Windmill chosen to develop Guelph’s Baker District

Windmill chosen to develop Guelph’s Baker District

Windmill Development Group has been chosen to partner with the City of Guelph, Ont., on the planning, design and development of the Baker District. The development team includes Diamond Schmitt Architects, architecture, landscape architecture and urban design firm DTAH, and Urban Equation Corporation. The companies, which have worked together before, will work closely with the city and Guelph Public Library to arrive at a final plan for the development.

Property Biz Canada

CEO Lois Cormack tells Sienna Senior Living’s story

VIDEO: Sienna Senior Living Inc. (SIA-T) is a leading seniors’ living provider with 85 seniors’ living residences in key markets in Canada. Sienna offers a full range of seniors’ living options, including independent and assisted living, long-term and residential care, and specialized programs and services. Sienna also provides expert management services. Sienna is committed to national growth, while driving long-term value for shareholders.

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

Walmart to build $175M distribution centre in Surrey

For the second straight day, one of the world’s largest retailers has announced construction of a new distribution centre in Canada. Walmart Canada (WMT-N) said Thursday it will spend more than $175 million to build a 300,000-square-foot, high-tech, state-of-the-art fresh and frozen grocery facility in Surrey, B.C. The centre will be the hub for deliveries of fresh produce and frozen grocery items to 60 stores throughout the province.

Property Biz Canada

Walmart stumbles with ‘last mile’ package delivery plan

Standing before an audience of 14,000 last year, Walmart Inc executives described a radical plan to help it fend off Amazon.com Inc and other online delivery services from stealing its customers. Walmart’s own store employees would bring online orders directly to shoppers’ homes after completing their usual shifts of up to nine hours on the sales floors.

Reuters

Vancouver votes to hike development-related fees

Vancouver city council voted Tuesday to endorse a staff recommendation to significantly hike the fees they charge for rezoning, development and building permits. Staff have said the costs to process permit applications have not been recovered by fees. In essence, work developers should be paying for was being paid for by taxpayers, Coun. Raymond Louie said.

Vancouver Sun

Brilliant Circle abruptly cancels Vancouver condo project

A proposal for a downtown Vancouver luxury condo tower has been abruptly cancelled by developer Brilliant Circle Group. It’s a sign of what some see as a shift in Vancouver’s hot real estate market, as the demand for high-end property has weakened, construction costs are skyrocketing and city officials are demanding ever-higher community-amenity contributions (CACs), a fee intended to pay for improvements to neighbourhood services.

Globe and Mail

MaKami College taking Sears space in Edmonton mall

The former Sears store at Edmonton’s Bonnie Doon Shopping Centre will be getting a makeover before the site is transformed as part of a 30-year redevelopment plan. MaKami College announced it has assumed a long-term lease for its new campus in the 110,000-square-foot former department store. Renovations to the two-storey space started about a month ago.

Edmonton Journal

Aerospace parts plant touted for Manitoba FN

An ambitious and potentially ground-breaking project to develop an aerospace parts plant at the Opaskwayak Cree Nation near The Pas is moving closer to getting the go-ahead. The band and the Manitoba Aerospace Association are in the process of finalizing the actual business plan. At this point, the plan is for the plant to produce and assemble a couple of specific machined-metal parts.

Winnipeg Free Press

Ottawa industrial availability rate sinks to 2.8%

Industrial space continues to become harder and harder to find for tenants in the National Capital Region. Real estate firm Colliers International recently reported the availability rate for industrial space dropped to 2.8 per cent at the end of the second quarter, down from three per cent in the first quarter

Ottawa Business Journal

Smile when you scan CF mall directories

The digital maps at some Cadillac Fairview malls aren’t just directing shoppers; they’re also taking in information like approximate age and gender, the company says. Cameras inside the digital directories count the number of users, and software attempts to predict approximate age and gender.

Toronto Star – CBC – CBC

Grocers paying the price for customers’ convenience

Canada’s grocers have posted decent financial results this year, but that doesn’t mean all is well at Canada’s big food retailers. Top-line sales have been a challenge and, coupled with a somewhat weak food inflation rate, future results at the major grocers look to tumble faster than Niagara Falls. Recent Statistics Canada figures suggest the market shift toward convenience many industry pundits were dreading is indeed happening.

Globe and Mail

Ontario could face fees over breaking cannabis leases

Ontario’s decision to reverse course on selling cannabis out of government-run stores – once recreational use is legalized on Oct. 17 – could leave it open to costs from breaking agreements with landlords, according to a tenant source. However, Avi Behar, chief executive of The Behar Group, a Toronto brokerage that focuses on retail, said the move to let private operators open cannabis stores could also provide a boost to an ailing sector. 

CoStar Group

Granite sells two U.S. special-purpose properties to Magna

Granite REIT (GRT-UN-T) today announced subsidiaries of Magna International Inc. have exercised their rights of first refusal in response to a third party offer to acquire Granite’s two remaining special-purpose properties in the United States for a total purchase price of approximately US$207 million. The properties are located in Piedmont, S.C., and Clinton, Tenn., and together represent approximately 1.6 million square feet.

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

Loblaw warns trade war could hit customers

Canadian grocery shoppers are about to experience what a trade war feels like. Loblaw Cos. (L-T), the country’s largest grocer, said it expects prices to rise in the second half of the year as retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports come into effect. While the company couldn’t quantify the impact, it said the measure adds to higher transportation costs and wages, as well as a weaker currency.

Bloomberg

L.A.’s most expensive listing aims to get $1B

The most expensive real estate listing in Los Angeles history has hit the market. The property is listed for $1 billion. The property is a sprawling 157 acres of undeveloped Beverly Hills land at the highest point of the 90210 zip code, according to the Los Angeles Times. The property is nicknamed “The Mountain” for its size and high location.

Fortune – Forbes

Market Trends and Research

Office vacancy rates drop in New Brunswick

Overall office vacancy trended down year-over-year in June in each of the three major centres of New Brunswick. Fredericton has the province’s lowest office vacancy rate, at 9.44%, with Moncton not far behind at 12.17%. Saint John rounds out the trio at 17.01%, dropping below the 20% mark for the first time in four years. 

Turner Drake & Partners media release

Real Estate Companies

How to make money off First Capital stock

About a week ago, I happened to notice First Capital Realty (FCR-T) was one of five stocks appearing on the Globe and Mail’s weekly oversold list. A stock is considered oversold when it drops below 30 on the Relative Strength Index (RSI), an indicator that technical analysts use to figure out the best time to buy.

Motley Fool – Property Biz Canada

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Keep an eye on Minto Apartment REIT

Minto Apartment (MI-UN-T) is a newly listed REIT. Real estate securities in the apartment segment have been strong performers. For instance, year-to-date, the unit price of CAPREIT (CAR.UN-T) is up 15 per cent, and the unit price of InterRent REIT (IIP-UN-T) has rallied 18 per cent. Apartment REITs have outperformed the S&P/TSX real estate sector, which is up 4.5 per cent, and the S&P/TSX composite index that is up only one per cent.

Globe and Mail – Property Biz Canada

Retail

IKEA plans on hold in London

Less than a year after Ikea announced it would build a full-sized store in London, those plans are on hold. The iconic Swedish big-box retailer has confirmed to Global News Radio 980 CFPL that plans to build the store at a new retail and commercial complex at the intersection of Highway 401 and Wellington Road are on hold. The retail giant attributes the delay to the “rapidly changing retail environment” and says it is evolving its business model for the future.

Global News – London Free Press

Cannabis industry news

Cannabis tech sector flourishing

A growing number of Canadian tech entrepreneurs are betting big on the future of cannabis in the lead up to legalization later this year. These “weed tech,” or “canna tech,” companies, as they are sometimes called, are hoping to cash in on the new legal market by creating specialized software and hardware to serve the cannabis industry and consumers

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

‘A really wide range of valuations in the sector’: Faircourt

Marijuana stocks are volatile and many have sky-high valuations. While that is scaring away some investors, others, such as CEO Charles Taerk of Faircourt Asset Management Inc., are sorting through cannabis companies and picking the players they think will perform best. “There’s a really wide range of valuations in the sector. Some companies get premium valuations. Some are justified and others are diamonds in the rough . . .,” says Taerk.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

New Development

Thyssenkrupp to build new U.S. HQ campus outside Atlanta

Thyssenkrupp, the largest elevator company in North America, is building a campus in suburban Atlanta that will feature a sky-high testing centre and bring more than 900 jobs to the $200-million complex.  The German industrial conglomerate said Thursday it would start construction later this year on three new buildings off Circle 75 Parkway owned by the development arm of the Atlanta Braves professional baseball team.

CoStar Group

Infrastructure

Vancouver bitcoin mining firm installs 85-MW substation

Vancouver-based DMG Blockchain Solutions Inc. recently announced it had begun the installation of its 85-megawatt (MW) capacity substation, which will power the expansion of its crypto mining facility. The new 85-megawatt capacity transformer and electric substation will be connected to the utility power grid when completed, and it will help expand its product offerings.

CNN

Other

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