From towns to towers: Crown’s Kingston Rd. journey

RENX  Residential  •  Condominiums, Homes  •  Ontario, Toronto / GTA

Two years ago, Crown Communities had plans to launch a townhome project called Towns at Kingston Road. Plans sometimes change, however.

40-acre North Vancouver industrial site for sale

Commercial  •  Business In Vancouver

Vancouver Fraser Port Authority is the front-runner to purchase a 40-acre North Vancouver industrial site from Toronto-based Chemtrade, which produces industrial caustic soda, chlorine and hydrochloric acid at the facility. The BC Assessment Authority valued the property at $204.3 million in 2021.

Pointe-Claire excludes CF parking lot from dev. freeze

Commercial  •  Montreal Gazette

Pointe-Claire council voted to exclude the massive Cadillac Fairview parking lot project from its new Interim Control draft bylaw, or development freeze, at a special council meeting held Tuesday.

CF, SHAPE plan 3 multires towers at Fairview Mall

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Retail, Apartments, Condominiums  •  Toronto / GTA

Cadillac Fairview and its joint venture partner SHAPE have submitted a rezoning submission to construct a new master-planned community at the  CF Fairview Mall in Toronto, which would kick off with three residential towers up to 58 storeys tall.

Winnipeg HBC to be redeveloped as mixed-use

Residential, Commercial  •  CBC  •  Toronto Star  •  Globe and Mail

Downtown Winnipeg’s Hudson’s Bay Co. six-storey, 655,000-square-foot store will be transferred to Indigenous leadership and transformed into a mixed-use development with an affordable housing component. The building opened in 1926 and is one of the company’s original six flagship stores.

Brosko plans 12-, 29-storey Scarborough rental bldgs.

Residential  •  Urban Toronto

Brosko Property Management has proposed 12- and 29-storey purpose-built rental buildings at 708 and 712 Kennedy Rd. in Scarborough. The Kirkor Architects-designed buildings would be connected by a two-storey podium and provide 509 units.

Devron celebrates topping off at The Winslow

Residential  •  Urban Toronto

A year-and-a-half after ground was broken, Devron Developments‘ mid-rise condominium project The Winslow has officially topped off in Toronto’s Lawrence Park. The nine-storey Rafael + Bigauskas Architects and ERA Architects-designed building will include 89 units as large as 4,000 square feet-plus.

Devimco team installs high-rise skybridge in Montreal

Residential  •  Daily Commercial News  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

Montreal’s Maestria Condominiums project has reached a milestone with the installation of the highest suspended skybridge joining two residential buildings in the province. The structure will connect the 58- and 61-storey towers of Quebec’s largest mixed-use residential megaproject.

Montreal office vacancy rate continues to climb: Study

Commercial  •  La Presse  •  La Presse  •  RENX

Already at a 20-year high, the proportion of empty offices in downtown Montreal has not stopped increasing and could reach 11.4 million square feet, according to a study released Friday by the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal (CCMM).

The Industrial Real Estate Show › Podcast: Find, analyze and close more CRE deals

Chad Griffiths: Partner, NAI Commercial

addy launches crowdfunded CRE investing app

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire

Vancouver-based start-up addy announced its mobile iOS app now enables Canadians over the age of majority in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec to invest in institutional-grade commercial real estate deals for as little as $1.

Real estate podcasts

Residential, Commercial  • 

John Nicola, Nicola Wealth: Amassing $11.6 billion in AUM, CRE Library: Episode 55
Paul Kershaw, UBC: The real problem behind Canada’s housing market, Down to Business 
Robert K. Brown, Axis Communications: Intelligent analytics and AI in retail, The Retail Insider Podcast Network

Expat Australian architect, CN Tower designer, has died

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Among the giants of postwar Canadian architecture, one of the most audacious turned out to be expat Australian John Andrews, who made his mark with the CN Tower, Scarborough College and other iconic structures. He died on March 24 at age 88.

Brookfield, ​Blackstone’s $2B Aussie towers for sale

Commercial  •  Sydney Morning Herald  •  IPE Real Assets

Brookfield and Blackstone are seeking buyers for the Southern Cross Towers in Melbourne. The office towers are expected to fetch in excess of $2 billion Cdn. and prospective buyers include Australia’s Charter Hall and Lendlease and Hong Kong-based Link REIT.

U.S. hotels face $21B business-travel shortfall in 2022

Commercial  •  Wealth Management

Business travel revenue for the U.S. hotel industry is expected to fall some $20.7 billion short of pre-pandemic levels this year, after an estimated $108 billion decline over 2020 and 2021, according to a report from the American Hotel & Lodging Association.

Amazon’s $1B fund to invest in warehouse innovation

Commercial  •  Bisnow

Amazon, the largest user of industrial space, is launching a $1 billion fund to invest in companies that advance innovation in logistics and the supply chain with an apparent focus on robotics.

Housing downturn among top risks: OSFI

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

The threat of cyber-attacks and a housing market downturn are among the biggest risks to the financial system, according to the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions’ first annual risk outlook.

Home prices will peak this spring: RBC

Residential  •  Financial Post  •  Bloomberg

Home prices will peak this spring, after more aggressive interest rate hikes from the Bank of Canada prove a “game changer” for the housing market, Royal Bank of Canada economist Robert Hogue said in a report this week.

Toronto real estate market gears down

Residential  •  Globe and Mail  •  Toronto Star  •  CP 24

The deceleration in the Toronto-area real estate market continues as buyers and sellers come to grips with the recent interest rate hike by the Bank of Canada. “I’m hearing a lot of ‘Wait-and-see,’ ” says Right at Home Realty‘s Manu Singh.

REIT reform won’t help housing crisis: Observers

Residential  •  Advisor’s Edge

The federal government’s planned review of the tax treatment of REITs and other large corporate owners of residential real estate is unlikely to alleviate the issue of housing affordability in Canada, observers including Grant Thornton LLP‘s Armando Minicucci say.