Berkshire, Fiera JV to build GTA’s Heart Lake Business Park

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial  •  Toronto / GTA

Berkshire Axis Development and Fiera Real Estate have broken ground on the 750,000-square-foot Heart Lake Business Park in Brampton, just north of Toronto. The project is site-plan approved, with building permits in hand for four buildings so far.

Canadian story: Immigrate, find investors, buy apt. bldg.

RENX  Residential  •  Apartments  •  Metro Vancouver, Edmonton

Adeola Olademeji does his research and pays attention to the fundamentals, both in real estate and in his own life. The founder of Burnaby, B.C.-based investment management company Ascendi Capital immigrated to Canada in 2019 from Nigeria.

Seventy-five towers in the works in Pickering

Residential, Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  RENX

Real estate agent Fahad Rehman noticed a startling number of development notices going up in Pickering. Curious, Rehman decided to count the number of developments proposed or under way. The figure he came up with? No fewer than 75 towers to rise.

Amazon acquires 14.35 acres at Regina-area hub

Commercial  •  CBC

Amazon Canada has purchased 14.35 acres of land at the Global Transportation Hub, just west of Regina. Amazon acquired the land from Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) for $3.3 million. Roughly two-thirds of the land at the GTH has been sold.

Investor funds supported condo project, lawsuit alleges

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Bridging Finance Inc.’s majority owner, Jenny Coco, allegedly used investor funds to secure a large construction loan for her luxury condo project with developer Sam Mizrahi, according to a lawsuit filed in an Ontario court.

Design, Policy and Canadian Cities › The Naked House: The future of housing affordability?

Naama Blonder: Architect, Urban Designer, Urban Planner | B.Arch, OAA, RPP, MCIP

Donmar building 14-storey mixed-use in Winnipeg

Residential, Commercial  •  Winnipeg Free Press

A commercial parking lot in downtown Winnipeg will soon be home to Donmar Properties’ 14-storey, mixed-use building with 120 apartments and a 10,000-square-foot restaurant as its anchor tenant on the ground floor. Local firm Number TEN is the architect.

Pacific Reach proposes 12-storey Vancouver rental

Residential  •  urbanYVR

Pacific Reach Properties has proposed to redevelop 314-328 West Hastings St. near Vancouver’s Victory Square with a secured market rental building, designed by Atelier Pacific Architecture. The proposal calls for 128 units, ranging from studios to three-bedrooms, in a 12-storey building.

Firms gobbling up health-professional practices

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Fuelled by international private equity funds, consolidating firms such as VetStrategy have been on a tear, buying practices in health-professional fields such as veterinary medicine, dental care, optometry and pharmacies and assembling them into chains.

Ottawa at ‘critical inflection point’: Urban Institute

Residential, Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal

Ottawa is at a “critical inflection point” in its development as major employers like the federal government and the tech industry take stock of their post-pandemic office environments, says Canadian Urban Institute president and CEO Mary Rowe.

$100K plan to help boost Calgary downtown scrapped

Commercial  •  CBC

Two years after the City of Calgary gave $100,000 to the Calgary Downtown Association for a project aimed at activating vacant office spaces in the city’s core, the money has been returned and the plan scrapped.

N.B. pledges $14M to help landlords, CRE owners

Residential, Commercial  •  CBC  •  Canada Newswire

The New Brunswick government is spending $14 million to partially rebate 2022 property tax bills on apartment buildings and commercial properties that were hit with assessment increases above 10 per cent this year.

Caisse buys $6.27B stake in Dubai port, business park

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  Canada Newswire  •  Bloomberg

Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec will take a 22% stake in Dubai’s Jebel Al flagship port and two adjacent business parks through a new joint venture with DP World. Caisse investment in DP World’s Dubai assets is $6.27 billion Cdn.

Amazon opens 430K-sq.-ft. tech hub in Boston

Commercial  •  Commercial Property Executive  •  Business Wire  •  Bisnow

WS Development has fully opened its 525,000-square-foot mixed-use building at 111 Harbor Way in Boston. Amazon is fully leasing the 430,000-square-foot office segment of the 17-storey tower in the Boston Seaport Innovation District.

SL Green sells 609 Fifth Avenue for $100.5M

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire

SL Green Realty Corp. (SLG-N), Manhattan’s largest office landlord, today announced the sale of the vacant office condominium at 609 Fifth Avenue to a domestic investor for a gross sale price of $100.5 million. The transaction is expected to close this month.

Foreign investment in U.S. real estate surges

Residential, Commercial  •  Forbes

While rising interest rates might spook U.S. buyers, the country is seeing an influx of foreign investors. According to a Deloitte report, as limitations on international travel lifted, foreign investment in U.S. CRE rebounded in the second half of 2021.

Toronto home prices could fall 20%: Daniels

Residential  •  Financial Post  •  RENX

The Daniels Corporation, one of the largest developers in Toronto, says home prices in the city could drop as much as 20 per cent. Longer-term, though, sustained demand from immigration will prevent larger declines that could destabilize the market more broadly.

Despite correction, GTA housing will rise long-term: Experts

Residential  •  Toronto Star

Phil Soper, CEO of Royal LePage, said he can see GTA housing prices rebounding in the single digits, maybe as high as 10 per cent by spring 2023 at the latest, but nothing like the double-digit escalation of the pandemic.

Five things Ford’s re-election might mean for housing

Residential  •  Toronto Star  •  REMI Network  •  Globe Newswire

Exclusionary zoning, transit-oriented communities, streamlining development approvals, attracting more skilled labour and minister’s zoning orders are among the key issues that housing experts say should or will be front and centre for Premier Doug Ford’s re-elected PC government.

Mtl. home sales down nine per cent Y-O-Y

Residential  •  Toronto Star  •  Financial Post  •  Globe Newswire

The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers says a slowdown continued to take shape in Montreal last month as home sales dropped nine per cent year-over-year. The association says sales for the month totalled 4,874, a drop from 5,354 in May 2021.