Edmonton approves mixed-use towers

Edmonton approves mixed-use towers

Three new slender towers were approved Monday for Edmonton, putting up to 550 units 80 metres away from a future LRT stop. In-House, a division of Beaverbrook Developments, is planning shops, restaurants, condos and office space on the 1.4-hectare site. Towers will be 45 metres, 60 metres and 90 metres high.

Edmonton Journal

Vacancy rate rising in Alberta industrial parks

Some energy companies are trying to survive Alberta’s economic downturn by selling facilities in the Leduc and Nisku industrial parks and leasing them back, development industry experts say. But the oil and gas industry is going through so much pain deals often can’t be made, says Remington Development Co.’s Richard Knibbs.

Edmonton Journal

Canon captures its image in new HQ

Planning a new Toronto headquarters, Canon Canada Inc. took its time because it had a long checklist of requirements for a dream home. The search for a new site took nearly two years before the camera, medical imaging and electronics company bought 18 acres in suburban Brampton, Ont. The office is set to open in May.

Globe and Mail

Brookfield, CPPIB in JV for Asciano

Three of Canada’s largest fund managers are part of a $9.1-billion Cdn deal to take over Australian rail, port and terminal operator Asciano Ltd. Brookfield Asset Management (BAM.A-T), the British Columbia Investment Management Corp. and Qatar Investment Consortium are striking a partnership with Qube Holdings Ltd., a group that includes the CPPIB.

CBC News – Bloomberg – Reuters

Transportation links key to Pacific Link

Citing the daily traffic headache of getting on and off Annacis Island in Delta, Texcan has departed for Pacific Link Industrial Park, an 83-acre business park. Texcan opted to relocate its head office operations recently to a new build-to-suit 105,000-square-foot warehouse and office space.

Vancouver Sun

More head offices needed: HQ Vancouver CEO

VIDEO: Conversations that Matter features Yuen Pau Woo, CEO of HQ Vancouver, on why Metro Vancouver needs to attract more head offices or run the risk of failing to realize our potential as a world-class city. This is episode 76 in a series of videos by Stu McNish.

Vancouver Sun

Royal Centre’s rentable area rejigged

One of the opportunities touted to potential buyers of Vancouver’s Royal Centre was the opportunity to increase the gross rentable area by applying a different measurement standard to the structure. Royal Centre was originally measured according to the 1980 standard of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA).

Business In Vancouver

Couche-Tard set to roll out Circle K banner

Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., (ATD.A-T) says its Circle K brand will be in place at hundreds of additional U.S. stores by April as the Quebec-based company moves to adopt a global identity for its convenience stores and gas stations. Couche-Tard says it’s on track to put the new image on more than 400 stores in the southeastern U.S.

Financial Post – Canada Newswire

Target Canada fallout continues in court

Major retail tenants with stores in malls with a former Target outlet are a step closer to lower rents – and even breaking leases. Ontario Superior Court Monday agreed to a request by U.S.-based retailers TJX Cos. (TJX-N) and Gap Inc. (GPS-N) that a temporary ban on retailers being able to invoke their so-called co-tenancy rights be lifted.

Globe and Mail

Sobeys botched Safeway acquisition

They will teach this one in business schools. A dominant East Coast grocer coughs up major dough to acquire a western rival. Hundreds of millions of dollars in synergies are promised. Bay Street falls in love with the potential. And then, two years into the integration, the buyer unveils a stunning stumble.

Globe and Mail (Subscription Required)

Amazon looks to disrupt transportation sector

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN-Q) has investors in the transportation sector rattled. The e-commerce giant appears to be making a big push into managing its freight transportation capacity internally, as opposed to outsourcing it. Couple that with recent disappointing performances from FedEx Corp. (FDX-N) and United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS-N) 

Financial Post

Many brands, but only a handful of hotels

A handful of companies hold the keys to millions of hotel rooms globally, but the list of hotel brands those companies own is legion. Marriott (MAR-Q) owns Fairfield, TownePlace and Moxy; Hilton (HLT-N) owns Curio, DoubleTree, Tru and Hampton; Intercontinental (IHG-N) owns Holiday Inn, Candlewood and Hotel Indigo, to name a few.

Winnipeg Free Press

Developer David Mady files for bankruptcy

David Allan Mady, who led a once-prosperous development company founded by his father, has declared bankruptcy, leaving more than $54 million in unpaid debts. In documents filed with the court this week, Mady cites “business failure,” “director’s liabilities” and “personal guarantee of corporate debts.”

Windsor Star

Foreign buyers of U.S. assets not slowing down

Foreign real estate investors went on a buying binge last year, acquiring a record $91.1 billion in properties in the U.S. — more than double the amount spent in 2014, according to New York City-based research firm Real Capital Analytics (RCA). Despite some global headwinds, that momentum is expected to stay strong in 2016.

National Real Estate Invstor

Ten recent U.S. CRE scandals

PHOTO GALLERY: Money and power corrupt and that’s certainly proven true when it comes to commercial real estate deals, where billions of dollars can change hands. Sometimes the temptation to skim the fat a little proves too much. Plus, the commercial real estate industry in the U.S. has traditionally been a close-knit club.

National Real Estate Investor

Featured Column

Going against the grain works for Wesgroup

Most developers take the same approach to mixed-use developments – build the residential and the new homeowners will bring in the retail. Vancouver-based developer Wesgroup decided to take the opposite approach – with much risk – and it worked.

Read more

Urban centres will be boomerful

As with most things in life, the numbers matter. And in this case the numbers are staggering. In the United States, 10,000 Boomers every single day will reach retirement between now and 2030.

Read more

Market Trends and Research

U.S. lenders are getting choosier

Lenders are getting stingier when it comes to funding risky U.S. real estate developments, putting pressure on landlords in need of fresh funding to keep their projects afloat. Banks are proceeding with caution as the spectre of slowing economic growth rattles financial markets and shakes investor confidence in a six-year recovery.

Bloomberg

	Canadian Metropolitan Outlook: Winter 2016
	The Conference Board of Canada publishes a quarterly overview of the outlook for the economies of metropolitan centres in Canada.  It provides a national overview and individual city reports, as summarized in this RENX chart. Conference Board of Canada: Metropolitan Outlook Chart: Winter 2016

 

Real Estate Companies

Chandos builds on project planning concept

Chandos Construction is having a great year, and Tim Coldwell, corporate vice-president origination, predicts the business will continue its growth through 2016. Five years ago, the Edmonton-based company did $60 million from its Calgary office. Already this year it has projects totalling $200 million on its books, said Coldwell.

Calgary Herald

Cree land claim infringes on Algonquin nations: Chiefs

Quebec’s Cree nations filed a $450-million suit last week in the Superior Court of Ontario in hopes of reclaiming title over a vast tract of land south of James Bay. Their leaders say they have historical documents that prove Cree hunted, fished and travelled along the rivers and inlets of the James Bay lowlands before Canada became a country.

Montreal Gazette

Atlantic City selling historic airport site

The first aviation facility to be called atn “airport” helped develop Atlantic City as a casino mecca and now the resort town is turning to Bader Field to help relieve some of its crushing debt. The cash-starved gambling resort is putting the former airport back on the market — at what could be a 90 per cent off sale.

Winnipeg Free Press

REOC Financial Reports

Latest reports:

* Rocky Mountain Dealerships Inc., (RME-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

Allied announces closing of credit facility

Allied Properties REIT (AP.UN-T) announced today it has closed a $150-million bilateral unsecured credit facility with a Canadian chartered bank for a term of five years and bearing interest at a floating rate of CDOR plus 1.70 per cent per year. 

Marketwired

Milestone added to S&P/TSX Composite Index

Milestone Apartments Real Estate Investment Trust (MST.UN-T) today announced it will be added to the S&P/TSX Composite Index after the close of trading on Friday. Inclusion in the S&P/TSX Composite Index can potentially broaden participation in a public issuers’ investor base by enabling investment from index funds and similar investment vehicles. 

Canada Newswire

Dream Office staging a recovery

Dream Office REIT (D.UN-T), the country’s largest pure-play office REIT, is staging a comeback. As of the end of 2015, Dream Office’s portfolio included 170 office properties (198 buildings) across Canada. The Greater Toronto Area along with Calgary are two markets where Dream Office has a large presence.

Globe and Mail (Subscription Required)

U.S. multi-family REITs face slower growth

Analysts at Barclays predict a more muted growth environment for multi-family REITs as the year progresses. “While we remain constructive on apartment fundamentals, we think there is limited upside from here,” according to a Barclays report. Analysts cite “the lukewarm market reception” to the recently announced Q4 results and the REITs’ full-year guidance for 2016.

Globest.com

Legal Corner

Zuckerberg settles lawsuit for no payout

Mark Zuckerberg has agreed to settle a lawsuit and pay no money to a real estate developer who sued him in a dispute over property near the Facebook CEO’s home in Silicon Valley, his lawyer said on Tuesday. Developer Mircea Voskerician sued Zuckerberg in 2014, contending the CEO agreed to purchase his rights to a parcel adjacent to Zuckerberg’s property.

Reuters – Bloomberg

Retail

Time right for Simons to take national plunge

Peter Simons believes customers cherish the beauty of his retail stores, even if they don’t always articulate it. The CEO of venerable Quebec chain La Maison Simons recounted a recent cab ride to one of his stores: the driver, unaware of his passenger’s identity, proceeded to enthuse at length about the retailer’s ornate store architecture.

Financial Post – Toronto Star

New CEO tweaking M&M

M&M Meat Shops Ltd. is changing its name to M&M Food Market and broadening its offerings as it tries to win back consumers. Andy O’Brien, the new CEO of the frozen food retailer, is betting the changes can transform M&M into a top-of-mind banner for everyday fare.

Globe and Mail

Four new retailers announced for Canary District

Dundee Kilmer and LiveWorkLearnPlay recently announced four more retailers that will occupy the ground floor storefronts at the master-planned Canary District community, making 11 in all that will open around the same time as first occupancy at Canary District Condos and Canary Park. Gears Bike Shop, Sukhothai, Tori’s Bakeshop and East Side Meats have been added to the list.

Newinhomes.com

New Development

Greyhound’s next stop: New Edmonton depot

Greyhound is preparing to pack up and move a few blocks north next to the Via Rail station, the bus company said Monday. The old station, near Edmonton’s new Rogers Place downtown arena, will make way for a retail podium that will mark the western edge of Ice District, under development by the Katz Group and WAM Developments.

Edmonton Journal

Edmonton developer’s proposal meets opposition

Upstart infill company WestOak Development‘s proposal for a 16-storey mixed-use building in Edmonton has not been warmly received. President & CEO Mathew McLash, a 41-year-old former lawyer, proposed 11 storeys of market-value apartments, four additional floors for affordable family housing and abundant retail for the site of Whyte Avenue.

Globe and Mail

Infrastructure

New Ambassador Bridge inches closer

The twinning of the Ambassador Bridge inched a step closer to reality on Tuesday after the U.S. Coast Guard issued a permit approving the Detroit International Bridge Company’s location and plans for a new span. The coast guard says it completed an environmental assessment in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act.

Windsor Star

Saskatoon growth plan sparks debate

While much of the attention on Saskatoon’s new growth plan has focused on a controversial proposed bridge, city councillors raised concerns Monday about downtown office growth. The overall focus of the plan aims at increasing density in core areas and shifting growth from new suburbs, which would require an improved transit system.

Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Other

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