Edmonton bidding farewell to fabled rink

Edmonton bidding farewell to fabled rink

For years, an office door in the Edmonton Oilers dressing room stood as a barometer of success, as important to some as the championship banners hanging from the rafters at Rexall Place, originally Northlands Coliseum. The thick, steel door was not in a public area of the arena, but most in Edmonton knew it existed.

NHL.com – Edmonton Journal – Edmonton Journal – TSN.ca

Edmonton developer pushes for tower

An Edmonton developer hopes to convince councillors to let him build a 16-storey tower just off Whyte Avenue despite opposition from city officials. Mat McLash’s proposed Mezzo project would include a 16-storey tower offering up to 209 residential units, including affordable housing run in part as a non-profit and as below-market rate, small apartments.

Edmonton Journal

Reseau Selection’s retirement empire growing

Réseau Sélection has committed $250 million to five new Quebec retirement residences as part of its five-year, $2-billion expansion plan that will build 30 new communities and 18,000 units by 2020. “These projects will generate over 1,000 jobs during the construction phase and 250 more during the operations phase,” vice-president of marketing, sales and public affairs Isabelle Dessureault said.

Property Biz Canada

Vancouver attracting Chinese head offices

Shi Junying can’t stop gushing about how well Vancouver fits every facet of his company’s international growth strategy. “Here, we can find people with competencies covering almost every market and culture of the world without leaving the city,” said Shi, chairman of Bioland Environmental Technologies Group. “You don’t see this in other places we looked at.”

Vancouver Sun

Ivanhoe redeveloping access to Place Ste-Foy

Ivanhoé Cambridge announced a $60-million investment in the redevelopment and construction of two new multi-level parking facilities at Place Ste-Foy in Quebec City. This amount is in addition to the $50 million already invested in the shopping centre’s ongoing modernization project. This latest investment will improve access to Place Ste-Foy.

Ivanhoé Cambridge media release

Procura renovating Edmonton tower

When Procura finishes renovating its newly renamed WSP Place building, the company will have significantly changed the look of the key downtown Edmonton intersection. The developer has started major improvements on the former Associated Engineering Building. No cost estimate was released.

Edmonton Journal

Edmonton’s Patricia Motel faces final checkout

In one of life’s unlikely twists, David Hamilton spent his first night in Edmonton at the Patricia Motel in 1969. Forty-seven years later, Hamilton is the owner of GMH Architects, the firm representing the developer who now owns the motel and wants to knock it down to build a seniors housing complex that includes a tower up to 19 storeys.

Edmonton Journal

Restaurant chains forced to ‘steal customers’

St-Hubert boasts the highest customer loyalty of any restaurant in Canada, with the exception of Tim Hortons, according to industry analyst Robert Carter. That’s why it’s a no-brainer Ontario-based Cara Operations Ltd., (CAO-T) trying to expand its market share in a marketplace that’s hasn’t seen growth in five years, would gobble it up.

CBC News – Ottawa Business Journal

Nadji takes Marcus & Millichap helm

Marcus & Millichap’s (MMI-N) new CEO, Hessam Nadji draws on a background that runs the gamut from research and information to tem-building. The 20-year company veteran was hired by Bill Millichap in 1996 as the company’s first head of research. Previously, Nadji was with Grubb & Ellis for 11 years, rising to head of research and information services.

GlobeSt.com

CT REIT’s deal with Sears a wise move

CT REIT’s (CRT.UN-T) $84-million deal to buy and leaseback a distribution centre in Calgary from Sears Canada Inc. (SCC-T), marks its first meaningful acquisition of a property with a third-party tenant, and there appears to be plenty of reasons why it makes sense. 

Financial Post – Canada Newswire

Micro retail proposed for High Park Station

Toronto’s High Park Subway Station could be the site of a bold experiment in micro-retail. As part of a proposal to build a new daycare, an existing parking garage bordering TTC property could be replaced with a strip of micro retail units fronting the bus platform. The 15 new storefronts would range in size from 188 to 307 square feet.

Urban Toronto

Retailers hunt for options other than closures

The end of the first quarter typically also marks the end of the store closure season as retailers who fared poorly during the year-end holiday sales period go public with their restructuring plans. However, a growing number of brands are seeking to increase the relevance of their real estate portfolios and leverage their physical reach.

CoStar Group

Retail, industrial cap rates reach historic lows

The U.S.’ net lease market continues to be intensely competitive and entice a record number of investors. Cap rates in the first quarter of 2016 for the single tenant net lease retail and industrial sectors reached a new historic low rate of 6.18 and 7.10 per cent, respectively, according to a report just published by the Boulder Group.

GlobeSt.com

Casinos turn to public markets

A pair of the U.S.’ major casino operators turned to the public capital markets last week to raise money to make new acquisitions. MGM Resorts International (MGM-N) filed public paperwork for its long-anticipated initial public REIT stock offering: MGM Growth Properties, and Gaming & Leisure Properties, the first publicly traded gaming-focused REIT in North America.

CoStar Group

Huge development underway in San Fran

Construction of one of San Francisco’s largest mixed-use projects is underway, a massive $6 billion redevelopment of a former naval base. The development will eventually have 8,000 residential units, along with about 500 hotel rooms, retail and 90 acres of parks and open space, according to the Treasure Island Community Development.

Commercial Property Executive

Featured Column

PC urban re-imagines Vancouver industrial

Industrial land supply is the biggest issue facing commercial real estate developers in Vancouver. A recent study by Port Metro Vancouver found the current supply of trade-enabling industrial land in the Lower Mainland will be exhausted roughly within the next 10 years.

Read more

Craig Wright, the fascinating economist

Here’s an opening I never thought I’d write: “I just got to know a fascinating guy. He’s an economist.” Craig Wright, RBC EconomistCraig Wright, the chief economist of the Royal Bank of Canada, will be in Vancouver on April 21 to deliver a speech to the Urban Development Institute.

Read more

Market Trends and Research

What’s in store for valuations?

Hotel and office appreciation has slowed, apartments remain healthy and retail and industrial should move from flat to upward bound, Ten-X’s chief economist Peter Muoio tells GlobeSt.com. After the release of the firm’s most recent CRE Nowcast, GlobeSt.com spoke exclusively with Muoio.

GlobeSt.com

Saskatoon building permits reach landmark in 2015

For the third time since 1907, the City of Saskatoon has issued building permits worth more than $1 billion. Despite the ongoing commodities downturn, Saskatoon’s construction sector proved “robust” last year,” according to Kara Fagnou, the city’s director of building standards.

Saskatoon StarPhoenix

NYC developers richer than ever

In 2007, the real estate market was at its peak. In New York City and elsewhere, though, the bubble was about to burst. Major players like Jerry Speyer would go on to forfeit multi-billion-dollar deals, like Tishman Speyer’s $5.4-billion Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village project. Now the New York market has officially rebounded.

Forbes

Will foreign investors remain major buyers in 2016?

Overseas investors plowed a record $70 billion into U.S. commercial real estate in 2015, helping to sustain a steady increase in property values and transaction pace throughout the year. Having captured such a prominent role in the market, observers are closely monitoring the level of cross-border investment for any sign of a slowdown.

CoStar Group – CoStar Group – CoStar Group

Real Estate Companies

Vision Properties acquires Inner Harbor trophy

Vision Properties, LLC, a New Jersey-based real estate development and management firm, acquired the 28-storey office tower at 100 East Pratt St. in downtown Baltimore’s Inner Harbor from Columbia Property Trust for $187 million US, or $282 per square foot.

CoStar Group

REOC Financial Reports

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Singapore office REIT earnings to slow: Fitch

The six Singapore-listed office-sector REITs’ earnings growth is likely to slow in 2016, Fitch Ratings says in a new report. However, the agency says the credit profiles of most of the office SREITs are strong, which should help to absorb the impact without any major credit implications.

Reuters

NorthWest Healthcare CEO buying again

From March 21 to 24, Paul Dalla Lana, chairman of the board of trustees and CEO of NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT (NWH.UN-T) acquired a total of 23,000 trust units at an average price of $9.64. Since June 30 of last year, he has spent $4.2 million buying units in the public market. During that period, the stock has advanced about 20 per cent.

Globe and Mail

Supreme Court clarifies citizenship for unincorporated REITs

Unincorporated REITs and other entities with a similar organization or governed by comparable laws that are currently in federal court litigation based on diversity jurisdiction should examine whether they may be subject to a jurisdictional challenge based on a recent court decision, according to sources in this exclusive Q&A below.

GlobeSt.com

Retail

Art of barbecuing arrives in Winnipeg

Hank Hill would be in heaven. What’s being billed as the city’s first store dedicated mainly to barbecues and barbecue-related products is scheduled to open this month in southwest Winnipeg. Local entrepreneur and Wicker World owner Phil Squarie vows his new 10,000-square-foot Luxe Barbeque Company store will feature the province’s largest selection of barbecues and barbecue accessories.

Winnipeg Free Press

Restaurants and Eateries

Chipotle cooking up hamburger chain

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG-N) may be getting into the burger business. Chipotle, which has already invested in two smaller chains, is considering opening another restaurant concept focused on hamburgers, said Chris Arnold, a spokesman for the Denver-based company. The company filed a trademark application this month for the name “Better Burger.”

Bloomberg – Bloomberg

New Development

Construction underway at Edmonton’s Station Pointe

Concrete pilings are finally creeping skyward at Edmonton’s stalled Station Pointe redevelopment. The first builder to break ground promises neighbourhood residents will be surprised how quickly the buildings go up. Fortis LGS and BCM Developments started work on two five-storey mixed-use buildings and estimate construction will take roughly 15 months.

Edmonton Journal

Infrastructure

Ottawa LRT tunnel excavation on schedule

Unless you’re living on top of it, the work going on beneath the downtown core on Ottawa’s Confederation line LRT tunnel could easily go unnoticed. Much of what’s happening, as machines mine a 2.5-kilometre tunnel 15 metres underground, remains far from the view of a curious public. Yet, there’s plenty going on down there.

Ottawa Citizen

TransLink tight-lipped on rapid transit estimates

Cost estimates for the proposed Broadway subway and Surrey light-rail transit (LRT) projects are going up, but TransLink’s chief financial officer wouldn’t say how high. The Mayors’ Council’s 2014 funding plan, rejected last spring by voters, estimated the Broadway subway and Surrey LRT would cost $1.98 billion and $2.14 billion, respectively.

Business In Vancouver

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