Amazon to build fourth GTA fulfillment centre in Caledon

Amazon to build fourth GTA fulfillment centre in Caledon

It’s not the HQ2 news the business world is waiting for, but e-commerce giant Amazon (AMZN-Q) will build a fourth fulfillment centre in the Greater Toronto Area, a one-million-square-foot facility in the Town of Caledon north of the city. It will join Amazon’s network of existing Ontario buildings in Brampton, Mississauga and Milton and a recently announced one-million-square-foot facility in Ottawa.

Property Biz Canada

Vancouver OKs view-blocking tower, if it’s all-rental

Vancouver city council approved a plan Tuesday for a new downtown tower that opponents say will block part of a long-protected view of the North Shore from the slopes that descend down to the south shore of False Creek. In an amendment presented just before Tuesday’s final vote, Coun. Raymond Louie from Vision Vancouver called for the tower to be approved only if it is 100 per cent rental housing.

Vancouver Sun

SmartCentres, SmartStop form storage joint venture

A new joint venture between SmartCentres REIT (SRU-UN-T) and SmartStop Asset Management, LLC to build self-storage facilities might be best described by the first word in the companies’ names. SmartCentres president and chief executive officer Peter Forde said the real estate investment trust has “a lot of great real estate” to build on. As such, it’s looking beyond its traditional retail tenants.

Property Biz Canada

Winnipeg law firm moves into True North Square

Thompson Dorfman Sweatman (TDS) has moved into its new space on the top three floors of True North Square instantly transforming a 135-year-old firm into one of the most modern in town. Not only does it get bragging rights being the anchor tenant in the first new office building in downtown Winnipeg in 25 years but TDS partners were determined to make the investment reflect their commitment to the community.

Winnipeg Free Press – CTV – Property Biz Canada

KRP Properties eyeing new Ottawa build

With Kanata office vacancy rates approaching a 10-year low, one of the west end’s largest landlords says it’s getting close to kicking off construction of a new 150,000-square-foot building. “There’s a lot of interest and demand out there” among tenants, KRP Properties leasing director Linda Sprung said on the Ottawa Real Estate Show. “We’re hoping we can break ground sooner than later.”

Ottawa Business Journal

Vancouver approves Jericho Lands planning policy

Vancouver city council Tuesday approved a planning program for the future of the Jericho Lands, a 90-acre site  owned by the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations and Canada Lands Company. The program is the start of a two-year process aiming to establish principles, objectives and policies on: reconciliation, affordable housing, land use, density, height, public benefits, transportation, built form, character, sustainability, infrastructure and phases of development.

Vancouver Courier

Manitoba Race to Reduce targets building energy usage

Throughout the last century, technological advancements have revolutionized the way we live. From transportation systems to the expedition of communication, these contributions have created a level of convenience and economic prosperity unknown to previous generations. Despite the province’s skill for producing renewable energy, more than a billion cubic metres of non-renewable natural gas is imported into Manitoba during an average per year. 

Sustainable Biz Canada

Montreal’s sprawl ‘shocking’ urban planners

Using Statscan data, Google Earth and Google Street View, David Gordon is able to graphically show – via aerial and ground-level images – how “the bleeding edge” of suburbanization continues to spill over the boundary lines marking where rural spaces begin. In the Montreal region, he’s seeing continued vigorous population growth and building activity in territory that stretches farther and farther out.

Globe and Mail

Montreal industrial supply at lowest levels in 15 years

The supply of purchasable or leasable industrial space in Montreal has fallen to its lowest levels in over a decade and a half, according to real estate firm CBRE. The amount of industrial space available for sale or lease in the Montreal area reached its lowest level in 15 years, during the second quarter of 2018, according to a report released by real estate firm CBRE.

Mortgage Broker News

Fiera Capital reports $139.4 billion assets under management

Fiera Capital Corporation (FSZ-T), a leading independent asset management firm, today reported its preliminary estimate of assets under management of approximately $139.4 billion as of June 30. The distribution of AUM by clientele is comprised of $73.1 billion for the institutional sector, $30.6 billion for private wealth, and $35.7 billion for the retail segment.

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

Cannabis shop cluster worries Calgary Downtown Association

The Calgary Downtown Association is raising concerns about the potential for over-concentration of cannabis shops along Stephen Avenue due to a lack of required minimum separation distances between stores throughout the downtown. In a letter to Coun. Druh Farrell, whose ward encompasses the downtown, the association says it is worried “about the potential of proliferation of cannabis related uses (along) Stephen Avenue and 8th Avenue S.W.”

Calgary Herald

Former Sears Canada executive new Lululemon CEO

Canadian apparel maker Lululemon Athletica Inc (LULU-Q) Tuesday named Calvin McDonald as its new chief executive officer, replacing Laurent Potdevin.  McDonald joins from LVMH’s cosmetics retailer Sephora, where he was head of the Americas region, and will start in his new role at Lululemon on Aug. 20. Before he joined Sephora in 2013, McDonald spent two years as president and CEO of Sears Canada, and 17 years at Loblaw Companies Ltd.

Reuters – CBC

Toronto set the pace in adding tech jobs in 2017

Toronto’s created more tech jobs than the San Francisco Bay area, Seattle and Washington, D.C., combined last year, while leapfrogging New York in a ranking of “talent markets.” Toronto was the fastest-growing tech-jobs market in 2017, according to CBRE Group Inc.’s latest annual survey, released Tuesday. The city saw 28,900 tech jobs created, 14 per cent more than in 2016 and up 52 per cent over the past five years.

Bloomberg – Globe and Mail

Architect painstakingly restored the B.C. Legislature

After a half-century of neglect and haphazard alteration, the interior of the British Columbia Legislature was a monument to faded grandeur. Over the years, grand rooms had been carved into a warren of cubbyhole offices. Floors were covered in linoleum yellowed by age and sunlight. The roof leaked and the foundation was crumbling. An antiquated electrical system was treacherous.

Globe and Mail

Data centres continue to outperform

As rumours of mergers circulate in the data center sector, there appears to be no slowdown in investors’ interest in this property type. The year kicked off with the launch of a new player in the space, EdgeCore Internet Real Estate. In June, AT&T Inc. said it would sell its data centres for $1.1 billion to Brookfield Infrastructure (BIP-N). 

National Real Estate Investor – Property Biz Canada

Featured Column

Hard tenant truths in the CRE world

As a commercial real estate agent my job is to line up tenants with landlords, and sellers with buyers. Unlike a sale, where both sides part ways at the end of transaction, I think leasing is a lot about building a relationship. However, much like in our personal lives, we all know some relationships are just not meant to be.

Read more

Market Trends and Research

Manhattan’s CRE sales rebounding after two-year slump

In the first half of 2018, US$22.5 billion of properties such as office towers and apartment complexes changed hands, up 34 per cent from a year earlier, data from brokerage Cushman & Wakefield show. The pace is running far behind the US$38 billion of deals completed during the first six months of 2015. Buyers and sellers are slowly coming to terms following a two-year stand-off.

South China Morning Post

Slowdown in U.S. office construction possible in 2019

While new office construction has been robust so far in 2018, next year developers might begin pulling back, according to David Bitner, head of Americas capital markets research with real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield. He cites rising construction costs, concerns about the end of the real estate cycle and zoning issues as the reasons.

National Real Estate Investor

U.S. industrial market continues to tighten in Q2

The U.S. industrial real estate market continues to demonstrate robust growth, driven by the digital economy creating soaring demand for space in warehouses and distribution centres across the country, according to BBG, a national commercial real estate valuation, advisory and assessment firm. Vacancies in the industrial sector dropped by 10 basis points (bps) to 7.2 per cent in Q2 2018.

PR Newswire

Real Estate Companies

M&G acquires Seoul office building for $1B

M&G Real Estate, a unit of insurance giant Prudential Plc, said on Tuesday it had acquired an office building in Seoul for $1.04 billion US. Centropolis Towers, the 26-storey twin-tower office building in Seoul’s central business district, will have a combined floor space of 1.45 million square feet when it is completed in August, the company said.

Reuters

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Why Canadian REITs are looking so good

As many REITs have declined in value as a result of higher interest rates and the expectation of more increases, investors who are prepared to remain patient and obtain above-average dividend yields may be in for a pleasant surprise. At a price of $7.70, shares of Slate Office REIT (SOT.UN-T) currently offer a yield of 9.7 per cent, which represents close to 100% of available free cash flow.

Motley Fool – Property Biz Canada

Artis comes with a safe 8.4 per cent yield

Artis Real Estate Investment Trust (AX.UN-T) is a diversified REIT, which has a portfolio of office (about 53 per cent of its net operating income), retail (about 21%), and industrial assets (about 26%). In the first quarter, Artis REIT generated roughly 40% of its net operating income from the United States — primarily from Minnesota (about 18% of its net operating), Arizona (about nine per cent), and Wisconsin (about nine per cent).

Motley Fool – Property Biz Canada

Retail

Loblaw profit beats estimates, but falls on charges

Canadian grocery and pharmacy chain Loblaw Companies Limited’s (L-T) quarterly profit topped analysts’ estimates on Wednesday, driven by higher food and drug same-store sales. The drop in quarterly profit was due to charges related to its acquisition of Canadian Real Estate Investment Trust and the sale of its gas pump operations.

Reuters – Canada Newswire

Restaurants and Eateries

U.S. Tim Hortons franchisee group sues RBI

A group of U.S. Tim Hortons franchisees filed a lawsuit Tuesday alleging their parent company engaged in price gouging and equity theft. Restaurant Brands International Inc. (QSR-T)  “established a very aggressive and improper investment strategy in the Tim Hortons franchisee system, which resulted in the economic squeezing of Tim Hortons franchisees by RBI,” reads the suit filed in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida court.

CTV – Motley Fool

Infrastructure

North Vancouver green-lights $237M rec centre

The City of North Vancouver has approved a $237-million replacement for the community’s aging Harry Jerome Community Recreation Centre. The decision came in a split vote and the possibility of scaling it back will probably be a key issue in the fall municipal election.

Vancouver Sun

Human Resources

Former top Brookfield exec joins Columbia Property Trust

David Cheikin, the former head of Brookfield Property Partners’ (BPY-UN-T) New York and Boston offices, is joining Columbia Property Trust (CXP-N). The REIT named Cheikin vice-president of strategic real estate initiatives in its New York office. In his new position, Cheikin will oversee Columbia’s national real estate portfolio, focusing directly on its properties in New York, Washington D.C. and Boston.

The Real Deal

Other

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