Fairfax to acquire Carillion Canada’s core businesses

Fairfax to acquire Carillion Canada’s core businesses

Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. (FFH-T) is preparing to acquire Carillion Canada‘s core businesses. Fairfax will take control of the Canadian construction support and facilities management businesses that provide service to clients such as airports, commercial and retail properties, defence facilities, some hospitals and natural resources companies. Carillion Canada has experience operating across Canada, including building in the Northwest Territories and redeveloping Toronto’s Union Station transit hub. 

Globe and Mail – CBC – Globe Newswire

Presenting Toronto’s best chance for Amazon HQ2

It is a vast tract of industrial land in Toronto’s east end. It has no public road access and is largely fenced off, with railway lines on the north side blocking views into the property. The most notable building on the land is the long-abandoned Unilever soap factory. Much of the interior of the 62-acre lot – stretching many long city blocks – is empty pavement.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – BCBusiness – Business Insider – Ottawa Citizen

eStruxture makes big move onto data centre scene

Montreal’s eStruxture Data Centers has raised or secured $260 million in capital in recent months and forged relationships with several major investors as it moves to position itself as a key player in the emerging sector. Most recently, eStruxture secured $180 million in committed capital in mid-January with the addition of Fengate Real Asset Investments as a co-lead investor and a new, expanded debt financing facility.

Property Biz Canada

LaSalle Canada Property Fund launches with $440M portfolio

With Canadian real estate increasingly on the radar of international investors, LaSalle Investment Management has launched LaSalle Canada Property Fund, its first open-ended real estate fund. The fund was launched in December with an initial seed portfolio of $440 million from an international institutional investor which transferred to LaSalle a sizable portion of its portfolio in five of Canada’s six major markets.

Property Biz Canada

Montreal office rental market heating up: CBRE

After years of flat — and sometimes falling — office rental rates, Montreal’s downtown core could soon be a landlord’s market, according to a new report by real estate management and investment company CBRE (CBG-N). “I’ve rarely seen such a great buzz in the city as we’re seeing right now,” said Avi Krispine, the executive vice-president and managing director of CBRE’s operations in Quebec.

Montreal Gazette – Property Biz Canada

RioCan getting ready to sell more assets

RioCan (REI-UN-T), Canada’s largest REIT, is getting ready to list more assets for sale as part of its plan to dispose of $2 billion in property and refocus on six core markets. CBRE Ltd. has prepared a brochure for Southbank Medical Centre, a 145,213-square-foot property in Okotoks, Alta., marketing the asset as part of the “rapidly intensifying community in the Calgary region.” 

CoStar Group – Property Biz Canada

Aurora buys stake in Liquor Stores N.A. for $103.5M

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB-T) has signed a deal to buy a minority stake in Liquor Stores N.A. Ltd., (LIQ-T) which plans to launch a brand of cannabis retail stores. Under the deal, Aurora will acquire a 19.9 per cent stake in the company for $103.5 million through a non-brokered private placement. It will also have an ability to increase its interest in Liquor Stores to 40 per cent.

BNN – Canada Newswire – Motley Fool

TD Bank U.S. CRE head delivers 2018 outlook

VIDEO: TD Bank Head of U.S. Commercial Real Estate Gregg Gerken sat down with Commercial Property Executive to discuss the trends that are likely to shape the industry in 2018.

CP Executive

HBC names CVS Health executive Foulkes new CEO

Hudson’s Bay Co. (HBC-T) has named CVS Health executive Helena Foulkes as its new chief executive. The retailer says the appointment is effective Feb. 19. Foulkes has been executive vice-president of CVS Health and president of CVS Pharmacy. She will be responsible for HBC’s global strategy and operations for all of its banners.

Financial Post – Reuters

C&W’s Stettinius spearheaded two corporate mergers

Industry veteran Joe Stettinius, who was instrumental in both the Cassidy Turley/DTZ merger and DTZ’s subsequent merger with Cushman & Wakefield, died suddenly at his home Thursday evening. A mainstay of commercial real estate for more than three decades, Stettinius most recently was named executive vice chairman of strategic investments for the Americas at Cushman & Wakefield.

GlobeSt.com – CP Executive – The Real Deal – CoStar Group

Could Canada become a global health research hub?

Conducting clinical and pharmaceutical development trials is an estimated US$127-billion-a-year industry globally, and Canada should get in on it, says Boris Weiss, CEO of Medipure Pharmaceuticals Inc. The company recently opened a 3,750-square-foot research lab on the BCIT campus in Burnaby, with plans to add another 2,850 square feet later this year.

BCBusiness

Artis REIT goes floating for the first time

Winnipeg-based Artis REIT (AX-UN-T) is used to making a little financial history. In 2012, it became the second Canadian REIT (after RioCan) to issue rate reset preferred trust units. Since then, Artis has completed four such offerings (including one in U.S. dollars and one for $125 million that closed this week) and has raised almost $500 million.

Financial Post – Property Biz Canada

Brookfield raises capital for open-ended RE debt fund

Brookfield Asset Management (BAM-A-T) has launched an open-ended real estate debt fund and is looking to raise $1 billion US, according to a prospective investor. San Diego County Employees Retirement Association (SDCERA) approved a $100-million commitment to the vehicle in December, according to a board meeting report.

IPE Real Assets – Globe Newswire

Data centre mergers to ramp up in 2018

The data centre industry is set to continue the energetic expansion seen over the last several years. The industry’s big players will also continue to complete a large number of mergers and acquisitions. In fact, according to JLL’s recent 2018 Data Center Outlook, that particular trend could accelerate. The most successful data centre firms will be the ones that can manage and design centres.

GlobeSt.com

AT&T to leave namesake Midtown Atlanta tower

In a blow to two Atlanta office submarkets, AT&T will vacate all the space it occupies at its namesake AT&T Tower in Midtown and two locations in Buckhead. The telecom services giant occupies 1.2 million square feet in the 49-storey Midtown office tower alone. All told, the moves could dump as much as 2.5 million square feet of space on the office market by early 2020. The main motive: cost savings. 

CoStar Group

Market Trends and Research

Prices ‘high’ for U.S. commercial real estate: Yellen

Outgoing Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen said U.S. stocks and commercial real estate prices are elevated but stopped short of saying those markets are in a bubble. “Well, I don’t want to say too high. But I do want to say high,” Yellen said in an interview as she prepared to leave the central bank. “Price-earnings ratios are near the high end of their historical ranges.”

Bloomberg

Real Estate Companies

Invesque adds Randy Maultsby to Board of Directors

Invesque Inc. (HLP-U-T) today announced the addition of Randy Maultsby to the Board of Directors. Maultsby is a managing firector of Tiptree Financial Inc.  (TIPT-Q), a significant shareholder of the company and seller of recently acquired Care Investment Trust, LLC. Maultsby is appointed as the nominee of Tiptree under the Investor Rights Agreement associated with the acquisition of Care.

Canada Newswire

Abandoned hospital back on market after 18-year vacancy

An abandoned hospital in Montreal that has been sitting empty for almost 20 years could soon be back on the real estate market. Built in 1964 to care for Chinese immigrants who had settled in Montreal, the former Montreal Chinese Hospital at the intersection of Faillon and St-Denis streets hasn’t housed patients since 1999 — when a brand new hospital was built in Chinatown.

CBC

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Real Estate Investment Trusts

REIT picks for three investment styles

InterRent REIT (IIP-UN-T) is a stock that could continue to generate above average price appreciation driven by strong NAV per unit and AFFO per unit growth. InterRent could continue to be one of the top-performing Canadian real estate entities on the TSX over the next 12 months. It had a very strong total return performance in 2017, and appears still positioned for another year of solid performance.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Legal Corner

Retailers face tough outcomes in bread price-fixing scandal

Imprisonment. Hefty government fines. Billion-dollar class action lawsuits. A range of nasty outcomes await Canada’s largest grocers and bread producers if they are convicted of participating in an industry-wide scheme to fix bread prices that lasted more than 14 years. But a large-scale loss of business from outraged customers? Unlikely, analysts say.

Financial Post

Retail

Costco’s plan has millennials in their stores

By most measures, 35-year-old Costco Wholesale (COST-Q) is thriving. Its sales and profits are surging. Traffic to its stores grew 5.9 per cent in the last quarter, the fastest clip in at least a decade. Costco members — whose annual fees make the company profitable — remain fiercely loyal, renewing at a rate of 87 per cent even after fees were raised.

Toronto Star

Clothing makers see value in adding retail divisions

The trend of Vancouver clothing manufacturers transforming into retailers is set to continue in 2018 with Herschel Supply Co. planning to open its first corporately owned store, in Gastown, this summer. This follows Native Shoes last month opening its first store. Dish and Duer briefly operated a pop-up venue and then opened a flagship store last year.

Business In Vancouver

Cannabis industry news

Marijuana-related RE may come with a risk in U.S.

High-net-worth (HNW) investors and family offices eager to capitalize on 21st-century interest in properties serving the industry for legalized marijuana might want to “Go east.” However, Mark Scarola, COO of Murrieta, Calif.-based GreenZone Properties LLC, a real estate developer and fund manager that focuses on the marijuana industry, cautions that in many markets, particularly where legalization is pending, investing in marijuana-related properties remains “kind of a gamble.”

National Real Estate Investor – Globe and Mail

New Development

Sydney CBD set for $312M hotel/office redevelopment

A new $311.8-million 55-storey hotel and commercial skyscraper could be on the horizon for the Sydney CBD, adding to the much-needed pipeline of accommodation and offices in the city. Singapore-based investment group SC Capital Partners have lodged a planning proposal to the Department of Planning and Environment to redevelop the 1216-square-metre site at 4-6 Bligh Street, where an 18-storey commercial building, Bligh House, currently stands.

Commercial Real Estate News – Property Biz Canada

Take a peek inside the world’s largest YMCA

The world’s largest YMCA, which opened mid-January in Calgary, drew accolades at its grand opening for its design — and for how quickly it’s selling memberships. “It’s so beautiful,” Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi said Thursday as an opening celebration was held at the 284,000-square-foot, $192-million facility, Shane Homes YMCA at Rocky Ridge.

CBC

Sports Venues

JV tapped to manage L.A. Coliseum makeover

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is getting a massive makeover, and a joint venture of Hathaway Dinwiddie and AECOM will handle the job. The partners were chosen by the University of Southern California, operator of the historic sports stadium, to manage the $270-million restoration and renovation of the renowned 93,607-seat arena.  

CP Executive

Renovation and Restoration

Montreal’s iconic Snowdon Theatre sold for $1.6M

The City of Montreal has sold the historic Snowdon Theatre, which was ravaged by a fire in 2016, to a private company for $1.6 million. The numbered company, is listed under the name Viviana Raichman, must maintain the classic art deco facade and iconic Snowdon Theatre sign. A considerable amount of the property is expected to be turned into housing, said city councillor Marvin Rotrand.

CBC – Montreal Gazette – CBC

Infrastructure

Montreal Port Authority expansion project underway

The Montreal Port Authority says it has crossed a key milestone in its plans to grow its container-handling capacity in order to stay competitive with large American ports. The authority says it has submitted its plans to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and will be part of a public consultation, with information sessions beginning at the end of the month.

Winnipeg Free Press – Montreal Gazette

International

Houston’s office market is slowly coming back

The price of oil is up more than $10 a barrel from a year ago, rising to nearly $64 and generating optimism Houston’s office market will make a comeback too. However, any near-term improvement in its office market has less to do with the energy sector than growth in other industries and overall confidence in the economy, says Transwestern‘s Kevin Roberts.

National Real Estate Investor

Technology

Digital economy demand 216,000 more tech workers: Report

Blockchain, artificial intelligence, 5G mobile networks, 3D printing and virtual reality are creating a need for digital skills that will see a demand for an estimated 216,000 additional technology workers by 2021, according to a new report. A study by the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC), found that employment of information and communications technology professionals outpaced the economy last year six-to-one.

Ottawa Citizen – Winnipeg Free Press

Other

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