Reports forecast CRE trends in Canada, big cities: AY

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Office, Land, Industrial, Investment, Retail  •  National

Canada’s commercial real estate market should continue to benefit from the country’s “solid economic fundamentals and a stable economy,” according to Avison Young’s Global 2020 Real Estate Forecast. The reports cover Canada’s national outlook and those of nine major cities.

Vancouver’s Plaza of Nations moving forward

Residential, Commercial  •  Vancouver Sun

A massive waterfront Vancouver development, which will change the face of False Creek’s north shore and give the NHL Canucks a dedicated practice facility, is working its way through the development process, after years of work behind the scenes.

Ivanhoe plans two towers next to Ottawa mall

Residential  •  Ottawa Business Journal  •  RENX

Ivanhoé Cambridge says it wants to build two new apartment high-rises next to its Bayshore Shopping Centre, a proposal that would add 500 more units to Ottawa’s growing inventory of rental housing located near existing or future light-rail stations.

Offices, seniors living coming to Lonsdale Square

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Seniors Housing, Office  •  Metro Vancouver

The redevelopment of Lonsdale Square on the North Shore of Vancouver will include a senior living residence as well as an office building. Both are being built by Darwin Properties, which also plans to build 800 new homes at the property.

InterRent to convert Ottawa office building to apts.

Residential, Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal  •  RENX

An office tower on the western edge of downtown Ottawa will be gutted and undergo a facelift to prepare the building’s units for residential tenants. InterRent REIT (IIP-UN-T) acquired the vacant 50-year-old Trebla Building in a $21.8-million deal last year.

Killam acquires Victoria apartments for $54M

Residential  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

Killam Apartment REIT (KMP-UN-T) has acquired Christie Point Apartments, a 161-unit Victoria property for $54 million ($335,000 per unit) using cash and its acquisition credit facility. The property contains office space that Killam will use in establishing a Victoria operating platform.

The Saskatchewan Edge › I was off the mark in Q4 2019 industrial vacancy forecast

Barry Stuart: Managing Partner and Senior Sales Associate , ICR Commercial Real Estate

Blame poor urban planning for vacant storefronts

Commercial  •  Montreal Gazette

Last April, the Montreal borough of Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce tried to change the zoning regulations for Sherbrooke and Somerled Streets. to allow an unlimited number of restaurants. The borough’s planning department offered no analysis of what such a change could mean.

T.O. seeks air rights for Rail Deck Park

Commercial  •  Toronto Star  •  Daily Hive

Mayor John Tory is pitching a new approach to building a signature Rail Deck Park he says would deliver more park sooner to residents and tourists by moving ahead on the city’s acquisition of air rights along the rail corridor.

Element AI tapped for Sidewalk Labs review

Residential, Commercial  •  Globe and Mail  •  RENX

Waterfront Toronto has hired Montreal startup Element AI Inc. to help review the human-rights impact of Google affiliate Sidewalk Labs’ draft plan for a smart-city development on the shores of Lake Ontario.

Automation is coming for CRE

Commercial  •  Globest.com

The commercial real estate sector is poised to receive a double-whammy from automation, with the technology reducing the need for space across several industries as well as remaking its own internal processes.

Starbucks plans takeout-focused Toronto location

Commercial  •  Canadian Grocer

Customers accustomed to hunkering down for hours to work or socialize won’t be able to do so at the newest Starbucks (SBUX-Q) format – the “pickup store” – that lacks seating and encourages people to grab their drinks and go.

Canadian Tire names Gregory Craig new CFO

Commercial  •  Toronto Star  •  Canada Newswire

Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. (CTC-A-T) is promoting Gregory Craig to the job of chief financial officer, replacing Dean McCann, who is retiring. Craig is president of Canadian Tire Financial Services and president and chief executive of Canadian Tire Bank.

WPT Industrial announces TSX Canadian dollar listing

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire  •  RENX

WPT Industrial REIT (WIR-U-T) announced as of Friday its units will commence trading on the TSX in Canadian dollars under the symbol WIR.UN. The units will continue to trade in U.S. dollars under the existing WIR.U.

Granite acquires three Dutch properties for $129M

Commercial  •  Business Wire  •  RENX

Granite REIT (GRT-UN-T) has agreed to acquire three prime Dutch properties, together comprising 860,000 square feet at a combined purchase price of approximately $129 million Cdn. The state-of-the-art facilities in Tilburg, Weert and Ede will be delivered in mid-2020 and early 2021.

HGI acquires $1.85B apartment portfolio

Residential  •  PR Newswire

Affiliates of Harbor Group International, LLC (HGI) have acquired a portfolio of 36 apartment properties comprising of 13,243 units from Aragon Holdings, LLC for $1.85 billion. The acquisition is the fifth-largest apartment portfolio sale ever in the U.S. and the largest since 2016.

Montreal mayor seeks gov’t help for housing crisis

Residential  •  Montreal Gazette  •  Victoria Times Colonist

Mayor Valérie Plante called on the federal and provincial governments to open the purse strings to help solve the housing crisis which has seen Montreal’s rental vacancy rate drop to 1.5 per cent, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Calgary’s rental emphasis puts pressure on existing tenants

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

The development of new, high-end rental apartments in Calgary’s inner-city neighbourhoods is putting pressure on rents in existing buildings and leading to calls for more tenant protections, says activist organization Renters Action Movement (RAM).

Calgary to sell land for affordable housing

Residential  •  CBC  •  Calgary Herald

The City of Calgary plans to sell five city-owned sites at a discount to non-profit affordable housing providers. The move is the second time the city has sold plots of land to help create more units of affordable housing.

Canadians investing in high-end real estate

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

With the bull market in stocks looking long in the tooth, Canadians are pumping money into high-end real estate, Sotheby’s International Realty Canada says. Sotheby’s has seen “a noticeable increase in affluent real estate consumers utilizing top-tier real estate.”