A reboot for BlackBerry’s former offices

A reboot for BlackBerry’s former offices

When BlackBerry Ltd. (BB-T) divested about three million square feet of real estate in Waterloo, Ont., and area in 2014, naysayers warned of a calamitous office space glut in the region. It took about two years to upend the gloomy predictions. Over 26 months, public- and private-sector entities scooped up 2.3 million square feet of BlackBerry’s 2.8 million-square-foot portfolio over 21 buildings in the Waterloo area.

Globe and Mail

CF, IMCO to build 46-storey downtown Toronto office tower

Cadillac Fairview and the Investment Management Corporation of Ontario will construct an $800-million, 46-storey office tower at 160 Front Street West in downtown Toronto. The development, on the northeast corner of Front and Simcoe Streets, will feature 1.2 million square feet of office space, 339 parking stalls, 12,290 square feet of retail space and is slated to open in the fall of 2022.

Property Biz Canada

Vancouver becomes Canadian HQ as Calabrio grows

Calabrio, a Minneapolis-based customer engagement and analytics software company, has become one of the latest examples of the Vancouver tech sector’s hunger for more talent and workspace. The company has opened a Canadian headquarters in Vancouver’s downtown financial district, expanding its floor space, staff and moving into the Bentall Centre complex. The space will double as Calabrio’s Centre for Excellence.

Property Biz Canada

PROREIT buys 12 properties, internalizes management

PRO Real Estate Investment Trust (PRV-UN-X) will acquire 12 commercial properties in three provinces for $45.1 million, in addition to purchasing a Halifax-based property management firm to internalize those functions. The properties are six industrial buildings and development land in Winnipeg, five retail buildings in Quebec and New Brunswick, and the 50 per cent remaining interest in an industrial building in Drummondville, Que.

Property Biz Canada – Winnipeg Free Press

Toronto’s hot condo market fuels growth of private REITs

Brice Scheschuk, CEO of Toronto-based investment firm Globalive Capital,  is a fan of investing in private real-estate securities. In his personal portfolio, he holds units in Central Condominium REIT, which owns 68 rental units in three downtown Toronto condo buildings. Helped by a hot housing market, the value of this private REIT has risen by about 40 per cent since its launch two years ago. It also pays a quarterly distribution.

Globe and Mail

Langham planning downtown Edmonton residential towers

An Edmonton company wants to build a major two-tower residential development on a gravel parking lot south of Jasper Avenue. Langham Developments Ltd. is looking at putting up about 600 units with balconies in two phases. The project will be set back from the street on a two-storey podium over underground parking, architect Stephen Boyd told the Edmonton Design Committee on Tuesday.

Edmonton Journal

HOOPP sustainability leaders honoured at LEAP awards

The Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) recently celebrated its sustainability achievements and honoured its management teams and tenants at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club (RCYC) on Toronto Island. From the 136-year old RCYC island facility, there is a dramatic view of downtown Toronto including two of HOOPP’s prize office assets, One York Street , site of HOOPP’s head office and 25 York Street (a partnership between Menkes and HOOPP).

Sustainable Biz Canada

Madison Group, Nobu break ground on Nobu Toronto

Nobu Hospitality LLC, the sushi restaurant and luxury hotel chain founded by Robert De Niro, chef Nobu Matsuhisa and movie producer Meir Teper, expects to reach US$1 billion revenue in five years as it adds condos to its growing empire. A key step in the company’s growth was its first foray into the condo market with 660 units and 36 luxury-hotel suites atop a Nobu restaurant in Toronto.

South China Morning Post – Canada Newswire

HBC shareholders challenge renumeration, RE plans

Hudson’s Bay Co. (HBC-T) faced a fight from some of its most prominent investors Tuesday over its decision to award executives with multi-million-dollar pay packages. The majority of other stakeholders at the meeting focused on the value of the company’s real estate, which at least one activist investor – Jonathan Litt – has previously pushed the company to think strategically about, given the retailer’s rocky recent performance.

CBC – Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Montreal’s Breather Products raises $60M

Montreal startup Breather Products, hoping to bring the “sharing economy” to the office market, has raised $60 million in a financing led by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek and several U.S. venture capital firms. Breather Products said the funds will allow it to increase the density of office spaces it leases from commercial landlords in 10 metropolitan markets in North America and Britain.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Jollibee to open 100 Canadian stores in next five years

Filipino fast-food chain Jollibee Food Corporation plans to open 100 stores in Canada within the next five years. The company says it is eyeing the wave of new locations because the country is a key growth market and a big part of its North American expansion plans. Jollibee attracted long lines of customers when it entered the Canadian market in 2016, opening two Winnipeg locations and another in Scarborough.

CTV

Automotive Properties to acquire Calgary dealership

Automotive Properties REIT  (APR.UN-T) Monday announced it has entered into an agreement to purchase the Country Hills Volkswagen dealership property in Calgary for a purchase price of approximately $18 million. The property includes a newly built 34,646-square-foot, full-service Volkswagen dealership facility operated by a Dilawri Group company. The property is located on approximately 4.7 acres.

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

CPPIB approached about investing in Trans Mountain

​The head of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board says the federal government’s financial adviser has raised the possibility of getting involved in the Trans Mountain pipeline project. CPPIB chief executive Mark Machin said the Toronto-based fund manager and its peers likely will take a look at the stalled Trans Mountain project because there are a limited number of investment opportunities of its magnitude.

CBC

Pebblebrook outbids Blackstone for LaSalle REIT

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (PEB-N) has sweetened its offer for LaSalle Hotel Properties (LHO-N) to $4.17 billion US, surpassing the Blackstone Group’s bid. The proposal for all of LaSalle’s outstanding common stock represents a price of $37.80 per share based on a fixed exchange ratio of 0.92, according to a Pebblebrook statement. That’s a 13 per cent premium over the $33.50-per-share deal LaSalle agreed to do with Blackstone last month.

Institutional Investor – Bloomberg – CoStar Group – Mingtiandi

Seattle repeals so-called Amazon tax

A tax on large companies such as Amazon that was meant to fight a growing homelessness crisis got rolled back during a raucous Seattle city council meeting that exposed divisions over how much companies that have fuelled booming economies should help pay to alleviate the downsides of success. A divided crowd chanted, jeered and booed at the meeting, drowning out city leaders as they cast a 7-2 vote Tuesday.

CBC – Calgary Herald

Featured Column

Real estate sidelined by e-commerce won’t stay dormant

Change is inevitable, in real estate as it is with any other segment of the economy. Some of those affected will suffer, others will innovate and come out on top. That’s the way it’s been since one of our hairy ancestors first realized a sharp stone tied to a stick made a better tool than a stick alone.

Read more

Market Trends and Research

Investment in U.S. data centres on the rise

Soaring demand for U.S. data-centre facilities marked one of the largest investments in commercial real estate properties last year, fueling expectations 2018 is on track to be another strong year, according to BBG. Investment in the nation’s data centres was estimated at $20 billion in 2017, nearly three times the investment ($7.78 billion) in the prior year and about five times of that amount ($4.7 billion) seven years ago, according to industry sources.

PR Newswire

U.S. industrial sector remains strong: Yardi

A new Yardi Matrix analysis reports the U.S. industrial sector is performing solidly. Warehouse and distribution assets posted double-digit total returns, record low vacancy rates and all-time high rents in 2017 and are on track for an even stronger year in 2018, according to Hitting Its Stride. Rising e-commerce sales and online retailers’ focus on moving closer to customers have made warehouse space popular with both investors and tenants.

Canada Newswire

Russian market much better than its World Cup team

For a long time, Russia’s real estate market was struggling as badly as its national football team. Political sanctions and a sluggish domestic economy caused by low oil prices combined to create a challenging environment for Russian real estate these past few years, with Moscow office rents dropping by 33% between 2011 and 2017 while the rest of Europe saw a recovery.

Bisnow

Four years later, graft taints 10 Brazilian World Cup stadiums

Four years after the World Cup, Brazil’s massive corruption probes have cleared only two of the 12 stadiums. The privately owned arenas in Curitiba and Porto Alegre have gone through other problems, though, along with management disagreements. Here is an update on each of the stadiums used at the 2014 World Cup:

Associated Press

Real Estate Companies

Picture at Cineplex improving for dividend investors

In action movies, the hero always escapes from perilous situations. Can Cineplex Inc.’s (CGX-T) struggling stock do the same? In the past year, shares of Canada’s largest movie theatre chain have plunged about 40 per cent, hurt by falling box-office results, worries about the threat from streaming services such as Netflix and skepticism about the company’s diversification strategy.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Embassy Group to launch REIT to raise $1B US

Realty firm Embassy Group plans to launch its REIT this year to raise about $1 billion US as part of its strategy to monetise rent-yielding commercial assets, sources said. Global investment firm Blackstone-backed Embassy Office Parks is likely to file the draft prospectus with market regulator Sebi next month to launch India’s first REIT, they added. Its REIT is already registered with Sebi.

Moneycontrol.com

Five takeaways from Nareit’s REIT Week 2018

Analyzing warehouse data, finding yield through new avenues and shifting real estate investment strategies — these were a handful of topics addressed by public REIT executives during last week’s REIT Week. Here is a breakdown of some of the key points made during the REITs’ presentations at the annual investor conference hosted by Nareit in New York City.

National Real Estate Investor

Retail

Home Depot sets $1.2B supply-chain overhaul

Home Depot Inc. (HD-N) plans to spend $1.2 billion US over the next five years to speed up delivery of goods to homes and job sites as the rise of online shopping resets consumer expectations. It will add 170 distribution facilities across the U.S. so that it can reach 90 per cent of the U.S. population in one day or less, said executive VP of supply chain and product development Mark Holifield.

Toronto Star

Roots posts wider first-quarter loss despite sales gains

Roots Corp. (ROOT-T) reported a loss of $5.6 million in its fiscal first quarter, an increase from the prior year, but also reported an improvement in sales. The loss amounted to 13 cents per share, compared with last year’s loss of $5.1 million, or 12 cents per share. Its adjusted net loss was $4.5-million or 11 cents per share, compared with $3.6 million or nine cents per share a year ago.

Globe and Mail – Canada Newswire

Restaurants and Eateries

McDonald’s to post $90M charges for restructuring, layoffs

McDonald’s Corp. (MCD-N) plans to take $80 million to $90 million in charges during the second quarter from a restructuring at its U.S. operations that includes layoffs. McDonald’s in a statement in its investor relations page on Monday revealed it would eliminate its regional structure and focus on field offices. It will streamline its field organization and use resources for technology and field consulting.

Reuters

Cannabis industry news

Global accreditation body formed at cannabis conference

In a move designed to increase transparency and destigmatize the soon-to-be-legal recreational cannabis market, a newly formed international accreditation body called the Global Cannabis Partnership announced its inaugural members on Tuesday. Speaking at the World Cannabis Congress, corporate social-responsibility expert Rick Petersen said the Global Cannabis Partnership will establish international corporate social-responsibility standards around informed choice, restrictions to youth, safety, advertising, the environment and ethics.

Globe and Mail – Canada Newswire

Aurora to acquire Anandia Laboratories

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB-T) has signed an agreement to buy Anandia Laboratories Inc. in an all-stock deal valued at $115 million. Anandia provides research and development services as well as analytical testing for clients licensed under Canada’s medical cannabis rules. Aurora CEO Terry Booth says the deal expands his company’s capabilities and will help accelerate product development. The companies say Anandia’s cannabis testing services will remain operationally independent.

Financial Post – Canada Newswire

Renovation and Restoration

City staff give thumbs up to Château Laurier addition

The controversial proposed addition for Ottawa’s Fairmont Château Laurier finally won city staff’s seal of approval, but not all are pleased with the architects’ latest designs. In a report submitted this week, city staff gave the green light to the proposed addition to the rear of the iconic hotel, which the latest designs show will now be seven storeys tall with glass and limestone accents throughout.

Ottawa Business Journal

Other

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