Seacliff, Reliance JV on $1.2B B.C. seaside development

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Office, Retail, Apartments, Condominiums, Homes  •  British Columbia

Seacliff Properties and Reliance Properties, both Vancouver-based, have entered a joint venture to build a massive $1.2 billion, 15-year master-planned seaside community at Colwood’s Royal Beach, in the Greater Victoria area.

Amazon Ottawa acquisition fits with Crestpoint’s global outlook

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial, Retail  •  Ottawa

The acquisition of the 2.8-million-square-foot Amazon facility in Ottawa, the largest fulfillment centre in Canada, meets several key objectives for Crestpoint Real Estate Investments Ltd. It assembled an international consortium for the $494-million purchase.

Doubts cast on downtown Montreal revival plan

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

OPINION: Montreal’s Peel Basin is set to get its own station on Réseau express métropolitain light-rail transit line. However, development of the Canada Lands-owned lot is now up in the air with no new baseball stadium in the plans.

Skyline sells ind. portfolios in Ottawa, GTA for $217M

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial  •  Toronto / GTA, Ottawa

Skyline Commercial REIT has sold two significant industrial portfolios, comprising 20 properties in Ottawa and the Greater Toronto Area, for in excess of $217 million.

CAPREIT acquires Kelowna apt. property for $29.5M

Residential  •  Globe Newswire  •  RENX

Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (CAPREIT) (CAR-UN-T) has completed the purchase of a six-storey 59-suite apartment and townhouse property located in downtown Kelowna. The property, completed in the spring of 2021, was acquired for $29.5 million. Occupancy was 94.9% at closing.

Design, Policy and Canadian Cities › Winter cities: Let’s embrace the cold in our public realms

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

Terracap proposes 28-storey mixed-use

Residential, Commercial  •  Urban Toronto

Terracap has proposed a 28-storey mixed-use building at 3300 Dufferin St. in North York. The TACT Architecture-designed building would have at-grade retail facing and 351 residential units above, in a mix of of 201 one-bedrooms, 112 two-bedrooms, 35 three-bedrooms and three live-work units.

Edm. to build $26M pedway for Qualico multi-tower dev.

Residential, Commercial  •  CBC

City of Edmonton councillors voted in favour of a future $26.5-million pedway linking the Churchill LRT station and Winnipeg-headquartered Qualico’s mixed-use tower development north of downtown. The project will be built in several phases and is expected to cost $841 million.

N.S. opens bids for downtown Dartmouth development

Residential, Commercial  •  CBC

On Tuesday, Crown corporation Develop Nova Scotia opened a call for proposals for a development of a piece of prime real estate in downtown Dartmouth that is to be “primarily residential, with community, cultural, commercial or small-scale production space.”

Industrial demand high in London, Windsor: CBRE

Commercial  •  Windsor Star

The industrial market in Southwestern Ontario is nearly full, CBRE’s Another Year, Another Record Q4 report finds, with some of the country’s most in-demand places along Highway 401. The availability rate from Waterloo to Windsor was far below national averages.

Metro profit jumps 8.6% on higher food, pharmacy sales

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

Grocery store owner Metro Inc.’s (MRU-T) profits increased by 8.6 per cent in the first quarter, as food and pharmacy sales continued to be strong and costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic decreased.

StorageVault announces graduation to TSX

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire  •  RENX

StorageVault Canada Inc.’s, (SVI-X) common shares, 5.75% senior unsecured hybrid debentures and  5.50% senior unsecured hybrid debentures will be listed and commence trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange as of Jan. 26, under the symbols SVI, SVI.DB and SVI.DB.B, respectively.

QuadReal to invest $4.3B more in Valor logistics JV

Commercial  •  Bisnow  •  IPE Real Assets

Vancouver-based QuadReal is to pump another $4.3 billion Cdn into its European urban logistics venture with Valor. The move, which follows $1.57 billion initial funding in November 2020, means a rapid acceleration as investors continue to feast on surging demand from e-commerce businesses.

WeWork acquiring flex workspace firm Common Desk

Commercial  •  Bisnow  •  CP Executive  •  Business Wire

After a meteoric rise, a failed initial public offering, years of downsizing, a C-suite shakeup and finally a merger with a blank-cheque company, WeWork (WE-N ) has inked a deal to buy Dallas-based flexible workspace provider Common Desk.

Looking back at Amazon’s very big year in CRE

Commercial  •  Wealth Management  •  Business Insider  •  Bisnow

It is impossible to track the commercial real estate industry and not see the name Amazon on a near daily basis. In markets across the U.S., tales of Amazon’s dominance have proliferated.

Evergrande aims for restructuring plan within six months

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

China Evergrande Group said it aimed to have an initial restructuring plan within six months during a long-awaited call with creditors on Wednesday, its first communication with them since the property giant’s finances began to unravel last year.

B of C holds interest rates at 0.25%

Residential  •  Financial Post  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  Financial Post

The Bank of Canada held off hiking interest rates on Wednesday but said that the economy is now operating at full capacity, teeing up a rate increase for the bank’s next meeting in March.

Guilty plea in condo reno price-fixing probe

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Almost 10 years after it began investigating an alleged price-fixing scheme that affected close to $20 million worth of condominium renovations, the Competition Bureau of Canada has obtained its first guilty plea from CPL Interiors Ltd., which faces fines up to $10 million.

Suit looms over Dye & Durham fee hikes

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

Real estate lawyers are exploring a potential class-action lawsuit against Dye & Durham (DND-T) in response to the legal software provider announcing price hikes, a year after raising them 400 per cent and guaranteeing the price would not increase for three years.

T.O. inches closer to Van. as most expensive market

Residential  •  Financial Post  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

The average home price in Toronto in December is only four per cent below that of Vancouver, the smallest gap since 1991, TD economist Rishi Sondhi wrote. That comes after a years-long trend of accelerating house price gains in Toronto.