Broccolini building massive Ottawa distribution centre

Broccolini building massive Ottawa distribution centre

A Montreal-based developer is planning to construct the largest distribution centre in the National Capital Region, a massive 1.02 million-square-foot facility experts say could kick off a new wave of development in southeast Ottawa. Broccolini has filed a site plan application to build the warehouse, which will have 100 truck loading bays and ceiling heights of between 36 and 38 feet. The total cost could reach $200 million.

Ottawa Business Journal – Property Biz Canada

CannaCanada breaks ground on Quebec pot production project

MYM Nutraceuticals Inc., (MYM-CN) announced CannaCanada Inc. has broken ground on the 1.5 million-square-foot cannabis production facility in Weedon, Que. The facility is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2019 and will be capable of producing an estimated 150,000 kilograms of cannabis. MYM has retained the services of Cannabis Compliance Inc. to consult the company on regulatory compliance and due diligence for all its ACMPR projects in Canada.

Canada Newswire

Fiera Properties on buying spree under new structure

Fiera Properties Limited has been quite active since Fiera Capital Corporation (FSZ-T) acquired the entire firm and Peter Cuthbert was appointed president of the former in November. Fiera Capital spent $32 million to acquire the 45 per cent of Fiera Properties it didn’t already own from minority shareholders.“We’re 100 per cent owned, but we’re effectively an autonomous organization within Fiera Capital,” Cuthbert said. 

Property Biz Canada

Colliers buys 75 per cent of Harrison Street for $550M US

Colliers International Group Inc. (CIGI-T) will spend up to $550 million US to acquire a 75 per cent interest in Harrison Street Real Estate Capital LLC. The Chicago-based real estate investment firm focuses on the education, healthcare and storage sectors and has approximately $14.6 billion in assets under management.  

Property Biz Canada

Alibaba seeks real estate for Vancouver office

Alibaba Group (BABA-N) is seeking to lease real estate for a Vancouver office that within “two to three years” will employ at least 30 people, North America general manager Steve Wang said at a Friday forum the Chinese e-commerce company hosted at the Hotel Vancouver.  “We are committed to Canada and Vancouver for the long term and intend to expand our operations here,” Wang said.

Business In Vancouver

RioCan beats estimates, but retail fears continue

Solid first-quarter earnings from RioCan REIT (REI.UN-T) did little to alleviate the fears of investors, who worry trends toward online shopping will portend a “retail apocalypse” for bricks and mortar operations. Units of RioCan REIT were flat on Wednesday afternoon, trading 0.2 per cent down at $23.44, after the company reported earnings that beat estimates, and lent some credence to the consensus price target of $27, according to analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Financial Post – Motley Fool – Property Biz Canada

Broker extraordinaire Lloyd Cooper dissects Montreal CRE boom

Lloyd Cooper has seen a lot in his 33-year career in commercial real estate in Montreal, but he’s rarely seen the city as hot as it is now. “We’re experiencing a boom,” says the vice-chairman, office leasing at Cushman Wakefield in Montreal. “Montreal’s on the radar not only from an investment point of view (but) it’s a cheaper market. Compared to Toronto and Vancouver, you get a lot more bang for your buck,” with better yields and higher cap rates.

Property Biz Canada

New shopping district for Quebec City, but industrial sector tight

Cominar REIT (CUF-UN-T) plans to develop a new “human-scaled” shopping district around Quebec City’s new Ikea Canada store. The project will include about 30 retailers in 13 or 14 buildings that could total 500,000 square feet on a site of around five million square feet. Cominar REIT’s Jean Laramée discussed Ilot Mendel at the recent Quebec City Real Estate Forum.

Property Biz Canada

Claridge proposes second Andaz hotel tower in Ottawa

Claridge Homes is proposing a new 19-storey structure at its Andaz hotel property in the ByWard Market that would include 136 additional units and a 3,600-square-foot ballroom that would boost the facility’s capacity to host bigger meetings, the developer says. Claridge vice-president Neil Malhotra said an analysis after the hotel’s first year in operation concluded the Andaz needed more space to host gatherings of 200 or more.

Ottawa Business Journal

Exhibition Place’s Hotel X finally opens to guests

After multiple delays since the city approved the project in 2009, Hotel X has finally opened to guests. The delay was partly due to the discovery in 2013 of contaminated soil on the site, which had to be removed. But now, the hotel lobby floor is covered in granite found in Brazil, the United States and China.

CBC

Burlington becomes a battleground over development

Kelly Childs moved to Burlington in 2008 looking to escape “the hustle” of Toronto. It broke her heart when she learned the block where she and her daughter operate Kelly’s Bake Shoppe had been sold to a condo developer. The cupcake emporium on Burlington’s main drag draws thousands of customers in a busy week, part of a charming strip of stores and restaurants leading to the lake.

Toronto Star

Aurora Cannabis to buy MedReleaf for $3.2B

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB-T)  will buy medical marijuana firm MedReleaf Corp. (LEAF-T) for $3.2 billion in stock, cementing the company’s status as the biggest company in the fast-growing cannabis space. The two companies had been linked in talks for weeks, but both said nothing was imminent when rumours first emerged earlier this month. The company will be capable of producing more than 570,000 kilograms of marijuana per year.

CBC – Reuters – News1130 – PR Newswire

Taking a peek at Quebec’s most interesting new buildings

The architecture and design of four Quebec buildings are being recognized by the Governor General with a Medal in Architecture. The designs are described as “not being afraid to break with convention,” according to Simon Brault, director and CEO of the Canada Council for the Arts.

CBC – Winnipeg Free Press

Architect Alison Brooks fights for a better city

Do architects have the power to make great buildings and better cities? As I speak to design professionals in Canada, the answer I hear is no. When it comes to the bulk of what we’re building – especially housing – they simply don’t have the influence. Alison Brooks is different. The Canadian expat, based in London, won’t have any of that pessimism. “

Globe and Mail

Brookfield makes $3.3B approach for Australia’s Healthscope

Canadian investment firm Brookfield Asset Management (BAM-A-T) made a $3.3 billion approach for Australian hospital group Healthscope (HSO.AX), trumping a local buyout proposal and sending shares of the target up to a two-year high on Monday. The approach, disclosed by Healthscope in a statement, sets the scene for a takeover battle for the No. 2 Australian private hospital operator.

Reuters

Featured Column

Building better communities, one shopping centre at a time

For too long, suburban living has been perceived to be all about the automobile, home-ownership, detached properties and sometimes a white picket fence. Given what has occurred over the past two decades, it is a mystery why this image still remains. Higher density through high-rise living is changing skylines across many parts of the country and turning suburban areas into more exciting places to live and work.

The Long View

Market Trends and Research

CRE sales activity up in Alberta; investment down

Investors’ interest in the Edmonton market in Q1 2018 was such that year-over-year sales activity rose by 32 per cent. CRE investment however, decreased to $375 million; a year-over-year reduction of $318 million. In Calgary, meanwhile, total Q1 dollar volume invested reached $560 million; a decrease of approximately $9.5 million or 1.7% per cent year-over-year, despite a 25% increase in investor activity. 

Barclay Street Real Estate media release – Barclay Street Real Estate media release

REOC Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* Genesis Land Development Corp., (GDC-T), Canada Newswire

* Holloway Lodging Corporation, (HLC-T), Canada Newswire

REIT Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* Granite REIT, (GRT-UN-T), Canada Newswire

* H&R REIT, (HR-UN-T), Canada Newswire

* InterRent REIT, (IIP-UN-T), Globe Newswire

* Lanesborough REIT, (LRT-UN-T), Canada Newswire

Real Estate Investment Trusts

LREIT receives conditional approval for listing

Lanesborough Real Estate Investment Trust  (LREIT) today announced it has received the conditional approval from the TSX Venture Exchange to list its outstanding trust units and Series G Debentures on the TSXV. The transition of the listings is anticipated at the opening of trading on June 1. LREIT’s units and Series G debentures will be delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange effective at the close of business on May 31.

Canada Newswire

CEO Bob O’Neill purchases additional AHIP units

American Hotel Income Properties (AHIP) REIT  (HOT.UN-T) Friday disclosed CEO Rob O’Neill purchased 34,000 additional units through open market purchases. Since Jan. 1, O’Neill has acquired 43,322 additional units of AHIP, including 9,322 units provided as part of his agreement with the company to take 100% of his 2018 compensation in the form of equity. The acquisition of these units has also been disclosed through regulatory filings.

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

Northview Apartment’s earnings top estimates

After the market closed on Thursday, Northview Apartment REIT (NVU.UN-T) reported solid first-quarter financial results that were above expectations. The REIT pays its investors an attractive monthly distribution equating to a six per cent yield, which appears sustainable. Calgary-based Northview holds approximately 25,000 multi-family residential units across eight provinces and two territories with a concentration in Northern Canada, Ontario and Western Canada.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Property Biz Canada

Retail

Shopify to open first bricks-and-mortar space

Shopify Inc. announced Tuesday its first brick-and-mortar location will open later this year and unveiled a host of new in-store infrastructure in a bid to attract — and keep –more retailers on its e-commerce platform. The Ottawa-based company revealed at its Unite conference in Toronto that its first physical space for clients, a hub for retailers to get support for growing their business, will open in 2018, but did not say where.

Ottawa Citizen

Walmart dumps scan-and-go in U.S.

Walmart (WMT-N) has abandoned mobile scan-and-go shopping at its U.S. stores. Customers failed to embrace the new technology, created to help them save time by bypassing the checkout. With scan and go, customers scanned their own items while shopping and paid for them with the aid of a phone app or a mobile device provided in the store.

CBC

Cannabis industry news

Big Dope soon likely to dominate retail business: Panel

The small-scale operators banking on a share of Canada’s retail pot business will soon be replaced by a handful of big chains, panelists discussing cannabis legalization said Thursday. “In five years the real players will move in, maybe Shoppers (or others) . . . who understand retail and stand to make a lot of money,” said Mitchell Osak, managing director of consultant Grant Thornton’s strategic advisory practice.

Edmonton Journal

A deeper look at Canada’s legal marijuana market

Who’d have thought, in around 1972 when some of your school acquaintances may have been getting busted, that in 2018 we’d be talking about the outlook for EBITDA among producers and sellers of legal marijuana. Even those who later ventured into financial services and accounting probably didn’t think they’d see the day when they were analyzing pot stocks and projecting earnings before interest taxes, depreciation and amortization.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

New Development

Zibi secures first commercial space users

With three massive mixed-use real estate projects poised to transform the western edge of downtown Ottawa – and compete for residents and business tenants – the lead developer behind Zibi says his firm has secured its first commercial space users. Jeff Westeinde is happy Zibi, which is transforming some 37 acres of former industrial land, is several years ahead of the neighbouring LeBreton Flats redevelopment and planned trio of skyscrapers.

Ottawa Business Journal

Developer blasts call for public ideas on Edmonton lands

Edmonton wants to hear big ideas for how to redevelop the Northlands site but one longtime member of the community is warning the approach by officials has likely limited what they’ll hear. Ken Cantor said he was really excited by Edmonton’s public call this spring for ideas for the exhibition lands. Then he read it. “It’s almost as if it was written not to solicit good ideas but to preclude big ideas,” said Cantor.

Edmonton Journal

Renovation and Restoration

‘Extreme makeover’ coming to Montreal City Hall

Montreal City Hall will get undergo a $140-million “extreme makeover” in the next four years, a plan that has been in the works for over a year. The heritage building on Notre Dame St. E. in Old Montreal — built between 1872 and 1878 — is badly in need of a complete overhaul of its plumbing, electric and mechanical systems, as well as restoration of its structures, windows and columns.

Montreal Gazette

Infrastructure

Aéroports de Montréal passenger traffic up sharply

Aéroports de Montréal (ADM) Thursday announced passenger traffic continued to rise sharply in Q1 2018. The ADM’s EBITDA (earnings before financial expenses, taxes and depreciation of property and equipment) climbed 7.9 per cent compared with the same quarter in 2017. During the first quarter of 2018, passenger traffic at Montréal-Trudeau increased by 7.0% over Q1 2017, for a total of 4.4 million passengers. 

Canada Newswire

Calgary unveils plans for new 9th Avenue S.E. bridge

The City of Calgary has unveiled plans for the 9th Avenue S.E. replacement bridge spanning the Elbow River. The new bridge — costing $23 million — will connect downtown Calgary and the East Village to the communities of Inglewood and Ramsay. The original 9th Avenue bridge was built in 1909 to accommodate the new streetcar system.

Calgary Herald

CPPIB, Allianz buy majority stake in India trust

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Allianz, as anchor investors, have acquired a majority stake in the first private infrastructure investment trust in India. CPPIB said it will invest $200 million Cdn for 30 per cent of IndInfravit Trust and Allianz Capital Partners (ACP) will buy 25% stake. L&T Infrastructure Development Projects (L&T IDPL), IndInfravit’s sponsor, will hold 15%.

IPE Real Assets

Other

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