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Coquitlam plans dense, vibrant new downtown core

4 years ago

Coquitlam is embarking on a major urban planning mission that will take decades to realize: the transformation of 1970s suburban strip malls and parking lots into a rich, diverse and walkable urban core.

The numbers aren’t dramatic at this point, but apartment vacancies are increasing, rents are decreasing and more tenant concessions seem likely. As the recession created by COVID-19 potentially worsens, so could these issues for apartment owners and managers.

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COVID-19 hasn’t stopped Toronto’s bullish developers from banking on a quick recovery. Construction of rental apartments in Canada’s financial capital is at near record levels despite a decline in immigration.

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Thind Properties plans three residential and one office tower – two at 12 storeys and one each at 11 and 13, respectively – in Richmond. The IBI Group-designed development will include a total of 429 units, 161,828 square feet of office space, 25,052 of retail and 632 parking stalls.

Equiton Partners

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Montreal’s newest hotel entered the market at an interesting time. Griffintown Hotel, a $46-million project spearheaded by a group of local investors, opened its doors last month amid the tourism industry’s worst summer on record.

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When Montreal’s Hôtel Monville opened in 2018, it was one of the first hotels in Canada to offer a truly contactless visitor experience. If a guest needed something, a three-foot-tall robot would deliver the item straight to their room.

Firm Capital Corporation

Sponsored by

As part of the Firm Capital Organization, Firm Capital Corporation, a leading non-bank lender since 1988, provides creative and innovative solutions to real estate finance.

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COVID-19 may have decimated his industry, but a new wave of leisure travellers drawn to Ottawa’s greenspace, outdoor patios and other attractions has Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites general manager Wayne Day seeing a few rays of hope.

ICS Facilities Services

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Landowner consultant John Corbett, representing a consortium of Hamilton developers, is spearheading an urban expansion with economic stimulus among its pursuits. The Upper West Side/Twenty Road West project is a collaborative effort of the Upper West Side Landowner Group.

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Being deemed an essential service hasn’t immunized Alberta’s commercial construction sector from the effects of COVID-19. While existing building sites remain busy, few new projects are breaking ground over supply chain woes and economic uncertainty.

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Toronto-based retailer Mendocino Clothing Co., has begun restructuring proceedings and plans to close stores to focus on online orders. Prior to the pandemic, the company operated 28 stores in the GTA, according to Insolvency Insider, which first reported the filing.

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CIBC real estate analyst Dean Wilkinson sees 25 per cent upside potential in the domestic retail REIT sector. Wilkinson’s current top picks in the subsector are RioCan REIT (REI-UN-T), SmartCentres REIT (SRU-UN-T) and First Capital REIT (FCR-UN-T).

Informa - Land and Development

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Brookfield Property Partners (BPY-UN-T) and Oxford Investa Property Partners (OIPP) announced their $191-million Cdn 388 George St. redevelopment in Sydney, Australia will include 413,000 square feet of A-grade commercial office space and 29,000 square feet of prime retail space.

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OMERS has acquired an additional seven per cent stake in ESR Cayman for approximately $664 million Cdn. The Canadian pension fund bought 213 million shares from an associated entity of Warburg Pincus, the original and ongoing backer of the Asia-Pacific logistics group.

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Global real estate investment fell by 33 per cent in the first half of 2020. The Asia-Pacific region took the biggest hit, with volumes down 45 per cent year-over-year, because it was the first struck by COVID-19, according to a report from Savills.

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The picture’s getting bleaker for key Manhattan shopping districts. Lower Fifth Avenue had the biggest drop in retail asking rents in Q2, sliding 30 per cent year-over-year, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Soho and Madison Avenue had declines of more than 14%.

Romspen Commercial Lender

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This is a challenging time for families planning to buy a GTA home in the near future. Two developments make me hopeful. The first could potentially ease some of the tax burden on first-time home buyers in Toronto.

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TPL Developments is proposing a six-storey rental building in North Vancouver. The development would include 140 market rental units,  six non-market rental units and 101 underground and at-grade parking stalls, including two car share spots.

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The B.C. government has released a repayment framework for landlords and tenants looking to settle unpaid rent debt before the ban on evictions because of failing to pay rent is lifted at the end of August.

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Bank of Canada director of financial stability Mikael Khan says the current economic recovery could be different than that of 2008. He said that while the employment rate has fallen, house prices are recovering and keeping homeowners from filing for insolvency.

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