Stadiums shoulder major development schemes

Stadiums shoulder major development schemes

In cities throughout North America, where “revitalize the core” is the latest mantra, a new generation of fully integrated sports arenas and stadiums is coming on stream as anchor tenants for mixed-use districts designed to entice more people to live, work and play downtown. They have little in common with suburban sports stadiums built decades ago.

Globe and Mail – CBC – CBC

CPPIB partners on student housing portfolio

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and two partners have acquired US$1.6 billion worth of student housing properties in the U.S. CPPIB says it’s making the investment through its joint venture with a major Singapore-based fund manager and a Chicago-based property company. Together, they are acquiring three separate student housing portfolios through the Scion Student Communities LP.

Financial Post – Reuters – CoStar Group

Cushman & Wakefield unveils ‘high-performing’ offices

Aiming to practise what it preaches, Cushman & Wakefield has moved into a “high-performing” national headquarters that could be a model for the rest of its Canadian offices. “We’re leaders in providing advice to our investor and occupier clients around their space,” said Cushman & Wakefield chief executive officer for Canada Chuck Scott.

Property Biz Canada

UBC wins Coquitlam Central station plan contest

Eight students from the University of British Columbia are still on a “winner’s high” after besting a competition to design a mixed-use master planned community at Coquitlam Central station in Metro Vancouver. The UBC students competed against teams from the University of Washington and Portland State in the first Pacific Northwest Real Estate Challenge held in Canada.

Property Biz Canada

Montreal becoming data centre hub for Silicon Valley

VIDEO: You’ve heard about data centres, but did you know that Montreal is a hub? Luciano D’Iorio, Managing Director for Quebec at Cushman & Wakefield, fills us in.

Breakfast Television Montreal – Globe and Mail – CBC – Property Biz Canada

Red River College introduces new home for skilled trades

Winnipeg’s Red River College is going out of its way to make the trades sexy. On Thursday, the college showed off its new 100,000-square-foot Skilled Trades and Technology Centre that will allow the college to increase its enrolment in trades-training programs by 30 per cent.

Winnipeg Free Press

Lawsuits flow at Trump tower in Vancouver

The long-delayed Trump International Hotel & Tower Vancouver officially launched in late February but that has not stopped the flow of lawsuits resulting from construction of the 63-storey tower. Urban One Construction Management Inc. is the latest contractor to sue companies related to developer Holborn Group.

Business In Vancouver

Canada Goose vaults Reiss from aspiring writer to millionaire

Dani Reiss had no intention of running a billion-dollar clothing empire when he joined his dad’s shop making parkas 20 years ago. He was an English literature graduate from the University of Toronto. Reiss skipped the writing in the end, sticking around to transform Canada Goose Holdings Inc. (GOOS-T) into one of the world’s most valuable luxury brands.

Bloomberg – Financial Post – Huffington Post Canada

Walmart’s Jet buying Modcloth: Reports

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.‘s (WMT-N) subsidiary Jet.com Inc. is acquiring ModCloth, an online retailer of vintage women’s clothing, according to media reports. Jet.com was itself recently acquired by Wal-Mart as part of efforts to challenge Amazon’s dominance in the e-commerce market. In September 2016, Wal-Mart completed its acquisition of Jet.com Inc. for $3 billion in cash. 

Nasdaq – TheStreet.com

WPT Industrial renews Ohio property lease

WPT Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust (WIR.U-T) announced it has renewed a key lease set to expire in May 2017. The REIT renewed a 737,471-square-foot lease with Zulily, LLC, a division of Liberty Interactive Corporation (QVCA-Q) at the REIT’s distribution property in Columbus, Ohio. 

Marketwired – Property Biz Canada

AHIP REIT announces sale of Oklahoma hotel

American Hotel Income Properties REIT (HOT.UN-T) announced the sale of the 77-room Country Inn & Suites by Carlson hotel located in Norman, Okla., for gross proceeds of US$4.5 million. The Norman property was acquired in June 2015 as part of a larger portfolio acquisition. AHIP now owns 95 hotel properties with 9,383 total guestrooms. 

Marketwired – Property Biz Canada

Automotive Properties acquires Edmonton dealership

Automotive Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (APR.UN-T) today announced it has entered into an agreement to purchase the Go Mazda dealership property in Edmonton from Go Auto for $8.0 million. The 17,150-square-foot, full-service dealership facility is located on 2.27 acres. 

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

MIPIM: Optimism prevails despite spectre of rising interest rates

In the week the Federal Reserve increased interest rates – and the Bank of England held them stable – real estate investors at MIPIM showed no outward sign of concern over the potential for the return of inflation. Despite heightened political anxiety around the world – and the advent of Dutch elections – there was widespread optimism for real estate markets.

IPE Real Estate

MIPIM: Bringing new asset classes to the mix

One was an historic city seeking to bring new life to a neighbourhood by rethinking its approach to one of its main components. Another was a city that has put itself on the map through reinvention. A third was an ancient city whose modern incarnation is literally still in its formative stages. All three scenarios held the stage Thursday at MIPIM.

GlobeSt.com – PropertyEU

Asian real estate still attractive after U.S. rate hike

Asian real estate remains attractive due to relatively high yields despite U.S. monetary tightening as the pace of interest rate increases in the region is expected to be slow, Elysia Tse, LaSalle Investment Management‘s head of research & Strategy, Asia Pacific said Thursday.

Reuters

Featured Column

The power of the second mortgage

Many people think of second mortgages as an option reserved for riskier deals or under-capitalized borrowers. The truth is that it’s a tool used by a wide cross-section of investors to serve many purposes.

Read more

Market Trends and Research

Are Toronto’s condos being turned into hotels?

Depending on who you ask, Lisa Marion represents either the bane of condo owners or the future of short-term rentals in Toronto. Marion is co-owner of a property rental company “specializing in Airbnb-style rentals.” “It’s been going on for so long, what the condo boards don’t realize is for the most part there are no problems,” she says.

Toronto Star – Winnipeg Free Press

Global CRE group bans dual agency in U.K.

They have offically banned the real estate practice of dual agency across the pond. This week, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), a global real estate accreditation body that certifies property and construction professionals, published a statement containing more stringent conflict-of-interest requirements in advance of standards specific to the United Kingdom.

CoStar Group

Demand for industrial expected to remain strong

The outlook for industrial real estate couldn’t be better, despite uncertainty regarding potential changes in U.S. trade policies and the large amount of new warehouse/distribution space currently under construction. Recent outlooks cite several sources for continued demand in the warehouse/distribution sector.

CoStar Group

The top 50 largest office deals in 2016

The U.S. commercial real estate market took something of a respite in 2016, during a year characterized by political volatility. Compared to the previous year, when the market fired on all cylinders, office players were more cautious in 2016, with leasing and sales activity cooling down to more sustainable levels, per most industry reports.

CP Executive

Real Estate Companies

Diamond envisions light in U.K.’s Holocaust memorial

Jack Diamond has long been considered one of Canada’s best architects and he’s designed award-winning landmarks around the world. But few projects have touched him as deeply as Britain’s National Holocaust Memorial. Diamond Schmitt Architects Inc., is among the finalists for the $82-million memorial and learning centre.

Globe and Mail

NGKF ramping up national valuation/appraisal practice

Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (NGKF) is rolling out a national valuation and appraisal service to support ambitious plans for its investment-sales platform. After recruiting Cushman & Wakefield’s former global appraisal and valuation chief, John D. Busi, last summer to lead the effort, NGKF has hired four other senior valuation execs to round out a leadership team.

CoStar Group

REOC Financial Reports

The latest reports:

* AutoCanada Inc., (ACQ-T), Canada Newswire   

REIT Financial Reports

Latest reports:

* WPT Industrial REIT, (WIR.U-T), Marketwired    

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Artis REIT has limited downside risk

Artis REIT (AX.UN-T) offers one of the highest yields of all members in the S&P/TSX composite index real estate sector. Its eight per cent cent yield is eye-candy to income investors. While the REIT offers investors an attractive yield, over the past few years the unit price has languished, trading down from the high teens to the low teens.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Baystreet.ca

Retail

Fitch: Challenges, opportunities ahead for U.S. retailers

There’s no doubt U.S. retailers are facing challenges, many of them due to the growth of e-commerce and how it is affecting the nation’s malls and shopping centres and ultimately the bottom lines of top retail companies. Fitch Ratings analysts address those concerns in “What Investors Want to Know: U.S. Retail.” 

CP Executive – CoStar Group

Weston stepping down as Choice Properties’ board chairman

Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (CHP.UN-T) announced Galen G. Weston will be stepping down as chairman of Choice Properties’ Board of Trustees at the Trust’s Annual Meeting of Unitholders on April 25. The Board of Trustees intends to appoint Anthony Graham as chairman following the Annual Meeting. 

Canada Newswire

Holt Renfrew’s Weston focuses on sustainable style

As retailers scramble to address a shifting consumer consciousness, Holt Renfrew is doing its part for social responsibility. For the past four years, Alexandra Weston, Holt Renfrew’s director of brand and creative strategy, has been curating collections of what she calls “extraordinary products with extraordinary stories.”

Globe and Mail

Rising rates will speed up the clock on retail time bomb

Things are about to get even harder for the United States’ distressed retail chains thanks to rising interest rates. After years of low rates fuelled a private equity “feasting” on retail firms, the number of troubled chains has tripled over the past six years, and is now at its highest level since the Great Recession.

CNBC – Globe and Mail

Restaurants and Eateries

Tim Hortons bids to quell franchisee revolt

Tim Hortons Inc.’s top executives are setting up internal reviews of key franchisee grievances in a bid to quell discontent stemming from heavy corporate cost-cutting that some restaurant owners say harms the brand. A group of franchisees has formed the Great White North Franchisee Association to represent them in talks with Restaurant Brands International Inc. (QSR-T) 

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

McDonald’s testing mobile ordering

McDonald’s (MCD-N) has started testing mobile order-and-pay after acknowledging the ordering process in its restaurants can be “stressful.” It says mobile order-and-pay is now available at 29 stores in Monterey and Salinas, Calif., and will expand to 51 more locations in Spokane, Wash., next week. 

Daily Commercial News

New Development

Irving invests in ocean technology facility

A facility officials say will transform a section of Halifax’s waterfront and improve the region’s prospects in the ocean technology industry has received a multimillion-dollar investment. Irving Shipbuilding announced Thursday it would contribute $4.52 million to the Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship.

Winnipeg Free Press

Renovation and Restoration

Edmonton looking for developer of historical structure

For nearly 80 years, Street Railway Substation No. 600 has stood sentinel on 124 Street in Edmonton. Last week, Edmonton city council served notice it intends to designate the structure a municipal historic resource, a heritage status that protects it from future demolition. Once that happens, the city plans to sell the site for some kind of commercial development. 

Edmonton Journal

Mixed-use mall redevelopment proposed for Edmonton

Southeast Edmonton residents weighed in Tuesday evening about a plan to redevelop and integrate Mill Woods Town Centre with new high-rise residences and the Valley Line LRT. The city’s chief planner on the project, Michelle Ouellette, said the proposed development could add more than 1,750 residential units above retail and cafés on the main floor.

CBC

Technology

Edmonton could become test centre for driverless vehicles

The City of Edmonton is looking at setting up a test track at the University of Alberta to try out so-called autonomous or driverless vehicles. The pilot project would involve a track on the south campus, that would test ‘light-duty shuttles,’ which are small 12-passenger buses.

CBC – Reuters

Other

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