Chartwell acquiring 3 Ont. retirement homes for $228M

RENX  Residential  •  Seniors Housing  •  Ontario

One day after announcing the pending sale of most of its Ontario long-term care residences, Chartwell Retirement Residences (CSH-UN-T) says it has a deal to acquire three recently constructed seniors living homes for $228 million.

Summit acquires 50% stake in Ont. development site

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

Summit Industrial Income REIT (SMU-UN-T) announced it has acquired 50% interest in a partnership in a 40-acre development-ready site in the Aberfoyle Industrial Park in Puslinch, Ont., east of Guelph. The property can accommodate approximately 790,000 square feet of density.

Best Buy’s new HQ looks to the future of remote work

Commercial  •  Western Investor

With public health restrictions lifting and workers returning to offices, Best Buy Canada is preparing to welcome its own staff to its new 77,500-square-foot headquarters in Vancouver with the assumption they won’t always want to be on site.

Blackstone buys 2 Montreal office bldgs. from Kevric

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Office, Condominiums  •  Greater Montreal

Updated with new details: Blackstone Real Estate (BX-N) has acquired interests in two major office properties in Montreal, 1100 Atwater and the mixed-use Air Canada-Altoria tower, for over $230 million from Kevric Real Estate Corp.

Lower Mainland CRE sales topped $14 billion in 2021

Commercial  •  Business In Vancouver  •  Burnaby Now  •  EIN Presswire

Led by land sales and defying a global pandemic, commercial real estate sales in B.C.’s Lower Mainland reached $14.39 billion in 2021 and posted the second-highest sales in history, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver‘s Commercial Edge report.

B.C. sees return of large real estate deals

Residential, Commercial  •  Business In Vancouver

Over the past year, the average value of B.C.’s largest real estate deals has spiked after experiencing two consecutive years at the lowest levels in at least five years, according to data from BIV’s Top 100 Biggest Real Estate Deals list.

Choo launches latest Ottawa apartment building

Residential  •  Canada Newswire

Choo Communities, an Ottawa-based full-spectrum community developer, has launched its latest development, Envie Rideau, at 256 Rideau St., near the near the University of Ottawa. The David Blakely-designed building is comprised of over 700 bedrooms within studios and double suites.

Core Development proposes eight-storey mixed-use

Residential, Commercial  •  Urban Toronto

Core Development Group has proposed an eight-storey purpose-built mixed-use building at 1233 Queen St. E. in Toronto’s Leslieville neighbourhood. The Studio JCI-designed building would include 132 apartment units – 84 studios, one two-bedroom, 12 three-bedrooms and 35 four-bedrooms – and 2,691 square feet of retail space.

A new chapter for U of T’s Brutalist Fort Book

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

The University of Toronto’s Robarts Library is considered one of the ugliest buildings in the city. The hulking pile sometimes known as Fort Book looms over the U of T campus like a sci-fi version of a medieval castle.

Selkirk, Man., a model of progressive planning

Residential, Commercial  •  Winnipeg Free Press

Selkirk, a city with about 10,000 residents, has in the past been largely known for its catfish and steel mill. Today, through several innovative and forward-thinking planning policies, Selkirk is beginning to stake a claim as Manitoba’s most progressive city.

Dollarama set to hike prices as profits continue to grow

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  Canada Newswire  •  Toronto Star

Inflation is coming to the dollar store. Discount retailer Dollarama Inc. (DOL-T) announced on Wednesday that price tags up to $5 will begin appearing on its store shelves in the coming year. Until now, Dollarama’s highest price point was $4.

Real estate podcasts

Residential, Commercial  • 

David Sturner, Banyan Street Capital: Adapt to keep up with CRE market changes, Tenant Experience Network

Cedric Bobo, Project Destined: Becoming an owner, CRE Library: Episode 54

Casey Grey, The Conscious Builder: Creating more sustainable construction practices, The Construction Record

How to reinvent a $41B real estate juggernaut

Commercial  •  Bisnow

U.K. fund management giant Aviva Investors is looking to double its real assets business over the next two to three years, from about $41 billion to $82 billion Cdn — and it is overhauling the way it invests in property to do that.

Brookfield buys 51% interest in 4 Indian CRE properties

Commercial  •  Business Standard  •  Mint

A private real estate fund of Brookfield Asset Management will buy a 51 per cent stake in Bharti Enterprises’ four commercial properties – Worldmark Aerocity (Delhi), Worldmark 65 and Airtel Center (Gurugram) and Pavillion Mall (Ludhiana) – for an enterprise value of $82 million Cdn.

Starlight fund acquires N.C. multires. for $106M

Residential  •  Canada Newswire

Starlight U.S. Multi-Family (No. 2) Core Plus Fund (SCPT-A-X) has entered into separate agreements to refinance Hudson at East and to acquire a 320-suite class-A institutional quality multifamily property completed in 2002 and located in Raleigh, N.C., for approximately US$106.0 million.

U.S. condo prices jump to record high: Redfin

Residential  •  Business Wire  •  Al Jazeera

The typical U.S. condo sold for a record $319,000 in February, according to a new report from Redfin. That’s up 14.6 per cent from a year earlier and 22.7 per cent from two years earlier, just before the pandemic began.

Ont. bid to speed up construction may do the opposite

Residential  •  Globe and Mail  •  Financial Post  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

A key provision of Ontario’s new bill meant to speed up housing construction would force municipalities failing to make decisions on developers’ plans within tight deadlines to refund application fees – a change some experts say will result in more delays.

3 ways RBC is calling out housing affordability crisis

Residential  •  Toronto Star

This month’s RBC Economics housing affordability report — headlined “Housing affordability spiralling to worrisome levels” — is downright sobering compared to past reports. Here are three ways the report called out “soaring prices crushing affordability” in Toronto and other major markets:

London Airbnb hosts protest proposed rules

Residential  •  London Free Press  •  CTV  •  CBC

Dozens of Airbnb hosts have harsh criticism for new rules proposed to regulate hundreds of rentals across London. The backlash was focused on a recommendation that would restrict Airbnb and other short-term accommodations to a residence where the host lives.

Private property rights can fix housing crisis

Residential  •  Financial Post  •  Toronto Storeys  •  Business Wire

OPINION: Enabling homeowners to do with their property as they see fit — live in it, expand it or tear it down and put up something four times the size — offers the surest and fastest way out of Canada’s housing crisis.