RioCan, First Gulf sell T.O.’s Kennedy Commons

RENX  Commercial  •  Retail  •  Metro Vancouver, Toronto / GTA, Greater Montreal

RioCan REIT (REI-UN-T) and co-owner First Gulf will sell Kennedy Commons shopping centre in Toronto to a “local private investor” for $215 million. The announcement was part of a statement by RioCan updating over a half-billion dollars in transactions.

Gracorp buys West End Vancouver condo, plans rental

RENX  Residential  •  Apartments, Condominiums  •  Metro Vancouver

Gracorp may be new to the residential rental sector in Vancouver, but it has pulled off a near-impossible feat by acquiring a small condo building in the West End for a purpose-built rental development.

MacEwen acquires Quickie Convenience chain

Commercial  •  Business Wire

MacEwen Petroleum today announced the acquisition of the business assets of Quickie Convenience Stores Corporation. The Quickie network of 51 convenience stores including 22 gas stations, located in Eastern Ontario and Gatineau, Que., will complement and almost double MacEwen’s portfolio of stores.

The Legal Corner › Proof of vaccination: An evolving issue for residential condo and apt. properties

Darrell Gold: Partner, Robins Appleby LLP

Cloverdale Mall redev. includes 8- and 32-storey bldgs.

Commercial  •  Urban Toronto

QuadReal has advanced updated plans for Phase 1 of the redevelopment of the 30-acre site of Etobicoke’s Cloverdale Mall. The application includes 511 residential units and 2,303 square feet of retail space in buildings rising to eight and 32 storeys from a shared podium.

Capital proposes 28-storey, 360-unit building

Residential  •  Urban Toronto

Capital Developments has proposed a 28-storey residential building containing 360 units at 31 Finch Ave. E. plus 32, 36 and 38 Olive Ave. The IBI Group-designed building would includes 140 one-bedrooms (39%), 101 one-bedroom-plus-dens (28%), 82 two-bedrooms (23%), 36 three-bedrooms (10%), and one two-bedroom-plus-den unit.

Sponsored by MNP The importance of documenting your succession plan

Successfully transitioning your real estate or construction business means getting your plans documented. Learn why in this Q&A.

Equiton acquires Etobicoke townhouse property

Residential  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

The Equiton Residential Income Fund (The Apartment Fund) announced the acquisition of the Scotch Elms, a multiresidential townhome community at 12 & 14 Auburndale Court in North Etobicoke for $21 million. The 2.38-acre property contains two townhome buildings with a total of 46 two-, three-, and four-bedroom units.

Businesses grapple with supply chain disruptions

Commercial  •  Ottawa Citizen  •  Montreal Gazette  •  Edmonton Journal

In the 51 years Laurysen Kitchens has been in business, the Ottawa-based cabinetry company never ran into the snarl of supply chain problems it’s faced in 2021. “It’s like the O-train, where the wheels have fallen off,” co-owner Caroline Castrucci says.

Broccolini’s Le Sherbrooke to launch in Montreal

Residential  •  Globe Newswire  •  RENX

Le Sherbrooke, Broccolini’s latest and most prestigious residential project, will launch on Saturday. Located in the heart of Montréal’s Golden Square Mile, Le Sherbrooke will draw inspiration from the cultural venues and the prestigious architecture the neighbourhood’s known for.

Canadian Western Bank opens first Ontario branch

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Edmonton-based Canadian Western Bank’s first retail branch in Ontario can be found in Mississauga, 30 kilometres west of Toronto’s downtown core, surrounded by warehouses and low-rise office buildings in an industrial business park.

Inside downtown Toronto’s new cultural hub

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

The “Wellington Destructor” was created by the Toronto city architects’ office in 1925. After 20 years standing dark, the 40,000-square-foot structure designed as a garbage incinerator on the west side of downtown Toronto will become a gathering place for the neighbourhood.

Oxford, Investa building Aussie $1B office tower on spec

Commercial  •  Financial Review  •  IPE Real Assets  •  RENX

Oxford Properties Group and Australia’s Investa will build a $1-billion-plus office tower above the new metro station in Sydney’s Pitt Street on spec. Oxford also announced Japanese giant Mitsubishi Estate will take a 25 per cent JV stake.

Arcapita JV to invest $2B in U.S. warehouses

Commercial  •  Bloomberg  •  Financial Post

A new joint venture between alternative investment firm Arcapita Group Holdings and Arden Group plans to acquire $2 billion worth of industrial property assets in the U.S. as capital pours into niche real estate sectors amid the global pandemic.

Amazon growth hit by labour crunch, rising costs

Commercial  •  Financial Post  •  Toronto Star

Severe staffing shortages and the mounting costs of keeping its logistics empire running at full speed will throttle Amazon’s earnings for the remainder of the year, the company warned on Thursday.

At least 10 dead after high-rise in Nigeria collapses

Residential  •  Globe and Mail  •  Bisnow

At least 10 people have died in Nigeria’s commercial capital of Lagos after the collapse of a luxurious high-rise building that was under construction, the state emergency services chief said on Tuesday.

CMI Financial Group reaches $1B in mortgage fundings

Residential  •  Canada Newswire

Private mortgage lender CMI Financial Group announced it has surpassed $1 billion in mortgage fundings since 2015. In just over 15 years, CMI has grown from a family-owned mortgage brokerage to become Canada’s largest private residential mortgage lender by new originations.

Gap narrows between GTA condos, single-family homes

Residential  •  Toronto Star  •  Globe Newswire

The price of a new construction single-family home in the GTA hit a record with the benchmark soaring 33.5 per cent year-over-year to $1.57 million in September. Meanwhile, the benchmark price for a new condo rose two per cent annually to $1.04 million.

Plan to build more cheap rentals a game changer

Residential  •  Toronto Star

OPINION: More than a decade in the making, Toronto is on the cusp of enacting a new tool that could compel developers to provide thousands of additional units of affordable housing. It’s called inclusionary zoning, or IZ.

Van. tenants leaving downtown: Building manager

Residential  •  CTV

The West End is usually one of the most in-demand locations in Vancouver, but Ayala Rom, who manages two apartment buildings, said she has more vacancies than normal and is seeing tenants move out of the neighbourhood out of frustration.