$7.1B transit plan finalized for Vancouver area

$7.1B transit plan finalized for Vancouver area

A historic compromise between regional mayors and the province has sealed the deal on the largest transit investment in British Columbia history, with a $7.1-billion package that includes two rapid-transit lines in the Vancouver region. The announcement Friday reveals how the latest phase of federal infrastructure money will affect B.C. — namely, to help pay for a 10-year plan for transit in the Lower Mainland.

Globe and Mail

The comeback of wunderkind Michael Cooper

He is ready, and willing, to answer the uncomfortable questions – about how it feels to be adored, then fall out of favour and lose the trust of investors and the people who helped make you a success in the first place. Michael Cooper emerged as Canada’s real estate wunderkind two decades ago, rising under Ned Goodman’s wing within the Dundee family of companies.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Taggart Ottawa’s largest development landowner

Ottawa’s Taggart Group of Companies has a one-word underlying strategy to its development and construction business: Land. Taggart has spent 70 years seeking out and buying what is now the largest portfolio of commercial development land in Ottawa and Eastern Ontario. When the time is right, the multi-faceted, family-owned business also has the resources to see its investment through.

Property Biz Canada

M+H Properties buys plazas; strives to become REIT

M+H Properties Group has acquired two Ontario shopping plazas from Crombie Real Estate Investment Trust (CRR-UN-T) in what it considers to be a critical year where it will take a big leap forward.  M+H paid $20.63 million for Perth Mews in Perth, which Crombie purchased for $17.9 million in 2007. M+H acquired Whitehorse Plaza in Simcoe for $15 million.

Property Biz Canada

Developer cash for daycares, art facilities dries up

New daycares, neighbourhood houses and arts facilities in Vancouver that were built as part of rezoning projects used to benefit from a special kind of developer contribution: cash to help cover some of the cost of their operations. But four years ago, the province issued new guidelines for such payments, known as community-amenity contributions. 

Globe and Mail

Metro Vancouver shopping centres expand and redevelop

Despite the rise in e-commerce shopping, bricks-and-mortar shopping malls across Greater Vancouver – Park Royal, Oakridge Centre, Brentwood Town Centre, Lougheed Town Centre and others – are redeveloping to refresh their looks, add space or build condominium towers on parking lots.

Business In Vancouver

Vancouver suburban office market feeling the pinch

Metro Vancouver’s regional office vacancy has fallen to a four-year low with increased demand taking hold in suburban markets led by Burnaby, Richmond and Surrey, Avison Young’s year-end regional office market report shows. Office vacancy for the region fell to eight per cent at the end of 2017, down from 9.7 per cent at the end of 2016.

Property Biz Canada

Viaducts’ removal paves way for False Creek remake

While they aren’t designated heritage monuments by the City of Vancouver, the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts, twin bridges that span 2.6 kilometres and weigh 67,800 tonnes, are historic city structures. Now the two massive concrete structures, built from 26,500 cubic metres of concrete are coming down, making way for a drastically new vision of northeast False Creek that will take decades and hundreds of millions of dollars to achieve. 

Business In Vancouver

Edmonton tops off LRT-focused tower

Dignitaries shivered and clapped on top of the West Block tower Friday to mark the topping off of a significant new development. The 17-storey tower at 142 Street and Stony Plain Road will be Edmonton’s first mixed-use tower development focused on an LRT station outside downtown. That makes it the first “real big-city transit-oriented development,” Mayor Don Iveson said after crews poured the ceremonial last concrete.

Edmonton Journal – Property Biz Canada

Winnipeg heritage buildings snapped up for redevelopment

A “for sale” sign has gone up at 104 and 108 Princess Street in the Exchange District, the historic part of downtown Winnipeg that’s home to the biggest cluster of heritage buildings in town. The former is a 15,000-square-foot, six-storey heritage building that was built in 1885. The latter is a 9,000-square-foot, three-storey building that was erected in the 1950s. Both are “brick and-beam” loft warehouses.

Western Investor

Calgary owners, managers, landlords oppose building inspections

A Calgary city councillor’s request to look at bringing in mandatory structural inspections of the city’s older and taller buildings is being met with fierce resistance. “Leave the industry alone,” says Gerry Baxter. The executive director of the Calgary Residential Rental Association says it would be premature to bring in what he calls a cookie-cutter approach to the city’s aging mid- and high-rise buildings.

CBC

Demand growing for Saint John office space

A recent survey of CRE shows that while Saint John continues to have the highest vacancy rate in Atlantic Canada, it is gaining momentum. According to Turner Drake & Partners Ltd.’s latest report, office vacancy in Saint John fell below 20 per cent for the first time in six years in 2017, while Fredericton has the lowest office vacancy rate of any of major Atlantic Canadian city.

CBC

Blackstone crown prince built career on bold bets

How do you get to the top of the private equity business? Turns out, it’s by getting really good at flipping real estate. This month, Jon Gray, 48, became president and chief operating officer of Blackstone Group LP (BX-N). The job sets him up to eventually succeed CEO and co-founder Stephen Schwarzman, who has  steered the private equity firm over 30 years from a $400,000 initial investment to $434 billion in assets. 

Bloomberg

Mid-rise buildings future of office investment

With office occupancy rates steadily rising and asset prices reaching new highs, investors are looking for the next best bet for office investment, especially in high-demand central business district (CBD) markets. However, according to a recent report by JLL, office vacancies rose to 14.9 per cent by the end of 2017, and are expected to reach an even higher percentage by the end of 2019.

National Real Estate Investor

IDG Capital targets China’s shift in strategy

IDG Capital, one of China’s first venture capital firms, is targeting the country’s shift towards a consumption-driven economy in its real estate investment strategy, seeing value in long-term tourism and health care projects. Partner Zhai Ping said the company had found success in previous tourism projects, where it offered both operational expertise as well as investment in physical infrastructure, and was looking to expand the approach.

South China Morning Post

Market Trends and Research

Is cold storage heating up?

A new report by CBRE, entitled, “Cold Storage: About to heat up?” said an increase in online grocery sales will likely result in an increased demand of as much as 35 million square feet of U.S. cold-storage space shifting from retail stores to warehouses and distribution centers within the next seven years, according to a new report from CBRE.

CP Executive

Real Estate Companies

Invesque adds Lis Wigmore to Board of Directors

Invesque Inc. (IVQ-U-T) today announced the addition of Lis Wigmore to the Board of Directors. Wigmore is currently a consultant for Hillsdale Investment Management and is on the Board of Pure Industrial REIT (AAR-UN-T). Wigmore was previously chief operating officer and vice-president of IPC US REIT and has held senior positions with Reichmann International, Campeau Corporation and the Toronto Raptors Basketball Club.

Canada Newswire

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Hawaii hotel fetches $200M for Xenia

As part of its portfolio transformation, Xenia Hotels & Resorts Inc. (XHR-N) has let go of the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel, a premier property in Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The lodging REIT sold the leasehold interest in the 693-key hotel in a $200 million transaction with an unidentified buyer.

CP Executive

Retail

Claire’s files for bankruptcy

Claire’s Stores Inc., known for tween jewelry and ear piercing, has become the latest victim of the retail apocalypse. The company filed for bankruptcy Monday and said it reached an agreement with creditors including its private-equity backer, Apollo Global Management LLC, to restructure around $1.9 billion in debt. Its plan to survive rests on its reputation for trendy merchandise and ear piercing.

Bloomberg – CosStar Group

Suppliers saw warning signs before Toys ‘R’ Us shutdown

Jim Deacove began feeling uneasy about his company’s relationship with Toys “R” Us in the U.S. about five years ago, when they began asking for 90 days to pay their bills. Deacove, the founder of the board game company Family Pastimes based near Perth, Ont., which makes board games focused on getting players to work together, was used to being paid before shipping products, or at least within 30 days.

Toronto Star

buybuy BABY opens seventh Canadian store at WEM

buybuy BABY announced its continued expansion with the grand opening of its seventh Canadian location in West Edmonton Mall. The new 23,000-square-foot baby superstore features an exceptional, expansive selection of merchandise for newborns to toddlers including furniture, strollers, clothing and much more, as well as a comprehensive Nursery Design Center.

Canada Newswire

Large retailers urge Trump against China tariffs

Several large retail companies, including Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy and Macy’s, are making a direct appeal to President Donald Trump not to impose massive tariffs on goods imported from China, in a letter sent to the White House on Monday. The Trump administration is said to be preparing tariffs against Chinese information technology, telecoms and consumer products.

Reuters – PR Newswire

Sports Venues

Marchwood Golf Course seeks zoning extension

An executive par-3 golf course in Kanata is aiming to tee up another three-year zoning exemption from the City of Ottawa. The Marchwood Golf Course, located on March Valley Road near the Brookstreet Hotel, is a small-scale version of the Marshes course next door. Both courses are part of the Brookstreet resort complex owned by Terry Matthews-backed Wesley Clover International.

Ottawa Business Journal

Infrastructure

Winnipeg faces $6.9B shortfall for infrastructure needs

The City of Winnipeg faces a $6.9-billion gap between the money it needs to fix or replace inferior roads, sewers, water mains and buildings and the revenue it expects to get to do the work. The 2018 State of the Infrastructure Report, published Friday by the city, pegs the city’s infrastructure deficit at $6.9 billion over the next 10 years.

CBC

Ottawa airport soars to new heights in 2017

A two per cent bump in the number of air travellers in Canada’s capital helped the Ottawa International Airport set a new record for annual passenger traffic, according to figures published by the airport. Nearly 4.84 million passengers used the Ottawa Airport last year, up from 4.74 million in 2016.

Ottawa Business Journal

Other

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