Granite REIT’s new CEO has eye on Canada

Granite REIT’s new CEO has eye on Canada

Just a few hours into his new job as CEO of one of Canada’s largest remaining publicly traded industrial firms, Kevan Gorrie offered some clues about where he would take Granite REIT (GRT.UN-T). Gorrie, who headed up PIRET before it was taken over by Blackstone Property Partners and Ivanhoé Cambridge in a $3.8-billion deal, told analysts record-low cap rates would not scare him off the Canadian market.

CoStar Group – Property Biz Canada

Telus Health buys national chain for $100M

Telus Health is plunging into the business of elite medical clinics, spending just over $100 million to acquire Medisys-owned corporate and employee health clinics across Canada. The acquisition involves about 30 boutique clinics, which operate under the Medisys, Copeman Healthcare and Horizon Occupational Health Solutions brands. Some of them charge hefty annual membership fees for affluent families and executives.

Vancouver Sun

Greybrook enters Quebec, partners on major developments

Greybrook Realty Partners is expanding its Canadian presence outside the Greater Toronto Area and Southern Ontario by buying and renovating existing multi-unit residential buildings in Montreal. The move is one of several initiatives on the go by Greybrook and its parent company, Greybrook Capital, which also plans investments in several major Canadian and U.S. developments as well as an IPO for one of its health entities.

Property Biz Canada

Allied, RioCan announce two major office tenants at The Well

Allied Properties REIT (AP-UN-T) and RioCan REIT (REI-UN-T) have announced two major office tenants at The Well in downtown Toronto, including global advertising marketplace firm Index Exchange. The two leases comprise about 30 per cent of the million square feet of office space in the multi-building, mixed-use development at Spadina Avenue and Front Street West, which also includes residential and retail space.

Property Biz Canada

Slate buying CIBC’s U.S. headquarters

Toronto-based Slate Office REIT (SOT.UN-T) is buying Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce’s U.S. headquarters in Chicago, its second building in the Midwest city as the founding partners of the REIT’s largest shareholder seek property that’s less expensive than in Toronto. The REIT said it agreed to buy 120 S. LaSalle St. and the adjacent parking garage for US$155.5 million, a price it said is significantly below replacement cost.

CoStar Group – Property Biz Canada

Canadian cities rank highly in attracting tech talent

Toronto remains North America’s fastest-growing technology market, while Ottawa has the largest concentration of tech talent, according to CBRE’s annual “Scoring Tech Talent” report. “Relative to the U.S., Canada is a cost-effective place for technology companies to operate,” said CBRE Canada executive managing director Paul Morassutti, who noted the low value of the Canadian dollar compared to its American counterpart is the major factor in its affordability.

Property Biz Canada

Asian port group to take major stake in B.C. inland terminal

A Singapore-based port group has acquired a majority interest in B.C.’s largest inland cargo terminal. Through its PSA Canada Holdings Ltd. subsidiary, PSA International Pte Ltd. (PSA) has taken a 60% stake in Ashcroft Terminal’s business in Western Canada. Ashcroft Terminal is a privately owned 320-acre inland trans-load and storage terminal 340 kilometres east of Vancouver and 90 kilometres west of Kamloops.

Business In Vancouver

SNC-Lavalin looking to partially sell investment in Highway 407

SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. (SNC-T) says it is looking to sell a portion of its investment in the Highway 407 toll highway outside of Toronto analysts estimate could fetch more than $2 billion. The Montreal-based engineering and construction firm said Thursday it has hired CIBC Capital Markets and RBC Capital Markets to help advise it on a potential sale of 6.76 per cent of its investment.

CTV – Montreal Gazette

Crown buys Pearson Corporate Centre in Etobicoke

Crown Realty Partners has acquired Pearson Corporate Centre in Etobicoke from a Bentall Kennedy fund for $63.5 million. The 305,446-square-foot Pearson Corporate Centre is located on 9.7 acres that front Highway 27 at 10 and 20 Carlson Court. It consists of two mid-rise buildings, built in 1985 and 1989, respectively, which are connected by a central atrium. Crown will also be the property manager of the class-A complex, which was renovated early this year.

Property Biz Canada

Nexus REIT acquires Beamsville, Ont., property

Nexus Real Estate Investment Trust (NXR-UN-X) announced it has closed on an acquisition in Beamsville, Ont., comprised of a food court and a gas station. Tenants at the property include Tim Hortons, A&W, KFC, Dairy Queen, Subway and Pioneer. The purchase price was approximately $6.6 million. The REIT also recently closed on the acquisitions of industrial assets in Nisku, Alta., and Regina.

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

BTB acquires Quebec retail power centre

BTB REIT (BTB.UN-T) announced the acquisition of a retail power centre known as the “Méga Centre Rive-Sud” in Lévis, Qué. The $42.6-million transaction, excluding transaction fees, brings to 72 the number of properties owned by the trust. The retail power centre has an approximate total leasable area of 205,000 square feet and it is anchored by Wal-Mart.

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

Regina, Sherwood not sold on taking over GTH

Regina Mayor Michael Fougere says there’s “no consideration” being given to the city entering into a potential partnership or purchase of the Global Transportation Hub at this time. After results of the RCMP investigation into land deals at the GTH were announced, revealing no criminal charges are to be laid, the province declared its intention to divest itself of the project.

Regina Leader-Post

Canada, Germany to attract billions in RE investment

Canada and Germany are the world’s most underweight real estate investment markets and are set to attract billions of dollars of per year. A new analysis, part of Knight Frank’s Active Capital report, was conducted using a bespoke “gravity” model, based on the models used to forecast international trade and says these two nations could see $4.5 billion and £3.1 billion of property capital per year, respectively.

Property Wire

123 Toys R U.S. properties up for auction

Toys R Us creditors have scheduled a new auction round for some of the retailer’s remaining stores, with 123 set to go on the block next month.  Real estate brokerage A&G Realty Partners will conduct an auction Aug. 13 to 14 on the Toys R Us and Babies R Us company-owned and ground-leased properties, which are spread among 29 states, the advisory firm said.

CoStar Group – PR Newswire

Brookfield sells $1.4B stake in NYC real estate

Brookfield Property Partners (BPY.UN-T) has sold a 28 per cent stake in a portfolio of Manhattan office and multi-family buildings, giving it proceeds of about $1.4 billion US. The publicly traded real estate arm of Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (BAM.A-T) plans to sell an additional seven  per cent stake in the portfolio to institutional investors by early 2019 for total proceeds of about $1.8 billion, executives said.

Bloomberg

Featured Column

Sometimes you have to spend a little to make a little (or more)

In commercial real estate there can be a variety of possible uses for a building depending upon its zoning. When a tenant vacates a space, it can be difficult to anticipate who might backfill them based on the uses for which the property is best suited. So, how do landlords decide if they should, or shouldn’t, spend money on a vacancy in order to get it leased up?

Read more

Market Trends and Research

GTA leased office space up 3.6 per cent year-over-year

TREB Commercial Network Members reported nearly 2.1 million square feet of industrial, commercial/retail and office space leased through TREB’s MLS System in July. This was an increase of 3.6 per cent over approximately two million square feet reported leased in July 2017. Industrial space accounted for two-thirds of total leased space. The amount of office space leased doubled compared to the same period last year.

Globe Newswire

U.S. office sales drop in first half of 2018

Total U.S. office property sales volume declined in the first half of the year as institutional owners opted to hold onto their properties following record sales in the past few years and buyers from China reduced their purchases. Sales dropped 14 per cent to $57.9 billion in the two quarters ended June 30, from the same time a year earlier, according to the latest CoStar Group data presented in its quarterly State of the Office Market webinar.

CoStar Group

Real Estate Companies

Cushman & Wakefield climbs after IPO

Commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield rose as much as drbrm per cent in its trading debut after raising $765 million in its initial public offering. The firm sold 45 million shares for $17 each after offering them for $16 to $18 apiece, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The shares were up 3.2 per cent to $17.55 at 11:16 a.m. Thursday in New York.

Bloomberg

JLL acquires Northwest Atlantic in retail takeover bid

Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. acquired Northwest Atlantic Inc., a Canadian retail-tenant representation and advisory firm, to feed the growing demand from retailers around the world looking to expand in Canada. Northwest Atlantic, a closely held company based in Toronto, represents more than 65 retailers including fashion retailer Nordstrom Inc., discount-apparel company Winners and movie-theatre operator Cineplex Inc.

Bloomberg – PR Newswire

REOC Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* Brookfield Business Partners, (BBU-UN-T), Globe Newswire

* Brookfield Infrastructure, (BIP-UN-T), Globe Newswire

* Firm Capital Property Trust, (FCD-UN-X), Globe Newswire

* First Capital Realty Inc., (FCR-T), Canada Newswire

* Melcor Developments Ltd, (MRD-T), Globe Newswire

REIT Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* Allied Properties REIT, (AP-UN-T), Globe Newswire

* Artis REIT, (AX-UN-T), Canada Newswire

* CT REIT, (CRT-UN-T), Canada Newswire

* City Office REIT, (CIO-N), PR Newswire

* Morguard REIT, (MRT-UN-T), Canada Newswire

* Northview Apartment REIT, (NVU-UN-T), Globe Newswire

Real Estate Investment Trusts

R&R REIT closes on U.S. hotel acquisition

R&R REIT (RRR-UN-X) announced it has completed its previously announced acquisition of a portfolio of five economy extended-stay hotels comprising 656 rooms located in the U.S. The REIT acquired the properties from entities controlled by REIT executive chairman/trustee Majid Mangalji and Michael Klingher, president and chief executive officer of the REIT. The total cost for the acquisition properties was approximately US$32.1 million including closing costs.

Canada Newswire

Summit, Smart offer six per cent yield, growth

Summit Industrial Income REIT’s (SMU.UN-T) 5.91% yield is delicious by any income investor’s standards, but the 45% in capital gains the trust has clocked in over the past two years is even better. Strip malls and retail properties are what you’ll get with SmartCentres REIT (SRU-UN-T). In Canada, brick-and-mortar retail is alive and well. SmartCentres rakes in its rent as long as its tenants don’t go belly up.

Motley Fool

2018 U.S. REIT offerings by sector

CHART: Among the REIT property sectors, the specialty sector raised the greatest amount of capital year-to-date as of July 31, with communications REITs accounting for more than half of this volume, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

CP Executive

New Development

New $25M retail centre coming to N.L.

There’s a new outdoor shopping centre coming to Paradise, N.L., with retailers like Shoppers Drug Mart and Dollarama, plus a Starbucks and East Side Mario’s. Ground was officially broken at the centre, operated by ALRE Properties, on Tuesday. The $25-million shopping plaza will be 90,000 square feet in all, with more tenants expected to be announced in September.

CBC

International

Deregulation for denser development in L.A. moves forward

Los Angeles is moving ahead with a plan to rewrite development rules so that denser development can take place near transit stations. Los Angeles City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee recently approved the Expo Corridor Transit Neighborhood Plan. This would allow more housing, retail, and office space near five transit stations.

Building Design & Construction

Other

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