Bold plans introduced for True North Square

Bold plans introduced for True North Square

The highly anticipated True North Square development in downtown Winnipeg will be even bigger and bolder than originally thought. Revised plans call for four towers, not three. It was also revealed James Richardson & Sons Ltd. will be a 50-50 equity partner in the $400-million mixed-use development along with True North Sports & Entertainment.

Winnipeg Free Press – Winnipeg Free Press – CBC News – Winnipeg Free Press

Firms facing huge land-transfer tax hit

The Ontario government is threatening to go as far back as 1989 to target commercial entities avoiding land-transfer taxes through a disputed legal loophole. The largest transaction in Canadian history, the $1.27-billion sale of Scotia Plaza in Toronto, and the $400-million real estate IPO in 2013 by Loblaw (L-T) that created Choice Properties REIT (CHP.UN-T) , are at the heart of the dispute.

Financial Post – Property Biz Canada

Leon’s to take over eight Sears locations

Sears Canada Inc. (SCC-T) will hand eight of its big-box Sears Home store leases to Leon’s Furniture Inc., (LNF-T). Tuesday’s announcement, which covers four home stores in B.C, three in Ontario and one in Moncton, N.B., is the latest in a series of lease exits by Sears in recent years.

Financial Post – Globe and Mail – CTV News – Victoria Times Colonist

Brookfield, Qube weigh joint Asciano bid

Brookfield Asset Management Inc (BAM.A-T) and its Australian rival are weighing a joint $9-billion Cdn bid for Australia’s biggest rail and port operator, a measure aimed at ending the fierce takeover battle. Target firm Asciano Ltd revealed on Tuesday Brookfield and Australian cargo handler Qube Holdings Ltd. have entered talks about a possible joint offer.

Reuters – Reuters – Wall Street Journal

NCC 50-year capital plan slowly taking shape

More waterfront access, a Confederation Square makeover and a tweak of the Rideau Street intersection in front of the old train station are among the ideas the National Capital Commission has collected to shape a new 50-year “vision” for Ottawa. On Tuesday, NCC executive director of capital planning Stephen Willis provided an update of that plan.

Ottawa Business Journal – Ottawa Sun

Devcore boss ‘confident’ Sens will play at LeBreton

Before a gag order was imposed on the two groups vying to redevelop LeBreton Flats, Devcore president Jean-Pierre Poulin told OBJ the process was “fair” and he was confident the NHL’s Ottawa Senators will eventually play at the site no matter who wins the bid. “I think it’s all exciting for Ottawa,” Poulin said.

Ottawa Business Journal

Office, retail sectors settling in for tough 2016

Canada’s real estate industry is bracing for a difficult year as low oil prices, a glut of office and retail supply and skittish investors drive down demand for commercial space and hamper enthusiasm for new condos. Office vacancies are on the rise in every market, with the national vacancy rate hitting its highest point in a decade.

Globe and Mail

Cineplex goes all out at Marine Gateway

Surveying two residential towers and a pristine patio, Jason de Courcy joked about attending movies in a housecoat if he lived at comfy Marine Gateway. The amenable vice-president of operations for Cineplex Entertainment in Western Canada (CGX-T) was all smiles when he toured the spanking-new Cineplex Cinemas Marine Gateway and VIP — a new 11-auditorium, 56,588-square-foot movie theatre.

Vancouver Sun – Toronto Star

Kit and Ace expanding too quickly: Analyst

Too much expansion in too little time. That’s one of the main reasons behind last week’s layoff of 35 employees at the Vancouver head office of Kit and Ace, the high end clothing chain launched by the wife and son of Lululemon founder Chip Wilson, according to a Vancouver retail analyst. “I think definitely they were moving audaciously quite quickly,” said David Ian Gray of DIG360 Consulting Ltd.

Vancouver Sun – Business In Vancouver – Business In Vancouver – Vancouver Sun

Rayat finds right formula for CRE success

When Harmel Rayat acquired his first commercial property in 2006, his knowledge was definitely limited. “I was very nervous then,” said the president and CEO of Vancouver-based Talia Jevan Properties. “Not only did I not know what a cap rate was, but I couldn’t tell you the difference between a leasing agent or a sales agent.”

Vancouver Sun

The Garment District designs of Benjamin Brown

If you look north at the corner of Spadina Avenue and Adelaide Street West, you’ll be standing at the gateway to what was, in the 1920s and 30s, Toronto’s booming garment district. The two impressive buildings on either side of you were designed by the “relatively unknown” Benjamin Brown, the first registered Jewish architect in the city.

Globe and Mail

Oil and gas companies fall behind on rent

For the past five years, regular as clockwork, an oil and gas company’s cheque for $4,097 has arrived in Allison Shelstad’s mailbox in January, rent paid for surface access to a natural gas well on the farmland southeast of Calgary. This year, however, the cheque didn’t come. And, when she called, Shelstad says she was given a runaround.

Calgary Herald

Broadcasters return to One WTC

CBS, NBCUniversal-owned WNBC and WNJU, and PBS will relocate broadcasting operations to the 408-foot tall spire atop One World Trade Center in New York City, marking the return of network and radio broadcasting to the iconic tower following an absence of more than 14 years. All four had broadcast from the World Trade Center before Sept. 11, 2001.

CoStar Group – New York Post

Hot office markets on U.S. coasts

Look to the coasts for the nation’s hottest office markets over the next three years, says a new forecast from Ten-X. Three of the top markets for office investors are in California — San Francisco (No. 1), San Jose (2) and Orange County (4) — while the top five is rounded out by New York City (3) and Boston (5).

Globest.com – Globest.com

U.S. CRE price growth will be flat: Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley (MS-N) analysts last week predicted U.S. commercial real estate prices will see zero growth in 2016, replacing a previous forecast of five per cent over the course of the year. Values for office buildings, hotels, shopping malls and the like have appreciated rapidly in recent years, thanks in part to insatiable investor demand for higher-yield CRE assets.

Bloomberg – Commercial Property Executive

Featured Column

How to keep your national tenants happy

If I’ve learned one thing about my tenants over the decades, it’s that it doesn’t matter if it’s national or local, you need to know their business well. However, there are certain nuances of working with a tenant national in scope.

Read more

Real estate brokers masters of our own destiny

As self-governing, quasi-judicial bodies, we in organized real estate were charged with the responsibility of determining how the public will be served by our industry. This was not a responsibility that came easy.

Read more

Market Trends and Research

Battle over Edmonton site will bring more transparency

Edmontonians lost at court but their fight over the contentious Molson site development will still bring more transparency to city hall. Presenting on lessons learned at city hall Tuesday, city staff promised in future to present both the positives and negatives on major development proposals before they give council a list of recommendations.

Edmonton Journal

Co-working spaces are going corporate

WeWork, the shared-office company valued at $15 billion, has cultivated a chic vibe to attract the freelancers and startup workers who helped launch the co-working movement. That means hip interior design (some offices have wallpaper created by the Beastie Boys’ Mike D.) and free micro-roasted coffee and craft beer (the company gave out 90,000 glasses during a single month last year).

Bloomberg

Real Estate Companies

UVic’s Dunsmuir Lodge to become health centre

Ontario-based Homewood Health Inc. has struck a conditional deal to buy the University of Victoria’s Dunsmuir Lodge in North Saanich. Homewood plans to return the closed facility to a mental health and addictions treatment centre. The centre could open as early in spring 2017 after a “few million dollars” in upgrading, Jagoda Pike, president and CEO of Homewood Health, said Tuesday.

Victoria Times Colonist – CHEK

Firm Capital closes sale of two retail properties

Firm Capital Property Trust (FCD.UN-X) announced it has closed the sale of its interest in two retail properties and closed a $23.7 million new first mortgage on the 100% interest in a co-owned retail portfolio. The properties sold were a 10,542 square-foot retail strip centre in Ontario that sold for $3,400,000 and a 8,788-square-foot land leased retail property in B.C. for gross proceeds of $557,000.

Canada Newswire

AutoCanada announces sale of Newmarket Infiniti Nissan

AutoCanada Inc. (ACQ-T) announced ut has reached an agreement to sell the operating assets of Newmarket Infiniti Nissan in Newmarket along with the real estate on which the dealership is located. The sale is expected to close this week and net proceeds will be used reduce indebtedness under the company’s revolving credit facility by approximately $11,500,000.

Canada Newswire

Blue Rock takes control of multi-family porfolio

Blue Rock Premier Properties, a newly formed investment company in Tampa, Fla., has acquired control and management of a $700 million US multi-family portfolio in Florida. The multi-family portfolio includes 29 assets spanning over 8,000 units from Blue Rock Partners. The firm also closed on a $48-million, 532-unit multi-family portfolio in Jacksonville, Fla.

Globest.com – Multi-Housing News

REOC Financial Reports

Real Estate Investment Trusts

I’m not quitting on CREIT

Even good companies hit a rough patch from time to time. Case in point: Canadian REIT (REF.UN-T). Widely regarded as one of the country’s best-managed REITs, CREIT has suffered the double whammy of a downturn in the REIT space in general and exposure to Calgary’s slumping office market in particular.

Globe and Mail (Subscription Required)

Get rich slowly with one of these REITs

I think all long-term investors should own at least one REIT, but finding the right one can be a very tough task. NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT (NWH.UN-T), RioCan REIT (REI.UN-T) and Choice Properties REIT (CHP.UN-T) can help you get rich slowly, so take a closer look and strongly consider initiating positions in one of them today.

Motley Fool

Lincluden exec predicts decline in RE value

As the economic tailwinds linger, what’s the prognosis for 2016? “We feel that income will be the focus for the next little while,” says Lincluden Investment Management‘s Derek Warren. Warren notes REITs had a relatively weak year, which suggests values have peaked and “2016 will see a small decline in the value of real estate.”

Benefits Canada

United Development stock plunges

Embattled residential finance and investment firm United Development Funding says its top officers have been subpoenaed to provide a federal grand jury with documents related to the operation of the company. The value of the company’s United Development Funding IV REIT(UDF-Q) had plunged by more than two thirds before the FBI raided UDF’s offices and trading was halted.

Dallas Morning News

Retail

HBC reveals solid sales bump as online sales surge

In a possible bid to quell investor anxiety about the impact of an unusually warm winter on apparel retailers, Hudson’s Bay Co. (HBC-T) revealed partial fourth-quarter and full-year sales results Tuesday that showed a solid improvement, if you strip out the effects of currency. The Toronto-based operator reported same-store sales growth was up 11 per cent overall in the fourth quarter.

Financial Post – CTV News

Simons set to open first Ontario store

Peter Simons is the fifth-generation CEO of his family’s Quebec apparel chain, which is expanding across Canada and into the GTA at Square One in March. His brother, Richard, is vice-president of merchandising. Peter is in charge of a growing empire of Simons stores — nine in Quebec as well as in Edmonton and West Vancouver.

Toronto Star

Latest retail reports:

* Home Depot Inc, (HD-N), Reuters

* Lowe’s, (LOW-N), Reuters 

* Macy’s, (M-N), Reuters, Winnipeg Free Press, Wall Street Journal

* Target, (TGT-N), Globe and Mail, Fortune

* Saskatchewan, Statistics Canada, Regina Leader-Post

Sports Venues

Queen’s aims for touchdown with stadium build

Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. is in the midst of building a new outdoor turf stadium, envisioned as one of the top facilities of its ilk in the province. The revitalized Richardson Stadium will boast an artificial turf field, U-shaped seating built to modern accessibility standards, a state-of-the-art scoreboard and improved broadcast and webcast capability.

Daily Commercial News

Resorts

New Mexico ski resort aims to be king of the mountain again

The Blake, a new four-star hotel in Taos, N.M., that will have 80 rooms and six or seven luxury suites is slated for completion this summer, although its main goal is to attract diehard skiers. The hotel is at the heart of a plan to upgrade and modernize the venerable Taos Ski Valley resort and rebuild a customer base of devotees that has eroded.

Globe and Mail

Renovation and Restoration

Dubai airport opens new concourse

The world’s busiest airport for international travel is growing again. Dubai International Airport opened a new concourse Wednesday with the arrival of a British Airways flight from London. Officials say the new $1.2 billion concourse will boost the airport’s capacity from 75 million to 90 million passengers annually.

Winnipeg Free Press

Some fancy stickhandling in Forks Market reno

A Winnipeg design firm is looking to score your old wooden hockey sticks for a “very Manitoban” sculpture project that will be displayed at The Forks. The sculptures, which will resemble wooden dandelions, are being built by Wood Anchor. The sculptures are part of the $2.5-million renovation of The Forks Market.

Winnipeg Free Press

Infrastructure

Edmonton funicular construction set for March 7

Construction on Edmonton’s new river valley funicular will start March 7, despite ongoing misgivings from some city councillors. More than two thirds of the $24-million budget was previously committed from Ottawa and the province, funnelled through the regional arm’s-length organization, the River Valley Alliance. On Tuesday, councillors approved the environmental impact study, removing the last hurdle.

Edmonton Journal

Windsor proceeding with expropriations near airport

A long-running expropriation battle moved closer to the finish line when Windsor city council voted to move forward with forcibly acquiring three lots to add to the city’s airport lands. As part of the motion approved Monday was the opening of talks with one homeowner, Rosemary Tako, about leasing her home back to her until the property is needed for development.

Windsor Star

Technology

Online shopping flourished over holidays: BMO

Online shopping was the winner this holiday retail season, according to a report that says many traditional retailers will have to up their game. “E-commerce is becoming a more preferred shopping channel among Canadians as these digital platforms offer comfort and convenience for shoppers,” said the report this month from BMO Capital Markets analyst Peter Sklar.

Financial Post

Other