Starwood selling Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton Westin hotels

Starwood selling Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton Westin hotels

The owners of The Westin Ottawa have placed the high-profile hotel on the market as they continue to sell off several Canadian properties. Starwood Capital has retained commercial real estate brokers Cushman & Wakefield to oversee the transaction. The company will also be overseeing the sale of Westin Hotels in Calgary and Edmonton. The agent listing the properties refused to estimate the value of the hotels.

Ottawa Citizen – Edmonton Journal – Calgary Herald – Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Canadian pension funds eye further RE allocations

Real estate has been an increasingly favourite target for Canada’s pension funds. And 2018 promises more of the same. Canadian pension funds have been steadily upping their total allocation to real estate, from 9.43 in 2011 to 11.76 per cent by the end of 2016, observes Gaurav Mathur, from JLL’s Capital Markets Research. He points to historically-low real interest rates, changing demographics, higher life expectancy and longer retirements as part of the allure.

The Investor JLL – Financial Post

Melbourne office building first Australian buy for Manulife

Manulife Real Estate (MFC-T) has made its first foray into the Australian commercial real estate market, buying the 14-storey, class-A 800 Collins Street office tower in Melbourne. The 317,335-square-foot building was constructed in 2010 and is fully leased.  Located in the Docklands Central Business District (CBD), an extension of the Melbourne CBD, 800 Collins Street offers direct access to public transportation and close proximity to convenient eateries and retail amenities.

Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

NorthWest to Integrate Aussie, N.Z. management platforms

NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT  (NWH-UN-T) Monday announced the integration of its market-leading, best-practice management platforms in Australia and New Zealand. The operational integration of its Vital Healthcare Management Limited and Generation Healthcare Management Pty Ltd management teams results in an additional investment and strengthening of its industry-leading healthcare real estate management platform in Australia and New Zealand.   

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

Hungerford, Vancouver social agencies JV on The Link

Vancouver-based Hungerford Properties is partnering with several agencies to create an innovative, six-storey mixed-use development which combines social and market rental housing with ground-floor retail space. The project, to be known as The Link, broke ground Friday and will create 148 rental homes; 44 seniors housing apartments, 104 market rental apartments, in addition to the retail units.

Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

Westbank, QuadReal envision Oakridge Centre cultural hub

Westbank Corp. and QuadReal on Monday unveiled a plan to transform the Oakridge Centre. They hailed the vision as more than a revamped shopping centre with new residential towers. Instead, they said it will be a “cultural hub.” The massive Oakridge project is slated to unfold over 6 1/2 years with construction beginning in late 2018. The first office and residential towers lining the property’s perimeter will go up by late 2022.

Vancouver Sun – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

After year of record land sales, GTA soars into 2018: Altus

Land and improved land sales both set all-time records in the Greater Toronto Area in 2017, part of a banner year for the region’s commercial real estate industry. Expectations remain high for 2018, according to Altus Group Data Solutions senior director Matthew Boukall. He gave that rosy forecast in front of a large audience at Toronto’s Ritz-Carlton Ballroom on Jan. 26 as part of the company’s 10th annual state-of-the-market event.

Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

Residential developers and brokers seek retailers

There’s been a frenzied speed-dating scene going on at Whistler’s swankiest restaurants and hotel lobbies this week. It’s the annual International Council of Shopping Centres conference, an event name that doesn’t quite capture the way brokers, developers and retailers madly try to meet each other with the shared goal of attracting customers to spend time and money in malls.

Vancouver Sun

Canada’s luxury retail market takes off

Whether you’re in the market for a new $2 million Swiss watch or just window shopping, it’s pretty hard to miss a new global luxury retailer setting up shop in one of Canada’s high-end shopping streets these days. There’s has been an influx of luxury brands opening flagship stores in major urban centres like Toronto and Vancouver, including Chanel, Hermès and watchmaker Richard Mille.

CBC

How to ensure Toronto’s King Street is king again

By 2041, Toronto’s downtown population is expected to double, with its density growing vertically and intensively within a small footprint. Despite this astonishing growth, we cannot possibly double the number of cars on our already congested streets. With recent pilot projects, like the successful Bloor Street bike lanes and the new King Street Transit Pilot, Torontonians are rethinking how streets should function.

Globe and Mail

Developers ante up to keep transit plans on track

Developers have put up money to start and complete Metro Vancouver transit plans, which are seen as “crucial” to the local economy – and real estate sales. At the Marine Gateway Canada Line station in Vancouver, developer PCI Group paid $2.5 million for access and safety improvements. Cressey Development Group and Morguard REIT (MRT-UN-T), which owns Coquitlam Centre mall, anted up about $20 million for the Lincoln station.

Western Investor

Amid quest for Amazon, Atlanta studies giant office complex

As Atlanta vies to entice Amazon to build its second headquarters in the South’s corporate capital, details of a massive proposed development are coming into view from public records: A $5-billion project downtown would have 9.3 million square feet of office space. That’s more than three times the amount in New York City’s Empire State Building.

Daily Commercial News

China to build ‘Polar Silk Road’ off Canada’s north

China has finally unveiled its official Arctic strategy, and it includes a promise to build a “Polar Silk Road” on Canada’s northernmost fringes.  The document, published in English by Chinese state media, declares China a “near-Arctic state” and lays out the country’s ambitions to become a major shipping power through an ice-free Arctic. “China attaches great importance to navigation security in the Arctic shipping routes,” it reads.

Vancouver Sun

Wanda puts last two overseas projects up for sale

Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin’s Dalian Wanda Group Co. has put its last two overseas property developments up for sale, according to sources, in the latest unwinding of a decade-long overseas buying spree that put it in the cross-hairs of Chinese regulators. Wanda is seeking buyers for a hotel, office and apartment complex in Chicago and a development in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Bloomberg

Hong Kong’s London office love affair

Brexit’s pending arrival has some companies leaving London Hong Kong investors are going the other way. With the purchase of London’s iconic Cheesegrater building and the city’s Walkie Talkie skyscraper, investors from Hong Kong were the single biggest buyers of office property last year, accounting for 44 per cent of total funds spent.

Bloomberg – IPE Real Assets

Market Trends and Research

Toys R Us closings may prove fortunate to most landlords

The announcement from Toys R Us that it will initially be closing up to 182 stores by April could end up being a positive for many landlords.  A significant number of the properties are located in strong retail trade areas and retail properties near or in the shopping centres with stores slated for closure financed by publicly held loans in commercial mortgage backed securities have been reporting strong financial results. 

CoStar Group

U.S. CRE construction spending predicted to rise 4%

Despite labour shortages and rising material costs that continue to impact the construction sector, construction spending for nonresidential buildings is projected to increase 4.0% this year and continue at a 3.9% pace of growth through 2019.  The American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) semi-annual Consensus Construction Forecast indicates the commercial construction sectors will generate much of the expected gains this year.

Building Design & Construction

Real Estate Companies

Firm Capital Corporation completes $1B in financing in 2017

Firm Capital Corporation announced it completed $1.0 billion in new mortgage financings in 2017. “This was a record year for Firm Capital,” said Michael Carragher vice-president, Mortgage Investments. “We combined our ability to provide creative deal structures for our clients on a timely basis with a focus on the preservation of capital.” Sample transactions completed in 2017 are included in the news release.

Firm Capital Corporation News Release

Dr. Oetker to shutter New Brunswick plant

Germany’s Dr. Oetker  is closing its frozen pizza factory in Grand Falls, N.B., in May, eliminating 180 jobs less than four years after taking over the plant from McCain Foods. Dr. Oetker said it will move 70 per cent of the plant’s production to its factory in London, Ont., and the rest will move to Lodi, N.J. Several Canadian food plants have closed in recent years.

Globe and Mail – CBC – Winnipeg Free Press – Canada Newswire

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Retail

Loblaw shares downgraded due to drug price drop fears

The pharmaceutical industry is bracing for “an industry-wide impact” of lower generic drug prices starting in April after a long-awaited deal materialized. Shares of Loblaw Companies Ltd.’s shares fell and Metro Inc.’s CEO expressed concern. The pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance announced Monday an agreement that will see the prices of nearly 70 commonly prescribed generic drugs discounted by up to 90 per cent.

Globe and Mail

Pot to be sold at nine Nova Scotia Liquor Corp. stores

Cannabis will be sold at only nine Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation stores when the drug is officially legalized in July, the province announced Tuesday. Pot will be sold at four outlets in the Halifax area and at stores in Amherst, Truro, New Glasgow, Sydney River, and Yarmouth, Justice Minister Mark Furey said.

Toronto Star – Halifax ChronicleHerald

Restaurants and Eateries

McDonald’s robust U.S. sales fail to impress

McDonald’s Corp (MCD-N) Tuesday reported robust U.S. fourth-quarter restaurant sales, boosted by new buttermilk chicken tenders and low-price food, but that was not enough to match Wall Street’s increasing appetite for growth. Investor expectations are high three years into a turnaround led by CEO Steve Easterbrook. Under his guidance, the company is recapturing share from rivals and winning back customers.

Reuters – Bloomberg – Bloomberg

New Development

RBC to open $1.78M cybersecurity lab at Univ. of Waterloo

The Royal Bank of Canada is opening a cybersecurity lab at the University of Waterloo and investing $1.78 million into research to develop advanced defence and privacy tools. The funding will support researchers at the southwestern Ontario university’s Cheriton School of Computer Science and department of combinatorics and optimization.

Toronto Star

Major redevelopment for Vancouver’s Jewish Community Centre

A major redevelopment is proposed for the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. The city is assessing a rezoning application for the site, which includes a new 24-storey residential tower with 160 rental units, the final phase of the redevelopment. In the first phase are plans for a nine-storey centre that includes recreation space including a pool, ground-level commercial space and non-profit office space.

Western Investor

Cordova Bay Plaza development approved

Shovels are expected to be in the ground by spring for a new four-storey condo-retail development in Cordova Bay Plaza. Saanich council voted 8-1 on Monday in favour of a development permit. The plaza will host three four-storey buildings, which developer Kang and Gill Construction hopes will contain a grocery store, bank, pharmacy, coffee shop and possibly a medical clinic on the ground floor.

Victoria Times Colonist

Infrastructure

Calgary targets 5 properties for expropriation for Green Line LRT

The City of Calgary is starting the process to expropriate five properties in the southeast community of Ramsay as it continues preparations for the Green Line. Construction on the $4.65 billion LRT line is not set to start until 2020. Gathering the land needed for the project has been underway for the past couple of years. 

CBC

Technology

Experts wonder how Amazon Go will handle shoplifting

“Just walk out,” say the signs at the entrance and store windows at Amazon’s newest concept store. “No lines. No checkout. (No, seriously.)” Amazon Go opened in Seattle last week with much fanfare, raising a host of questions about the future of retail. Among them: How will the company handle shoplifting?

Toronto Star

Architecture’s future rests in the hands of robots

It’s midwinter and I am watching a bunch of houses get built. Yet I’m in my shirtsleeves, warm and dry, because the construction is happening indoors: I’m walking through the shop of Home Technology in suburban Toronto, where wood sections of walls and floors are being assembled by a company of workers and an armada of Swedish robots.

Globe and Mail

Other

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