Westbank, Hootsuite to redevelop Vancouver block

Westbank, Hootsuite to redevelop Vancouver block

Westbank Corp. and Ryan Holmes, the founder/CEO of social media giant Hootsuite, are partnering to redevelop a full city block on Main Street. In addition to accommodating part of Hootsuite’s workforce, the space will house New York-based co-working company WeWork’s fourth Vancouver site. WeWork leased two floors of a renovated building at the “Main Alley” campus at Main Street, between East 4th and East 5th Aves. and Quebec St.

Vancouver Sun

Winnipeg industrial rail park plan back on track

An agreement has been struck between the Province of Manitoba and CentrePort Canada that has cleared the way for the inland port to finally get started on the development of a unique industrial rail park. On Thursday, CentrePort released a request for proposal seeking private-sector partnership for what is likely to become a $100 million-plus development designed to attract rail-intensive industrial tenants.

Winnipeg Free Press

Allied’s Emory focused on The Well, but has plenty on the go

Allied Properties REIT (AP-UN-T) president/CEO Michael Emory says pre-leasing the office component of The Well is the top priority, but a number of other projects are also keeping him busy. “For us, the biggest governor is not so much what we have to develop as how much demand is there and making sure that we don’t contribute in any way to the creation of oversupply,” said Emory. 

Property Biz Canada

Former PIRET CEO Kevan Gorrie to take over at Granite

With his work at PIRET complete, Kevan Gorrie is moving on to a new challenge as chief executive officer of Granite REIT (GRT.UN-T). Gorrie, who led Pure Industrial Real Estate Trust as it grew into one of the most aggressive and rapidly growing entities in the sector, will take the rains of Granite on Aug. 1. He will replace retiring Granite CEO Michael Forsayeth.

Property Biz Canada

Flood risks may derail Calgary development

A water drainage study is raising questions about whether a contentious redevelopment of the former Highland Park golf course can go ahead in north Calgary. Confederation Park Regional Drainage Study looks at the Confederation Creek Catchment, which encompasses nearly 3,000 hectares of land. The catchment includes the location of a planned mixed-use, commercial and residential development known as the Highland Park Development.

CBC – Calgary Herald

CN investing $130 million in Manitoba

CN (CNR-T) said today it plans to invest approximately $130 million in Manitoba in 2018 to strengthen the company’s rail network across the province, including expansion of its primary rail yard in Winnipeg. The Manitoba investments are part of CN’s record $3.4-billion capital program for 2018. In Winnipeg, CN will add a dozen new and extended tracks within its Symington Yard.

Globe Newswire

Toronto, Yorkdale mall magnets for international retailers

Toronto is a magnet for international retailers setting up their first North American locations and the Yorkdale Shopping Centre has become the destination of choice for many. According to CBRE’s 2018 How Global Is The Business of Retail?, Toronto attracted 40 new international retailers in 2017, the most on record for the city. For the second consecutive year, Toronto attracted the largest number of new international retailers of any North American city.

Property Biz Canada

Northview buys apartment portfolio from Starlight

Northview Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust (NVU.UN-T) says it will acquire a 623-unit portfolio of six apartment properties from affiliates of Starlight Group Property Holdings Inc., for $151.8 million. Four of the properties are in Ontario, while the other two are in Halifax. The price represents a weighted average capitalization rate of 4.5 per cent, Northview said in announcing the transaction.

Property Biz Canada

Dip in CRE activity expected: BCREA

For the first time in three years, the British Columbia Real Estate Association’s Commercial Leading Indicator (CLI) has decreased, indicating slowing activity in the province’s commercial real estate sector. The CLI fell 1.5 points in the first quarter of 2018, reaching 134.2. This is a 1.1 per cent drop compared with Q1 2017, but the index remains 3.4 per cent higher than it was a year ago.

Business In Vancouver

Demolition of Winnipeg military base paves way for urban reserve

Fourteen years after troops pulled out, and a decade after First Nations groups began fighting the federal government in the courts for the property, the long-awaited demolition of the former Kapyong Barracks in Winnipeg has begun. Two months ago, Ottawa signed an agreement in principle with seven Treaty One First Nations that would turn it into an “urban reserve.”

CBC

CF Fairview Pointe Claire to welcome Simons

Cadillac Fairview and Ivanhoé Cambridge, co-owners of CF Fairview Pointe Claire, have officially unveiled plans for a major redevelopment to prepare for the arrival of La Maison Simons, as it builds its first store to serve Montréal’s West Island. This investment marks another milestone for the property. Simons will move into the former Sears space located at the western end of the property, in 2021. 

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

Airbnb not required to enforce rules in Vancouver

The City of Vancouver’s agreement with Airbnb to restrict and regulate short-term rentals doesn’t require the company to remove listings that don’t comply with the rules, including obtaining a business licence. Instead, city officials will still need to go after those illegal operators on their own, although with the help of data and home addresses supplied to the city by Airbnb.

Globe and Mail – CBC

Brookfield No. 1 among largest RE companies

Its low profile hasn’t stopped Brookfield Asset Management (BAM-A-T) from amassing some 400 million square feet of commercial space or from outperforming other global real estate investment firms on nearly every financial metric that counts. Among publicly held real estate owners it has, for the past year, the largest assets ($255 billion Cdn), highest revenues ($61.8 billion), third highest profits ($3 billion) and third-highest market cap ($50.1 billion).

Forbes – Bloomberg – Globe Newswire

Tim Hortons pulls back on U.S. expansion

When Tim Hortons (QSR-T) was acquired by Burger King owner 3G Capital in late 2014, the company’s new owners had big plans to make the coffee chain ubiquitous south of the 49th. However, with crowded competition in the fast-food space and tensions with its franchisees, Tim Hortons is pulling back in some of its biggest U.S. markets, threatening to stall its American expansion efforts.

BNN Bloomberg – Financial Post

Nvidia latest tech giant to build futuristic HQ

Turns out tech titans building futuristic headquarters buildings in Silicon Valley is becoming a thing. Nvidia Corp. (NVDA-Q), which designs and produces advanced graphics processing units for gaming and professional computing platforms, plans to begin construction this month on Voyager, a larger companion to the company’s current 500,000-square-foot headquarters building dubbed Endeavor in Santa Clara, Calif.

CoStar Group

Market Trends and Research

Two new funds targeting hotels launch

Seeking to capitalize on recent investor demand, two new funds targeting hotel property acquisitions emerged in the past couple of weeks. Crestline Hotels & Resorts, a third-party management company, created a $300 million fund to acquire hotels and invest in properties with certain capital partners. Also MCR, which claims to be the seventh-largest hotel owner-operator in the U.S., just closed on its first hotel investment fund.

CoStar Group

CTBUH honours 2018 Best Tall Buildings

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) recently announced the winners of the 16th Annual CTBUH Awards Program, which competed for winning distinctions at the 2018 Tall + Urban Innovation Conference from May 30-31 at Aqua Tower in Chicago. The CTBUH Awards Jury has named Oasia Hotel Downtown the “Best Tall Building Worldwide”, in addition to recognizing the winners of nine individual award categories.

Building Design & Construction

Real Estate Companies

Tricon Capital Group stock is a good value

Tricon Capital Group Inc. (TCN-T) is focused on selective U.S. markets in the residential real estate space, which is a good addition to a diversified portfolio. The company has been generating good returns on assets (ROA) and returns on equity (ROE) of at least 5.7% and 8.4%, respectively, every year since 2013. Its trailing 12-month ROA and ROE are 11.7% and 18.5%, which are higher than the five-year averages.

Motley Fool – Property Biz Canada

REOC Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* Vail Resorts, Inc., (MTN-N), Canada Newswire

Real Estate Investment Trusts

SmartCentres’ stock yields more than five per cent

SmartCentres REIT‘s (SRU-UN-T) outdoor malls are easy to spot: They’re usually anchored by a Walmart and have a sign out front with cartoon penguins on it. However, it’s SmartCentres’ activity outside of retail that makes it an intriguing pick: Aiming to accelerate growth, the REIT is expanding into residential real estate (both condos and rental units), retirement homes, office and self-storage sites.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Property Biz Canada

Key points of Belgian REIT reform

The Belgian government has made the Belgian real estate market more attractive by further developing the regulatory and tax framework applicable to REITs and introducing a new real estate vehicle, the GVBF/FIIS. Key points include an increased ability for REITs (GVV/SIR) to enter into partnerships; possible investment in new asset classes; and the implementation of social REITs, a new type of (non-profit) REIT, subject to light(er) regulation.

Lexology

Legal Corner

Fort Mac airport suing insurer over wildfire losses

The Fort McMurray Airport Authority is suing its insurer for $34 million to cover losses incurred in the devastating wildfire two years ago. A statement of claim filed by the airport on May 1 says the airport incurred $34,252,678.18 in damages and lost revenue. The claim said airport improvement fees and terminal and landing fees are a significant source of revenue. It also asks for legal costs and $2 million in damages.

CBC

Winnipeg police HQ contractor sues city for $7.9M

Caspian Projects Inc. , the contractor that built the downtown Winnipeg police headquarters and is the subject of a lawsuit launched by the City of Winnipeg last month, is firing back with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit blaming the city and its employees for delays in the project, which it says resulted in additional costs to the company.

CBC

Retail

Dollarama sales slowdown rare misstep for juggernaut

Dollarama investors don’t take kindly to average results. Shares of Dollarama Inc. (DOL-T), the Montreal-based retailer that’s been adding stores throughout Canada, fell the most since December after it reported the lowest comparable-store sales growth in more than four years. Dollarama said poor April weather pushed back demand for summer goods such as hats and gardening tools. It maintained a full-year forecast of four to five per cent growth.

Bloomberg – Montreal Gazette – Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Canada Newswire

RYU to open at CF Sherway Gardens

RYU Apparel Inc. (RYU-X), creators of urban athletic apparel, Thursday announced its second Toronto retail location in CF Sherway Gardens, with the goal of opening its doors in the fourth quarter of 2018. The new RYU retail location will be located in the North Expansion of the shopping centre that will also include Tesla, Sandro and Maje, as well as other top tier apparel and lifestyle brands.

Canada Newswire

Restaurants and Eateries

Millennials’ appetite for restaurants growing

Millennials are taking a big bite out of Canada’s food service sector, according to  Restaurants Canada’s 2018 Foodservice Facts. The past couple years have been good for the Canadian food service industry overall, with growth of 5.1% in 2017 after advancing 5.9% in 2016. This helped annual total food service sales to climb to more than $84 billion. In 2017, millennials accounted for 74 per cent of dollar growth and 79% of traffic growth

Globe Newswire

Infrastructure

Private sector can boost First Nations infrastructure

Drinking water quality on First Nations reserves stands to improve thanks to recently announced federal funding, but money alone won’t impel a solution. Success in resolving this intractable infrastructure deficit requires we look at a holistic reform of the challenges that have made poor drinking water quality in First Nations communities a chronic problem.

Globe and Mail

SNC-Lavalin to deliver Oman PVC plant

SNC-Lavalin (SNC-T) announced it has signed an exclusive agreement with Project Development & Management International LLC (PDMI) in Oman, to design and deliver a greenfield chlor-akali PVC plant 150km southeast of the Omani capital Muscat. The project capital cost is expected to be in the range of $1.9 billion, and will produce around a quarter of a million tons per annum of PVC destined for Asia.

Canada Newswire

Other

Manitoba architects honoured with Prairie Design Awards

Three Manitoba building projects were honoured at the Prairie Design Awards, including an affordable housing project meant for people living with mental illness and low-income families. Overall, just 10 awards were granted out of 113 submissions from across Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan. The awards are a collaboration between Manitoban, Albertan and Saskatchewanian architectural associations, held every two years in one of the three provinces.

Winnipeg Free Press

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