Fiera eyes growth in Richmond executive park purchase

RENX  Commercial  •  Office  •  Metro Vancouver

Montreal-based Fiera Real Estate could boost density at its Richmond Airport Executive Park by more than 650,000 square feet, but no immediate plans are in the works. Fiera bought the 13-building office complex in Richmond, B.C. for $208M.

Devimco to develop Montreal’s Silo No. 5: La Presse

Commercial  •  La Presse  •  RENX

Vancouver council OKs 32-storey Pender St. office tower

Commercial  •  Western Investor  •  Western Investor

Vancouver council voted unanimously in favour of a rezoning application for allow a 32-storey office tower, measuring 393.5 feet, to go up at 1166 West Pender St. Supporters cited the need for more office space downtown, as did several councillors.

Ontario Food Terminal is getting a few upgrades

Commercial  •  Toronto Star

Winter winds could be less bracing for truckers parked outside the Ontario Food Terminal’s shipping docks after an Ontario government review decided the historic facility will stay put at its Etobicoke location, but with upgrades planned for infrastructure and technology.

Crowds flock to new Edmonton Asian supermarket

Commercial  •  Financial Post

Hundreds of shoppers waited in line for the chance to shop at H-Mart on its grand opening Thursday. The popular Asian supermarket’s first Edmonton location is popping up where a Whole Foods was intended to open.

Work out, buy gear at new Lululemon store

Commercial  •  Vancouver Sun

Lululemon Athletica Inc. the high-end yoga pants maker, has opened a Chicago store where shoppers can work out like at a traditional fitness studio. If visitors forget their gear, they can borrow a Lululemon outfit to sweat in and return.

The Saskatchewan Edge › Vibrant city cores require safe community gathering places

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

Indigo still has global ambitions despite difficult year

Commercial  •  Toronto Star

Indigo Books & Music Inc. maintains its ambition to become a global brand despite a challenging year for the bookseller, which saw declining traffic at the mall where it opened its first U.S. location, CEO Heather Reisman reports.

How HOOPP’s Jim Keohane saved Home Capital

Commercial  •  Financial Post

There are seminal moments in any career and Jim Keohane’s is a doozy. He knew something was wrong when his lowball offer for Canadian Pacific Railway shares, lobbed in at $1 below the asking price, was instantly accepted.

Council ends Battle Château, stands by decision

Commercial  •  Ottawa Citizen  •  Ottawa Business Journal

Cries of “shame” howled from the public gallery Thursday after the majority of Ottawa council refused to reconsider a decision allowing the owner of the Château Laurier, Larco Investments, to build a controversial addition to the historic hotel.

4 Cdn REITs with strong dividend yields, YTD returns

Commercial  •  Small Cap Power

Small Cap Power has identified four Canadian REITs that have strong dividend yields as well as YTD returns. For reference, the chosen REITs were from a list of 46 TSX-listed REITs that had an average dividend yield of 5.5%.

Land costs inflate Vancouver’s gas prices: report

Commercial  •  The Daily Hive

Two months after B.C. Premier John Horgan asked the B.C. Utilities Commission to investigate reasons behind the “high, volatile gas prices” in the province, a report finds “rising land costs and credit card processing fees” may be mostly to blame.

B.C.’s biggest construction companies get bigger

Commercial  •  Business in Vancouver

The average of the one-year growth rate for British Columbia’s largest construction companies for 2017-18 and 2016-17 was four times higher, at 16.8%, than it was in 2015-16 and 2014-15 at 4.2% according to BIV data.

Is it time to trade big-city CRE for northern B.C.?

Commercial  •  Western Investor

It could be time for real estate investors to swivel their sights toward northern British Columbia. The largest resource infrastructure projects in Canadian history are laying the groundwork, from the Peace River to the northern coast, for a property bonanza.

Charter Hall, PSP Investments buy Melbourne tower

Commercial  •  IPE Real Estate

Australian property group Charter Hall has confirmed the acquisition of Telstra Tower in Melbourne in partnership with Canada’s PSP Investments. Earlier this week Charter Hall agreed to buy another tower from Oxford Properties and the Investa Commercial Property fund.

Teachers’ invests in controversial U.S. prison firm

Commercial  •  CBC

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board has invested just over a half-million dollars in a private U.S. prison company, GEO Group Inc., which owns or operates more than 130 prisons, immigration detention centres and community re-entry facilities.

Broccolini proposes 22-storey Ottawa apartment tower

Residential  •  Ottawa Business Journal

Montreal-based developer Broccolini hopes to add 162 new rental units to downtown Ottawa’s growing stock of apartment dwellings with a proposal for a 22-storey high-rise near the corner of Bank and Slater streets that also includes 900 square feet of retail.

York U’s Quad student residences are hard to miss

Residential  •  Globe and Mail

Quad, Phase I, completed in 2017, is a public/private, 800-plus-bed project developed and financed by Forum-Campus Suites and designed by ARK, a successor firm to postwar modernist Irving Boignon’s (1924-2007) practice, under the direction of partner Christophe Gauthier.

A covered courtyard design that fosters community

Residential  •  Toronto Star

At High Park Lofts at Roncesvalles Ave. and Dundas St. W. in Toronto residents return to a glass-enclosed sunlit courtyard filled with greenery, where they find their neighbours relaxing on indoor balconies and chatting with one another, rain or shine.

Halifax neighbours group pushes for Airbnb regs

Residential  •  The Chronicle Herald

“We can see the role for a primary resident having a short-term rental, renting a room or an apartment or even their house while they are on vacation . . .” said Bill Stewart of Halifax. What he can’t see are ghost hotels.