Indigenous development impact expands across Canada

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Human Resources, Investment, Land  •  National

Canada’s Indigenous communities are a growing presence in commercial and multiresidential real estate development, with stakes in projects across the country comprising millions of square feet of development on thousands of acres of land.

AVAIO, ADAM plan to build 50MW data centre in Gatineau

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial  •  Quebec, Ottawa

AVAIO Digital Partners and ADAM Real Estate have announced a joint venture to develop the Gatineau Data Hub, a 50MW facility they plan to construct in Gatineau, Que.

RioCan REIT to re-examine retail tenant mix

Commercial  •  Toronto Star  •  RENX

RioCan REIT (REI.UN-T) is “pruning” its tenant mix to ensure malls and other retail spaces it owns are filled with resilient businesses best positioned to weather any further COVID-19 upheaval, CEO Jonathan Gitlin said on a call with analysts Thursday .

Pointe-Claire puts temporary freeze on development

Residential, Commercial  •  Montreal Gazette

Pointe-Claire council voted Tuesday to put a temporary development freeze on several key areas in the city while it overhauls its urban planning program. The measure includes Pointe-Claire’s city centre sector, Pointe-Claire Village and Pointe area.

Metro Ontario proposes three-building project

Residential, Commercial  •  Urban Toronto

Metro Ontario Real Estate has proposed a three-building mixed-use development at 40 Eglinton Square in Scarborough’s Golden Mile consisting of 25- and 30-storey residential and a 13-storey mixed-use building designed by Turner Fleischer Architects. In all, there would be 892 residential units.

Sales launched for BlueSky’s Surrey tower

Residential  •  urbanYVR

Aspect, the first tower of BlueSky Properties’ PARKWAY development in Surrey, has launched with 362 homes over 51 storeys. The four Perkins&Will-designed towers will consist of more than 2,000 units in addition to commercial and office space.

Indigenous architects make their mark

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail  •  Globe and Mail

At the new Bay Street headquarters of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in  downtown Toronto, construction wraps up later this year on a meeting room that evokes local First Nations history in a space meant to welcome all visitors.

Planners seek return to ‘old normal’ in downtowns

Residential, Commercial  •  REMI Network

Urban planners of downtowns in mid-sized areas are more interested in returning those spaces to the way things were pre-pandemic, according to a study led by the University of Waterloo and published in the journal of Planning Practice & Research.

COVID-19 spurs changes in Lethbridge CRE

Commercial  •  Global News

The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred changes in Lethbridge’s commercial real estate sector. Royal LePage’s Jillian Chaffee said some recent trends include more entrepreneurs looking for leasing opportunities and the decline in interest for new builds.

Labour shortage threatens B.C.’s construction pace

Residential, Commercial  •  Western Investor  •  Ottawa Business Journal

Many B.C. construction industry businesses held out hope that COVID-19-related job losses in other sectors of the economy might help to relieve some of their labour shortage issues. However, a flood of new workers into the building sector never materialized.

Toronto roads czar championed Spadina Expy. plan

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

Sam Cass, the long-time roads czar of what was then Metro Toronto whose controversial plan to remake the city by building more expressways through the downtown was blocked by the provincial premier in 1971, has died. He was 99.

Real estate podcasts

Residential, Commercial  • 

Neil Pegram, REALPAC: Enhancing the value of ESG data, REALtalk

Marc Ouayoun, Porsche Canada: The future of retail, The Retail Insider Podcast Network

Matthew Trowbridge, International WELL Building Institute; Melissa Jacobs, First Capital REIT: WELL buildings and investment, CRE Podcast

American Dream looking for 4-year loan extension

Commercial  •  Bisnow

Edmonton-headquartered Triple Five Group, the owner of New Jersey’s three-million-square-foot American Dream supermall, wants to wait until the next Winter Olympics to pay back $1.7 billion in construction debt.

Link acquires 49.9% stake in Oxford’s Aussie portfolio

Commercial  •  Mingtiandi  •  Market Screener  •  AASTOCKS.com

Hong Kong’s Link REIT announced it is investing $545 million Cdn for a 49.9 per cent stake in Oxford Properties’ Investa Gateway Office venture, a portfolio of office assets in Sydney and Melbourne.

Ivanhoe, APG invest in Taronga proptech fund

Commercial  •  Mingtiandi  •  Bourse Direct

Fund managers Ivanhoé Cambridge and Netherlands-based APG have become the latest global investors to commit capital to Taronga Ventures’ flagship property technology vehicle. Ivanhoe Cambridge, meanwhile, continues to pursue the diversification of its APAC portfolio with an eye toward sustainability.

Damaged supply chains brace for painful recovery

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  Daily Commercial News  •  Ottawa Citizen

Signs are growing that a global supply-chain crisis which has confounded central bank inflation forecasts, stunted economic recoveries and compressed corporate margins, could finally start to unwind toward the end of this year.

Kelowna Canada’s fastest-growing city: Census

Residential  •  Western Investor  •  Ottawa Citizen  •  Victoria Times Colonist

Kelowna is officially the fastest-growing city in Canada, according to 2021 census data from Statistics Canada. The Central Okanagan region, stretching from Peachland to Lake Country, has a population of 222,167 — 14 per cent more than in 2016.

Think-tank suggests ‘missing middle’ solution for Van.

Residential  •  Business In Vancouver

In a report released Wednesday from the think-tank the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, senior economist Marc Lee lays out how Metro Vancouver could transform itself by doubling or tripling density in neighbourhoods dominated by detached housing.

Ontario land-use planning could be vastly reshaped

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

OPINION: The Ontario of 30 years from now could include towers around mass transit, including bus stops, even in the most exclusive neighbourhoods according to the vision put forward in a report by the Ontario government’s housing affordability task force.

More and more N.S. homes selling sight unseen

Residential  •  Globe and Mail

Torontonians Linda Mote and Christopher Borgal bought their home without ever having stepped inside, something that was happening with more regularity after Nova Scotia declared a state of emergency on March 22, 2020, requiring visitors entering the province to self-isolate for 14 days.