Summit Industrial REIT adds 6 GTA buildings

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial  •  Toronto / GTA

Summit Industrial Income REIT (SMU-UN-T) announced Wednesday it has waived conditions and will acquire the Cochrane Business Park, a six-building light industrial campus in Markham, just northeast of Toronto. Summit is paying $45.15 million for the campus.

Toronto Buttonville Airport site going up for sale

RENX  Commercial  •  Land  •  Toronto / GTA

The 170-acre Toronto Buttonville Municipal Airport site is being put up for sale by Cadillac Fairview and Armadale Co. Limited. Cadillac Fairview’s Anna Ng confirmed the decision to sell in response to a query from RENX.

Vrancor has $200M plan for downtown Hamilton

Residential, Commercial  •  CBC  •  Hamilton Spectator

Vrancor Group has a $200-million plan to redevelop Hamilton’s aging downtown entertainment facilities and build two new office buildings to boot. Vrancor president Darko Vranich wants to redevelop FirstOntario Centre, FirstOntario Concert Hall and the Hamilton Convention Centre.

Shopify to open new Vancouver office

Commercial  •  Vancouver Sun  •  CBC  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Calling Vancouver a “hub for  great talent with potential for continued growth,” Ottawa-based multinational e-commerce company Shopify (SHOP-T) has announced plans to open its first permanent office in the city, and hire 1,000 employees as part of the process.

Émond succeeds Sabia as Caisse president

Commercial  •  La Presse  •  CTV

François Legault made his choice and decided to bet on a new generation. Charles Émond, 47, has succeeded Michael Sabia as the new president of the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ). Émond will have a five-year term.

Devencore helps Plazacorp clinch Toronto land sale

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Devencore Realties Corporation Canada‘s creative resolution helped close Plazacorp‘s long-stalled acquisition of the Catholic Children’s Aid Society headquarters at 26 Maitland St. in downtown Toronto for $27.9 million. Devencore senior vice-president Rob Tkatch helped CCAS find a new home.

Value: Weighed and Measured › Building permit approvals: Don’t leave the fox to run the hen house

John Clark: Vice President , The Regional Group of Companies Inc

Halton to spend $1.5B on new-growth infrastructure

Commercial  •  Daily Commercial News

The Region of Halton west of Toronto has a five-year $1.5-billion infrastructure plan to accommodate continuing explosive population growth in the next decade says the regional government’s director of engineering and construction.

Hotel industry braces for impact of coronavirus

Commercial  •  Bisnow  •  Financial Post

American hotel operators are keeping an eye on the fast-advancing spread of the coronavirus from China, as travel advisories and quarantines threaten business from one of the largest sources of U.S. tourism.

Kepler opening new manufacturing facility in Toronto

Commercial  •  TechCrunch

Satellite communications startup Kepler will manufacture its small satellites going forward at a new 5,000-square-foot facility in Toronto. The new facility will also incorporate design and development of its satellites in addition to manufacturing.

Toronto’s Sheraton Centre worth preserving: Opinion

Commercial  •  Toronto Star

Catch a glimpse of the Sheraton Centre from the west, around Queen and University, and it seems impossibly thin, cutting through the skyline like a knife. At night, the big Sheraton S on each end lights the way.

Allied completes World Trade Centre Montreal purchase

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire  •  RENX

Allied Properties REIT (AP-UN-T) announced it has completed the acquisition of the class-I complex 747 Square-Victoria St. in Montréal, the heart of the International Quarter.

P.E.I.’s MacEwen architect for the stars

Commercial  •  Daily Commercial News

When David MacEwen graduated from high school in the 1980s in New Dominion, P.E.I., he could already build a house. Today, MacEwen is an architect running Chicago-based DMAC Architecture. which specializes in hospitality and commercial designs, including hotels and casinos.

Edmonton looks to lessen tax burden

Residential, Commercial  •  Edmonton Journal

Property tax made up about 57 per cent of Edmonton’s operating revenue in 2018, a new high, prompting Mayor Don Iveson to ask city staff to look for ways to ease the burden on small businesses and residents.

Vision Capital CEO high on residential REITs

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

The eve of the financial crisis was not an auspicious time to launch a real estate fund. Yet Jeffrey Olin and his partner, Frank Mayer, seeded their Vision Opportunity family of funds amid market jitters in mid-2008.

Atari announces video game-themed Atari Hotels

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire  •  PC Gamer

Atari Monday announced a deal with GSD Group — a leading innovation and strategy agency — to acquire the rights to build video game-themed Atari Hotels in the United States, with the first location breaking ground in Phoenix later this year.

Non-bank mortgages on the rise in Canada

Residential  •  Calgary’s Business  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

The value of residential mortgage loans extended by non-bank lenders grew by 25.4 per cent to $41.1 billion in the second quarter of 2019, according to a report released Tuesday by Statistics Canada.

Ontario Line may delay major T.O. affordable housing project

Residential, Commercial  •  Toronto Star  •  Windsor Star

A major provincial transit project could delay the construction of hundreds of affordable housing units through Mayor John Tory’s signature program in a clash that threatens to put two of Toronto’s most pressing needs in conflict with one another.

TREB reborn as Toronto Regional Real Estate Board

Residential  •  Globe Newswire

The Toronto Real Estate Board is now the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, a name that has been revised to reflect the regional nature of TREB that has been in place since 2002.

Vancouver co-op residents to get new deal

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

People who live in Vancouver’s 3,700 co-op apartments, a form of affordable housing popularized in the 1970s, are going to be offered a new deal after years of negotiations over renewing their leases for the first time since they were built.