Dream Office’s Sask. CRE for sale

Dream Office’s Sask. CRE for sale

Dream Office REIT (D.UN-T) is seeking a buyer for three buildings in Saskatoon and six in Regina, totalling more than half a million square feet of office and retail space. The buildings — which are being marketed without a list price by Colliers International — represent, in terms of floor space, about 40 per cent of Dream’s holdings in Saskatchewan.

Regina Leader-Post

Slate Asset Management launches fund

Slate Asset Management is launching a real estate fund to invest in commercial properties need a little TLC. The new private fund is called the Slate Canadian Real Estate Opportunities fund, according to sources close to the company, and its first acquisition is a $200-million portfolio of 12 office buildings in Calgary from Dream Office REIT (D.UN-T).

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

DIRTT, NMG making greater inroads into Middle East

DIRTT Environmental Solutions (DRT-T) and NMG recently installed a two-storey state-of-the-art medical interior in three days for Arab Health Exhibition and Congress in Dubai, illustrating what their innovative approach to construction is capable of.

Property Biz Canada:

Richmond’s new office construction falls short

Richmond’s office vacancy has been on a steady decline since cresting above 20 per cent in 2012, and is now ready for fresh office developments to meet rising demand for workspace, say commercial real estate brokers and the city’s manager of economic development. As of the end of 2016, Richmond’s office vacancy rate had fallen to 9.5 per cent.

Vancouver Province

White Rock waterfront turning into ‘ghost town’

It used to be one of Metro Vancouver’s top seaside destinations. But now a walk along the seafront in White Rock reveals a business community in danger of becoming a “ghost town,” according to one of the area’s restaurateurs. “At least four or five restaurants have closed in the past three months,” said Preet Grewal, managing partner at Charlie Don’t Surf.

Vancouver Province

Chard planning downtown Victoria towers

The 800 block of Yates and Johnson streets in Victoria could soon see a pair of 21-storey towers rising from what is now a parking lot. It would represent the largest project Chard Development Ltd. has built in Victoria and would be the Vancouver-based company’s seventh development in the B.C. capital since 2006.

Business In Vancouver

GTA land sales reach new high: Altus Group

Greater Toronto Area (GTA) investment property sales reached $17.2 billion last year, which was up 12 per cent from 2015 and set a record for a sixth straight year. That total included land and office, retail, industrial, hotel and rental apartment property sales. The information was compiled by Altus Group and released in its new “2017 GTA Flash Report.”

Property Biz Canada

Burlington’s proposed tower raises concerns

A local developer is proposing to build a 26-storey tower across from City Hall where a block of buildings currently stands. Carriage Gate Homes recently submitted an application for what’s being dubbed 421 Brant — a complex at the corner of Brant and James streets that would include residential, retail and office space.

Hamilton Spectator – Hamilton Spectator

HBC makes takeover approach to Macy’s: Report

Hudson’s Bay Co. (HBC-T) has made a takeover approach to U.S. department store chain Macy’s Inc . (M-N), the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources. Hudson’s Bay said it does not comment on rumours or speculation, while Macy’s was not immediately available to comment.

Reuters – Winnipeg Free Press

Jean Coutu needs a prescription for slowing growth

At almost 90, Jean Coutu (PJC.A-T) has seen more than a few flu seasons come and go while building Quebec’s dominant drug store chain and saving it from its near fatal southern exposure a decade ago. He’s a Quebec Inc. icon, a branding magician and perhaps the best premier his province never had. He’s also mad as hell.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Canadian retailers in awkward spot as Trump boycott builds

Caroline Starr stopped shopping at Hudson’s Bay stores several months ago when she first heard of an online campaign to boycott companies that support then-Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump and his family’s brand. But when the president announced his latest executive order last week she started to encourage others to join her “Baycotting” via Facebook.

Financial Post

Target shelves robot store

After sales and traffic continued to slide during the holidays, Target Corp. (TGT-N) is scaling back big portions of its innovation agenda to double down on its core business. The Minneapolis-based retailer has killed Goldfish, a secretive e-commerce start-up it green-lighted a year ago, and has shelved a prototype for a robot-infused store of the future.

Minneapolis Star Tribune – Forbes

Volatility strikes the latest round of commercial property assessments

Property values go up and property values go down. It’s the nature of the beast, driven by the vagaries of market demand or lack thereof. But every property has two values – its sale price, determined by what a buyer is willing to pay, and its assessment, drawn from what is deemed to be its fair value.

Read more

Has Vision Capital spotted the next REIT takeover?

When Milestone Apartments REIT (MST.UN-T) units soared on news of a $1.3-billion US  takeover bid from private-equity fund Starwood Capital last month, investors began searching for the next potential acquisition target in the real estate sector. There is a smaller version of Milestone trading in Canada, a Vancouver-based company called Pure Multi-Family REIT (RUF.UN-X).

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Yellen eyes U.S. CRE froth

A decade after the U.S. housing market collapsed, Federal Reserve officials are watching rising apartment towers as the next potential asset-price bubble, which could add to the debate about the pace of interest-rate hikes this year. Fed Chair Janet Yellen cited commercial real estate prices as “high” in a speech at Stanford University on Jan. 19. 

Bloomberg

Market Trends and Research

How to get wealthy with real estate

Those with the money have myriad ways to play real estate. One of the most basic ways to invest in real estate is to buy a small commercial building. Some business owners and professionals prefer to own their work space and rent out an extra office or apartment upstairs to help cover costs.

Globe and Mail

U.S. sets record for real estate secondaries

A record number of real estate secondary transactions, valued at more than $5.01 billion US, took place in 2016, according to Landmark Partners. The company said it had tracked the largest number of individual secondary trades of real estate funds ever recorded in a single year.

IPE REal Estate

Real Estate Investment Trusts

CT REIT boasts 4.8 per cent yield

CT REIT (CRT.UN-T) owns income-producing commercial properties, with Canadian Tire stores being its major, stable tenant representing more than 90 per cent of annualized base minimum rent. CT REIT has average annual rent increases built into the property leases at Canadian Tires stores of 1.5 per cent, providing the REIT with predictable same-store net operating income growth. 

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Legal Corner

Vancouver developer committed fraud: BCSC

A British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) panel has found Brendan James Schouw and Hornby Residences Ltd. perpetrated fraud on an investor. The panel found that in November 2009, Schouw convinced one investor to invest $1 million in Hornby for a Vancouver real estate project. The investor received an investment certificate promising 18 per cent simple interest to accrue annually.

Marketwired – Business In Vancouver

Retail

Retailers seek perfect balance between customers

Retailers are increasingly under pressure to evaluate their business models and, in particular, the mix of their in-store, online and mobile offerings. Just as there are few pure-play e-tailers, there are very few retailers solely operating a bricks & mortar strategy because today’s customer wants to access their favorite brands in an omnichannel way.

Lexology

Renovation and Restoration

TO architectural ‘gem’ could get a new lease on life

Grand old 205 Yonge St. was erected in 1905 as the Bank of Toronto on the city’s most important avenue, a neo-classical temple serving both the city’s growing wealth and traditional ideals of beauty. CBC Toronto has learned of negotiations underway this week that could see the building reopen as a combined museum and boutique hotel. 

CBC

Infrastructure

Site C dam win for Hydro

The B.C. government has won another big round over First Nations opposed to the massive controversial Site C dam project, this time in the B.C. Court of Appeal. In a unanimous three-justice ruling Thursday, the court rejected any native veto of development and said the Liberal administration had adequately consulted aboriginal groups.

Vancouver Sun

Regina airport sets passenger record

Regina International Airport served more passengers than ever before in 2016 according to a news release. The passenger count reached a record high of 1,262,899, an increase of 0.6 per cent from the previous year. Domestic travel grew by 4.3 per cent as a result of increased flights and larger aircrafts to key airports in the country including Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto.

Regina Leader-Post

PBO targets slow infrastructure spending

The Liberal government has brushed off renewed criticism of the slow movement of billions in new infrastructure spending that threatens to put economic growth projections at risk. In a report released Thursday, the parliamentary budget office said that of the $13.6 billion in infrastructure money announced in last year’s budget, departments have only identified $4.6 billion worth of projects.

Winnipeg Free Press

Ontario unveils Hamilton bus rapid transit

Ontario and Metrolinx are killing Hamilton’s James Street North LRT spur line and replacing it with a 16 kilometre bus rapid transit (BRT) line connecting the waterfront with the airport. The BRT will likely be a mixture of dedicated lanes and buses sharing traffic with other vehicles, Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca said.

CBC

Sustainability

Environmental groups back Caisse’s light rail project

A group of environmental groups has come out in favour of the light rail project planned for Montreal, despite a scathing critique from the province’s environmental review agency. Équiterre, the David Suzuki Foundation and Vivre en Ville joined forces in support of the project.

CBC

Technology

Paperback purchases still beating e-books

Almost half of the books purchased in Canada last year were bought online, according to data from BookNet Canada, as e-commerce continues to chip away at bricks and mortar retailing. The industry nonprofit group reported Monday 48 per cent of some $983.7 million in annual print book purchases in 2016 were made through digital channels, up 1.8 per cent from 2015.

Financial Post

Other

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