CBRE, Colliers CEOs go head-to-head on CRE

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial, Office, Land  •  National

CBRE and Colliers are two of the most prominent real estate services and investment firms in Canada, and their leaders answered questions about the industry during a May 20 webinar presented by NAIOP’s Vancouver chapter.

Ex-startup darling Breather sells most assets for $3M

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Breather Products Inc., a Montreal startup that raised more than US$150 million to build a global flexible workspace operator, is selling most of its assets for US$3 million to Industrious National Management Co., a co-working company backed by CBRE.

Beedie ‘self-financing’ start of Coquitlam mega-tower

Residential, Commercial  •  Burnaby Now

Burnaby developer Beedie Living is changing tactics on a “multimillion-dollar” mixed-use tower in Coquitlam to get ahead of soaring costs for building materials. The 25-storey West tower will include about 10,000 square feet of retail and office space and 194 residential condos.

Committee OKs Ottawa warehouse, truck terminal

Commercial  •  CBC  •  Ottawa Citizen

Ottawa’s planning committee Thursday unanimously approved Zena-Kinder Holdings Limited Inc.’s request to rezone its vacant 30-hectare property in the South Merivale Business Park on the north edge of Barrhaven, despite opposition from residents concerned about a lack of details.

11 buildings that will change Toronto

Residential, Commercial  •  NOW Magazine

With Toronto set to emerge, we’re taking a look at some of the most interesting buildings and developments slated to go up in the next few years that will transform how we experience the cityscape – for better or for worse.

Ontario Place no place for secret development

Residential, Commercial  •  Toronto Star  •  680 News

EDITORIAL: When the Ford government decided to embark on a redevelopment of Ontario Place, it asked international developers to submit their ideas for the 155 acres of prime real estate on Toronto’s waterfront. It did not ask for public input.

Everything CRE › Resiliency, immigration, investment hunger: A rental apartment building market snapshot

National Multifamily Team, Colliers:

New Calgary lab facility geared to life sciences

Commercial  •  CBC  •  Calgary Herald

Calgary is home to a new hub for life sciences companies. DynaLife Medical Laboratories and Biohubx have partnered to open Biospace 1, a facility that will house companies working on advances in health, wellness and biomedical innovation under one roof.

Nine Hastings Street properties set for redevelopment

Residential, Commercial  •  Business In Vancouver  •  Business In Vancouver

A $110-million social housing-health centre project at 58 West Hastings expected to be under construction this summer is the first major redevelopment of its size on the East Hastings strip in decades. It will soon be followed by other strip-altering projects.

Moncton planning committee OKs 3 15-storey buildings

Residential, Commercial  •  CBC

Moncton’s planning advisory committee gave its approval for a trio of 15-storey buildings on vacant downtown land. Sackville, N.B.-based developer John Lafford proposes three 12-storey towers over a three-storey podium of ground-floor commercial and more than 430 underground parking spaces.

Real estate podcasts

Residential, Commercial  • 

Doron Melnick, KPMG: Returning to the office, Down to Business Episode 103
Rahaf Harfoush, strategist, digital anthropologist, author: When digital and physical realities mix, Work/Place Episode 4
Aaron Cameron and Adam Powadiuk, First National Financial: Real estate finance, CRE Podcast

REIT first-quarter financial results

Residential, Commercial  • 

Fronsac REIT, (FRO-UN-X), Globe Newswire
Lanesborough REIT, (LRT-UN-X), Canada Newswire

Brookfield acquires Bellevue office building for $200M

Commercial  •  REBUSINESS  •  Globe Newswire  •  RENX

Brookfield Asset Management (BAM-A-T) has purchased Block 24, a recently completed office property located at The Spring District in Bellevue, Wash. Wright Runstad & Co., Shorenstein Properties and institutional investors, advised by J.P. Morgan Global Alternatives, sold the asset for $200 million.

Dalfen acquires three Metro Atlanta buildings

Commercial  •  PR Newswire

Dalfen Industrial recently closed on the acquisition of three class-A industrial properties in Alpharetta – adding 284,000 square feet to its Metro Atlanta portfolio. The properties are less than two miles from GA-400 and the newly developed Halcyon mixed-use project.

WeWork founder received $445M payout in exit package

Commercial  •  The Guardian

WeWork founder Adam Neumann received $245 million US in company stock and $200 million in cash earlier this year, part of an enormous exit package from the office rental company he led to dizzy heights before its equally dramatic fall.

Airbnb’s global party ban will remain in place all summer

Residential  •  Daily Hive  •  TechCrunch

Airbnb has announced their global party ban will remain through at least the end of summer. To prevent parties, the platform has capped gatherings of more than 16 people and removed the “event-friendly” search filter and any “parties and events allowed.”

Coupland murals to adorn Reliance’s Berkeley Tower

Residential  •  Vancouver Sun  •  Daily Hive  •  urbanYVR

Murals with colourful geometric shapes by artist Douglas Coupland are planned for Reliance Properties‘ 16-storey Berkeley Tower at Davie and Denman, which is undergoing an extensive renovation. Built in 1958, Reliance bought the property near English Bay for $43 million in 2016.

Crowdfunded real estate growing

Residential  •  Winnipeg Free Press

Across the bridge from B.C.’s Granville Island sits a building with 45 apartments atop a Subway restaurant and nail salon. While the Lex might look similar to its neighbours, its soon-to-be investors are hardly the norm.

Ontario landlords wait on 10s of thousands in unpaid rent

Residential  •  CBC

Ankit Patel inadvertently became a landlord when he bought his dream home. Now, tenant problems and a major backlog at Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board have put him in so much debt he has to sell his mother’s home.

Raising property taxes good way to cool housing market

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

OPINION: Higher property taxes would help settle a housing market that has been torqued beyond all common sense through a combination of low interest rates and demand for better living spaces while isolating from COVID-19.