Sale of farmland often leads to acrimony

Sale of farmland often leads to acrimony

A CRE agent calls a farmer, asking if there is any land for sale in the area. The farmer replies, “If there were, I wouldn’t tell you.” This conversation happened last week. The acquisition of cultivated acres is an often cruel, unforgiving arena, pitting friends against friends, neighbours against neighbours and once financially stable people against crippling, formidable debt.

Financial Post

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

PIRET bulks up on U.S. portfolio

Pure Industrial REIT (AAR.UN-T ) has been so busy rejigging its portfolio in Canada and the U.S. its latest news release to investors included five separate transactions covering four provinces and U.S. states. The news included the announcement of a $52.5-million acquisition of an industrial property in Atlanta.

Property Biz Canada

Smaller is better at McCarthy Tétrault’s new Vancouver digs

“The legal profession is changing so quickly,” says Matthew Peters, national innovation leader at McCarthy Tétrault. “We can’t, like the old days, design and assume that the same space is going to work and be used the same way.” Moving its Vancouver office allowed the firm to become more efficient, flexible, transparent and connected.

BCBusiness

Saint-Hubert Plaza to get makeover

The City of Montreal will undertake a $50-million makeover of the Saint-Hubert Plaza starting next year. Plans for the renovations, made public Sunday, call for replacing the 33-year-old glass structure that overhangs the sidewalks of the plaza with a more minimalist design.

CBC – Montreal Gazette

Would an 80-storey tower spur Quarters development?

An ambitious plan to build what would be Edmonton’s tallest building on a parcel of land overlooking the river valley was set to go to a city council public hearing Monday. The 80-storey, 280-metre tall Quarters Hotel and Residences would tower over Jasper Avenue and Grierson Hill, bordered on the west by the Shaw Conference Centre.

CBC – Global News

Artis property manager takes on BOMA role

Rita Skinner, a property manager with Artis REIT (AX.UN-T), was recently appointed chair of the BOMA Calgary Foundation board. Skinner began her career in property management at Aspen Properties where she was introduced to BOMA by Chris Howard. Now V-P office leasing and industrial sales with Avison Young, Howard has just completed his term as foundation chair.

Calgary Herald

REITs look beyond core properties in 2017

Single-family rentals (SFR) is one niche area that has already shown hints of growth to come throughout 2017. PE and REIT interest in SFR took off during the housing crisis, with both buying up distressed homes. Now that the housing market has stabilized, more fund managers are looking to exit.

CP Executive

HBC’s Baker eyeing ‘iconic flagship locations’

“Richard Baker is trying to tie up as many iconic flagship locations as he possibly can in Europe, the Netherlands and North America,” Doug Stephens, founder of Toronto-based advisory firm Retail Prophet, said of Friday reports HBC‘s (HBC-T) executive chairman might have his sights set on acquiring Macy’s (M-N).

Financial Post – CBC

Sears shuttering sole Brandon store

Brandon’s only Sears (SCC-T) outlet is shutting down in mid-April and will be replaced by the city’s second Direct Liquidation centre. It’s a sign of the times, local Sears owner Ron Shaluk said, adding while the centre’s sales have been going up incrementally, profit margins have been decreasing on an almost yearly basis.

Winnipeg Free Press

Indochino opening first Edmonton store at WEM

Made-to-measure men’ s clothing company Indochino is opening its first Edmonton outlet at West Edmonton Mall next month as one of eight new showrooms it intends to establish this year. The West Edmonton Mall location will start operating March 30, followed by a shop at Calgary’s CF Chinook Centre on April 6 and one in Burnaby, B.C., this spring.

Edmonton Journal

The meteoric rise and fall of a retail giant

American Apparel opened its first stores in 2003, with locations in Los Angeles, New York and Montreal. Within three years, it had mushroomed into a global chain with more than 140 locations in 11 countries. By 2009, that figure had doubled to 281 stores. It was, founder Dov Charney once boasted, “the fastest retail rollout in American history.” 

Winnipeg Free Press

Infrastructure spending slow to materialize

In business for 35 years, Keystone Excavating Ltd. has worked on major infrastructure initiatives across the province, from Calgary’s south hospital to the Anthony Henday Drive project in Edmonton. But in the midst of a construction slump, the privately owned company recently made a difficult decision to close at the end of March.

Calgary Herald

Office sales remain solid

While Real Capital Analytics reports multi-family led all other property sectors for investment sales again in 2016, former front-runner office was hardly an also-ran last year. CBRE’s Americas Office Trends report, issued late last week, indicates total volume for office reached $141.7 billion, the second highest since 2007, although six per cent below the record level established the year before.

GlobeSt.com

Germany takes U.K.’s CRE crown

Germany has unseated the U.K. as the most active commercial real-estate market in Europe, reflecting greater caution toward Britain after it voted to leave the European Union. Britain had held the top spot for the previous decade. Nearly $82.8 billion Cdn of commercial property was traded in Germany last year.

MarketWatch – The Real Deal Magazine

Featured Column

Debunking the myths around Vancouver real estate prices

The big news out of Vancouver recently has been the release of a report by Resonance Consulting about the future of B.C. housing.

Read more

Market Trends and Research

Editorial: New life coming to downtown Victoria

Plans for two new 21-storey towers on Yates Street are another positive sign long-neglected parts of Victoria are coming to life. Along with other projects in the area, the proposal by Chard Development Ltd. will bring more people to live downtown. The more people who make their homes there, the more attractive it is to others.

Victoria Times Colonist

REOC Financial Reports

Latest reports:

* Brookfield Business Partners, (BBU.UN-T), Marketwired 

Real Estate Investment Trusts

UAE’s first residential REIT launched

The UAE’s first residential REIT has been established to tap improving yields after two years of price declines. The company behind Emirates REIT has teamed up with Al Hamra Real Estate Development and National Bonds to create the investment trust that will comprise about 500 homes in Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah (RAK).

The National

Allied a quality office REIT

Allied Properties (AP.UN-T) is the office REIT to own if you’re looking for quality, a stable dividend, and growth potential. Allied Properties owns, manages, and develops urban office environments, which enrich the experience and enhance the profitability of its business tenants operating in major Canadian cities.

Motley Fool

Legal Corner

Steve Nash gym owners go on legal offence

A chain of fitness clubs accused of using Steve Nash’s name without permission is going on the offensive and suing the former basketball superstar’s company for allegedly damaging its reputation. SNFW Fitness BC Ltd., is asserting it retained the legal right to use what it calls the “Nash endorsement” after parting ways with its famous frontman in 2014.

Vancouver Sun

Vancouver realtor claims rival defamed him

A prominent West Vancouver realtor is suing a North Vancouver realtor for defamation in a case involving social-media posts that accuse real estate agents of corruption, cheating and cover-ups. In a B.C. Supreme Court civil claim, Shahin Behroyan alleges Reza Mousavy “is jealous of the plaintiff’s success.”

Vancouvers Sun

Retail

‘Produce butchers’ can be helpful

Whole Foods (WFM-Q) is the latest grocery store to offer a vegetable butchery service to customers. The American supermarket chain opened its 468th store in New York City’s Bryant Park, the New York Times reports, and the “produce butcher” service has simultaneously elicited eye-rolling and acclaim on social media.

Vancouver Sun

Restaurants and Eateries

How A&W and White Spot strengthened their brands

Five years ago, with sales far from sizzling, A&W Food Services of Canada Inc. set out to boost its brand. The plan, according to chairman/CEO Paul Hollands: offer younger, food-savvy consumers something they’d never expect from a fast-food chain. “We looked at a whole bunch of things and tried to figure out what we could deliver,’’ Hollands recalls.

BCBusiness

New Development

GrainsConnect plans new grain terminal in Vegreville

An international agribusiness partnership is planning to build a $30-million high-throughput grain terminal near Vegreville, Alta. The site 100 kilometres east of Edmonton will feature a state-of-the-art 35,000-tonne terminal with the ability to load 130 rail cars in under 14 hours, creating efficiencies and providing rate incentives, GrainsConnect Canada president Warren Stow said.

Edmonton Journal

Top 10 largest construction project starts

There are several reasons for highlighting upcoming large projects. Such jobs have often received a fair amount of media coverage. Therefore, people in the industry are on the lookout for when job-site work actually gets underway. And, as showcase projects, they highlight geographically where major construction projects are proceeding.

Daily Commercial News

Renovation and Restoration

Debris falls from downtown Ottawa building

Debris that fell off a building under construction in downtown Ottawa late Sunday night forced police to temporarily close two roads. It happened some time around 10 p.m. Sunday, police said in a media release, when “falling debris from a highrise under construction … made the area unsafe.” This area is near the Rideau Centre mall.

CBC

Infrastructure

Opinion: Don’t rush into Montreal electric train project

The debate over Montreal’s largest public transit project since the métro is complicated and involves thousands of pages of analysis by the promoter, CDPQ (Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec) Infra, the Bureau d’audiences publique sur l’environnement (BAPE), and hundreds of citizens and organizations.

Montreal Gazette

International

Lendlease, Turner to lead Javits expansion

Lendlease and Turner Construction will comprise the design-build team for the $1.5-billion US expansion of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, on Manhattan’s West Side. The size of the expansion is in keeping with the stature of the Javits Center, the nation’s busiest convention venue, and already enormous.

CP Executive

Port Authority approves capital plan

The Port Authority has announced its approval of a 10-year, $32 billion capital plan to improve the Tri-State area’s infrastructure. The board will vote on the plan in February. Among the approved plans are a lease through 2050 for the redevelopment of the Delta terminals at LaGuardia Airport, which will transform them into a $4 billion, state-of-the-art complex.

CP Executive

Sustainability

Super Bowl shines spotlight on Houston park

The go-to place for many of the Super Bowl-related festivities in Houston was Discovery Green, which didn’t even exist the last time Houston hosted the big game in 2004. Since it opened in 2008, the park has welcomed more than 1.2 million visitors each year and has been a catalyst for $625 million in downtown development, including a new adjacent 1,000-room hotel.

Winnipeg Free Press

Technology

Array of Things ‘Fitbit’ assessing Chicago’s performance

Cities are complicated things. They’re the economic engines of most nations. They’re where the largest percentage of our populations live. They’re responsible for a large percentage of greenhouse gas emissions. But there is a lot about the urban dynamic we don’t understand. It’s especially tough in big cities.

Daily Commercial News

Other

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