Calgary Co-op redevelopment projects approved

Calgary Co-op redevelopment projects approved

After two days of public hearings on the redevelopment of a pair of 1970s-era shopping centres, Calgary City Council has approved a proposal for one project and given tentative approval to the other. Calgary Co-op’s plan for a $300-million mixed-use redevelopment of their Dalhousie location got the green light from council Tuesday. A proposal for a similar development in Oakridge was approved in principle the day before.

Calgary Herald

Calgary takes big step forward with East Village project

The evolution of Calgary’s innovation ecosystem took an important step forward Tuesday with the unveiling of Platform, a planned new space for innovators, collaborators and entrepreneurs. Platform will occupy two floors of an $80-million, five-storey structure to be built in the East Village. The remaining three levels will function as a parkade for the nearby National Music Centre and Studio Bell and the soon-to-be completed New Central Library.

Calgary Herald – CBC

National Bank buys Broccolini site for new Montreal HQ

National Bank (NA-T) will spend about $500 million to build a new head office in what will be the largest office tower in downtown Montreal since the construction of 1250 René Lévesque a quarter of a century ago.  The planned 36-storey tower will be built on an 85,000-square-foot plot of land the bank bought from Broccolini in a deal finalized on Monday. 

Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

Sienna buys 10 Ontario retirement residences

Sienna Senior Living Inc. (SIA-T) will spend $382 million to purchase 10 private-pay retirement residences in what it calls growing markets in the Toronto, Ottawa and Southwestern Ontario areas, the company said Monday afternoon.  Sienna said the transaction will grow its private-pay suite portfolio by 63 per cent and represent approximately 44 per cent of its pro forma NOI.

Property Biz Canada

NCC, RendezVous reach agreement on Flats development

The National Capital Commission and the RendezVous LeBreton Group are expected to announce an agreement in principle to redevelop LeBreton Flats Thursday. Two sources said Tuesday the NCC and RendezVous LeBreton have reached a land transfer agreement and they could be ready to make the next step in what will lead to the building of a downtown arena to house the Ottawa Senators.

Ottawa Citizen – Sportsnet

Toronto might end tax breaks for downtown office towers

Toronto Mayor John Tory supports a proposal to significantly rein in a controversial program that has given developers tens of millions of dollars in tax rebates to spur office tower construction even as the city’s downtown enjoys an unprecedented building boom. On Wednesday, Tory’s executive committee is to debate proposed reforms to the city’s decade-old Imagination, Manufacturing, Innovation and Technology (IMIT) property-tax incentive program.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Status quo for ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, for now

ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager is still operating after U.S. legislators and President Donald Trump all approved a short-term spending measure on Monday to allow the federal government to reopen and be funded through Feb. 8. One way that a government shutdown has the potential to impact the real estate industry — in Canada as well as the U.S. — is via a shutdown of ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager.

Sustainable Biz Canada

BOMA Canada issues updated pandemic guide

Building Owner and Managers Association (BOMA) Canada has updated its pandemic guide, first published for its members in response to 2003’s SARS outbreak in Toronto. “After a while, it collected a bit of dust and we decided it was well past time to revisit it,” BOMA Canada president and chief executive officer Benjamin Shinewald said of the new edition, which was sponsored by Citron Hygiene and Bazak Consulting.

Property Biz Canada

Four Seasons plans first standalone residential project

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, the world’s leading luxury hospitality company, enters 2018 with a remarkable list of openings planned, including the company’s first standalone residential project. To support the company’s growing residential business, Paul White has been appointed to president, Residential. The company has more than 30 projects currently in advanced stages of development.

Canada Newswire

Groupe Lepine’s Kanata apartment plan approved

The Ottawa developer behind the $250-million William’s Court at Kanata Lakes rental complex has cleared a major hurdle towards constructing another apartment building on a neighbouring property. In a letter published Monday, city staff approved the site plan application submitted last spring by consultants acting for Groupe Lepine to construct a 154-unit residential building less than a kilometre east of the Kanata Centrum Shopping Centre.

Ottawa Business Journal

CHC Student Housing sells London, Kingston properties

CHC Student Housing Corp. (CHC-X) announced Tuesday that further to its previously announced strategic review process, it has entered into a conditional agreement with an arm’s-length party for the sale of its London and Kingston properties for total gross proceeds of $54.6 million. The company will continue to own its Trois-Rivières property, which has 310 beds.

Stockhouse

Cara finally lands the Keg in $200M deal

Cara Operations Limited (CARA-T) has further solidified its foothold in a more upscale dining mass market, acquiring  Keg Restaurants Ltd. more than two decades after setting its sights on the Canadian steakhouse chain. Cara, which has fortified its stature as the largest full-service dining operator in Canada through a series of acquisitions over the past four years, will also change its name.

Financial Post – Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – BNN

Online delivery services grow as grocery wars heat up

More Canadians may soon be able to order their groceries online for delivery as the country’s grocery wars heat up following Amazon’s entry to the competitive space. The impetus for grocers to up their e-commerce offerings was likely Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods Market last year, said Kevin Grier, an agriculture and food market analyst with Kevin Grier Market Analysis and Consulting.

Canadian Grocer

Teachers’ testing investors on Macerich bid: Sources

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board has held talks with other investors about a potential deal to take U.S. mall owner Macerich Co. (MAC-N) private, according to sources. The Canadian pension fund, which owns about 16.5 per cent of the REIT, has held discussions with firms including sovereign wealth funds about backing the potential bid, the sources said. 

Bloomberg

Life sciences industry to drive U.S. office market growth

According to a new report by CBRE, multiple factors are propelling the U.S. life-science industry in 2018, and by extension the real estate that supports it, to strong growth, thereby positioning research-and-development centers like Boston and California’s Bay Area for outsized gains. While many U.S. industries are navigating fundamental disruption, the life-sciences industry is on a long-term expansion track.

World Property Journal – Daily Commercial News

Featured Column

Retail strategies to survive, and thrive, in 2018

In the time it takes you to read this sentence you could have Googled “the power of innovation” and your search would have produced 3.82 million results in just 0.87 seconds. Collecting data has never been easier but knowing what to do with the information remains the challenge for most companies. A long-term strategy requires having a comprehensive understanding of likely trends and potential tipping points.

The Long View

Market Trends and Research

Ottawa industrial vacancy rate tightens to 3.7%

Another decline in the local industrial market vacancy rate is pushing some tenants to consider repurposing retail space or constructing new buildings on Ottawa’s outskirts, Colliers International says in a new report. The real estate services firm said Monday that Ottawa’s industrial vacancy rate declined to 3.7 per cent at the close of 2017, down from 3.9 per cent in the third quarter.

Ottawa Business Journal – Canada Newswire

RE ‘headwinds’ could slow retail, construction sales: BCBC

The province’s economy, which enjoyed a robust year in 2017, is expected to downshift in 2018, according to the Business Council of British Columbia The residential real estate industry has driven so much growth across the B.C. economy in recent years. Now, with so-called “policy headwinds” in sight, there will also likely be an accompanying impact on retail sales and construction, says BCBC.

Vancouver Sun

Real Estate Companies

Northern Alberta F.N. wins approval to expand reserve lands

Alberta First Nation cleared an important hurdle in its long fight for additional reserve land on Tuesday night when it received support for its proposal to have municipal property declared as reserve land.  The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo voted to write a letter to the federal government asking it to approve creating a reserve within the hamlet of Fort Chipewyan.

CBC

Firm Capital Property Trust announces size of equity offering

Firm Capital Property Trust (FCD-UN-X) announced its previously-announced overnight marketed public offering will consist of 2,100,000 trust units of the trust. The offered units are being issued at a price of $6.25 per offered unit  for gross proceeds to the trust of $13,125,000. The offering is being conducted by a syndicate of underwriters led by TD Securities Inc.

Marketwired – Marketwired

	RENX 2018 media kit is now available
	RENX 2018 media kit is now available. Enquire about our blended advertising rate that combines newsletter and website exposure. Advertising that reaches thousands of professionals in the commercial real estate industry every business day. Contact sales@renx.ca, 1-855-569-6300

 

Real Estate Investment Trusts

NorthWest mourns loss of lead independent trustee

With great sadness, the Board of Trustees of NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT (NWH-UN-T) Monday announced the passing of lead independent trustee Dr. Martin Barkin. Dr. Barkin had been NorthWest’s lead independent trustee since 2015 and chair of its Compensation, Governance and Nominating Committee since the REIT went public in 2010. 

Canada Newswire

Dream Office trades at NAV: Now what?

Dream Office REIT (D-UN-T) has been a favourite stock of mine for some time, because it fit nicely into the “if there is greed, be fearful, and if there is fear, be greedy” philosophy of investing. Specifically, investors were concerned about Dream Office’s Albertan real estate, so they pushed the value of the stock down far beyond the value of the entire portfolio. 

Motley Fool

Retail

Sobeys to close 10 Safeway stores in B.C.: Union

A union representing Safeway employees in British Columbia says 10 stores in the province will be permanently closed, affecting about 1,000 employees, as labour negotiations are set to begin. United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1518 says Sobeys Inc. (EMP-A-T) informed members of the decision Tuesday morning on the eve of bargaining between its union and Sobeys for all of its Safeway stores in B.C. 

Globe and Mail – CBC – Western Investor

New Development

Ottawa committee OK’s development proposal

After spending more than two hours hearing from a dozen residents opposed to a proposed development on Rochester Field in Westboro, the City of Ottawa’s planning committee voted six to four to allow the construction of two buildings. Critics of the proposal say the six-storey buildings that could eventually rise along the field’s southern edge will block the only view of the Ottawa River from Richmond Road.

CBC – Ottawa Ciitizen

Renovation and Restoration

Turning offices into homes threatens affordability: U.K. study

More than half of all new homes in some areas have been created by allowing developers to convert offices without building any affordable homes, an impact study of the policy has revealed. Since 2015, 30,575 housing units in England have been converted from offices to flats without having to go through the planning system, in a bid by ministers to boost housing supply.

The Guardian

Infrastructure

Union Station renovations $22.8M over budget

Union Station, Canada’s busiest transportation hub, will continue to be a construction zone for several more months, and a report from Toronto city council says the ongoing revitalization project will be over budget by more than $22 million. Renovations at the station, which were scheduled to be completed early this year, are now likely to continue through 2018, according to the report obtained by CBC Toronto.

CBC

Passenger traffic up 80 per cent at Hamilton airport

Passenger numbers at the Hamilton airport were up 80 per cent in 2017, according to new numbers released by officials today. Passenger traffic at the John C. Munro International Airport jumped to 599,146 people in 2017, compared to 333,368 in 2016. Officials say they’re expecting those numbers to keep growing with new services coming to the area in the future.

CBC

International

New U.S. tax laws likely to increase RE investment

For high-net-worth (HNW) investors in commercial real estate, Washington’s tax overhaul is practically a financial home run. Legal and tax experts say the law bestows several benefits that make it more appealing for HNW investors to buy properties. Broadly speaking, the tax law, enacted in December, represents a huge win for HNW real estate investors, says Jamie Byington, a Cherry Bekaert LLP tax partner.

National Real Estate Investor

Technology

10 technologies that will change real estate In 2018

Technological developments in recent years have changed nearly every industry, and real estate is no exception. The process of listing, viewing, buying and selling properties has become much more streamlined with listing websites, e-signed documents and mobile apps.

Forbes

Other

	RENX has surpassed 10,350 Twitter followers
	Recent follower U31 Design is a Toronto-based interior design/architecture firm creating luxurious, modern, innovative spaces— inspiring people to do great things.
	Follow RENXca, the most comprehensive news feed on Twitter for Canadian real estate professionals.