Infrastructure, CDPQ invest in REM project

Infrastructure, CDPQ invest in REM project

Canada Infrastructure Bank and CDPQ Infra, a wholly owned subsidiary of Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, have reached a business agreement on the investment by Canada Infrastructure Bank in the Réseau express métropolitain project (REM) in Montréal, a 67-kilometre, light rail, high-frequency network with 26 stations. The $1.28-billion investment completes the project’s $6.3-billion financing.

Canada Newswire

How Slate pulled off a 97-property deal with Cominar

With 97 properties selling for $1.12 billion Cdn, it was one of the most complex deals of the past year in North America. But it was when Slate Asset Management immediately turned around and started selling the real estate it had just agreed to buy from Quebec City-based Cominar Real Estate Investment Trust (CUF.UN-T) that some eyebrows immediately raised. 

CoStar Group – Property Biz Canada

Okapi AI technology optimizes building operations

Okapi’s artificial intelligence (AI)-based technology is used to optimize operations in Toronto’s Commerce Court, Southcore Financial Centre and other buildings, and it recently helped QuadReal Property Group win a Pinnacle Award for Innovation from BOMA Toronto. Okapi’s platform interprets and delivers real-time notifications to operational teams, allowing them to provide proactive and focused service to tenants.

Property Biz Canada

Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver dominate office construction: AY

As office vacancy rates continue to tighten in Canada’s largest markets, almost 13 million of the country’s more-than-15-million square feet of office space under construction is concentrated in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, a mid-year report from Avison Young reveals. AY’s Mid-Year 2018 North America and Europe Office Market Report indicates the largest share of that space, by far, is in Toronto where 8.5 million square feet are under development.

Property Biz Canada

Holloway Lodging pitches Ottawa highrise complex

City councillors on Ottawa’s planning committee will vote next week on a plan to replace the Travelodge Hotel on Carling Avenue with a highrise development that would include three buildings taller than 20 storeys — more than twice the height currently allowed in the area. Holloway Lodging Corp. (HLC-T) wants to redevelop a stretch of land it owns, which includes the Travelodge and a parking garage.

CBC – Property Biz Canada

Ottawa mall applies to demolish vacant Sears store

The Carlingwood Shopping Centre has applied for permits to demolish the former Sears store at the corner of Carling and Woodroffe Avenues. Bay Ward Coun. Mark Taylor said the mall approached his office a few days before submitting the official application and has informed its other tenants. “The building just isn’t viable. It’s very old,” he said. 

CBC – Ottawa Citizen – Ottawa Business Journal

Amazon to close Ottawa software development office

Days after Amazon broke ground on a massive east-end warehouse, it has emerged the company will close a software design office it’s had in Ottawal for the better part of two years. The company quietly opened the office in August 2016 in a bid to better its Alexa voice-activated products. Ottawa has a long history in big-data analytics, dating back to Cognos, which was once an industry-leading giant.

Ottawa Citizen

Rising mercury shakes up retail spending patterns

British Columbians tend to spend about as much during peak summer months as they do during late spring, but their buying patterns change, particularly during periods of intense heat. There is also a catch-22: consumers are unlikely to head outside to go shopping when temperatures soar, but when those people do go out, they are more likely to stay in air-conditioned stores or malls longer.

Business In Vancouver – Business In Vancouver

TO’s density, old sewer system lead to flooding issues

Steady rain and thunderstorm warnings in Toronto on Tuesday had residents bracing for waterlogged streets and transit delays for the third time in as many weeks, with the city saying it was prepared to respond quickly to urgent needs. The issues the city faces during periods of heavy rainfall are complex, observers said, noting Toronto’s density and decades-old sewer system are among the main challenges during extreme weather.

Globe and Mail

Home Capital shareholder Kingsferry pushes for buyback

A shareholder is putting pressure on recovering mortgage lender Home Capital Group Inc. (HCG-T) to buy back $60 million in shares and speed up plans to streamline the company’s capital structure. In an open letter, the chief investment officer for Shanghai-based Kingsferry Capital Management Group Ltd., Hugo Chan, argues the lender is overcapitalized and suffering from low liquidity as trading activity in its stock has declined.

Globe and Mail

Do we take the wrong approach to working smarter?

We live in an increasingly connected world. High-speed Internet can be had throughout much of rural Canada. It’s the convergence forward-thinkers dreamed about 20 years ago, where the Web will empower us to better communicate, collaborate and generally get stuff done without having to endure a rush-hour commute and spend the day trapped in a cubicle.

Read more

DCT shareholders approve $8.4B merger with Prologis

Shareholders of Denver-based REIT DCT Industrial Trust (DCT-N) nearly unanimously approved the $8.4 billion sale of the company to Prologis (PLD-N), the world’s largest logistics property owner, the company said Monday. The vote clears the way for the closing of the sale that is anticipated to be the largest deal in a year that is on pace to be a record for mergers and acquisitions involving real estate investment trusts.

CoStar Group – Business Wire

Waldorf Astoria moves into Phase Two of $2B facelift

The nearly $2 billion reconstruction and renovation of the Waldorf Astoria New York is moving into its second stage of construction. The iconic hotel, which opened at its current site in 1931, has been closed since February 2017, and is scheduled to reopen in 2021 (one year later than previously announced). Anbang Insurance Group is the property’s owner.

Building Design & Construction – CoStar Group

China’s biggest risk may be its property market

China’s hot real estate market remains a challenge for authorities trying to maintain stable economic growth in the face of trade tensions with the U.S. In fact, property is the country’s biggest risk in the next 12 months, according to Larry Hu, head of greater China economics at Macquarie. He said he is especially watching whether the market in lower-tier, or smaller, cities will see a downturn in prices.

CNBC

Blockchain helping investors value real estate

Blockchain technology is gradually making inroads into the real estate valuation process, simplifying and accelerating investment. Still very much in its infancy, blockchain tools have the potential to bring clarity to investment decisions by working alongside other technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.

The Investor JLL – PR Newswire

Market Trends and Research

U.S. CRE markets largely stabilize In Q2 2018

Ten-X Commercial, the leading online and only end-to-end transaction platform for commercial real estate in the U.S., released its latest CRE Volume & Pricing Trends report. The analysis found CRE transaction volume totaled $111.4 billion in the second quarter of 2018, a 1.5 per cent increase from the previous quarter and a 1.7 per cent increase from Q2 2017.

PR Newswire

REOC Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* Gazit Globe, (GZT-T), Globe Newswire

REIT Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* Nexus REIT, (NXR-UN-X), Canada Newswire

Retail

Canadian retail sales edge lower in June

Canadian retail trade dipped 0.2 per cent in June but May’s big jump was revised even higher, Statistics Canada said Wednesday in a report that shed no light on the outlook for whether the Bank of Canada will hike rates as soon as September. The see-saw retail sales data in May and June fed expectations for robust economic growth in the second quarter.

Reuters

Restaurants and Eateries

Tim Hortons franchisee who led class-action settles suit

A Tim Hortons franchisee who had brought legal action against the chain’s parent company has settled his suit and severed his ties to the company. Mark Kuziora operated two locations in Toronto and was an outspoken member of the Great White North Franchisee Association, an unsanctioned franchisee group started more than a year ago. He was also the lead plaintiff in a class action against Restaurant Brands International Inc.

Financial Post

Cannabis industry news

Edmonton’s Fire & Flower plans 37 stores

Independent cannabis retailer Fire & Flower has received conditional approval from the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission(AGLC) to open 37 recreational marijuana shops across the province.  Fire & Flower is awaiting final approval for store licenses ahead of national legalization of recreational marijuana in October. “This a monumental achievement for our company,” shared Trevor Fencott, Fire & Flower’s CEO.

Western Investor

CROP’s Nevada hemp farm adds 750 acres

 CROP Infrastructure Corp. (CROP-CN) announced today its Nevada subsidiary has leased an additional 750 acres of contiguous agricultural farmland bringing the total Nevada acreage to 1,065 acres with 240 acres under pivot. The newly leased acreage comes with four housing units and a building to be converted into an extraction facility to process hemp biomass for CBD isolate on site.

Canada Newswire

Ontario Cannabis Store partners with 26 licensed producers

The Ontario Cannabis Store says it has partnered with 26 licensed producers for its online retail platform. The store, which will be Ontario’s only online retailer when recreational marijuana is legalized on Oct. 17, said Monday the supply agreements with Health Canada-authorized producers were competitive. The online retailer says it will sell a variety of products, including dried flower, cannabis oil and cannabis seeds when pot becomes legal.

Global News – Canada Newswire – Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Renovation and Restoration

Chapels reborn as cabarets, cheese plants and rock-star shrines

Night peering through the stained-glass windows, the dancer preens like a burlesque black swan at what was once the Mackenzie Memorial Gospel Church in Stratford, Ont. It’s the SIN Burlesque Erotic Cabaret at the Revival House. The cultural destination is one of scores of shuttered churches across the country that have been resurrected as public monuments to secular devotions ranging from cheese making to rock ‘n’ roll idolatry.

CTV

Infrastructure

OMERS buys pipeline stake for $1.4 billion

One of Canada’s largest pension funds is paying US$1.4 billion for a 50 per cent interest in a pipeline that moves oil from the Permian region of Texas, in its third big U.S. energy acquisition this year. Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) is buying the stake in the BridgeTex pipeline from Plains All-American Pipeline LP and Magellan Midstream Partners LP, both of which will remain as partners.

Globe and Mail

Edmonton LRT’s west leg won’t be built as P3

Edmonton will not build the western phase of the Valley Line LRT through another private-public partnership, Mayor Don Iveson said Tuesday. That’s going to be complex, he warned, because the first 13-kilometre phase of the new line between downtown and Mill Woods is being built, operated and maintained by TransEd, a private consortium of companies.

Edmonton Journal – CBC

Other

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