involves a ghost (albeit a friendly architectural one) and a developer who didn’t blink at some creative, costly solutions.

Globe and Mail

Calian Group moving to new Cominar REIT location

On the heels of another acquisition, record revenues and a profit streak that stretches back almost to the beginning of the millennium, Kanata’s Calian Group is on the move. The company confirmed it is pulling up stakes from its longtime home at 340 Legget Dr. in the Kanata North business park and moving to new, larger digs at 770 Palladium Dr., is part of Cominar REIT’s (CUF-UN-T) three-structure commercial complex.

Ottawa Business Journal

Plans for cannabis factory on B.C. farmland raise hackles

Plans to build a warehouse-style cannabis production facility on farmland in Courtenay, B.C., is being met with concerns from local politicians and neighbours. It’s another case that exposes the debate over whether concrete-based pot bunkers should be allowed on properties in the Agricultural Land Reserve. Vancouver Island’s Coastline Canada has partnered with Edmonton-based Atlas Growers on  plans to build a 100,000-square-foot facility.

Victoria Times Colonist

Canopy Growth eyeing bold U.S. expansion

The head of Ottawa-area pot firm Canopy Growth (WEED-T) is talking more aggressively about expansion in the United States, if and when the drug becomes legal there, a day after the cannabis producer announced a $5-billion infusion of cash. Chief executive Bruce Linton says he has lined up an option to acquire a “humongous” greenhouse in California as part of a broader strategy to enter the U.S. market quickly.

Ottawa Business Journal – Ottawa Business Journal – Ottawa Citizen

Oxford Properties to buy Investa fund stake

Australia’s Investa Commercial Property Fund (ICPF) has agreed to sell half of its 19.99 per cent stake in Investa Office Fund (IOF) to Oxford Properties, the real estate arm of Canadian pension fund OMERS. As part of the arrangement, ICPF said it will not vote in favour of Blackstone’s $2.96 billion Cdn bid to take over IOF which was due to be held at an extraordinary shareholder meeting next week.

IPE Real Assets

PSP acquires agricultural and water assets from Webster

Canada’s Public Service Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments) has teamed up with an Australian partner to buy agricultural and water assets from Webster for $126.9 million Cdn. Listed agribusiness group Webster said PSP Investments and its partner have acquired a 19 per cent stake in the company. PSP has formed a venture known as AFF with an Australian family business led by David Robinson.

IPE Real Assets

Walmart eyes virtual reality shopping system

Trekking through a crowded, cavernous Walmart (WMT-N) supercentre isn’t much fun. But what if you could do it from the comfort of your own home through virtual reality? The world’s biggest retailer has applied for two patents that detail a “virtual show room” and fulfilment system that would connect shoppers clad in VR headsets and sensor-packed gloves to a three-dimensional representation of a Walmart store.

Bloomberg

Google expanding again in Seattle

Google, already set to become one of Seattle’s biggest employers, is expanding again right in the heart of Amazon country. The Silicon Valley tech giant is going to take over a new 12-storey, 322,000-square-foot office tower planned at the prominent corner of Mercer Street and Westlake Avenue in South Lake Union, across the street from a large Google office development being built now.

Seattle Times

Retail

Britain’s retail sector takes a pounding

Warm weather, the World Cup and a royal wedding have lifted spirits across Britain this summer and given the economy a slight boost. But nothing has helped clear the gloom from the country’s retail sector, which is on track for its worst year ever and set to shed close to 70,000 jobs. On Friday, one of the country’s biggest department-store chains, House of Fraser, filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors, threatening 16,000 jobs.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Cannabis industry news

Pot shop glut feared in downtown Calgary

The Calgary Downtown Association is raising concerns about the potential for over-concentration of cannabis shops along Stephen Avenue due to a lack of required minimum separation distances between stores throughout the downtown. In a letter to Coun. Druh Farrell, whose ward encompasses the downtown, the association says it is worried “about the potential of proliferation of cannabis related uses (along) Stephen Avenue and 8th Avenue S.W.”

Calgary Herald – Calgary Herald

Cannabis companies face heartbreak in takeover dance

Geoff Molson, you’re a heartbreaker. A number of marijuana company CEOs felt jilted in early August when the heir to more than two centuries of brewing tradition concluded a widely followed search for a partner in the market for cannabis-infused beverages by announcing a joint venture between Molson Coors Brewing Co. and Hydropothecary Corp., based in Gatineau, Que.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Medical use of cannabis expected to grow globally

According to Energias Market Research, the global medical cannabis market is projected to grow from US$8.28 billion in 2017 to US$28.07 billion in 2024 and at a CAGR of 19.1% from 2018 to 2024. There are several important developments that are expected to drive the growth, including growing recognition of medicinal benefits, increasing demand for cannabis in the treatment of various diseases as well as a growing number of R&D investments.

PR Newswire

Sports Venues

Bills training centre expansion will begin this fall

The Buffalo Bills are about to embark on an expansion project of the NFL team’s ADPRO Sports Training Center. The expansion will add 25,000 sf and expand the facility’s strength and conditioning, sports science, and sports medicine departments. The main part of the Populous-designed expansion will increase the size of the weight room, which is currently sandwiched between the ADPRO Sports Training Center fieldhouse and the administration building.

Building Design & Construction

U.S. developers bet on mixed-use sports venues

Luxury rental building Steel Works is one of six projects totlaling 20,000 square feet of retail Advance Realty and joint venture partner Tampa Bay, Fla.-based developer DeBartolo Development will develop as part of an urban mixed-use project around Red Bull Arena. “If you look at other major cities with sports teams, having arenas in the downtown areas has enabled those cities to revitalize the areas around it . . .,” said Dan Cocoziello.

Commercial Observer

Resorts

Court ruling revives original vision for Jumbo Glacier Resort

Developers of the proposed Jumbo Glacier Resort in B.C.’s Kootenays region received a big win on Friday when B.C. Supreme Court Justice Carla Forth quashed a 2015 B.C. government decision not to extend a necessary environmental certificate, and awarded them court costs.

Business In Vancouver

Infrastructure

Ottawa airport passenger volume jumps in July

The National Capital Region isn’t feeling any Canada 150 hangover when it comes to the skies, as the Ottawa airport reported a sizeable jump in July’s passenger volume compared to 2017. More than 446,000 passengers travelled through the Macdonald-Cartier International Airport last month, an increase of 8.7 per cent from the year before. The fastest-growing cohort was international travellers, where volumes rose 9.5 per cent year-over-year.

Ottawa Business Journal

Other

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