Northbridge buys ‘extremely rare’ 30-acre Vaughan site

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial  •  Toronto / GTA

Northbridge Capital has acquired an “extremely rare” 30-acre industrial property with redevelopment potential in a prime area of the Greater Toronto Area city of Vaughan, for $110 million.

Flames owners walk away from arena deal

Commercial  •  Calgary Herald  •  Globe and Mail  •  Toronto Star

Calgary Flames owners Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corp., say they’re ending a multimillion-dollar plan to replace the aging Saddledome, which was to have been built under a cost-sharing agreement with the City of Calgary, due to the growing price tag.

Summit acquires 12-acre GTA site for $27.5M

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

Summit Industrial Income REIT (SMU-UN-T) will acquire a 12-acre parcel of development-ready land at the GTA intersection of Appleby Line and Highway 407 for $27.5 million. The site has the potential to develop approximately 180,000 square feet of light industrial building space.

Hazelview proposes 25-storey, purpose-built rental

Residential  •  Urban Toronto  •  RENX

Hazelview Investments has applied to redevelop 1265 Wilson Ave. in the Downsview area of North York with a 25-storey purpose-built rental apartment building. The Diamond Schmitt Architects-designed building would total 570  units; 74 studios, 299 one bedrooms, 123 two bedrooms and 67 three bedrooms.

Proptech shatters investment record with $32B haul

Commercial  •  Bisnow

Proptech’s rapid growth attracted a record-breaking amount of venture capital in 2021. Private investment reached $32 billion US this year, a 28% increase from 2020 and a 3.23% bump from 2019, according to the Center for Real Estate Technology & Innovation’s 2021 Real Estate Tech Venture Funding Report.

The Title Page › Real estate and proptech: A year in review and a glance into the future

Lori Sartor and Eric Haslett: Lori Sartor and Eric Haslett

Winnipeg heritage buildings get new leases on life

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

Past the shimmering glass, passersby can catch a glimpse of the old James Avenue pumping station, a significant part of Winnipeg’s history. Today it features a gastropub on the main floor and an advertising agency on a new second floor.

Jim Pattison plans six-storey Van. mixed-use

Residential, Commercial  •  urbanYVR

Vancouver’s Jim Pattison Group is planning a six-storey, mixed-use building at Main Street and East 6th Avenue in Vancouver. The design by Formosis Architecture includes ground-floor retail space and 76 residential units consisting of studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom condos.

Co-working was rebounding until restrictions returned

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

The latest pandemic restrictions have thrown the battered co-working sector back into doubt just as office space providers such as WeWork, Spaces and The Workaround were preparing for a surge in demand from companies shunning traditional multi-year leases.

Mtl. eases pressure on businesses via reduced tax hike

Commercial  •  Montreal Gazette

Montreal is pressing ahead with a strategy of raising non-residential building taxes more slowly than residential levies. Total taxes on non-residential buildings are going up an average of 1.5 per cent in 2022, compared with two per cent for residential properties.

Eglinton Crosstown LRT to cost $325 million more

Commercial  •  Toronto Star  •  CP 24  •  Infrastructure Ontario media release

Metrolinx and Infrastructure Ontario have reached a settlement with Crosslinx Transit Solutions (CTS), the consortium constructing the $5.5-billion Eglinton Crosstown LRT. The province will pay Crosslinx an additional $325 million for the project, which has a completion date of next fall.

Walmart Canada to eliminate single-use plastic bags

Commercial  •  Sustainable Biz Canada

Walmart Canada (WMT-N) plans to eliminate single-use plastic bags in its 400-plus locations by Earth Day 2022. The changes apply to in-store purchases along with online grocery pickup and delivery orders, which will prevent nearly 750 million bags from entering circulation.

Ivanhoé JVs on $2.6B Japanese multires platform

Residential  •  REthink Tokyo  •  IPE Real Assets  •  Allianz Real Estate media release

Allianz Real Estate announced it has established a new investment platform, in partnership with Ivanhoé Cambridge and other investors, to build a diversified portfolio of multiresidential assets across top-tier cities in Japan. The platform will have a capacity of $2.6 billion.

CPP invests $205.6M in JV with Mitsubishi Estate

Residential, Commercial  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

CPP Investments today announced a commitment of $205.6 million to a joint venture with Japanese developer Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd, to pursue investments in commercial and residential assets in Japan. The joint venture will be managed by Mitsubishi Jisho Investment Advisors.

Yew Grove shareholders OK takeover by Slate Office

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

Slate Office REIT (SOT-UN-T) announced its offer to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Irish trust Yew Grove REIT for cash consideration of $1.48 Cdn per share was approved by shareholders of Yew Grove.

ERES acquires Dutch single-family portfolio for $52.9M

Residential  •  Globe Newswire

ERES REIT (ERE-UN-X) announced it has completed the acquisition of a portfolio of eight properties containing an aggregate of 137 single-family homes located throughout the Netherlands for a combined purchase price of $52.9 million Cdn.

Double-digit increase forecast for GTA rent in 2022

Residential  •  Toronto Star

Toronto-area rent prices continue to climb, with the average rent for any property hitting $2,167 in November — and no end in sight, with double-digit average increases forecast for 2022, according to the latest GTA rent report from Bullpen Research and TorontoRentals.com.

How Ottawa’s house values have shifted since 2019

Residential  •  Ottawa Citizen

Just two years ago, residential house prices in the Ottawa area averaged under $500,000 — and were climbing at a pace measured in single digits. You could buy a condominium for little more than $300,000 in a market that offered plenty of listings.

Breaking the cycle of housing instability

Residential  •  REMI Network  •  Globe and Mail  •  Daily Commercial News

Amid the dual crises of a nationwide housing shortage and the COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers and advocates looking for solutions to housing instability have been turning to policies like rent regulation, eviction moratoriums and other emergency means.

High demand spurs Studio Shed to expand to Canada

Residential  •  Real Estate Magazine

Boulder, Colo.-based Studio Shed, a full-service design-build firm that creates accessory dwelling units and flat ships them so homeowners can build them themselves or have their own contractors erect them, has officially launched in Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa.