Killam plans 5 apt. towers at Waterloo’s Westmount

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Apartments, Retail  •  Ontario, Ottawa, Atlantic Canada

A major mixed-use project in Waterloo could bring 1,100 new apartments to the Ontario city. Westmount Place will be the latest in a series of urban, downtown developments planned or under construction by Killam Apartment REIT (KMP-UN-T), says CEO Philip Fraser.

12 towers proposed for Edmonton’s Ice District

Residential, Commercial  •  Global News  •  RENX

Katz Group has big plans to develop the area east and north of Rogers Place that could possibly see 12 high-rise towers join the downtown Edmonton skyline. The current plan for ICE District Phase 2 would include 12 towers.

Toronto set for record apartment surge

Residential  •  Bloomberg  •  Toronto Star

Toronto’s apartment crunch is finally easing as new supply hits the market and the removal of rent controls leads to record units on the drawing board, according to a new report by Urbanation.

Starlight trades on NEO for ‘entrepreneurial culture’

RENX  Commercial  •  Investment  •  National

Starlight Capital’s CFO/COO Graeme Llewellyn wanted to pick up the phone and speak with a real live person when dealing with its stock exchange listings business. Toronto’s burgeoning Aequitas NEO Exchange provided just that kind of “entrepreneurial service”.

Quebec flood moratorium affects 149,000 properties

Residential  •  La Presse

The Legault government has removed 20,000 Quebec homes from the “Special Intervention Zones” where a moratorium bans construction in flood-prone areas. Nevertheless, the measure will affect of 149,000 properties, including 98,000 residential buildings.

Industrial real estate at record low in Montreal

Commercial  •  Vancouver Province  •  RENX

Demand for warehouse space in Montreal is growing from entrepreneurs in transportation, distribution and logistics, while many locally based online retail businesses, as well as technology and manufacturing companies are also in expansion mode.

The People Space › People Space: AY expands global team, Savills hires in Toronto

Don Wilcox: Managing Editor

Blackstone halts Ivanhoé JV property upgrades

Residential  •  Crain’s New York Business

The Blackstone Group (BX-N) is pulling back on apartment renovations and other planned work at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village – which it acquired in 2015 with Ivanhoé Cambridge for $5.3 billion, one of the largest acquisitions in U.S. history.

Development debate roils Alberta resort town

Residential, Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

Peter Duck, president of the local Bow Valley Naturalists conservation group, avoids driving his Honda Fit in Banff whenever possible during the summer. It is feared a planned parking lot and ski gondola would make the gridlock even worse.

DoubleTree by Hilton renovating Windsor hotel

Commercial  •  Windsor Star

A project is underway to transform the former Radisson Hotel on Windsor’s Riverside Drive West into a luxury DoubleTree by Hilton (HLT-N). While London-based developer Shmuel Farhi didn’t disclose numbers, a previous report suggested the project would cost around $14 million.

AHIP completes $5M in renovations at U.S. hotels

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

American Hotel Income Properties REIT (HOT-UN-T) announced it has completed approximately US$5 million of renovations at the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Jacksonville (Florida), the Homewood Suites by Hilton Allentown (Pennsylvania), and the Homewood Suites by Hilton Bethlehem (Pennsylvania).

Co-working office buildings on the rise

Commercial  •  PR Newswire

Demand for co-working spaces is expected to show continued strong growth over the next few years, as more younger workers favour flexible office space over traditional office settings, according to BBG, a leading commercial real estate due diligence firm.

Chevron seeks to revive Kitimat LNG

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Chevron Corp. (CVX-N) has submitted a revised plan to regulators to build a terminal to export liquefied natural gas from northern British Columbia, hoping to start construction by 2023.

Feds find New York buyers for Ridley Terminals

Commercial  •  Business In Vancouver

The Canadian government has found a buyer for Ridley Teminals in Prince Rupert, B.C. However, the government expects to net only a profit of about $100 million on the $350-million sale of the federally owned Prince Rupert coal export terminal.

SmartStop acquires Phoenix self-storage facility

Commercial  •  PR Newswire  •  RENX

SmartStop Self Storage REIT, a public non-traded REIT, announced today its acquisition of a 975-unit certificate of occupancy self-storage facility in the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert, Ariz.

Japan’s REIT prices hit 12-year high

Commercial  •  Reuters

Japanese REIT prices hit a near 12-year high last week after institutional investors piled into the asset class as an alternatives to plunging yields on global bonds. Tokyo-listed REIT index rose convincingly above its 2014 peak Thursday, briefly piercing the 2,000-mark.

Canada, New Zealand most at risk of housing bubbles

Residential  •  Bloomberg

Canada and New Zealand are the most vulnerable economies to a correction in house prices, with Australia and the U.K. also drawing concern, according to new research from Bloomberg Economics.

Amended law to improve money-laundering prosecutions

Residential, Commercial  •  Vancouver Sun

Criminal Code amendments to make it easier to prove money laundering are now in force in Canada. The change to the Criminal Code offence of money laundering adds recklessness, a change that became law at the end of June.

Ottawa community seeks to legally hold Timbercreek to promises

Residential  •  CBC

Residents of Ottawa’s Heron Gate neighbourhood hope a legally binding agreement will hold Timbercreek to its community-minded pledges as it redevelops the site. The community has experienced multiple evictions in the past.

Kanata experiencing a housing boom

Residential  •  Ottawa Citizen

When it comes to light rail transit service, Kanata got left out. However, Kanata is on the verge of a fresh wave of growth. Home builders have submitted proposals that could add more than 10,000 new houses and townhomes.