Investors lift Canadian CRE to record quarter

Investors lift Canadian CRE to record quarter

Canadian commercial real estate investment reached new heights in the second quarter, boosted by a pair of big acquisitions and by the lure of attractive, income-producing property. Transactions reached $16.5 billion. That’s 38 per cent more than the previous record, set in the first quarter of last year, and more than twice the five-year quarterly average, CBRE Group Inc. said in a report Monday.

Bloomberg – Winnipeg Free Press

BioWare, DeepMind part of downtown Edmonton tech surge

Downtown Edmonton’s real estate market has bounced back as the oil and gas industry recovers from its recent slump, but the glow could fade in coming months. The office vacancy rate at the end of June dropped to 12.5 per cent, down from 15.3 per cent in 2017, figures from Avison Young real estate show. That’s the lowest figure since the pre-recession 8.8 per cent vacancy rate in 2015.

Edmonton Journal – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

Zibi a $1.5B development in the heart of Ottawa, Gatineau

Zibi is a four-million-square-foot, $1.5-billion, mixed-use development which will take another decade to complete. But to Jeff Westeinde, it is more than statistics, Zibi brings Ottawa and Gatineau full circle, reimagining and redeveloping the historical heart of the two cities. Westeinde heads up Theia Partners, which is developing Zibi with partners Dream Unlimited Corp. (DRM-T), and Dream Hard Assets Alternatives Trust. 

Property Biz Canada

Agellan acquires interest in 1.9M-sq.-ft. distribution centre

Agellan Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust (ACR-UN-T) will add two southern U.S. industrial properties to its portfolio; a 50 per cent interest in a massive distribution centre in Atlanta, and 100 per cent ownership of a light industrial property in Austin, Texas. The latest purchases continue a busy 2018 for the REIT, which included the sale in May of the 868,000-square-foot Parkway Place office complex in Toronto for Cdn$256 million.

Property Biz Canada

Toronto remains confident about Amazon HQ2 bid

Canada’s most populous city remains confident it has what it takes to snag Amazon‘s second North American headquarters a year after the online retail giant launched its search for a new home base. With Amazon expected to make its decision by the end of the year, Toronto’s mayor said the city – the only Canadian contender to make the short list – is uniquely positioned to host the company.

Global News – Bloomberg

Ottawa LRT likely won’t be ready until 2019

The Confederation Line LRT likely won’t be ready for customers by the end of 2018, City of Ottawa councillors learned Monday. Transportation general manager John Manconi told the finance and economic development committee that he received a call from RTG on the way home from work on Friday around 6 p.m. suggesting a new schedule of completion.

Ottawa Citizen

Brookfield lays out its Niido / Airbnb partner strategy

Brookfield Asset Management (BAM-A-T) has invested $200 million in a joint venture with Niido, Airbnb’s multi-family development partner, and managing director Jonathan Moore revealed more about the deal at the Canadian Apartment Investment Conference on Sept. 5. Brookfield has invested about $8 billion in purpose-built apartment acquisitions and another $3 billion in multi-family development, primarily in the United States, since it became heavily involved in the sector in 2010.

Property Biz Canada

Assessment appeals: Big property owners aren’t the bad guys

I’ve been watching this story unfold through the media for a couple of weeks now and feel compelled to weigh in, given the whining tone that has emerged and the unbalanced perception it creates. It all started with word the City of Cornwall is suing the Municipal Property Assessment Corp. (MPAC) for negligence. At issue? Property assessments that overvalued three commercial properties – distribution warehouses for Shoppers and Wal-Mart.

Value: Weighed and Measured

Rising property taxes putting Toronto businesses at risk

Le Select Bistro is one of many small businesses across the city at risk of being “taxed out” of Toronto, according to new research from Ryerson University’s City Building Institute, which highlights the widespread impact of higher taxes thanks to the province’s most recent property reassessment two years ago. Many say the situation needs a long-term fix from the new provincial government and next city council.

CBC

Worries mount about professional offices replacing TO retailers

Keen observers have noticed an unexpected trend in the  West Queen West area of Toronto – a proliferation of dentists’ offices. “Right across from the Drake Hotel there’s a dentist’s office and half block south another one just opened,” says Antonio Carvallo, a realtor with Re/Max Hallmark Bibby Group. He says there are two other dentist offices moving in on nearby Sudbury Street, just off the main retail strip.

Globe and Mail

Judge strikes down legislation reducing Toronto city council

A judge has struck down legislation cutting the size of Toronto city council in another legal blow to Premier Doug Ford. An appeal is likely, lawyers involved in the case and the judge himself noted. That leaves the upcoming election scheduled Oct. 22 in an ongoing state of uncertainty. Ford was scheduled to address reporters later Monday.

Toronto Star – CBC

Vaughan condo buyers seek to sue over cancelled project

Buyers in a cancelled Vaughan condo project are asking a court to declare their contracts void so they can sue the developer for the appreciation they lost in the two years between when they bought the pre-construction units and when their deposits were returned. The unusual legal application was filed Aug. 30 on behalf of 451 buyers of Liberty Development’s Cosmos condos.

Toronto Star

Architecture sector unites to plan national policy

A pan-Canadian effort has been launched by the architectural sector to create a new national architecture policy that would promote better quality in the built environment, identify new aspirational goals and ensure the profession is more relevant to Canadians. The proponents of the new policy aim to consult with the public and members of the profession in the early part of 2019.

Daily Commercial News

Contractor woes stall Ontario public projects

A dozen public-sector construction projects across Ontario – including hospitals, schools and university buildings – are either months behind schedule or in limbo as one of the province’s largest construction companies struggles to pay its subcontractors and complete jobs. Since the start of 2018, Bondfield Construction Company Ltd., has been terminated as the general contractor on three public-sector projects, and several others are mired in delays.

Globe and Mail

LaSalle calls Pebblebrook bid ‘superior’ to Blackstone’s

Real estate investment trust LaSalle Hotel Properties (LHO-N) said a purchase offer from Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (PEB-N) is a “superior proposal” to a rival bid from Blackstone Group (BX-N) and gave Blackstone four days to come back with another bid. LaSalle shifted course late Wednesday on its position taken last month to recommend the Blackstone deal only hours before shareholders were to begin voting on it. 

CoStar Group – Reuters

Featured Column

1,000 lease changes later . . .

Receiving that first response from a tenant we’ve not encountered before, after waiting for their review of a lease, is always interesting. We represent both tenants and landlords; this article has been written from the perspective in which I am representing the landlord. At times the tenant is prepared to execute the document “as is” and at times they will request hundreds of changes, or more. We have seen that number exceed 1,000 changes.

The Saskatchewan Edge

Market Trends and Research

U.S. data centre market on pace for another record year

The U.S. data-centre market, fueled by surging demand from large users of the cloud, is heading for a record year in terms of leasing, surpassing 2017’s benchmark activity.  Based on a report by CBRE and backed by observations by CoStar Market Analytics, the growth is paced by key data centre regions across the country such as Northern Virginia and the Dallas area. 

CoStar Group

Real Estate Companies

Proposals invited for former Walton pre-development land

Ernst & Young Inc., in its capacity as court-appointed monitor of Riverbend Asset Management Corporation and Walton Alliston Development Corporation is seeking proposals for the sale of certain pre-development lands located in Alliston, Ont., pursuant to a sale and investment solicitation process approved by the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta on Aug. 30.

Canada Newswire

Retail

Loblaw to take $368-M charge after tax court ruling

Loblaw Companies Ltd. will record a $368-million tax charge related to its former Barbadian banking subsidiary Glenhuron Bank Ltd. The charge of 98 cents per share will be recorded in Q3 but Loblaw says it plans to appeal a tax court ruling issued last week. The tax court decision centres on the Canada Revenue Agency’s reassessments of Glenhuron for several tax years dating as far back as 2001.

Globe and Mail – Bloomberg

U.S. demand for ‘de minimis’ limit worries Canadian retailers

American negotiators in the NAFTA talks find themselves on the same side as some Canadian economists on the issue of how Canada treats e-commerce shipments coming into the country. The United States is using the talks to try to get Canada to raise its so-called “de minimis threshold” – the level below which goods are given exemptions from duty and sales tax. Today, that threshold is very low.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Cannabis industry news

Aurora to acquire ICC Labs in $290M deal

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB-T) has signed an agreement to acquire marijuana company ICC Labs Inc. (ICC-X) in an all-stock deal it valued at $290 million. Under the friendly agreement, ICC shareholders will receive 0.2448 of an Aurora share for each ICC share making the deal worth $1.95 a share. Aurora says ICC has more than 70 per cent market share in Uruguay.

Globe and Mail – Canada Newswire

Thermo Fisher makes quiet bet on Canadian cannabis industry

The Canadian cannabis industry has managed to attract another Fortune 500 company, although not in the way some might have been expecting. On Friday, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., a leading provider of lab equipment, announced it is offering scientists in Canada a wide variety of products that could be used for cannabis testing. In doing so, the Waltham, Mass.-based company appears to be trying to tap into a different sort of marijuana-related market, one that is connected to analyzing and ensuring the quality of cannabis, not just the sale of it.

Financial Post

Trellis hopes to replicate stateside success at home

Pranav Sood took his cannabis tech company to California to learn from one of the world’s largest legal marijuana markets, and now the Canadian is bringing his software back home to capitalize on the legal recreational market here. Founded in Canada in 2014, Trellis Solutions Inc. is a cannabis software company that allows growers to track plants as they move through the supply chain, from cultivation to distribution.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

New Development

$30M fitness centre coming to Winnipeg

South Winnipeg residents will soon be purifying themselves in Himalayan salt rooms and running ninja obstacle courses, among other healthy activities, in a new 80,000-square-foot $30-million fitness centre. Startup company Altea Active Club Inc., with deep roots in the fitness industry, expects to turn sod for the new building in the Bridgwater area before year’s end.

Winnipeg Free Press

Infrastructure

Toronto’s Villiers Island begins to take shape

The rehabilitation of Toronto’s Port Lands, long seen as a key to righting past environmental wrongs as well as an essential catalyst to new community-building in the area, is now well underway after a decade of planning. Waterfront Toronto is engaged in numerous projects in the area including such elemental work as the Cherry Street Lakefilling project, the recent launch of the Port Lands Flood Protection Project and continued high-level sustainability planning.

Construct Connect

Merchants awarded compensation for Cambie construction loses

A B.C. Supreme Court justice has awarded three Cambie Street merchants more than $180,000 as compensation for financial hardship experienced during Canada Line construction between 2005 to 2009. Store owners argued that the cut-and-cover tunnelling that ripped up a section of Cambie Street for three years greatly restricted access to their businesses and ate into their revenue.

Vancouver Sun

Other

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