Dream Office REIT sells 12 Alberta buildings

Dream Office REIT sells 12 Alberta buildings

Dream Office REIT (D.UN-T) began to exit the Calgary and Edmonton real estate markets Tuesday, announcing the company has agreed to sell 12 office buildings in Alberta for approximately $200 million. Toronto-based Dream owns 45 properties in Alberta and announced plans in August to sell all or part of the portfolio as part of a larger restructuring.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Marketwired

Milestone investors push back on Starwood deal

Shareholders representing at least 5.6 per cent of Milestone Apartments Real Estate Investment Trust (MST.UN-T) said a $1.3-billion US takeover deal by Starwood Capital Group (STWD-N) is too low. Starwood agreed to pay $16.15 a share for the owner of U.S. rental properties, Milestone announced Jan. 19.

Bloomberg

Vancouver company building world’s biggest grow-op

Vancouver-based Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB-X) is building a marijuana grow-op the size of nine football fields at Edmonton International Airport (EIA). What is being hailed as the world’s biggest medical marijuana production facility is also throwing a lifeline to an Alberta industrial real estate market cratered by the crash in oil prices.

Business In Vancouver – Canada Newswire – Canada Newswire

RioCan contines to fill former Target locations

RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust (REI.UN-T) has entered into agreements or in advanced discussions on 47 leases that, when completed, will replace approximately 122 per cent of the revenue lost from Target Canada Co.’s exit, not including the enhanced common area maintenance and realty tax recoveries. 

Marketwired – Motley Fool

Hotel investing and Euro Pain & Gain: Timbercreek – Part 2

Property Biz Canada recently discussed a Timbercreek Asset Management 2017 outlook paper with Corrado Russo, senior managing director, investments and global head of securities. Part one of the Biz article A decent year for REITs shaping up for 2017: Timbercreek was published Jan. 12.  Following is the remainder of the story:

Property Biz Canada

Liquor and Gaming Authority seeks office space

The Liquor and Gaming Authority of Manitoba is looking to lease 22,000 square feet of office space in Winnipeg — but not in the city’s downtown. According to a tender seeking expressions of interest (EOI), filed by the provincial Finance Department, the authority is looking for a minimum lease of 15 years.

Winnipeg Free Press

U of Manitoba adding two new buildings

The University of Manitoba has announced two critical new developments that will become key elements of the province’s innovation efforts in the coming years. The two new buildings — the U of M Smartpark Innovation Hub and the new Stanley Pauley Engineering Building — will add to the university’s current $1-billion economic impact and enhance its ability to continue to attract talent in the engineering and new technology areas.

Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Catholics plan major project

An ambitious, long-term plan is in the works to redevelop land adjacent to historic St. Mary’s Cathedral into the next new megaproject for downtown Winnipeg. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Winnipeg, which owns the property, is the developer behind the $105-million Building Faith, Building Hope project.

Winnipeg Free Press

Strathallen buys Saskatoon’s Market Mall

Saskatchewan’s first indoor shopping mall has been sold for an undisclosed sum to a Toronto-based real estate management company that says it has “comprehensive” plans to improve it. Through one of its retail funds, Strathallen Capital Corp. bought Market Mall from Fishman Holdings North America Inc. this month.

Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Saint John’s uptown mall gets left behind

The first thing anyone tells you when you visit Saint John these days is how much there is to do now in its historic uptown. Keen developers and entrepreneurs are investing in its once-weathered core. In a single jaunt, you can visit an olive oil boutique, dine at a brand-new Italian restaurant, and grab a drink from a whisky bar, wine bar, arcade-themed bar or craft beer general store.

Globe and Mail

TO developers accused of ‘stealth’ demolitions

Linda McCarthy thought she had plenty of time to finish an application to protect a stately old bank building in North Toronto. But after the developer that owns the site quietly obtained a demolition permit, she soon found herself standing on the sidewalk crying as she gazed at a pile of rubble. designation process.

Globe and Mail

How a developer failed to silence a critic

Earlier this month, an Ontario judge tossed out a defamation lawsuit filed by a Goliath of the syndicated mortgage industry against a veritable David of real estate analysts. The saga between Fortress Real Developments and independent analyst Ben Rabidoux offers a modern parable for Canada’s overheated housing market.

Maclean’s

Sit-down restaurants expected to struggle

Canada’s restaurant sector is expected to remain flat in 2017 after a tepid 2016, and that doesn’t bode well for full-service dining establishments, who continue to lose ground to their fast-food counterparts. Overall restaurant customer traffic will remain stagnant this year, according to market research firm NPD Group, following a flat 2016.

Financial Post

Debt wave shows cracks in U.S. property boom

A $90-billion wave of maturing commercial mortgages, leftover debt from the 2007 lending boom, is laying bare the weak links in the U.S. real estate market. It’s getting harder for landlords who rely on borrowed cash to find new loans to pay off the old ones, leading to forecasts for higher delinquencies.

Bloomberg

Brexit has Related wary about London

New York is the world’s most promising real estate market as global turmoil pushes more investors to the U.S. finance and media hub, according to Related Cos.‘ CEO Jeff Blau. New York is increasingly seen as gaining ground in its long-time rivalry with London as a finance centre with the U.K.’s impending withdrawal from the European Union.

Bloomberg – CNBC

Featured Column

Steady as she goes, in Saskatoon CRE

ICR has collected the fourth quarter results for 2016 and though commercial vacancy remains higher than average in some sectors, overall the numbers have not changed drastically over the past year.

Read more

Market Trends and Research

‘Cautious optimism’ for Calgary’s beleaguered CRE

When downtown real estate slumps, as it has in Calgary, office workers can feel it coming to work each day. With thousands of jobs gone from Calgary and nearly a quarter of the city’s office space vacant as of the last quarter of 2016, the streets seem emptier, say business leaders, even those who have seen many other economic ups and downs.

Globe and Mail

Vancouver industrial in short supply

Metro Vancouver’s rental housing and industrial markets remain highly active, with demand outstripping supply on both fronts, leading to sales and price surges in some areas and low vacancy rates in others, according to recent reports. 

Vancouver Sun

Floor caving in on European RE stocks

European property stocks, already the worst performers this year, are flirting with a key technical level that, if breached, could signal more declines. Battered by rising bond yields and Brexit uncertainty, the Stoxx 600 Real Estate Index has slumped to its lowest level since 2014 relative to its parent gauge.

Bloomberg

Real Estate Investment Trusts

NorthWest provides portfolio update

NorthWest Healthcare Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (NWH.UN-T) has provide a portfolio update in respect of recent developments at both of its Australasian affiliates, Generation Healthcare REIT (ASX:GHC) and Vital Healthcare Property Trust (NZX: VHP) as well as acquisition activities in Germany and completion of accretive deleveraging in Brazil.

Canada Newswire

PROREIT announces agreement for Quebec property

PRO Real Estate Investment Trust (PRV.UN-X) reported it has entered into a binding conditional agreement in respect of one of its previously announced acquisitions. The agreement provides the REIT will acquire a 50 per cent undivided interest in the property located at 1750 Jean-Berchmans-Michaud Street, Drummondville, Que., for a purchase price of $3.0 million, representing a capitalization rate of 7.5 per cent.

Marketwired

Is SmartREIT still a smart buy?

SmartREIT (SRU.UN-T) is a terrific company with a bountiful 5.3 per cent dividend yield. The stock pulled back by over 22% in the latter part of 2016 due to fears of rising interest rates. The company owns 140 shopping malls across Canada and has more than $8.6 billion worth of assets.

Motley Fool

H&R announces unsecured debenture financing

H&R Real Estate Investment Trust (HR.UN-T) has agreed to issue $200 million principal amount of Series N Senior unsecured debentures on a bought deal basis. These debentures will carry a coupon rate of 3.369 per cent and will mature on Jan. 30, 2024. 

Marketwired

Legal Corner

Montrealers, MUHC reach noise pollution settlement

Montreal residents and the McGill University Health Centre have reached a settlement over noise pollution coming from the Glen site. If the agreement is approved, the MUHC and the consortium responsible for building the hospital will pay a total of $420,000.

CBC

Retail

Metro makes modest first-quarter gains

Food price deflation and intense competition among Canada’s supermarket chains make it an easier time for grocery shoppers than a year ago, Metro Inc.‘s (MRU-T) CEO said Tuesday. “All banners, all formats are aggressive in this type of environment, and can slash lower price points,” Eric La Flèche told an investor call after the retailer reported flat first-quarter sales.

Financial Post – Motley Fool – Globe and Mail

New Development

Ottawans compile wish list for former campus

More than 100 Ottawans turned out Tuesday night for the first in a series of public consultations about the future of the former Booth Street campus of Natural Resources Canada. After giving a brief presentation, officials from Canada Lands Company invited residents to share ideas about what they’d like to see in the future community.

CBC

Trump Tower developer sues construction company

The developer of Trump International Tower and Hotel Vancouver is suing a local construction company, claiming that shoddy work and poor management of trade contractors delayed the high-profile project. Holborn Developments (West Georgia) Ltd. filed a notice of civil claim on Jan. 17 in B.C. Supreme Court with a list of more than 25 complaints about Richmond-based Urban One Construction Management.

Vancouver Sun

Edmonton’s Southpark on Whyte debate delayed

Edmonton City Council postponed its Southpark on Whyte decision Monday in order to hear more details on the overall PlanWhyte work done to date. Wheaton Properties and One Properties are pitching two 18-storey towers on 81 Avenue as part of a four-building development on Whyte Avenue and 106 Street. 

Edmonton Journal

Infrastructure

Northleaf betting big on infrastructure

Northleaf Capital Partners has closed a $950-million pooled infrastructure fund, the second to target direct long-term investments in OECD countries. The firm’s infrastructure program now sits at $2.5 billion, with funds coming primarily from institutional investors including pensions and endowments. 

Financial Post

Other

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