High land prices test Vancouver’s office strata ceiling

High land prices test Vancouver’s office strata ceiling

The developer behind the $20.4 million purchase of the 3 Vets outdoor store site on Yukon Street in Vancouver concedes the final strata prices on its planned four-storey commercial building could surpass $10 million per floor. The “complicated and confidential” deal for the 18,147-square-foot Mount Pleasant site closed in December at a per-square-foot land price of more than $1,100, confirmed Byron Chard, chief financial and acquisitions officer at Chard Development.

Business In Vancouver

Licence of Fortress’ lead mortgage broker revoked

Ontario’s financial regulator said today it has revoked the license of mortgage brokerage Building Development and Mortgages Canada Inc (BDMC) and Vince Petrozza, a co-founder of Fortress Real Developments, following an investigation into risky syndicated mortgage investments. Regulator FSCO said BDMC, the lead broker for Fortress projects, and three mortgage brokers, FDS Broker Services Inc, FFM Capital Inc and FMP Mortgage Investments Inc, were fined a total of $1.1 million.

Reuters – Canada Newswire

GWL Realty Advisors buys U.S.-based EverWest Real Estate Partners

Great-West Life has expanded its real estate investments into the U.S. market with the announcement Friday morning that its GWL Realty Advisors (GWLRA) subsidiary has acquired Colorado-based EverWest Real Estate Partners. EverWest manages a portfolio of more than 50 properties in “key markets” across the United States according to its website, from industrial to office, retail, hotels, multi-residential and mixed-use.

Property Biz Canada

Calgary Co-op launches $2B development campaign

Calgary Co-op, one of the largest retail cooperatives in North America, has embarked on an ambitious $2 billion-plus capital investment campaign over the next few years to expand the grocery chain’s operations and create several mixed-use developments in the region. The company has proposed an investment program in Calgary of $1 billion over the next eight years to expand its retail operations.

Property Biz Canada

Plaza JVs with pension fund on Moncton-area plazas

Plaza Retail REIT (PLZ-UN-T) Thursday announced it has increased its interest in each of two Moncton-area plazas from 10% to 50%, with a Canadian pension fund buying the other 50% on a co-ownership basis. Both properties were previously co-owned with Plaza through two retail syndications. The REIT’s incremental gross investment is approximately $17.0 million, and its incremental net investment is approximately $5.6 million.

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

NorthWest Healthcare to acquire 10 medical facilities

NorthWest Healthcare Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (NWH-UN-T) announced it has entered into definitive agreements to acquire three German medical office properties and two German post-acute care hospitals, and five hospitals in Australia and New Zealand for an aggregate purchase price of $314 million along with committing $182 million for planned hospital expansions.

Canada Newswire – Canada Newswire

Oxford, CPPIB partner on NYC’s St. John’s Terminal

Oxford Properties Group has added the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) as its partner to redevelop a portion of New York City’s historic St. John’s Terminal site, the firms announced Wednesday. The two firms, long-time joint venture partners on other major developments, closed on the acquisition of the portion of the property south of West Houston Street for $700 million from Westbrook Partners and Atlas Capital Group.

Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

Trez Capital aims to build on record-setting 2017

After issuing a record-setting amount of loans in 2017, private commercial mortgage lender Trez Capital has bold growth targets for 2018.  The Vancouver-based, non-bank lender issued $1.4 billion in loan authorizations and closings for its 2017 fiscal year, president Greg Vorwaller told RENX in an interview. “As a number, that is the most that we recorded in any one of our prior fiscal periods,” he said.

Property Biz Canada

StorageVault completes purchase of co-owned Calgary stores

StorageVault Canada Inc. (SVI-X) announced it has completed the acquisition from its partner of the remaining 50 per cent interest in two Calgary stores resulting in the acquisition of all of the storage assets, property and business used in the operation and business of the the Sentinel Storage stores. The aggregate amount funded for the 50% interest was $17,175,000.

Globe Newswire – Property Biz Canada

Regina’s retail vacancy rate jumps after Sears closures

The bankruptcy of Sears Canada put a damper on Regina’s retail vacancy rates in 2017, dumping an extra 266,000 square feet of vacant space into what is otherwise a robust retail market, according to Colliers Regina‘s latest report. The extra space raised Regina’s vacancy rate to 4.59 per cent, its highest point in recent memory, according to the local branch of Colliers International.

CBC

TO approves four per cent tax on hotels and short-term rentals

Toronto city council has approved a new tax on hotels and short-term accommodations such as those listed on Airbnb and similar sites. The four per cent tax won out over a surprise motion to hike the rate to six per cent. The move comes just days after Mayor John Tory’s executive committee approved a four per cent tax for short-term rentals.

CBC – CBC

Starlight No. 5 acquires Orlando multi-family property

Starlight U.S. Multi-Family (No. 5) Core Fund (STUS-A-X) announced it has acquired Altis Sand Lake, a 315-suite multi-family property completed in 2016 and located in Orlando, Fla. Pursuant to purchase and sale agreements made and entered into on Jan. 10, 2018, as amended from time to time, the Fund indirectly purchased Sand Lake for a purchase price of approximately US$69.3 million. 

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

Onex, Brookfield drop pursuit of U.K. office firm IWG

Canadian private equity firm Onex Corp (ONEX-T) and Brookfield Asset Management (BAM-A-T) said Thursday they do not intend to make an offer for IWG plc , sending shares of the British serviced office provider down more than 20 per cent. IWG, the company behind the Regus brand which runs offices in about 3,000 locations, said in December it had received a bid approach from the two Canadian firms.

Reuters – Bloomberg

Blackstone’s core-plus real estate business reaches $27B

Blackstone’s core-plus real estate business has grown from zero to $27 billion US in four years, according to its end-of-year figures released Thursday. The alternatives fund manager (BX-N), more commonly associated with higher-return real estate strategies, has moved into core-plus activities in response to widespread institutional demand for income-producing investments.

IPE Real Assets

Hong Kong’s industrial buildings worth a closer look

Property investors seeking an alternative approach amid high valuations have begun to focus on industrial buildings because of their relatively low prices and upbeat growth potential. Industrial buildings in remote locations such as Tuen Mun are good bets, where properties of only $315 to $473 Cdn per square foot can benefit from government infrastructure such as the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge and the airport.

South China Morning Post

Featured Column

Is high tech a core condo, or a suburban McMansion?

In urban centres across Canada, there are those business parks in the suburbs. You know the ones. They have a diner/café that caters to the morning coffee and lunchtime crowd. Probably some sort of fitness club that woos neighbouring employers with a staff discount.

Read more

Real Estate Companies

Invesque continues growth with Texas care facility

Invesque Inc. (HLP-U-T) announced it has acquired a recently constructed, 70 bed post-acute transitional care facility located in Round Rock, Texas from Mainstreet Property Group, LLC for approximately US$22.8 million. The property is subject to a long-term triple net lease.  The company’s portfolio will expand to 42 properties with approximately 5,100 beds/units across 11 U.S. states and one Canadian province. 

Canada Newswire – PR Newswire – Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

Landmark acquires Brighton Marketplace cinema in Saskatoon

Landmark Cinemas Canada announced it has reached an agreement to acquire Magic Lantern Theatres‘ Brighton Marketplace cinema in Saskatoon. Brighton Marketplace, a Dream and Wilson partnership, is Saskatoon’s premier shopping centre within Dream Development’s master-planned community of Brighton. Currently under construction, Landmark Cinemas anticipates a June 2018 grand opening. The sales price was not disclosed.

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

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Retail

Amazon posts largest profit in its history

Amazon.com Inc (AMZN-Q) on Thursday reported a profit near $2 billion, the largest in its history, as the online retailer drew millions of new customers to its Prime fast-shipping club for the holiday season and as changes to U.S. tax law added to its bottom line. Shares rose more than six per cent in extended trading, after previously closing down four per cent on the Nasdaq.

Reuters – Globe and Mail

Metro gets boost from meal kit business

Metro Inc.’s investment in a meal kit startup MissFresh is bringing more customer traffic into its stores, CEO Eric La Fleche said Tuesday. It comes as grocery companies across North America grapple with shifting consumer tastes and a desire for fresher, home-cooked meals. Metro (MRU-T) acquired a majority stake in Montreal-based meal kit company MissFresh in August.

Financial Post – Financial Post – Canada Newswire

Sobeys exploring legal action against George Weston

The CEO of Sobeys Inc. (EMP-A-T) says George Weston Ltd. (WN-T) “should keep checking the mailroom” for upcoming legal action for unfairly implicating the grocery chain in an alleged industry-wide bread price-fixing scheme. Sobeys has denied any wrongdoing and Sobeys CEO Michael Medline says he’s been in multiple meetings with lawyers over the past two days to consider options for legal action against George Weston.

Financial Post – News1130 – Global News – Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Cannabis industry news

Liberty acquires 387-acre parcel of land in Florida

Liberty Health Sciences Inc. (LHS-CN) Wednesday announced it has entered into a definitive share purchase agreement  with 242 Cannabis Canada Ltd. to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of its wholly owned subsidiary, 242 Cannabis, LLC, a Florida limited liability company, which includes a 387-acre parcel of land in Gainesville, Fla., which was previously owned by Alico Citrus Nursery, LLC, a Florida limited liability company.

Canada Newswire – CTV – PR Newswire – PR Newswire

Greenhouse growers uproot other crops in favour of cannabis

Inside a Southern Ontario greenhouse, workers delicately clip each stem of a potted orchid onto thin, black stakes jutting out from its soil, marking the finishing touches on the final floral harvest before turning over a new leaf: marijuana. The Lincoln, Ont., facility is one of many across Canada where traditional crops are being uprooted as licensed marijuana producers seek to expand as quickly as possible.

Halifax ChronicleHerald

Former Ontario coffee factory seeks to brew up pot

Around 2,000 people live in Chesterville, Ont., a village about 60 kilometres southeast of Ottawa, and most of them can remember when the Nestlé chocolate and coffee factory shut its doors in 2006. Now, an agreement between IDP Group, the current owners of the the former plant, and an investment company that specializes in the cannabis business would lead to a full retrofit of the 373,000-square-foot facility to produce marijuana.

CBC – Ottawa Business Journal

New Development

Major development proposed for Sydney, N.S., waterfront

A Cape Breton developer is proposing a multi-million dollar complex on Sydney’s waterfront. It’s an ambitious project that would span a prime area of the waterfront between the Joan Harriss Cruise Pavilion and the Holiday Inn. Marty Chernin of Harbour Royale Developments pulled together the plan after the Cape Breton Regional Municipality issued a request for proposals in October for the redevelopment of the waterfront.

CBC

Ottawa Hospital unveils plans for $2B Civic campus

The Ottawa Hospital’s preliminary plan for a $2-billion Civic campus envisions an oval-shaped hospital that preserves the site’s mature trees and maintains generous open spaces.  The city’s first super hospital will also feature underground parking, single-patient rooms and an underground emergency department entrance, according to concept drawings made public Wednesday night. 

Ottawa Citizen – CBC

Renovation and Restoration

Beljan to transform old Edmonton YMCA building

For more than six decades, Edmonton’s downtown YMCA provided accommodation for those of limited means, alongside an aging fitness facility and dated office space. The 75,000-square-feet building was spared the wrecking ball thanks to a $3.5-million deal with Beljan Development, a local firm that believes the structure still has a future. It will invest $20-million in repurposing it over the coming year.

Globe and Mail

Edmonton’s historic Gibbard Block getting a facelift

Watch for two new restaurants to open now that Edmonton’s historic Gibbard Block has been purchased by local developers Sparrow Capital. Antoine Palmer says the building will undergo an extensive renovation. The first floor of will be turned into two restaurants and a boutique wine shop. The second floor will contain office space. The third floor will be reserved for residential/hotel rooms.

Edmonton Journal

Other

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