Downtown Calgary’s commercial real estate conundrum

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Office, Apartments, Investment  •  Calgary

Downtown is central to Calgary’s economic future, but the city is facing a long road to recovery. The office vacancy rate remains in the low 30 per cent range and 13 million square feet of space – including entire towers – is sitting empty.

Harrison Street buys new Calgary University District apt.

RENX  Residential  •  Retail, Apartments  •  Calgary

Harrison Street has made its second acquisition with its Canada Alternative Real Estate Fund, a 286-unit apartment in Calgary’s University District. ARIA, a six-storey building completed earlier this year, was purchased from Gracorp Properties.

Cominar deal a bet on Quebec: Canderel CEO

Commercial  •  Montreal Gazette  •  RENX

The Canderel-led consortium’s $5.7 billion deal to buy Cominar REIT (CUF-UN-T) represents a major bet on Quebec’s economic prospects — and particularly its shopping centres, “This is a show of faith in many areas,” Canderel CEO Brett Miller said.

George Weston sells fresh, frozen businesses for $1.2B

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire  •  Globe and Mail  •  Toronto Star

George Weston Limited (WN-T) has signed a definitive agreement to sell its Weston Foods fresh and frozen bakery businesses to affiliated entities of FGF Brands and remains engaged in selling its cookies, cones, crackers and wafers business.

Marlin Spring proposes 59-storey mixed-use tower

Residential, Commercial  •  Urban Toronto  •  RENX

Marlin Spring proposes a 59-storey mixed-use tower at 2189 Lake Shore Blvd. W. in Etobicoke. The Wallman Architects-designed building would include 650 condominium units via a mix of nine studio, 383 one- and one-bedroom-with-dens, 190 two- & two-bedroom-plus-dens and 68 three-bedroom units.

Boffo proposes five-building development in Burnaby

Residential  •  urbanYVR

A public hearing is planned in late November for Boffo‘s five-building residential development in Burnaby. IBI Group-designed Bassano would bring over 1,200 new homes in four condo towers ranging from 45 to 34 storeys in addition to a six-storey non-market rental podium.

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Allied Hotel Properties to go private

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire

Allied Hotel Properties (AHP-X) has entered into an arrangement agreement with Allied Holdings, a private entity controlled by chairman/CEO Peter Y.L. in which the company will redeem all issued and outstanding common shares for $0.28 each.

IO issues RFQ for next property services contract

Commercial  •  Daily Commercial News

Infrastructure Ontario, which manages one of the largest real estate portfolios in Canada, has issued a Request for Qualifications for a private sector service provider for Real Property Services as the current property and land management contract will expire in 2024.

10 T.O. towers that will stretch toward the sky

Residential, Commercial  •  blogTO

Among the extensive list of projects both already under construction and approved, 10 currently in the works will be as tall or taller than Toronto and Canada’s existing tallest building, First Canadian Place at King and Bay:

Eight Hamilton schools on the market

Commercial  •  Hamilton Spectator

The Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board is putting eight of nine surplus elementary schools up for sale on the open market after no public agencies, including the city, expressed interest in buying them.

Neighbourly to acquire five W. Canada pharmacies

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire

Neighbourly Pharmacy Inc. (NBLY-T), Canada’s largest and fastest growing network of independent pharmacies, has entered into a binding agreement to acquire five pharmacies located throughout Western Canada. The acquisition has a purchase price of $21.0 million.

Shell acquires 248 Landmark U.S. retail sites

Commercial  •  PR Newswire

Shell Retail and Convenience Operations LLC has signed an agreement to acquire 248 company-owned fuel and convenience retail sites from the Landmark group of companies, whose convenience stores operate in Texas under the Timewise brand.

Global logistics space at an all-time low: Prologis

Commercial  •  PR Newswire

New research by Prologis, Inc. (PLD-N), the global leader in logistics real estate, underscores the crisis facing the world’s supply chain, with logistics space at an all-time low, a slowdown in the flow of goods and rising construction costs.

Chinese developer Modern Land misses bond payment

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail  •  Fortune  •  CNN

Modern Land has missed a bond payment, the latest Chinese property developer to do so, adding to worries about the wider impact of the debt crisis at behemoth China Evergrande Group, and dragging on shares in the sector.

Egypt’s new capital city rises in the desert

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

Egypt’s rulers have always had a penchant for megaprojects. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is carrying on the tradition with the New Administrative Capital in the desert about 45 kilometres east of Cairo. It is roughly equivalent to Brasilia, the capital of Brazil.

Mortgage defaults remain very low: Lenders

Residential  •  Western Investor

A Canadian Bankers Association report revealed that as of July 31, there were only 9,157 mortgages in arrears out of 4.97 million residential mortgages, meaning only 0.18 per cent of homeowners are underwater, despite record-high home prices and mortgage debt.

Could N.Z. housing law help Canada curb soaring prices?

Residential  •  National Post  •  Globe and Mail

A radical new law intended to reduce New Zealand’s infamous housing crunch by quashing “overly restrictive planning rules” could  be a model for how Canada could curb its ever-skyrocketing real estate prices, according to experts contacted by the National Post.

Langford taps rezoning fees to help homebuyers

Residential  •  Vancouver Sun  •  Western Investor

The City of Langford, long the engine of Greater Victoria’s housing boom, is using money raised by city fees on rezoning for new developments to help young families achieve the goal of home ownership.

Greater Victoria homebuilders on a record pace

Residential  •  Victoria Times Colonist

Despite pandemic challenges, supply-chain concerns, a labour shortage and the ongoing tug-of-war with municipalities over zoning and costs, homebuilders in Greater Victoria could still have another record year, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.