Plaza Retail REIT developing, buying, thriving

RENX  Commercial  •  Retail  •  National, Ontario, Quebec

Plaza Retail REIT has acquired interests in three properties in Quebec and Ontario, and is continuing to develop and redevelop several other properties.

WSIB looks to sell Toronto Front St. office building

Commercial  •  Toronto Star

In an organizational restructuring, the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board is looking to trim its Toronto real estate holdings. The WSIB owns a majority of its Front Street headquarters, which includes 758,000 square feet of office space valued at $600 million.

YVR to develop airport lands due to financial woes

Commercial  •  Vancouver Sun

The Vancouver Airport Authority is looking to develop a large industrial, trade, and transportation hub in Richmond, according to a report going to Vancouver City Council on Tuesday. Canadian airports expect passenger numbers will not return to pre-COVID levels until 2025.

The Industrial Real Estate Show › Podcast: RE economist Dr. Peter Linneman with Chad Griffiths

Chad Griffiths: Partner, NAI Commercial

GTA TODs call for 67 buildings, 80,000 new residents

Residential, Commercial  •  CBC

Two large-scale transit-oriented developments are planned by the Ontario government in partnership with private developers along the Yonge North Subway Extension in Richmond Hill and Markham. They would bring 67 mixed-use towers, some 80 storeys tall, and about 80,000 new residents to York Region.

Self-storage in GTA starting to irritate the neighbours

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

There are currently 66 self-storage facilities in Toronto, nine new development proposals have received initial planning approvals, and a further 19 are under review. Toronto-based Talus Capital Corp. wants to build a nine-story self-storage facility with 1,290 units adjacent to a rail corridor.

The Property Law Hub › Don’t sign if you’re not willing to sell your real estate

Daniel Waldman: Lawyer, Pallett Valo LLP

REALPAC’s first global survey shows diversity a priority

Residential, Commercial  •  Sustainable Biz Canada

The first global survey by REALPAC and several international partners found 92 per cent of respondents already have a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policy, or said they intend to implement one within 12 months.

Catholic church could sell 19 St. John’s properties

Commercial  •  CBC

The iconic Basilica of St. John the Baptist could be sold off as the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of St. John’s deals with insolvency. Work is underway to formalize a sales strategy for 19 church properties — including the Basilica.

Reitmans emerges from restructuring, plans growth

Commercial  •  Retail Insider

Canadian retail giant Reitmans has emerged from restructuring proceedings and its president, Stephen Reitman, is confident the company is going to flourish. In a release, the retailer said it operates 412 stores consisting of 241 Reitmans, 93 Penningtons and 78 RW&CO.

Colliers to invest in infrastructure investment firm

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire

Colliers International will make a strategic investment in Basalt Infrastructure Partners LLP, a transatlantic infrastructure investment management firm with more than $8.5 billion of AUM. Financial terms were not disclosed.

VP for Metrolinx awarded his consulting firm contracts

Commercial  •  Toronto Star

Toronto public transit agency Metrolinx appointed a private consultant, Brian Guest, to an executive role then awarded his firm, Boxfish Infrastructure Group, government work worth millions while he was in the role. One of the contracts was sole-sourced.

Intel unveils $20B Ohio chip project

Commercial  •  Commercial Property Executive

Intel has revealed plans for a massive central Ohio manufacturing campus that spans nearly 1,000 acres and will start construction in 2022. It is the largest single private-sector investment in Ohio history at an initial $20 billion, expected to eventually reach $100 billion.

Distress signals are rising in major U.S. office markets

Commercial  •  Bisnow

Many questions about the office market’s future remain unanswered as the pandemic nears the two-year mark, but one trend has become increasingly clear: Tenants are leaving older buildings in favour of newer projects.

Blackstone, Starwood buy Brookfield hotels for $1.5B

Commercial  •  Bisnow

Two global commercial real estate investment institutions are snapping up a big portfolio of extended-stay hotels from Brookfield Asset Management. Blackstone and Starwood Capital Group are under agreement to acquire 111 hotel properties operating under the WoodSpring Suites brand for $1.5B.

Tim Hortons targets aggressive growth in China

Commercial  •  The Globe and Mail

Tims launched in the country in February of 2019, just two months after Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were detained in China following the arrest in Vancouver of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.

Editorial: Canada needs to build a lot more rental housing

Residential  •  The Globe and Mail

A typical Canadian home hit $811,700 in December, up an astounding 26.6 per cent from a year earlier, according to CREA. That was the biggest increase in two years and almost 667,000 existing properties sold, 20% more than in 2020, also a record sales year.

4-storey apts. may be coming to Ont. residential streets

Residential  •  CBC

The nine-member Housing Affordability Task Force, chaired by Scotiabank CEO Jake Lawrence and seeking ways to make Ontario housing more affordable, proposes removing rules that entrench single-family homes as the main option in many residential neighbourhoods and stifle change.

Condo owners in aging building face $14M in repairs

Residential  •  CBC

The enormous beige and brown slab condominium building Wendy Thomas has called home in the northwest corner of Toronto for 42 years is crumbling.  She sees the warning signs in the rivulets of water that streak the hallway walls, bubbling behind yellow paint and pooling on worn carpet.

U.S. rents rise 14% Y-O-Y in December

Residential  •  Business Wire

Average monthly listed rents in the U.S. increased 14.1% year over year to $1,877 in December, according to a new report from Redfin. That represents the largest annual jump since at least February 2019 — the earliest month in Redfin’s rental data.