Canada’s Triple Five Miami megaproject approved

Canada’s Triple Five Miami megaproject approved

The Miami-Dade County Commission voted 10-1 for preliminary approval of American Dream Miami, a proposed $3 billion “retail theme park.”  The proposal by Triple Five Group, a Canadian development firm owned by the Ghermezian family, would create the largest mall and amusement park in North America.

CoStar Group

Quarters castle in the air a questionable deal

The plans for a slim, dramatic 80-storey tower next to the Shaw Conference Centre, on the lip of the Edmonton  river valley, look so enticing. The hypothetical tower, proposed by Alldritt Land Corp., would be a way to jump-start development in the Quarters, Edmonton’s languishing inner-city renewal project.

Edmonton Journal

Benchmark office deal closes in downtown Montreal

GWL Realty Advisors and Investors Group have finalized their joint purchase of 1350-1360 René-Lévesque West in downtown Montreal from KanAm Grund Group for $429 million.

Property Biz Canada

Quebec firm investing in Canadian data centres

Montreal-based Northern Investment Partners Inc., recently announced a partnership for international banking firm M Capital Group to raise and invest up to $160 million to build/acquire and operate data centres in key Canadian markets.

Property Biz Canada

Site, partnership for super library approved

The Ottawa Public Library won support from trustees Tuesday night to build a $168-million super library with Library and Archives Canada at the eastern edge of LeBreton Flats, despite resistance from residents who slammed the preferred site as being too far from downtown.

Ottawa Citizen – CBC – CTV – Ottawa Sun

Windmill to partner with church on new project

Windmill Developments, the team behind Zibi and the redeveloped Cathedral Hill Church, is now turning its focus to Ottawa’s Southminster United Church for its latest partnership. Windmill partner Rodney Wilts says it’s too soon to know any details of the latest project, though he did say that deferred maintenance costs are a significant concern for Southminster.

Ottawa Business Journal

Alt+ hotel to open in Quartier Dix 30

Groupe Germain Hotels will open a new $35-million four-star Alt+ hotel next year on the site of the massive Quartier Dix 30 development near Montreal. The 168-room hotel will occupy the top nine floors of a 15-storey mixed-use building currently under construction at the Quartier Dix 30 “urban district” on the South Shore of Montreal.

Property Biz Canada

Dream REIT sale latest sign of K-W CRE boom

Commercial properties are attracting big bucks in Waterloo Region. Seven such properties in downtown Kitchener and Waterloo, including the Galleria building and the Market Square mall, were just sold for approximately $140 million. According to the seller, Dream Office REIT (D.UN-T) , the properties contain nearly 1.1 million square feet of office space. The buyer was not identified.

CTV

Vancouver pushes global VR hub potential

San Francisco and Seattle are known for tech and gaming, and L.A. has the market cornered on film and TV. But a little farther north you’ll find the one West Coast city possessing deep enough expertise in gaming, tech and entertainment to emerge as a global virtual reality hub, says David Gratton, CEO of Vancouver-based Work at Play.

Business In Vancouver

Lululemon’s CEO sees lots of room to grow

Lululemon Athletica (LULU-Q) is having a Zen moment. After two tough years, the company known for yoga wear is enjoying a rebound in sales and CEO Laurent Potdevin is optimistic Lululemon can keep the momentum going. The company has benefited from the shift in athletic wear becoming everyday fashion.

Vancouver Sun

Freshii eyes aggressive expansion plan

Freshii (FRII-T) is counting on growing consumer appetite for healthy food to power an ambitious growth plan that would see the restaurant chain more than triple the number of franchised locations within three years. The Toronto-based eatery is aiming to have as many as 840 locations worldwide by the end of 2019.

CTV – Financial Post

Outdoor equipment retailers grow

In a country bordering three oceans, boasting the Rocky Mountains and dotted with more than 40 national parks, it seems natural outdoor apparel and equipment retailers would flourish. Three such companies all have plans to expand their national footprints in the near future, growing their store count as bricks-and-mortar retailers struggle to keep their doors open.

Windsor Star

Architects, designers seeking quiet

Belgian designer Pierre-Emmanuel Vandeputte is part of a growing number addressing the cacophony of cities and buildings. Earlier this month, at Maison et Objet in Paris, he participated in a marquee show called Silence, displaying items that help mitigate sound. One of his pieces, Nascondino, is a portable felt alcove that cocoons people in public spaces.

Globe and Mail

Marijuana production space becoming scarce

The booming medical marijuana business is moving into spaces deserted by shrinking industries such as oil and gas and manufacturing. In June 2013, Mark Zekulin, president of Tweed Inc., walked into Dennis Staples’s office with a business proposition: to turn a 470,000-square-foot former chocolate factory into the future home for millions of dollars in marijuana plants.

Globe and Mail

Canadian factories churn out cutting-edge equipment

Building transportation-related equipment contributes nearly $28 billion annually to our gross domestic product (roughly 90% of that is in Ontario and Quebec). As part of our ongoing series on Canada’s homegrown manufacturing sector, we look at five companies that make components for planes, trains and automobiles (and ships and spacecraft, too), and together employ more than 25,000 globally

Globe and Mail

Market Trends and Research

Windsor fights back against storefront vacancies

The province has given Windsor a big stick to discourage owners of commercial properties from keeping them vacant. Changes to the Municipal Act now permit local governments to get rid of property tax rebates totalling 30 per cent of the tax bill for vacant commercial buildings.

Windsor Star

Real Estate Companies

Sleepwell plans upgrades to growing Pembroke portfolio

Sleepwell Property Management says it plans to spend $1.8 million renovating its recently acquired Pembroke properties in a project president Conrad Pool said will “change the downtown landscape” in the Ottawa Valley city. Sleepwell owns some 100 residential and commercial units in Pembroke, including a 10,000-square-foot former police station that’s being marketed as a professional services building. 

Ottawa Business Journal

Richardson Pioneer buys crop-inputs facility

Richardson Pioneer Limited has acquired an independent crop-inputs centre in Saskatchewan as it continues to expand its retail network in Western Canada. The company, which is a division of Winnipeg-based agribusiness giant Richardson International, announced Tuesday it has purchased the Crop First Agro facility in Grenfell for an undisclosed sum.

Winnipeg Free Press – Marketwired

Manitoba dairy farmers can join co-op

Manitoba dairy farmers will be able to join the Ontario-based Gay Lea Foods dairy co-operative as the countdown continues to when the co-op opens its first milk-processing plant in Winnipeg. Gay Lea and Abbotsford, B.C.,-based Vitalus Nutrition Inc. are converting a 33,000-square-foot former egg-processing plant into a state-of-the art milk-processing facility.

Winnipeg Free Press

Dominion Diamond CEO quits; cites HQ move

Dominion Diamond Corp (DDC-T) CEO Brendan Bell has resigned, saying he did not want to relocate to the Canadian miner’s new headquarters, the company said on Monday. Dominion, the world’s third-biggest diamond producer by value, said it had hired executive recruiting firm Korn Ferry to find a replacement.

Reuters – CBC

Gas station, store sales boosts Imperial Oil profit

Calgary-based Imperial Oil Ltd. (IMO-T) says the sale of its remaining gas stations and convenience stores helped boost its full-year profit in 2016 to $2.2 billion, more than half of which came in the fourth quarter.

Montreal Gazette – Reuters – Globe and Mail

Real Estate Investment Trusts

The growth of Green Street Advisors

Back in 1985, when big hair reigned supreme and glassy towers dominated skylines, Mike Kirby and Jon Fosheim decided to set up a West Coast research shop specializing in REITs. It turned out to be a once-in-alifetime opportunity to not only build a successful business, but also to help shape an industry.

REIT.com

REIT risk: The mall sector series

Are malls actually dying? Beyond the headlines, brick-and-mortar remain the foundation of retailing as evidenced by the fact 90 per cent of all retail sales are transacted in stores and 95% of all retail sales are captured by retailers with a brick and mortar presence.

Forbes – Forbes

Northview, NorthWest provide nice yields

If you’re looking for income, you wouldn’t want to miss out on safe, high-yield REIT  opportunities. Specifically, I would like to bring your attention to Northview Apartment REIT (NVU.UN-T) and NorthWest Health Properties REIT (NWH.UN-T), which yield north of eight per cent. They earn rental income from their diversified portfolio of real estate properties.

Motley Fool

Pure Multi-Family closes on Dallas property

Pure Multi-Family REIT LP (RUF.UN-X) announced the successful closing of the previously announced 288 unit multi-family apartment community, located in the Allen sub-market of Dallas, for a purchase price of US$40.0 million. Lansbrook was constructed in 2002 and consists of 288 residential units averaging 961 square feet.

Marketwired

Retail

H&M defies gloomy apparel retail trends

Hennes & Mauritz AB provided some much-needed good news for Europe’s struggling clothing retail market, reporting profit that topped estimates and accelerating sales growth while setting a new expansion goal to reflect an increasing online presence. 

Bloomberg

Restaurants and Eateries

Downtown Saskatoon restaurants struggle

Brothers Daniel Ford Beavis and Jay Beavis — who have run O’Shea’s Irish Pub in downtown Saskatoon for 15 years — said they are still reeling after deciding they had to close their their three other restaurants and bars, at the cost of about 80 jobs and two bruised egos.

Saskatoon StarPhoenix

New Development

Developers connecting over smart technology

Soon, all of our living spaces — home, work, hotel— will be able to communicate. CRE owners and developers are looking at ways to connect property types through smart technology. Brookfield Residential is working on smart technology in its residential projects, while Hilton Hotels (HLT-N) is looking at creating a more home-like environment in guestrooms.

GlobeSt.com

Sports Venues

HQ investigation could impact Shaw Park lease: sources

When former mayor Sam Katz became linked last week to the criminal investigation into the Winnipeg police headquarters project, it may have thrown a wrench into his hopes for an early renewal on the lease for the Shaw Park baseball property. Sources at city hall said discussions with Katz about the lease renewal have been ongoing for 1.5 years.

Winnipeg Free Press

Renovation and Restoration

Bridor expanding Boucherville plant

Bridor — the North American leader in bread and Viennese pastries for retail sale and the food service industry — is investing $40 million to double the size of its Boucherville, Que., baking facility. The expansion will allow Bridor to increase the plant’s production capacity by 80% and generate employment growth in the area.

Canada Newswire – CTV

Infrastructure

Ottawa to debate rapid-bus corridor

A new rapid-transit line could inch closer to reality this week as Ottawa city councillors were expected to vote at a committee meeting Wednesday whether to give staff the green light to begin in-depth planning of the project. The $148-million vision is to construct two bus-only lanes down the centre of Baseline Road,

Ottawa Business Journal – CBC

Scrapping TO road tolls creates budget hole: City manager

Billions of dollars earmarked for transit, roads and other infrastructure in Toronto is in jeopardy, city manager Peter Wallace warns, in the wake of the province’s decision to veto a city plan for road tolls on the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway.

Globe and Mail – Financial Post

Human Resources

Lowe’s Canada plans hiring spree

Today Lowe’s Canada (LOW-N) announced plans to hire approximately 2,800 new employees to fill seasonal roles at its 54 Lowe’s banner stores across Canada in addition to positions at two new stores that are expected to open in Sherwood Park, Alta., and London, Ont., by mid-2017. 

Canada Newswire

Fort McMurray municipality cuts jobs

Fort McMurray’s municipality announced Tuesday it is shedding 168 positions, saying it can no longer shelter its employees from the effects of last spring’s wildfire and Alberta’s slumping economy. “Like industry, as a government we need to do our due diligence,” said Wood Buffalo interim chief administrative officer Annette Antoniak. “These are not easy times and easy decisions.”

CBC – Winnipeg Free Press

Other

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