Gupta to build condos on site of cancelled project

Residential, Commercial  •  Toronto Star

Gupta Group has cleared a legal hurdle that will likely allow it to resell condos on the same site as the Icona development — which it cancelled last September, crushing the dreams of hundreds of homebuyers.

Oshawa’s unique Rossland Park property sells for $220M

RENX  Residential  •  Apartments  •  Toronto / GTA

UPDATED with new quotes, background: One of the most distinctive multi-residential rental properties in the GTA has been sold. H. Kassinger Construction, which built Rossland Park over 50 years ago, sold it to Q Management LP for $220 million.

RioCan buying Kingsett’s stake in Yonge Sheppard Centre

RENX  Commercial  •  Office, Apartments, Retail  •  Toronto / GTA

RioCan REIT will pay KingSett Capital $331 million to buy out its non-managing, 50 per cent interest in the Yonge Sheppard Centre in Toronto, the trust announced Thursday. As part of the transaction, KingSett will invest $100 million in RioCan.

Water in downtown towers problem for Toronto builders

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

Many forces that can delay or increase costs of new construction in Toronto are well known – planning approvals, rising material and labour costs, public opposition, financial struggles – but another problem has been bubbling up for a few years: water.

Legend’s SmartGATE cuts building overvoltage

Commercial  • 

On-site energy management company Legend Power Systems is approaching a milestone of 300 sales of its SmartGATE systems to customers which include retailers, institutions, commercial and multi-family property owners. Legend recently sold three SmartGATE systems to an Ontario apartment building owner.

Millennials’ interest grows in rec property: RE/MAX

Residential  •  PR Newswire  •  Cabin & Cottage Trends Across Canada

A RE/MAX survey conducted by Leger finds the majority of millennials (56 per cent) are in the market to purchase a recreational property. This is up 14 per cent from 2018, when just 42 per cent of millennials were considering buying recreational property.

Rec property prices forecast to rise 4.7%: Royal LePage

Residential  •  Cision  •  Vancouver Sun  •  National and Regional Recreational Price Chart

Recreational property in Canada saw healthy price gains leading up to the 2019 spring market, rising 54.7 per cent to $411,471 compared to 2018. Royal LePage forecasts another year of solid gains as high demand in Ontario and Quebec puts upward pressure on prices.

InterRent announces $38M acquisition in Montreal

Residential  •  InterRent News Release

InterRent REIT  (IIP.UN-TSX) has entered into an unconditional agreement to acquire a mixed-use property in Montreal, Quebec. The landmark twenty-six-story concrete highrise, known as Hampstead Towers, is located at 5465 Queen Mary Road in Montreal’s sought-after Hampstead neighbourhood.

Community park to be built at Montreal Molson site

Commercial  •  PR Newswire  •  Montreal Gazette

The Selection Group and Montoni consortium has an agreement between the Ville de Montréal, the SHDM and Molson Coors brewery setting out conditions to transfer part of the brewery site on Notre-Dame Street, to create a community park.

Dormez-vous hits milestone with 60th store in Quebec

Commercial  •  PR Newswire

Dormez-vous, Quebec’s largest mattress retailer and the province’s division of Sleep Country Canada, has announced the opening of its 60^th store in the province. Marking the moment is the opening of the company’s first location in Rimouski.

Empire advances FreshCo expansion into W. Canada

Commercial  •  PR Newswire

Empire Company announced six additional FreshCo store investments in B.C. following the opening of five other FreshCos in B.C. and Manitoba.  It is converting approximately 25% of its underperforming Safeway and Sobeys locations to FreshCo.

Burnaby highrise to be region’s tallest vertical village

Residential  •  Calgary Herald

The newly approved Concord Pacific Metrotown development will feature a 65-storey tower. The tallest of the three towers to be built on the old Sears site in Burnaby’s Metrotown will be the region’s highest, eclipsing Burnaby’s 64-storey Two Gilmore Place.

Edmonton reviews three towers ahead of public hearing

Residential  •  City of Edmonton

City council will hear public input on three proposals that, if built, would bring seven towers and 2,000 new units to central Edmonton. Two buildings were approved by the city’s planning department and one turned down over parking concerns.

Temple Hotels closes over-subscribed rights offering

Commercial  •  PR Newswire

Temple Hotels (TPH-TSX) has completed its rights offering in each of the provinces and territories of Canada. Upon closing, Temple issued 25,022,329 common shares of Temple at a price of $1.50 per for aggregate gross proceeds of $37,533,494.

Starwood announces new Treehouse Hotels brand

Commercial  •  PR Newswire

Barry Sternlicht, chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group has announced his newest brand venture Treehouse Hotels which he describes as “the little brother of the 1.” Treehouse is less serious, more torn jeans and t-shirts and infinitely accessible.

Oxford makes inroads with Brisbane sell-down

Commercial  •  Australian Financial Review

Oxford Properties is reaping more rewards from the sell-down of property assets it inherited from a takeover of the $3.6B Investa Office Fund in 2018. Last week the company sold two properties in Brisbane’s CBD for about $225M to Anton Capital.

BoC considers residential mortgage-backed securities

Residential  •  Financial Post

Bank of Canada is discussing ways to encourage a more robust market for residential mortgage-backed securities with potential investors. So far about $1.5B of Canadian uninsured mortgages are pooled in RMBS deals, about 0.1 per cent of the country’s mortgage debt.

Quebec tightens the screw to owners who use AirBnb

Residential  •  La Presse

Floods expose scourge of illegal cottage conversions

Residential  •  CBC

Beverly and Mike Paasila got an unpleasant shock when a building inspector determined their flood-damaged home was illegal because it had been converted from a cottage to a year-round residence without the proper permits, and wasn’t up to code.

Lavish Port Moody party with helicopters ‘beyond unacceptable’

Residential  •  Vancouver Sun

The organizer of a lavish mansion party in Anmore, which featured helicopters and bikini-clad social media influencers, says B.C. can expect “bigger, better and badder” publicity stunts in future, despite objections from some officials.