Equiton acquires 75% stake in 3-tower Ottawa dev.

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Retail, Apartments  •  Ottawa

Equiton’s Residential Income Fund will be Main and Main‘s new partner in the planned three-tower Riverain District development along the Rideau River near downtown Ottawa. Equiton said it paid $30 million for a 75 per cent stake in the project.

Cogir expands to W. Canada, buys 8 seniors residences

RENX  Residential  •  Apartments, Condominiums, Seniors Housing  •  National, Quebec City, Greater Montreal, British Columbia

Cogir Real Estate has expanded into Western Canada with the purchase of eight seniors residences in the Okanagan region of B.C. The Montreal firm also hired long-time BentallGreenOak executive Lee Warren as managing partner for Ontario and Western Canada.

Vancouver parkade sells for $55.7M

Commercial  •  Western Investor

A multi-level parking garage with 263 stalls in downtown Vancouver has sold for the equivalent of more than $210,000 per stall. The parkade, at 516 West Pender St., which covers a site of 14,820 square feet that is considered prime for redevelopment, sold for $55,743,000.

Westbank/Allied’s Union Centre approval in sight

Commercial  •  Urban Toronto

A settlement worked out between the City of Toronto and Westbank Corp. and Allied Properties REIT for the 54-storey Bjarke Ingels Group-designed Union Centre office tower at 171 Front St. W. has been conditionally ratified by the Ontario Land Tribunal.

The great divide over ‘hot-desking’

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  Business In Vancouver

HR professionals are admitting the pivot to hot-desking or hoteling has left some employees disappointed. And organizational behaviour experts say there is evidence working in an open space without a designated desk or room erodes the culture of an organization.

Could vertical farming be a solution for vacant office or retail space?

Bronwyn Scrivens: Associate Broker, Omada Commercial

Ferrow proposes 25-storey North York apt. building

Residential, Commercial  •  Urban Toronto

Ferrow Real Estate proposes a 25-storey, ZO1 Architects-designed apartment building at 6200 Yonge St.  in Toronto’s borough of North York. It would include 347 residential units – 195 one-bedroom/one-bedroom-plus-dens, 114 two-bedroom/two-bedroom-plus-dens and 38 three-bedroom units – in addition to a sizeable daycare centre.

Diamante submits new 19-storey mixed-use proposal

Residential, Commercial  •  Urban Toronto

In December 2015, Diamante Development proposed a 39-storey tower for the site of 100 Davenport Rd.. Diamante is back with a more modest 19-storey proposal designed by Scott Shields Architects and featuring 42 residential units in addition to retail uses at grade.

Woodlawn proposes 13-storey mixed-use in Summerhill

Residential, Commercial  •  Urban Toronto

Woodlawn Residences Corp. has proposed to redevelop 1233 Yonge St. and 9 Woodlawn Ave. E. in the Summerhill neighbourhood with a 13-storey mixed-use comprised of 70 new condos and 40 rental replacement units. The BDP Quadrangle-designed building would include ground-level retail.

Tilbury LNG $3B plant expansion moves ahead

Commercial  •  Western Investor

The FortisBC Tilbury natural gas plant has moved ahead another step toward expansion. The proposed $3-billion project, moving to the environmental assessment phase, would build a new storage facility and expand natural gas liquefaction capacity at the Delta, B.C., plant

$44M Waterloo airport expansion a beehive of activity

Commercial  •  Daily Commercial News

A light dusting of fresh snow covers parts of the busy construction areas at the Region of Waterloo International Airport (YKF) in Breslau, just east of Kitchener and north of Cambridge, on this cold January day.

Cost to repair flood-damaged B.C. highways $170-$220M

Commercial  •  Western Investor  •  Globe and Mail  •  CBC

The price tag is climbing to repair and reopen B.C. highways severely damaged by flooding. “I can say that the early estimates are in the range of $170-$220 million,” said Rob Fleming, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure.

Supply chain disruptions up 88% in 2021

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire

Factory fires, mergers & acquisitions, business sales, factory disruptions, leadership transitions and supply shortages ranked as the top six main issues as supply chain disruptions were up 88% year-over-year in 2021, according to Resilinc, which added 90% of disruptive events were human-caused.

Amazon plans fashion store of the future

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

Amazon.com Inc’s. (AMZN-Q) recipe for the department store of the future includes algorithmic recommendations and what one corporate director called “a magic closet” in the fitting room. The retailer announced Thursday it will open its first-ever apparel store this year.

Banks in U.K. ask staff to return to offices

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

Banks including Standard Chartered and Citigroup (C-N) have told staff in Britain to return to the office, taking advantage of the government’s lifting of work-from-home rules to combat the spread of COVID-19.

China drafts rules to ease developers’ cash crunch

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

China is drafting nationwide rules to make it easier for property developers to access funds from sales still held in escrow accounts in its latest move to ease a severe cash crunch in the sector, four sources said.

GTA rental construction surged in 2021: Urbanation

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

Despite the unprecedented challenges of 2020 and 2021, the GTA rental market effectively rebounded by the end of Q4 with rental construction increasing to more than a 30-year high, according to a new report from Urbanation.

Edm. single-family sales expected to drop 12.9% in 2022

Residential  •  CTV  •  Edmonton Journal

Sales of single-family homes in Edmonton will fall 12.9 per cent in 2022, according to a forecast by the Realtors Association of Edmonton. The group also projected a seven per cent drop in condo sales.

Queen’s Park announces $45M to streamline dev. approvals

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

The Ontario government has announced a new $45-million Streamline Development Approval Fund to help Ontario’s large municipalities improve systems for managing and approving housing applications. Examples of streamlining included improving online systems to make it easier to navigate the process.

Victorious developer to put Van. condo buyers first

Residential, Commercial  •  New Canadian Media  •  Globe Newswire

In a red-hot Vancouver real estate market fuelled by foreign home buyers, Singapore-based magnate Oei Hong Leong has vowed to offer his new condos to local residents first after emerging victorious in a long-standing court battle with Concord Pacific.