Anthem acquiring four Calgary industrial properties

Anthem acquiring four Calgary industrial properties

Anthem Properties announced it has acquired three industrial properties in Calgary and is under contract to purchase a fourth. Together the three properties, at 4155 75^th Ave. SE, and 4905 77^th Ave. SE, comprise 176,000 square feet of gross leasable area on 8.25 acres of land in the Greenview and Foothills industrial nodes. They are 100 per cent leased to a diverse mix of tenants.

Property Biz Canada

Calgary’s CRE woes linger despite upturn in Alberta economy

During boom times, the Calgary office building known as 5/5 would have been a fine headquarters for a startup energy company, an accounting shop or investment firm, for which space a few blocks north in downtown proper would have been a trifle too expensive. Views from the top floors of the 11-storey brown brick building in the Beltline district show cityscapes backed by the Rocky Mountain foothills.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Property Biz Canada

Perceptive, GSK US ‘go against the grain’ in property hunt

Robert Kurlender says he has adopted a “perceptive approach to real estate investment” in which he aims to differentiate from the pack when acquiring industrial properties. “My approach has been to go against the grain,” says Kurlender, the president of Montreal-based Perceptive Capital and GSK US Properties, privately held firms specializing in acquiring industrial, flex and refrigerated warehouse facilities throughout the U.S.

Property Biz Canada

Amazon to build two Vancouver towers

Online retail colossus Amazon (AMZN-Q) will be moving into 416,000 square feet of office space that will be built in a new tower on top of told post office in downtown Vancouver. A second tower will also be built, adding 1.1 million square feet of office space to the existing structure, which occupies an entire block.

Vancouver Province – Toronto Star – Bloomberg

PSP announces major Boston office lease with Amazon

PSP Investments, in partnership with WS Development, Tuesday announced a lease for 430,000 square feet of office space at the companies’ 23-acre Boston Seaport development has been signed with Amazon (AMZN-Q). Amazon will occupy all of the office space in the building to be constructed on Block L4 of the Boston Seaport development, a 17-story mixed-use building designed by a collaboration of Gensler‘s San Francisco and Boston offices.

PR Newswire – Bloomberg – CoStar Group – Reuters

NIMBYism, skilled labour, permit issues dog Vancouver

Property Biz Canada

$13.2B National Housing Co-Investment Fund launched

The National Housing Co-Investment Fund (NHCF), under Canada’s National Housing Strategy (NHS), will strengthen the middle class, fuel our economy and give more Canadians across the country a place to call home. Through the $13.2-billion NHCF, the Government of Canada will work with partners to create up to 60,000 new affordable units and repair up to 240,000 affordable and community units over the next 10 years.

Canada Newswire – Canada Newswire

Couche-Tard is now Canada’s largest company

Convenience store giant Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (ATD-A-T) has always been a discreet company, even though it’s been publicly traded for 32 years. The Laval firm didn’t organize its first investor day until last January. Executives don’t hold live conference calls for earnings — analysts must submit questions in advance. Media interviews are about as rare as a Montreal Canadiens Stanley Cup run, and you won’t find a fancy headquarters.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Sobeys on the rebound: Is CEO’s strategy working?

Toting a black binder, Michael Medline strode into a hotel suite filled with members of Empire Co. Ltd.’s (EMP-A-T) board of directors to pitch himself as the new CEO of its Sobeys grocery chain. It was late 2016, and shares of Empire had plummeted in the wake of its $5.8-billion takeover of Western Canadian grocery stalwart Safeway in 2013. 

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Loblaw expanding online grocery business across Canada

Loblaw Companies Ltd. (L-T) has announced plans to expand its grocery pick-up and delivery services across the country this year. The company plans to add home delivery to five more markets this year, including Montreal, Halifax and Regina. Late last year, the company partnered with California-based Instacart to launch home delivery in two Canadian cities. It is currently available in 11 markets, including Toronto and Vancouver.

CTV – Canada Newswire

Fortress could lose Winnipeg development site

Fortress Real Developments Inc.  could lose the property where it plans to build the first phase of SkyCity Centre Winnipeg, after the company failed to live up to an agreement to demolish the St. Regis Hotel and turn it into a parkade, say officials at city development agency CentreVenture. Winnipeg’s arm’s-length development agency notified Fortress it has 10 business days to rectify the default.

CBC – Property Biz Canada

Oxford taking the lead role in NYC

If anyone knows what it’s like to be Blake Hutcheson, the CEO of Oxford Properties Group, it’s probably his counterpart at Ivanhoe Cambridge. Hutcheson and Ivanhoe’s Daniel Fournier are responsible for investing in real estate for two of Canada’s biggest pension funds, which between them manage assets worth more than $300 billion. Fournier said investment banks and brokers always assume they’re looking for low-risk, core assets.

The Real Deal

Brookfield fund snags Chicago office tower for $392M

In a $392-million Cdn deal, a private real estate fund sponsored by Brookfield Asset Management (BAM.A-T) has acquired 175 W. Jackson, a 1.4 million-square-foot, class-A tower built in 1912 in Chicago’s Central Loop submarket. JLL Capital Markets, led by international director Bruce Miller and managing director Nooshin Felsenthal, represented the seller, an ultra-high net worth European family advised by Extell Development.

CP Executive – Bloomberg – Property Biz Canada

Sandpiper supports Pure Multi-Family board

Sandpiper Group, an approximately two per cent unitholder of Pure Multi-Family REIT (RUF-UN-X) expressed its support for the current Board of Directors and the formal sale process initiated for Pure Multi-Family. Sandpiper urged fellow unitholders to support the current board to allow for the process currently underway to be completed successfully. The Pure Multi-Family board last month rejected an acquisition bid by Florida-based Electra America as undervalued.

Stockhouse – Property Biz Canada

Nexus acquires Alberta single-tenant industrial buildings

Nexus Real Estate Investment Trust (NXR-UN-X)  today announced it has entered into a conditional agreement to purchase two single-tenant industrial assets in Nisku, Alta. The REIT will acquire the assets upon completion of due diligence for a purchase price of approximately $12.3 million and a going in cap rate of seven per cent.

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

Featured Column

Sales: A noble profession

A profitable business relies upon the successful sale of a product and/or service. How that transaction takes place is changing; it’s increasingly easy to complete the necessary research, shop for the most favorable price and terms, and make the purchase on-line. There will, however, always be a place in complex transactions for a professional salesperson.

Read more

Real Estate Companies

Greenwin names Patrick Eratostene COO

Greenwin Inc. announced senior vice-president, Residential Operations, Patrick Eratostene has been appointed chief operating officer, a new position within Greenwin. Since 2012, Eratostene has run Greenwin’s blended housing portfolio, which includes the following asset categories: multi-residential, non-profit, affordable and Toronto Community Housing.

Canada Newswire

Hoteliers renew calls for Airbnb tax crackdown

Alberta innkeepers say there’s plenty of room to impose taxes on home-share operations, such as Airbnb, to level the playing field in the lodging industry. On Monday, which marked the deadline for Canadians to file their taxes, the Alberta Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA) renewed its call for Ottawa to appropriately tax online operators who offer homes for short-term rental.

Calgary Herald – Canada Newswire

REIT Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* Morguard North American Residential REIT, (MRG-UN-T), Canada Newswire

* Slate Retail REIT, (SRT-UN-T), Globe Newswire

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Invesque closes on Mohawk REIT

Invesque Inc. (IVQ-U-T) announced the closing of the previously announced acquisition of Mohawk Medical Properties Real Estate Investment Trust, and its subsidiary, Mohawk Medical Operating Partnership (I) LP for approximately US$138 million. As one of the largest portfolios in Canada, Mohawk REIT is comprised of 545,000 square feet spread across 14 medical office buildings in Canada and the U.S.

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

Retail

Reitmans appoints Richard Wait VP, Finance, CFO

Reitmans (Canada) Limited (RET-A-T) Monday announced the appointment of Richard Wait, CPA, CGA vice-president comptroller, as vice-president, Finance and chief financial officer, effective Aug. 17, 2018, and the retirement of Eric Williams, CPA, CA effective on the same date. Wait will transition into his new role over the summer of 2018 with the support of Williams until his retirement.

Canada Newswire

SSENSE opens new Montreal flagship

SSENSE, the global fashion platform known for its directional retail mix and original content, announces Thursday’s opening of SSENSE MONTRÉAL, a flagship concept reimagining the conventions of retail. Located at 418 rue Saint Sulpice, and representing the first building in Canada designed by world-renowned David Chipperfield Architects, the expansive 13,000-square-foot five-storey historic 19th century building is directly adjacent to the city’s iconic Notre-Dame basilica. 

Canada Newswire

Cannabis industry news

New B.C. rules could roll back Victoria pot shops

New provincial regulations could help weed out some of the cannabis retailers in downtown Victoria, says Mayor Lisa Helps. Last week, city councillors received a letter from the Downtown Residents Association expressing concern about the proliferation of cannabis retailers downtown, a situation the association says is exacerbated by the fact no other municipality in the capital region has been licensing pot shops.

Victoria Times Colonist

B.C., Ottawa sign marijuana tax-sharing deal

B.C. has signed on to Ottawa’s tax for legalized marijuana, though the province has not yet decided whether to share the money with local communities. Finance Minister Carole James signed the “coordinated cannabis taxation agreement” with the federal government late last week, formalizing Ottawa’s offer to share 75 per cent of pot revenue with provinces and territories. The federal government had originally proposed a 50-50 split.

Vancouver Province

New Development

Alberta approves Edmonton’s $36M drug production facility

The province has approved construction of a $36-million pharmaceutical hub in Edmonton that will take over responsibility for preparing medications required by the region’s hospitals and health centres. Alberta Infrastructure hopes to see work begin on the Provincial Pharmacy Central Drug Production and Distribution Centre as early as mid-June although a site for the project has yet to be found.

Edmonton Journal

Infrastructure

City staff recommend against LRT to Kanata Research Park

City staff are recommending a future extension of Ottawa’s light-rail line in the west end bypass the Kanata Research Park and instead follow a “central spine” that largely follows Highway 417 to the Canadian Tire Centre. Shovels won’t be hitting the ground on the $1.85-billion, 11-kilometre extension any time soon. The city is still tendering the second phase of Ottawa’s light-rail network.

Ottawa Business Journal

Human Resources

Siddall to serve as CMHC CEO/president until 2020

Derek Ballantyne, chair of CMHC’s Board of Directors, Tuesday announced Evan Siddall will continue to serve as CMHC‘s CEO and president for until December 2020. Since being appointed in 2014, Siddall and his executive team have led transformative change at CMHC – helping it regain ground as a high-performing, innovative and ambitious organization with a vision of being at the heart of a world-leading housing system.

Canada Newswire

Other

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