Ottawa’s Hard Rock Casino unveils expansion plans

Ottawa’s Hard Rock Casino unveils expansion plans

The Rideau Carleton Raceway and the Hard Rock Casino unveiled plans Thursday for the $318-million expansion of the entertainment facility in south Ottawa. The expansion will include an eight-storey hotel, a 2,500-seat concert venue and 20 new gaming tables if the application is approved by Ottawa city council. The casino hopes to begin construction in 2019.

CBC – Ottawa Citizen

CLC releases 6.5-acre Ottawa redevelopment plan

The “iconic” brick smoke stack that rises above an old federal complex on Ottawa’s Booth Street would remain as part of a proposed redevelopment scheme that retains most of the historic buildings in a new mixed-use community. Canada Lands Company (CLC), the federal Crown real estate agency, has released the preferred concept of the 6.5-acre block of land that formed part of the National Resources Canada complex.

Ottawa Citizen – CBC

Vancouver’s newest office tower breaks ground

The first major office building scheduled to be completed in the next wave of commercial development in downtown Vancouver officially broke ground on Wednesday. The Offices at Burrard Place, by Reliance Properties, will open in early 2020 and will be 13 storeys in height, comprising 150,000 square feet.

Property Biz Canada

Choice Properties to acquire CREIT in $6B transaction

Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (CHP.UN-T) will create Canada’s largest REIT by acquiring Canadian Real Estate Investment Trust (REF.UN-T) in a transaction worth about $6 billion. The trust, controlled largely by Loblaw Companies Limited (L-T), George Weston Limited (WN-T) and the Weston family, will hold a diversified portfolio comprising 752 properties with 69 million square feet of gross leasable area.  

Property Biz Canada

Choice Properties outlines successful fiscal 2017

Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (CHP-UN-T) saw its rental revenue rise by 5.9 per cent while recording net income of $405.3 million in 2017 — compared to a net loss of $223.1 million a year earlier.  “Throughout the year, we made progress on all fronts and achieved important goals in each of our core drivers: acquisitions, development and active management,” Choice Properties president and chief executive officer John Morrison said during the REIT’s Feb. 14 fourth-quarter conference call.

Property Biz Canada

Aoyuan enters Toronto market with mixed-use project

Aoyuan Property Group, a pioneer of mixed-use community developments in China, is redeveloping the 8.6-acre Newtonbrook Plaza site at Yonge and Finch in Toronto. Founded in 1996, Aoyuan was the first developer in China to integrate residential real estate with sport and recreation amenities. Their first sports-themed development, named Olympic Garden or Aoyuan, was based on the idea exercise and being healthy started at home.

REMI NETWORK – Urban Toronto – Property Biz Canada

Toronto: Google’s guinea-pig city

Quayside is a nondescript, 12-acre chunk of land on the southern edge of Toronto’s downtown. It’s just three miles from my apartment, but getting there takes almost an hour by subway, bus, and foot. When I finally arrive at 333 Lake Shore Boulevard East on a windy day in early January, I find a vacant parking lot full of snow. The abandoned Victory Soya Mills silos loom at its edge—a remnant of the city’s industrial heyday.

The Atlantic

Huw Thomas stepping down as SmartCentres CEO

Huw Thomas will step down as chief executive officer of SmartCentres REIT (SRU-UN-T) in June at the end of his five-year contract, the trust announced Wednesday afternoon. The announcement was made as SmartCentres released its year-end earnings report. A release announcing the move says Thomas will be replaced by Peter Forde, the REIT’s current president and chief operating officer.

Property Biz Canada

HBC says historic Montreal store not for sale

A splashy renovation of the historic Hudson’s Bay (HBC-T) store in downtown Montreal is behind schedule – no building permits have been issued for the project that was supposed to be completed by the fall. A spokesperson said Tuesday the Ste-Catherine St. building is not for sale. The renovation was supposed to divide the building to make room for the largest Saks Fifth Avenue in Canada, at 200,000 square feet.

Toronto Star – Montreal Gazette – CNBC

Amazon HQ2 search signals transformative shift

CCIM Institute chief economist K.C. Conway and the Alabama Center for Real Estate released “Amazon HQ2: A Reset Button for Site Selection,” which examines the process used to narrow its large field of contenders and its implications for other corporate relocations. The report analyzes Amazon’s easterly growth due to the remaking of North America’s supply chain, retail disruption, the growth of e-commerce, and focus on workforce availability.

Globe Newswire

The evolution of Toronto’s Chinatown

PHOTO GALLERY: Hundreds of thousands of Chinese-Canadians across the Greater Toronto Area are ready to ring in Chinese New Year on Friday.  Change has been afoot in Chinatown over the past year as some older businesses have moved out and new restaurants — with modern twists and led by young chefs — are moving in. 

CBC

Canadian Tire sets ‘aggressive’ acquisition targets for 2017

Canadian Tire Corp. (CTC-T) will step up its acquisitions of exclusive brands in 2018 as the retailer of sporting and outdoor goods continues to fend off Amazon. The multi-banner retailer, whose shares leapt 6.5 per cent Thursday after reporting higher-than-expected fourth-quarter sales and earnings, has grown its sales substantially in the last two years by improving and bulking up its portfolio of house-branded goods.

Ottawa Citizen – Globe and Mail – Canada Newswire

Brookfield selling assets to prepare for next downturn

Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (BAM-A-T) said it’s selling off assets so that it will be ready to pounce in the next down market. The Toronto-based firm sold about $12 billion in mature assets in 2017 and said it will continue to do so this year. Brookfield, which has $285 billion under management, said it has more than $25 billion in core liquidity and dry powder in its private funds

Bloomberg

Blackstone names RE head president, COO

Jon Gray has spent his entire career inside Blackstone Group LP (BX-N). Now, at 48, he’s been handed a shot at the top. Signaling a generational shift in one of Wall Street’s signature businesses, Gray has been tapped as the designated heir to Steve Schwarzman and Tony James, the pair who built Blackstone into a dominant force in private equity.

Bloomberg – Forbes – Business Insider – CoStar Group

Hong Kong office tower receives no bids

Hong Kong’s Champion REIT said it halted the marketing of a 59-story office tower that it wanted to sell for as much as $3.1 billion. Champion REIT had put the Langham Place Office Tower in Mongkok on the market in July to make the most of heated property prices in Hong Kong. Savills Plc set the indicative price at almost twice the consensus estimate.

Bloomberg

Market Trends and Research

Hotel financings powering surge in CMBS market

CMBS issuance this year is off to a strong start, driven, as it was last year, by single-borrower deals totaling $4.7 billion so far.  Notably, hotel properties again have been one of the stars of the current run and have facilitated a number of large refinancings and acquisitions. Issuance of CMBS loans in the hotel sector grew from $2.7 billion in 2016 to nearly $14.5 billion in 2017, according to JLL.

CoStar Group

Six trends shaping smart hotels

Ten years from now, a hotel stay will be a much different experience. As you approach the property entrance, you see a massive art installation illuminated by an LED light show. You walk through the door to the lobby, bypass the check-in area, and are guided to your room by your smartphone and dynamic digital signage. Your phone unlocks your door and you notice the room temperature has been pre-set.

Building Design & Construction

Malls and the future of American retail

This fall, a 300,000-square-foot shopping mall will open in suburban northern California, built around a landscaped outdoor courtyard inspired by an Italian piazza. The first floor is all glass, the better to see the wares; above that, corrugated stainless steel. An Equinox gym anchors the mall at one end, a dine-in movie theater anchors the other. You can drink boba tea or a Berkeley microbrew, slurp ramen, or down a burger.

Curbed

Real Estate Companies

Home Capital Q4 profit sinks 40 per cent

Home Capital Group‘s (HCG-T) CEO is telling shareholders his company has “turned the corner” after weathering a run on deposits that pushed the lender to the brink last spring, but the company’s performance in the fourth quarter of 2017 illustrates the profound impact on its growth and bottom line.

BNN – Canadian Business – Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Canada Newswire

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REOC Financial Reports

Lastest financial results:

* Brookfield Asset Management Inc., (BAM-A-T), Globe Newswire

REIT Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* Allied Properties REIT, (AP-UN-T), Marketwired 

* CREIT, (REF-UN-T), Globe Newswire

* H&R REIT, (HR-UN-T), Canada Newswire

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

* SmartCentres REIT, (SRU-UN-T), Globe Newswire

Retail

In the wake of Amazon, trophy retail properties fall short

The retail world is in a state of transition. Over the last few years, several retail giants, including Sears, Kmart, JC Penney, Macy’s, Payless Shoe Source, Radio Shack and The Limited, announced multiple store closures or filed for bankruptcy protection. Overall, the number of retailers with debt rated at Moody’s most distressed level has tripled since 2009 – and Moody’s predicts this list will grow longer over the next five years.

Forbes – Forbes – CNBC – Globe and Mail

Restaurants and Eateries

MTY to acquire Timothy’s World Coffee, Mmmuffins

MTY Food Group Inc. (MTY-T) announced Thursday one of its wholly owned subsidiaries has signed an agreement to acquire the assets of Timothy’s World Coffee and Mmmuffins from Threecaf Brands, Canada, Inc., for an estimated consideration of $1.675 million. MTY will acquire the current 28 franchised and seven corporately owned Timothy’s locations in Canada, two licensed Timothy’s locations in the U.S., three Mmmuffins and two co-branded franchised locations in Canada.

Canada Newswire

Cannabis industry news

Manitoba selects mix of organizations to handle sales

The Manitoba government has selected a mix of organizations to handle retail sales of recreational pot when it is legalized across Canada later this year, including licensed producers, a medical clinic operator and First Nations communities. The province said Friday it conditionally accepted a proposal from a joint venture between licensed producers Delta 9 Cannabis Inc. (NINE-X) and Canopy Growth Corp. (WEED-T).

Winnipeg Free Press – CBC – Financial Post – Canada Newswire

Infrastructure

Victoria approves new graving dock

A new $50-million-plus graving dock to be built at Port Hope Marine shipyard near the new Johnson Street Bridge was given the green light by Victoria councillors Thursday. Ralmax Group of Companies plans to build the graving dock at its shipyard in Victoria West. It will be capable of servicing vessels up to 170 metres in length and six-metre draft.

Victoria Times Colonist

International

Indian builders focus on office projects as home sales fall

Real estate firms are shrinking their residential project portfolios and moving towards office projects as uncertainty looms over the housing sector owing to tepid sales and cash flow issues. In India’s largest property market Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), which has been affected the worst in the ongoing slowdown, many developers are taking up office development, which has seen continued interest from both institutional and individual investors.

Livemint

Other

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