Top-10 CRE transactions in the GTA in 2021

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Industrial, Office, Retail, Apartments, Land  •  Ontario, Toronto / GTA

Commercial real estate investment activity in Ontario’s Greater Toronto Area and Greater Golden Horseshoe regions increased significantly in 2021 over the previous two years. That increase is reflected in the largest transactions completed during the year.

Gavin Cheung takes new role at busy CentreCourt

RENX  Residential  •  Condominiums  •  Toronto / GTA

Gavin Cheung succeeded Shamez Virani as CentreCourt president on Jan. 1 and hit the ground running, with a new Toronto condominium launch and several active developments to oversee.

‘Beds, sheds’ and office deals lead Alberta into 2022

Commercial  •  Western Investor

A total of 140 transactions representing an investment volume of $739 million were recorded for Edmonton in Q3 of 2021 primarily linked to “beds and sheds” – the industrial and multifamily sectors. The total annual investment volume for 2021 in Calgary was $1.76 billion.

Skyline Commercial REIT summarizes busy 2021

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire  •  RENX  •  RENX

In 2021, Guelph-based Skyline Commercial REIT acquired three properties for a total of 745,000 square feet including a 97,312 square foot warehouse in Tecumseh, Ontario, a 498,000 square foot distribution centre in Calgary and a 150,000 square foot warehouse in Rocky View County, Alberta.

Ontario closes schools, bans indoor restaurant dining

Commercial  •  Toronto Star  •  Retail Insider

Just four days after Ontario’s chief medical officer of health said schools would reopen, in an about-face triggered by the Omicron surge, Ontario is ordering schools closed to January 17th and a 21-day temporary ban on indoor restaurant dining.

Restaurant robot servers debut in Ottawa locations

Commercial  •  Ottawa Citizen

Sushi Village’s newest server BellaBot is stunningly efficient, able to tote as much as 40 kilograms of food at once to four tables of customers. Recently, three other BellaBots were deployed at Hokkaido Sushi and at the Hockey Sushi locations.

Sponsored by MNP What you need to know to build your tax and business plans

Real estate and construction companies have faced shortages of products, supplies, and workers in the past year. The uncertainty arising from the past year has driven up costs and caused projects to either be delayed or cancelled.

Recent legal rulings clarify vaccine mandates at work

Commercial  •  Ottawa Citizen

A year after COVID-19 vaccines first arrived in Canada, employers and workers in Ontario are getting a clearer picture of when and what kind of immunization mandates can be enforced in the workplace, legal experts said following recent rulings.

Stelco to buy 40% of Hamilton sports teams, stadium

Commercial  •  Financial Post  •  Bloomberg

Stelco will acquire minority interests in the Canadian Football League’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Forge FC, a soccer club competing in the Canadian Premier League, as well as the master lease for Tim Hortons Field, a 23,000-seat stadium that is home to both teams.

City Office REIT announces Raleigh acquisition

Commercial  •  PR Newswire  •  RENX  •  Commercial Property Executive

City Office REIT, Inc. (CIO-N) has closed the acquisition of Bloc 83, a premier two-building office complex located in Raleigh, North Carolina, anchored by WeWork and Envestnet, for $330 million exclusive of closing costs.

Enel X to install 438 EV chargers at Killam Apt. REIT

Residential  •  Sustainable Biz Canada  •  RENX

Global smart charging company Enel X is partnering with one of Canada’s largest multiresidential owners, Killam Apartment REIT (KMP-UN-T), to provide 438 electric vehicle chargers to over 50 of its properties. The chargers should be delivered by the summer of 2022.

Supply chains shift from ‘just in time’ to ‘just in case’

Commercial  •  Financial Post

All over the world, companies have encountered snags in their supply chains during the pandemic. The shipping bottlenecks that have followed, as economies restarted, are forcing a rethink of corporate strategy for supply-chain operating models established 20 years ago.

IKEA hikes prices nine per cent due to supply chain cost

Commercial  •  Financial Post

IKEA is raising prices an average of nine per cent as it faces increasing costs in transport and raw materials. The furniture retailer has said it is leasing more ships, buying containers and re-routing goods to mitigate supply-chain disruptions.

Retail Insider’s Top-21 most-read stories of 2021

Commercial  •  Retail Insider

In 2021, the Canadian retail industry adapted and shifted throughout the second year of the pandemic. Top trends included growth in omnichannel, challenges with supply chain, marketplaces, inflation, and new brands entering the country while others unexpectedly exited the market.

Grocery execs get big bonuses with pandemic sales

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail  •  Winnipeg Free Press

Two of Canada’s major grocers – Empire Company / Sobeys and Metro – paid their executives near-maximum bonuses for the most recent, pandemic-boosted fiscal years. They joined Loblaw in rewarding top executives for robust sales over the past 18 months, a windfall for grocers.

SimonCRE’s new dev a bet on a US retail rebound

Commercial  •  BDC Network

Coresight Research, recently projected that, for the first time in five years, the 5,083 store openings that US retailers announced in 2021 may have topped the 5,079 announced store closings for that year, the lowest number of closings in a half decade.

Toronto tenants organize against 2022 rent increases

Residential  •  CBC  •  Western Investor

Samuel Adelaar spent the lead-up to the holidays knocking on his neighbours’ doors. A resident at his high-rise in Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood for six years, he’s trying to convince other tenants to not pay a 4.2 per cent rent increase.

Members of real estate boards increase 10% in 2021

Residential  •  Globe and Mail

The number of members of the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board jumped 10 per cent, to about 63,000 during the year ending June 30. According to Realtor Scott Ingram, there is one realtor for every 88 adults in the Toronto region.

Developer sees cohousing bringing communities together

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

Mark Shieh understands the power of transformative spaces – he started his career working as an Imagineer for the Walt Disney Company, designing theme parks. By the end of 2022, his development company plans to unveil its pioneering Tomo House cohousing project.

B.C. long-term care home looks to build smaller units

Residential  •  Globe and Mail

The nearly 60-year-old Inglewood Care Centre in West Vancouver, home to 230 residents, could soon be bulldozed as part of a “household-of-12” redevelopment model of private rooms based on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.