Shell’s Bow tower move includes big cut in space

RENX  Commercial  •  Office  •  Calgary

Shell Canada‘s move from Calgary’s Shell Centre to The Bow tower in 2023 will leave a 315,000-square-foot hole in an already challenged downtown office market as it reduces its total space in the city by over half.

Adera to launch mass-timber Vancouver developments

RENX  Residential  •  Apartments, Condominiums, Homes  •  Metro Vancouver

Adera Development has carved a niche in the Metro Vancouver multiresidential market as builders of wood-frame and mass-timber projects. This fall it plans to launch two new developments, Pura in Surrey and Sol in West Coquitlam.

Universities rush to address student housing shortage

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

More than 21,000 new residence spaces will be added to Canada’s 24 largest student markets by 2025, according to a report from Cushman & Wakefield. That would mean a 15 per cent boost to the 145,000 residence beds available in those markets, the report said.

Calgary developer loses Kelowna lawsuit

Residential  •  Castanet

Calgary-based Linten Developments Ltd. has lost a lawsuit stemming from its failed development on Kirschner Mountain, and is yet to repay the City of Kelowna for $574,121.45 for slope mitigation work the city was forced to complete in 2019.

Infrastructure costs to soar due to aggregate shortage

Commercial  •  Daily Commercial News

A new Ontario Stone, Sand and Gravel Association report examines the benefits associated with close-to-market aggregate production and the economic and environmental impacts of longer-haul distances such as increased costs for construction, burning more fossil fuels and generating higher emissions.

OPINION: Calgary’s urban growth reflects reality

Residential  •  Calgary Herald

Every two years, Calgary developers apply to city council to get approval for new communities based on the demand for new homes. And every two years, this process creates a heated debate.

Canada hotels reach records for pandemic era in July

Commercial  •  Hotel Management  •  RENX

Canada’s monthly hotel occupancy came in higher than the 2019 comparable for the first time in the pandemic era, according to STR’s July data. In addition to the improvement in occupancy, monthly ADR topped $200 for the first time on record.

Minto highlights embodied carbon in 13th ESG report

Residential, Commercial  •  Sustainable Biz Canada  •  Sustainable Biz Canada

Software firm Knak prepares to move into new HQ

Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal

E-mail marketing software startup Knak‘s pending move into its new 17,000-square-foot headquarters on Gurdwara Road in Ottawa’s south end, slated for early November, is just one more milestone in what’s been a dizzying 12-month stretch for CEO Pierce Ujjainwalla.

Growing REIT is a ‘Smart’ choice

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

SmartCentres REIT’s (SRU-UN-T) largest tenant is Walmart, which anchors more than two-thirds of its 174 retail properties across Canada. Other major tenants include Loblaws, Metro, Sobeys, Shoppers Drug Mart, Canadian Tire, Dollarama and big banks. These are all strong, entrenched businesses.

2 Cdn. REITs (with monthly dividends) to buy today

Residential, Commercial  •  Motley Fool  •  Motley Fool  •  Motley Fool

Summit Industrial Income REIT (SMU-UN-T) is a Dartmouth-based, unincorporated, open-ended trust with a market cap of about $3.5 billion. Canadian Apartment Properties REIT (CAR-UN-T) is another fundamentally strong real estate stock you can bet on to earn stable passive income.

REIT/REOC second-quarter financial results

Residential, Commercial  • 

Lanesborough REIT, (LRT-UN-X), Canada Newswire
NexLiving Communities Inc., (NXLV-X), Canada Newswire

Consortium acquires 41-office portfolio for $1.132B

Commercial  •  Business Wire  •  Business Wire

A consortium led by Thomas A. Rizk and Roger W. Thomas, founders of Workspace Property Trust, has acquired approximately eight million square feet across 53 class-A suburban office buildings, on 41 U.S. properties, from Griffin Realty Trust for $1.132 billion.

Co-working sector marking swift return

Commercial  •  Commercial Property Executive  •  Globest.com  •  Globest.com

After a long period of uncertainty about the future of shared space, co-working has emerged as a viable solution to fill the gaps created by hybrid work, as well as a cost-saving alternative for struggling office tenants, according to CommercialEdge.

The incredible shrinking office

Commercial  •  Commercial Observer  •  The Real Deal  •  Reuters

It seemed nary a day went by without some major company announcing a downsizing of its office space. First it was BuzzFeed consolidating two 217,000-square-foot Manhattan offices to only 107,000 square feet at the former New York Times headquarters.

Crunch time as China tries to fend off property crash

Residential, Commercial  •  The Guardian  •  Financial Times

China has reached a point of no return in its battle to contain what could be the biggest property crash the world has ever seen, experts believe, creating a perilous moment for the country’s Communist leadership and the global economy.

80,000 mortgage borrowers to hit ‘trigger point’

Residential  •  STOREYS  •  STOREYS

As the Bank of Canada continues to hike its trend-setting policy interest rate, the cost of borrowing for variable-rate mortgage holders rises in tandem. Now, a number of these borrowers could be facing down their “trigger rate.”

Questions remain over how far market will fall

Residential  •  Globe and Mail  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  Toronto Star

After fuelling Canada’s economy through the COVID-19 pandemic, the real estate market is showing signs of weakness. However, realtors and economists are at odds over how long the pricing slide will last and how low it will go.

Zumper expands its short-term rental options

Residential  •  Canada Newswire

Zumper, North America’s largest privately owned rental marketplace, has launched its short-term rental product. A Series D funding extension of $30 million was earmarked for expansion into short-term rentals at a time when, Zumper says, consumers demand flexible housing choices.

Planners must remember more housing is needed

Residential  •  Financial Post

OPINION: Governments and housing experts are calling for much more housing construction in an effort to stop rapid price escalation over the next decade or so, but no one seems to agree on how much is needed to restore balance.