GTA’s growing tech sector is being squeezed for space

RENX  Commercial  •  Office, Technology  •  Toronto / GTA

Lease transactions among Greater Toronto Are technology tenants jumped 203 per cent last year compared to 2017 and the sector accounted for 18.7 million square feet of office space. That represented 9.4 per cent of the region’s office inventory, a Colliers International report says.

Ivanhoé Cambridge repeats as investor of year

Commercial  •  IPE Real Assets  •  IPE Real Assets  •  IPE Real Assets

Ivanhoé Cambridge has won the top honour for the second year in a row at the IPE Real Estate Global Awards 2019 in Amsterdam. Ivanhoé also won the Investment in Emerging Markets, Value-added Strategy and Investment in Europe categories.

SNC-Lavalin terminates Hwy. 407 deal with OMERS

Commercial  •  Financial Post  •  Toronto Star

Embattled SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. says it has terminated an agreement with the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) to sell 10.01 per cent of the shares it holds in Highway 407 ETR Highway subject to later payment of a break fee.

The People Space › People Space: Execs move at Chartwell, Empire, Crombie, Hullmark

Don Wilcox: Managing Editor

First Esports entertainment complex opening in Montreal

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire

Esports Central, Canada’s first and biggest esports entertainment complex, will open its doors on May 31 in the heart of downtown Montreal. The facility will include 14,000 square feet of gaming.

Feds pay $7.3M for Old Montreal lot

Commercial  •  La Presse

The Canadian government has agreed to pay $7,375,000 for an Old Montreal lot of nearly 22,000 square feet, ending a soap opera that included  two cancelled tenders and has dragged on for almost 15 years. The land is near the Place d’Armes.

Northview buys Starlight apartment complex for $53M

Residential, Commercial  •  Global News  •  RENX

Northview Apartment REIT  (NVU-UN–T) announced it is acquiring a newly built three-building apartment complex comprising 161 suites in Guelph, Ont. The property is being acquired from an affiliate of Starlight Group Property Holdings for $52.7 million.

Minto Apartments earns ‘Renovation of the Year’ award

Residential  •  Canada Newswire

Minto Apartments received the ‘Renovation of the Year’ award by the Canadian Federation of Apartment Associations (CFAA) on May 14. The CFAA National Awards program acknowledges excellence and notable achievements of landlords, suppliers and landlord associations in the rental housing industry.

Ontario-based engine distributor adds CentrePort office

Commercial  •  Winnipeg Free Press

The newest industrial resident in CentrePort Canada is Techtop Canada Inc., a Canadian-Chinese joint venture company that distributes industrial electrical motors. It is moving into a 6,000-square-foot space in a new multi-tenant building in the Brookside Business Park.

Selkirk, Man., First Nation building strip mall

Commercial  •  Winnipeg Free Press

Peguis First Nation revealed Thursday it is building a $5-million strip mall in the City of Selkirk — its first major investment in the Manitoba city that once abutted its reserve before the band was relocated north.

Five popular retailers Canada doesn’t have (yet)

Commercial  •  Financial Post

Many foreign retailers do see parts of the Canadian market as underserved and think they might be able to come in and take market share, said Craig Patterson, a Canadian retail consultant and editor-in-chief of Retail Insider.

Demand for U.S. retail space remains stagnant

Commercial  •  PR Newswire

Ten-X Commercial‘s Spring 2019 U.S. Retail Market Outlook shows the U.S. retail market remains flat. Continued pressure from e-commerce and shifts in consumer spending have resulted in a high and stagnant retail vacancy rate.

Notre-Dame reconstruction inspires unorthodox designs

Commercial  •  CBC  •  Ottawa Citizen

Notre-Dame de Paris has always inspired. And the fire that destroyed the roof and spire of the Gothic cathedral one month ago seems only to have enhanced that power.

I.M. Pei, world-renowned architect, dead at 102

Commercial  •  CBC  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  CP Executive

I.M. Pei, the Chinese-born American architect who began his long career working for a New York real-estate developer and ended it as one of the most revered architects in the world, has died. He was 102.

Wave of buyouts changing Toronto brokerage landscape

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

A wave of acquisitions has made some of the Toronto area’s largest real estate brokerages even larger and the deal makers say to expect more consolidation in the future. Right at Home Realty Inc. recently purchased Your Choice Realty.

Two towers proposed for Toronto rental apartments

Residential  •  Urban Toronto

Starlight Investments plans to intensify a ‘Tower-in-the-Park’ rental apartment site at 765 Steeles Avenue West on Toronto’s northern edge. Two new apartment buildings are proposed for the property.

HSBC offers lowest-ever, 10-year fixed mortgage rate

Residential  •  Globe and Mail

HSBC just announced a dazzling 3.24 per cent 10-year fixed rate. That’s the lowest 10-year fixed rate ever advertised by a lender in Canada, according to RateSpy.com data.

Toronto housing market looks to be thawing

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Real estate agent Elli Davis of Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd. is seeing a surge in properties for sale in Toronto in May. Davis has listed six properties for sale in the past week.

First-time buyers value shorter commutes

Residential  •  Newinhomes.com

It’s pretty safe to say that the majority of first-time buyers in the Greater Toronto Area want to live close to work, according to a new survey conducted by Genworth Canada in collaboration with Royal LePage.