Dream Office to sell Scotia Plaza stake: Sources

Dream Office to sell Scotia Plaza stake: Sources

Dream Office REIT (D.UN-T) is working with TD Bank and CBRE to sell half of its stake in Toronto’s Scotia Plaza, Canada’s second-tallest office building, two sources say. Dream Office REIT acquired two-thirds of the two million-square-foot Scotia Plaza complex four years ago. H&R REIT (HR.UN-T) bought the rest of the stake. The $1.3-billion deal was a record price for a Canadian office building.

Reuters – Marketwired

Oilers vow to put the E in Entertainment

As Edmonton’s downtown arena takes shape, it’s easy to see ICE District first and foremost as a real estate play. But the Oilers Entertainment Group served notice it has ambitions well beyond hockey and well beyond the walls of Rogers Place. In the words of OEG’s vice-president of communications, Tim Shipton, they’re out to put the E in Entertainment.

Edmonton Journal – Edmonton Journal

Major lenders becoming more cautious: RealCapital

Major lenders to the real estate industry are getting pickier about the deals they back, some are stress testing their loan portfolios and, overall, capital is becoming “a little more scarce.” That was the general consensus among executives representing five big lenders at the RealCapital conference in Toronto this week.

Property Biz Canada

Montreal’s largest brick and beam Le Nordelec for sale

Montreal’s Le Nordelec, one of the largest brick and beam office buildings in North America, is for sale. Le Nordelec includes about 790,000 square feet of office and retail space spread out over eight storeys that’s being sold based in a bidding process to take advantage of what Speirs called great market conditions.

Property Biz Canada

Competing bid emerges for Mont Sutton

After more than a decade on the block, the Mont Sutton ski hill suddenly has two groups bidding to take it over. The first offer for the Eastern Townships facility was made public in January. The latest would-be purchaser, Thirion-Beauregard Group, consists of Philippe Thirion, his brother Daniel and Louis Beauregard, a Sutton-based real-estate investor.

Montreal Gazette

Port Metro Vancouver CEO faces major challenges

Port Metro Vancouver is running out of land – more than over 40 acres of available land in the Lower Mainland is converted into housing each year – and according to Robin Silvester, the authority’s president and CEO, the consequences for the regional economy will be dire. Real estate is just one of many issues facing the 48-year-old Silvester.

BC Business

Vancouver malls reframe image as e-commerce rises

An art exhibit that gives visitors a hands-on experience with Vincent van Gogh’s work is one of the strategies Ivanhoé Cambridge’s Oakridge Centre is using to attract visitors. Shoppers will be able to go to another mall to see workers assemble a colossal reproduction of the Tower of London made out of candy. 

Business In Vancouver

Vancouver street transformed into retail hotspot

In 2009. Oleg Minchenko, a resident of Dubai, was in Vancouver on a scouting trip. His mission was to discover whether Vancouver made sense as a Canadian base for De Beers, one of the biggest name in the jewelry world. Minchenko, now the CEO of De Beers Diamond Jewellers Canada, admits Vancouver was not the first choice. 

Vancouver Sun

Cabela’s looks to unload parking lots

As property values have skyrocketed, corporations have been seeking ways to monetize their real estate. Outdoor equipment retailer Cabela’s Inc. (CAB-N) is among those looking to cash in on higher real estate values. But don’t look for the retailer to sell its stores. Instead, Cabela’s said, it wants to sell its parking lots.

CoStar Group

Private investors chase class-B malls

About six months ago, U.S. regional mall REITs began to scrutinize their portfolios even more intensely than before. Most are holding onto their class-A properties. But what about class-B malls? Increasingly, over the past three months, the REITs began divesting of class-B centres in earnest, selling them off to institutional investors and private buyers.

National Real Estate Investor

Department stores dialing back downtown locations

When Macy & Co. opened on 34th Street in New York City in 1878, The New York Times called it the “Place Where Almost Anything May Be Bought,” a concept that helped define downtown department stores. But facing a long-term trend in declining sales, department stores are closing in increasing numbers, or looking to resize or relocate.

CoStar Group – CoStar Group

Is Sears on the brink of collapse?

This is a sad financial tale that offers little hope for the company in question. Sears Holding Corp.‘s (SHLD-Q) hauncho Edward Lampert could go down in history as the chairman who presided over corporate carnage – the utter destruction of value at this once leading North American department store chain.

The Street.com

Filipino grocery chain plans Canadian expansion

A large Filipino grocery chain will open its first Canadian store near Toronto early next year, one of several planned markets catering to the country’s growing Filipino population while also aiming to turn others onto international cuisine. Seafood City Supermarket already boasts 22 American locations along the West Coast and Hawaii.

CTV News

Sweden unveils first unmanned food store

It was a chaotic, late-night scramble to buy baby food with a screaming toddler in the backseat that gave Robert Ilijason the idea to open Sweden’s first unmanned convenience store. Now the 39-year-old IT specialist runs a 24-hour shop in which customers use their cellphones to unlock the door with a swipe of the finger and scan their purchases.

NBC Chicago

What will make REITs work in India?

While external factors have highlighted the attractiveness of India as an investment destination, several reform measures are necessary to ensure the economy is placed firmly on a double-digit growth path. To develop the real estate markets, REITs should become a reality. The concept of REITs has only recently received regulatory backing through SEBI Regulations, 2014.

Hindu Business Line

Featured Column

Are we at risk of becoming tenants in Canada?

Canada is on sale. How could it not be, given the slump in the value of the loonie? But what happens if the buyers lining up at the door want to clean out the store, then buy it, too?

Read more

Skyrocketing office vacancy, maturing loan bad combination

The effects of declining oil prices have been felt in a variety of unpleasant ways, particularly in Western Canada. One of the more pronounced repercussions is the office vacancy rates in Calgary and Saskatoon, the largest cities in their respective provinces.

Read more

Market Trends and Research

See you later, CMBS?

Over the past few years, as New York’s commercial real estate market kept trying to outdo itself, CMBS lenders provided a big portion of the money fuelling the boom. But in early 2016, new commercial mortgage-backed securities have largely retreated from Manhattan, leaving property investors with fewer financing options and further spooking an already nervous market.

The Real Deal – Khaleej Times – Globest.com

Real Estate Companies

Daycare to take over shuttered teahouse

The Naturbahn Teahouse at the very top of Canada Olympic Park used to advertise “have your cake and view, too.” The magnificent, panoramic view of the river valley and downtown will soon be a joy to ittle ones as the tea house is being converted into a daycare centre by Natasha Jalbert, with Bobbi Burke of Copper 8 interior design studio.

Calgary Herald

Taj Mahal casino out of bankruptcy

The name on the side of the building still says “Trump,” but Atlantic City’s Taj Mahal casino is now owned by Carl Icahn. The Trump Taj Mahal casino emerged from bankruptcy Friday and was taken over by Icahn, the billionaire investor who now owns two of the city’s largest casinos. (He also owns Atlantic City’s Tropicana casino).

Winnipeg Free Press – Wall Street Journal

REOC Financial Reports

Latest report:

* MCAN Mortgage Corp., (MKP-T), Canada Newswire 

	REITs & REOCs – Fourth-quarter 2015 report
	RENX has prepared a table with a convenient list of the companies and a summary of links to their reports that will be updated quarterly. Fourth-quarter results are now arriving. Canadian REITs & REOCs – Fourth-quarter 2015 report

 

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Cedar Realty snaps up shopping centre

Cedar Realty Trust Inc. (CDR-N) announced the acquisition of The Shoppes at Arts District in Hyattsville, for $20.5 million, which includes the assumption of $8.5 million in fixed-rate debt. KNLB Retail arranged the sale. The two adjacent buildings form a 100 per cent leased shopping centre. The 35,676-square-foot retail location was completed in 2011 and is part of a $213-million master-planned, mixed-use project.

Commercial Property Executive

Australian REIT preparing to exit NYC

Scott Rechler’s Reckson New York Property Trust has begun the process of selling down its suburban New York City office and flex assets. The Sydney, Australia-based REIT said it would sell down the assets in an “orderly and strategic manner” over the next 12 to 24 months. RNY’s portfolio is comprised of 25 buildings totalling about three million square feet.

CoStar Group

Legal Corner

Company behind Winnipeg Police HQ allegedly faked invoices

The company hired by the city to build the new Winnipeg Police headquarters is accused of manipulating documents in order to inflate payments, according to court documents. Caspian Construction was hired to build the new police headquarters, which was later the subject of an audit. In December 2014 a search warrant was executed at its offices.

Global News

Retail

Urban, social spaces permeate U.S. retail

Similar to the trends in office and multi-family, the U.S. retail sector is also seeing urban influences, walkability and gathering spaces being incorporated into properties, CBRE’s VP, retail services, Carrie Bobb tells GlobeSt.com. A recent report from the firm revealed the San Diego retail market displayed positive fundamentals throughout 2015.

Globest.com

Restaurants and Eateries

Starbucks to enter Italian market

Standing in the art-soaked splendour of a Milanese parlor as an array of A-list Italian business leaders listened intently, Howard D. Schultz, chairman and chief executive of Starbucks (SBUX-Q), recited a remarkable statistic on Friday: Each week, roughly 90 million people pass through a Starbucks somewhere on earth.

Globe and Mail – Winnipeg Free Press

New Development

Camosun College opens trades centre

Camosun College officially opened the doors Thursday to its $30-million Centre for Trades Education and Innovation at the Interurban campus. The 80,000-square-foot facility has space for a marine and metal trades training program that includes welding, sheet metal, metal fabrication, nautical and ship building and repair programs.

Victoria Times Colonist

Helium plant being built in Saskatchewan

A new $10-million helium processing facility will be built in Saskatchewan’s southwest. Weil Group Resources will use the facility near Mankota to provide refined, industrial-grade helium to markets throughout North America. The plant will have a capacity to exceed 40 million cubic feet per year of production.

Winnipeg Free Press

Sports Venues

Impact converting firehouse into soccer academy

The city will spend $350,000 to help convert a vacant fire station into the Montreal Impact’s training facility. The facility will also house the Montreal Impact Academy — a non-profit organization that teaches children to play elite-level soccer. The Impact are investing about $16 million to renovate the former firehouse and build four soccer pitches next to the building.

Montreal Gazette

Renovation and Restoration

Edmonton library aims to smash out of concrete box

Edmonton’s downtown library will get far more than a facelift. Officials released new interior renderings for the $62.5-million project Thursday that show a building stripped of its heavy concrete facade, filled with light, and with major upgrades to the spaces used by patrons. The creative makerspace and the children’s libraries will both be three times the size.

Edmonton Journal – Canada Newswire

Infrastructure

Ottawa mayor welcomes LRT spending in budget

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson welcomed Thursday’s provincial budget, saying it “sets the stage for a continued partnership for making our community stronger in Ottawa.” The city is looking for $1 billion each from the federal and provincial governments for the second stage of its light-rail project, which would extend the network from Bayshore to Orleans and south to Riverside South.

Ottawa Business Journal

Hydro-Quebec mulls foreign targets

Hydro-Quebec says it is in talks with the Caisse de depot et placement and other partners about possible acquisitions abroad. The utility’s president, Eric Martel, indicated a few weeks ago Hydro-Quebec had set up a division to look into acquisitions and had a team dedicated to targeting the purchase of foreign-based energy companies.

Winnipeg Free Press – CBC News

Technology

WiredScore helping developers distinguish themselves

The introduction of cloud computing has given technology an increased importance in the modern office sector, and landlords that have made big technology investments have searched for a way to market their upgraded properties. The advent of Wired Certification, the international standard developed by New York-based WiredScore that distinguishes best-in-class Internet connectivity, has provided one avenue.

Globest.com

Other

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