Anbang seizure whets buyers’ appetites for N.A. buildings

Anbang seizure whets buyers’ appetites for N.A. buildings

With the temporary takeover of Anbang Insurance Group Co. by China’s government, real estate buyers are eyeing marquee properties from New York to Toronto acquired in a global shopping spree. The insurer, like its fellow Chinese investor HNA Group Co., went on a multibillion-dollar buying binge over the past few years, grabbing properties including Manhattan’s Waldorf Astoria hotel and Toronto’s HSBC Building.

Bloomberg – Financial Post – Vancouver Sun – Reuters

Gateway announces $500M sale, leaseback

Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Ltd., says it is selling three of its Vancouver-area casinos in a sale/leaseback transaction to U.S.-based Mesirow Realty Sale-Leaseback Inc. for in excess of $500 million. Gateway says it entered into the deal in December 2017. The company says the transaction has received approval from B.C. regulators. The properties include the Grand Villa Casino in Burnaby, Starlight Casino in New Westminster and Cascades Casino Langley.

Property Biz Canada

MedReleaf to purchase 164-acre Ontario property

MedReleaf Corp. (LEAF-T), Canada’s first and only ISO 9001 and ICH-GMP certified cannabis producer, today announced it has entered into agreements to acquire one million square feet of existing greenhouse infrastructure on a 69-acre property in Exeter, Ont., and 95 acres of adjacent land for $21.5 million in cash and 225,083 common shares of MedReleaf.

Canada Newswire

Edmonton-area cannabis production set to soar

The looming legalization of recreational marijuana is helping spur a green rush by more than a dozen companies setting up cannabis production facilities in the greater Edmonton region. The companies range from multibillion-dollar giants such as Aurora Cannabis (ACB-T) and Canopy Growth (WEED-T) to a potpourri of local players looking to invest millions where they see massive potential for growth.

Edmonton Journal

Regus enters Hamilton’s growing co-working market

Co-working isn’t just making inroads into Canada’s largest office markets. The shared work space trend is also expanding in smaller business centres, including Hamilton, where the industry’s biggest player has just set up shop. “We’ve actually been looking in Hamilton for the last three years,” said Wayne Berger, executive vice-president of Regus Canada, which just opened its first location in the city.

Property Biz Canada

Sonshine racing to Amazon-proof empire

Never mind being No. 1. Ed Sonshine is too busy trying to Amazon-proof his Canadian shopping-mall empire by turning them into hip urban oases. RioCan REIT‘s (REI-UN-T) CEO has inked deals to sell 19 assets in the past four months. He’s also tearing up some of his malls to develop apartments, trying to capitalize on the rental boom and insulate RioCan from the rise of e-commerce.

Bloomberg – Property Biz Canada

Truman begins construction of Calgary’s West District

Calgary-based developer and builder Truman Development Corp. has begun construction of its master-planned community in the southwest part of the city that will feature a Central Park, a main street, almost 1.7 million square feet of office and retail space and thousands of new homes spread across a 100-acre site. Oliver Trutina, vice-president with Truman, said the 15-year build cycle for West District includes 2,758 homes.

Property Biz Canada

Loblaws, Metrolinx bringing groceries to GO stations

Loblaws (L-T) and Metrolinx are about to change the definition of food on-the-go. Beginning this spring, Canada’s largest retailer will allow commuters to order groceries online and pick them up at five GO Transit stations: Bronte, Oakville, Rouge Hill, Whitby and Clarkson. Orders placed by midnight will be filled for next-day, homebound pick-up.

Toronto Star – Winnipeg Free Press

Vancouver mall transactions lead retail investment property sales

The volume of Canadian retail investment property sales for 2017 is expected to hit a 17-year high, with $5.3 billion in transaction volume already reported for the first half of the year. Eight malls sales in Vancouver were recorded during this period, totalling nearly $600 million transaction value, according to the Morguard 2018 Canadian Economic Outlook and Market Fundamentals report.

Western Investor

Invesque acquires two transitional care facilities

Invesque Inc. (IVQ-U-T) announced it has acquired two state-of-the-art post-acute transitional care facilities from Mainstreet Property Group, LLC  for a total price of $51.9 million. The properties are located in desirable locations in San Antonio, Texas and Webster, Texas. Both of the properties are leased to Rapid Recovery Center of Texas, and add 175 beds to the portfolio. 

Canada Newswire

Demand for ‘hyperscale’ data centres continues to grow

The number of so-called “hyperscale” data centres worldwide surpassed 390 at the end of 2017, including openings in Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, India, Malaysia, the U.K., and the U.S., according to new data from Synergy Research Group. These mega, Web-scale facilities have a minimum of 5,000 servers and are at least 10,000 square feet, as defined by the International Data Corporation.

Building Design & Construction

Host Hotels to buy trio of Hyatt Hotels for $1 billion

Bethesda, Md.-based Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (HST-N) announced an agreement to buy the 301-room Andaz Maui in Wailea, Hawaii; the 668-room Grand Hyatt San Francisco in the city’s Union Square district and the 454-room Hyatt Regency Coconut Point in Bonita Springs, Fla. for $1 billion. Host Hotels posted a $25-million deposit in contracting to acquire the three properties, according to Host Hotels president and CEO James Risoleo.

CoStar Group – GlobeSt.com

Cracks appear in Sidewalk Labs’ Toronto waterfront plan

It was described as a plan to build a world-leading “testbed” on Toronto’s waterfront to develop a flood of “smart city” innovations seemingly lifted from The Jetsons. Sidewalk Labs, the unit of Google parent Alphabet Inc. (GOOG-Q) selected to help transform a parcel of land known as Quayside listed off a dizzying array of technologies it could develop in Canada’s largest city, then sell elsewhere.

Globe and Mail

The team behind Google’s real estate rampage

More than a decade before Google put together a deal to buy the Chelsea Market building for $2.4 billion, the head of the tech titan’s in-house real estate team in New York was working on another marquee project. In the early 2000s, Paul Darrah was leading the real estate team at Bloomberg LP, overseeing construction of the company’s new, 750,000-square-foot headquarters at Vornado Realty Trust’s 731 Lexington Avenue.

The Real Deal

Suburbs could play key role In Amazon’s choice

Amazon has narrowed its search for a second headquarters site to a small group of cities and regions, including Toronto. Most experts believe the internet behemoth will choose to copy what it has done in Seattle: establish an office campus within a strong and vibrant urban core. However, the company also wants this future campus to serve its needs for decades to come. 

GlobeSt.com

Market Trends and Research

China heats up global agricultural market

A Chinese tycoon’s purchase of vast wheat fields in France highlights China’s increasing acquisition of foreign farmland as the Asian giant seeks to keep up with its massive population’s growing appetite. With 1.4 billion mouths to feed — one-fifth of the world’s population — but less than 10 per cent of the planet’s arable land, China has looked abroad to fill its food needs.

Live Trading News

U.S. CRE prices too high: Federal Reserve

Federal Reserve policymakers believe financial market asset prices are high, according to the central bank’s “Monetary Policy Report” to Congress on Friday. “Valuation pressures continue to be elevated across a range of asset classes, including equities and commercial real estate,” the report said. “Over the second half of 2017, valuation pressures edged up from already elevated levels.”

CNBC

Real Estate Companies

ASB sells Capella Tower to Shorenstein for $255M

San Francisco-based Shorenstein has bought the Capella Tower, one of the most distinctive buildings in downtown Minneapolis, from ASB Real Estate Investments.  Washington D.C.-based ASB on Friday announced the deal to sell the 58-storey class-A building at 225 S. Sixth St., which it has owned since 2006. The sale included an adjoining 20-story building occupied by the Star Tribune newspaper. 

CoStar Group

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REIT Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* Boardwalk REIT, (BEI-UN-T), Canada Newswire

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Three REITs yielding up to 6.8 per cent

Canadian REIT (REF-UN-T) owns and operates a portfolio of retail, industrial, and office properties. Shares of Canadian REIT have increased 8.3% in 2018 as of close on Feb. 20. RioCan REIT‘s (REI-UN-T) portfolios include shopping centres and mixed-use properties. RioCan stock has dropped 2.1% in 2018. H&R REIT (HR-UN-T) owns commercial and residential properties in Canada and the U.S. Shares of H&R REIT have declined five per cent in 2018 thus far. 

Motley Fool

KBS launches $1B online real estate fund offering

Non-traded KBS Growth & Income REIT, which closed its public offering in June 2017 after raising gross proceeds of just $6.7 million, has turned to private crowdfunding to continue raising investment funds. KBS launched its IPO in April 2016 hoping to raise $1.5 billion in two years. Shortly thereafter, increased regulatory and federal scrutiny prompted new rules for the industry inhibiting fundraising with total capital raise plummeting. 

CoStar Group

Most U.S. net lease REITs top Q4 estimates

With W. P. Carey (WPC-N) the latest to do so, net lease REITs reporting their fourth-quarter 2017 results have usually, although not invariably, surpassed estimates of various performance metrics. WPC’s earnings per share of $1.18, announced Friday morning, beat the Zacks consensus estimate by 61 cents. Its adjusted funds from operations for Q4 and the past 12 months similarly represented gains compared to 2016.

GlobeSt.com

Retail

Declines spreading to top tier of U.S. retail properties

Even the best-performing and most well-located U.S. malls and shopping centres are beginning to feel the pinch of flat-lining rent growth and a vacancy uptick as e-commerce continues to take market share from brick-and-mortar retailers and the retail sector enters the late stages of the real estate cycle. Demand for U.S. retail property was generally lacklustre for the year.

CoStar Group – GlobeSt.com

Restaurants and Eateries

Domino’s takes over as world’s No. 1 pizza company

Domino’s Pizza (DPZ-N) claimed the title of largest pizza company in the world last week, passing Pizza Hut. The company, in its fourth-quarter earnings report, said its self-proclaimed No. 1 ranking is based on global retail sales. Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Domino’s edged out Pizza Hut of Plano, Texas, which had been the largest pizza chain, with US$12.2 billion in sales for 2017. Pizza Hut had sales of US$12.03 billion.

Winnipeg Free Press

McDonald’s keeping the fries fresh, right to your door

McDonald’s Corp., which is counting on a new delivery service to fuel the company’s growth, thinks it’s solved the industry’s dreaded french-fry problem. Fries are notorious for not travelling well, but they have become McDonald’s No. 1 delivery item since the company began offering the service through various delivery apps. Satisfaction rates are high, said Lucy Brady, the chain’s senior vice-president.

Winnipeg Free Press

Infrastructure

Feds leasing land for new Ottawa Civic campus

The federal government will pay $11.8 million to clean up poisoned soil on the Carling Avenue property it’s leasing to the Ottawa Hospital for a new Civic campus, Liberal MP Steven MacKinnon said Friday. That’s part of a 99-year agreement for a site at the northeast corner of the Central Experimental Farm, near Dow’s Lake, where Agriculture Canada’s Sir John Carling Building used to be. 

Ottawa Citizen – Canada Newswire

Human Resources

Rials to lead Western Wealth Capital’s U.S. operations

Western Wealth Capital (WWC), a growth-focused real estate investment company, Friday announced the appointment of John Rials to the newly created position of executive vice-president of Operations. Rials, previously senior managing director of Real Estate Operations for Charleston S.C.-based Greystar Real Estate Partners (Greystar), will lead all of WWC’s U.S.-based operations, including overseeing the precise execution of the company’s proven value-add business plan.

Western Wealth Capital media release – Property Biz Canada

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