Hard Rock, Rideau Carleton to partner on Ottawa casino

Hard Rock, Rideau Carleton to partner on Ottawa casino

Hard Rock International will partner with the Rideau Carleton Raceway on a $320-million project that will feature a new hotel, a live entertainment venue and more than 13,000 square metres of gaming space for slots and card games, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation announced Monday. OLG chose the new partnership after a competitive procurement process that began in 2010.

Ottawa Business Journal – Ottawa Citizen – CTV

Oxford vs. CF: Battle of shopping centre titans

Blake Hutcheson, CEO of Oxford Properties, wakes up every morning thinking about how to outthink, outpace, outdo Cadillac Fairview, headed by his friend and competitor, John Sullivan. “It’s like playing in the NHL. You put your jersey on and fight the hardest that you can fight and then you have a beer after the game,” Hutcheson said.

Toronto Star – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

Victoria’s Bear Mountain Resort owner ponders sale options

The owner of one of British Columbia’s highest-profile residential and sporting resorts has launched a review that could result in the full or partial sale of Bear Mountain Resort, near Victoria. Last week, Bear Mountain Resort Community owner Ecoasis enlisted the commercial brokerage firm JLL to do a strategic review of the assets.

Property Biz Canada

Place-making key for mixed-use developments

“If you’re not thinking about place-making in large-scale mixed-use developments in Toronto, or any other part of the world for that matter, you are definitely going to run into some interesting problems down the road,” LiveWorkLearnPlay partner and principal Rob Spanier said.

Property Biz Canada

Amaya relocating HQ to TO from Montreal

The owner of PokerStars and other online gaming businesses is changing its corporate name and relocating to Toronto as it continues to evolve after facing tough times last year. Montreal-based Amaya Inc. (AYA-T) says it will become The Stars Group Inc. after shareholders give their approval next month, move its head office and name a new CFO.

Montreal Gazette – Bloomberg

Artis tower may include child-care, fitness club

A new daycare and a fitness club could be joining a restaurant and grocery store in the new highrise apartment tower/commercial development Artis REIT (AX.UN-T) plans to build near Portage and Main. Artis confirmed earlier this year it wants to land a prominent restaurant for the main floor of the podium portion of its 40-storey apartment tower. 

Winnipeg Free Press – Property Biz Canada

Good times or troubled for U.S. retail?

Joe Cosenza loves an upmarket. The president of Inland Real Estate Acquisitions and vice-chairman of the Inland Real Estate Group says retail and multi-family sectors flourish in a robust economy. And when the tide turns, “Get out of my way and let me buy retail at the lower prices. That’s why I love all the negative news on retail.”

GlobeSt.com – IPE Real Estate – New York Times – CoStar Group

Edmonton’s office vacancy rate nearly doubles

Edmonton’s downtown office vacancy rate nearly doubled in the past year, and a balanced market might not re-emerge for decades, Edmonton Real Estate Forum attendees were told. Spurred by the opening of the Enbridge Centre and the Edmonton Tower, downtown vacancies soared to 15.3 per cent in Q1 2017 from 8.7 per cent in Q1 2016, according to Avison Young.

Edmonton Journal

Alberta hotels still reeling from downturn

Alberta’s hotel industry continues to face a battering from a downturn in the oil and gas industry, a building binge that began when the province was booming and the prospect of further market disruptions from room-sharing services like Airbnb.  “We’re in kind of that perfect storm,” said Dave Kaiser, president and CEO of the Alberta Hotel and Lodging Association. 

Edmonton Journal

Canadian investors bank on India’s growing economy

Canada’s biggest asset managers, never afraid to push the investing envelope, have been loading up on Indian assets. Investors including Brookfield Asset Management Inc.  (BAM.A-T) and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board have signed deals for mobile-phone towers, office properties, a stake in an airport and distressed debt, betting scale outweighs risk in the world’s fastest-growing major economy. 

Toronto Star – Winnipeg Free Press

Cuba unveils its first luxury mall

In the heart of the capital of a nation founded on ideals of social equality, the business arm of the Cuban military has transformed a century-old shopping arcade into a temple to conspicuous capitalism. The Manzana de Gomez mall has become a socio-cultural phenomenon since its opening a few weeks ago.

Toronto Star – The Guardian

Pure Multi-Family announces Phoenix property acquisition

Pure Multi-Family REIT LP (RUF.U-X) announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire a multi-family apartment community, located in the Arcadia sub-market of Phoenix for a purchase price of US$29.7 million. The property was constructed in 2016 and consists of 152 residential units averaging 826 square feet. 

Marketwired – Marketwired

Fronsac REIT acquires two auto repair shops

Fronsac REIT (GAZ.UN-X) announced the closing of two acquisitions. The Quebec properties are located in Laval and Gatineau and are operated as auto repair shops under the Speedy Auto Service banner. Total consideration paid for these properties was $1,995,000 and was settled in cash. The properties were purchased from a third party with no previous ties to Fronsac. 

Marketwired – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

Home Capital was hours away from collapse

In the early hours of Monday, May 1, exhausted representatives for Home Capital Group (HCG-T) and a group of lenders hung up the phone in frustration. A deal to give the company an emergency $2-billion loan appeared to be falling apart. Directors felt that without the money, they wouldn’t be able to open for business a few hours later. 

Globe and Mail – Maclean’s – BNN – Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Wal-Mart pushing hard to catch Amazon

Wal-Mart Stores  (WMT-N), the 800-pound gorilla of retail, is running hard to catch up in an increasingly crucial segment where it is neither the biggest nor the best: e-commerce. The company, founded in 1962 by Sam Walton, has been gobbling up smaller and niche players in e-commerce in an effort to reach online shopping market leader Amazon (AMZN-Q).  

CTV – CNBC – Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Market Trends and Research

Odd restaurant spaces a challenge for designers

Which is more challenging: building a restaurant in a space where you can’t even touch the walls or ceilings because they’re protected by heritage designations, or creating an alluring restaurant in a well-known building that’s been stripped back to the bare concrete? Two recent multimilion-dollar projects in Toronto presented uniquely different issues.

Globe and Mail

Montreal top host city for international conferences

With 76 events held at the Palais des congrès, local universities and hotels, Montreal has retaken the lead for hosting international conferences for 2016. The city also led in 2013. According to the ranking by the International Congress and Convention Association, last year’s events drew 37,000 delegates to Montreal, 21 per cent more than the nearest competitors, including Toronto, Vancouver, NYC, Chicago and Washington.

Montreal Gazette

Real Estate Companies

Avison Young opens first Romanian office

Chair/CEO Mark E. Rose today announced Avison Young has opened a new office in Bucharest, Romania. The new Bucharest office represents Avison Young’s first office in Romania, 10th in Europe and 80th globally. Effective immediately, David Canta becomes principal of Avison Young’s Bucharest operations and managing director of the new office.

Canada Newswire – CP Executive

China undertakes world’s largest building project

When Chinese president, Xi Jinping unveiled what some call the most ambitious development plan in history, Zhou Jun decided almost immediately he should head for the hills. The 45-year-old entrepreneur packed his bags and set off for a sleepy, high-altitude border outpost called Tashkurgan that – at almost 5,000 kilometres from Beijing – is the most westerly settlement in China.

The Guardian

Trump Taj Mahal sold for fraction of cost

Donald Trump wrote “The Art Of The Deal,” but it was Florida’s Seminole Indians who made a truly amazing deal to buy the opulent casino. The Trump Taj Mahal, the Atlantic City casino the real estate mogul built for $1.2 billion in 1990, went for four cents on the dollar when it was sold in March. 

Vancouver Province

REIT Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

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

* RioCan REIT, (REI.UN-T), Marketwired 

Real Estate Investment Trusts

AHIP announces election of Minaz Abji to Board of Directors

American Hotel Income Properties REIT LP (HOT.UN-T) announced today senior hotel industry executive Minaz Abji was elected to its Board of Directors at its annual and special meeting of unitholders on May 10, 2017. With an extensive and distinguished background in the hotel industry, Abji is currently a senior advisor at Host Hotels and Resorts, Inc.

Marketwired

Fiera Capital terminating N.A. REIT Income Fund

Fiera Capital Corporation, the manager of North American REIT Income Fund (NRF.UN-T), confirmed, as previously announced, the fund will be closed on or about May 29. The manager has determined it is in the best interest of the fund’s unitholders to terminate the fund prior to the annual redemption date. 

Canada Newswire

InterRent, CREIT provide solid yields

InterRent REIT (IIP.UN-T) is one of the largest residential landlords in Ontario and Quebec. It owns and manages a portfolio of 8,283 residential suites in mid-sized population markets across the two provinces. CREIT‘s (REF.UN-T) portfolio currently consists of ownership interests in 205 retail, industrial, office, residential, and development properties across seven Canadian provinces and one U.S. state.  

Motley Fool – Motley Fool

REITs provide alternative to ‘develop-to-core’

Rather than compete to purchase core real estate assets, investors are looking to develop their own projects. But investors should consider REITs with a greater development focus as another option, argues Scott Crowe, CenterSquare‘s chief investment strategist.

CP Executive

Retail

Canada Goose flies into London, Chicago

Canada Goose (GOOS-T) will open its first standalone store outside of North America with a new location in London as it makes an expanded e-commerce push into Europe. The Toronto-based purveyor of luxury parkas and accessories is opening a 4,300-square foot location in London this fall along with a second U.S. store, a 3,100-square foot boutique in Chicago. 

Financial Post

Tiffany unveils expanded flagship Vancouver boutique

Ten years can feel like a lifetime in the retail world — even for an 180-year-old business like Tiffany & Co. (TIF-N)  As a nod to its growing history in Vancouver, the company has given a top-to-bottom, inside-out renovation of its flagship Burrard Street location. 

Vancouver Province

Sears stock crashes after CEO rant

Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD-Q) CEO Eddie Lampert may be regretting his words today. Shares of the dying owner of Sears and Kmart plummeted 9.6 per cent to $9.40 on Friday, following a 9.6 per cent plunge on Thursday. The harsh action in Sears shares could be a further loss in confidence in Lampert, who largely blamed media reports for the troubles. 

The Street – Fortune – Forbes – CNBC

U.S. expansion helps Aritzia earnings

Vancouver-based womenswear retailer Aritzia (ATZ-T) bucked the trend of a lot of bricks-and-mortar fashion houses by increasing sales and profit, the company revealed. Aritzia generated $11.5 million in profit on $196.4 million in sales in its fourth quarter. That is a 15.1 per cent jump in profit and a 17.4% jump in revenue.

Business In Vancouver

Restaurants and Eateries

Second Cup CFO following CEO out the door

Second Cup Ltd. (SCU-T) says its chief financial officer has decided to leave the company at the end of June, the second high-ranking executive departure announced by the coffee company this week. Barbara Mallon’s decision to leave follows an announcement by the company Wednesday chief executive Alix Box was stepping down immediately.

Winnipeg Free Press

Infrastructure

Port Churchill’s future is on the line

Canada’s ugliest cross-border business brawl is unfolding along a rickety railroad, balanced on permafrost, in northern Manitoba. Whoever wins gets control of Canadian shipping out of the Arctic — and locals say that control should no longer rest with OmniTrax Inc., the U.S. company that has owned Canada’s only Arctic shipping route for 20 years.

Financial Post

Technology

Apps, websites, messaging systems speed up B.C. transactions

The speed of a real estate transaction has never been quicker with information zipping around via apps, websites and messaging systems. Instead of weeks or days, it can take just hours to seal a deal, even across time zones and amongst other hurdles. Things have definitely gone mobile.

Vancouver Sun

Other

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