Vancouver Centre II leases three floors to mine firm B2Gold

RENX  Commercial  •  Office  •  Metro Vancouver

A major international gold mining company has taken three upper floors of one of Vancouver’s next office towers. GWL Realty Advisors announced Vancouver-based B2Gold Corp. will lease 37,000 square feet at the 33-storey, 371,000-sq.-ft., downtown Vancouver Centre II.

Hudson Yards a development failure: Opinion

Residential, Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  Business Insider  •  Forbes

How do you build a great city neighbourhood from scratch? Hudson Yards, the recently opened $25-billion megaproject above a rail yard on the west side of Manhattan, is the latest example of a failure.

Value: Weighed and Measured › Chinese politics at play in Canada’s real estate market

John Clark: Vice President , The Regional Group of Companies Inc

Camrost-Felcorp plans 33-storey Toronto condo tower

Residential  •  Urban Toronto

A plan from developer Camrost-Felcorp calls for a 33-storey, IBI Group-designed building reaching a height of 109 metres at 65 through 83 Raglan Avenue. The 23,000-square-foot lot is on the east side of Raglan Avenue.

Prével calls for increase in Montreal densification

Residential  •  La Presse

Developer Prével is calling for an increase in the density of built heritage to prevent a surge in housing prices. The Prével Company is concerned about ever-increasing costs the City of Montreal imposes on developers for all kinds of housing.

Vancouver to debate future of public golf courses

Residential, Commercial  •  CBC

Vancouver Park Board commissioner Dave Demers has a motion for Monday’s park board meeting, which asks staff to reevaluate the use of park board land for golf courses.

Step condos latest cancelled Toronto project

Residential  •  Toronto Star

The Step condos near Islington and Finch W. Avenues has become the latest Toronto-area pre-construction project to be cancelled, three years after Terranata Developments put the six-storey building plans on the market.

Plan for Richview Square redevelopment revised

Residential, Commercial  •  Urban Toronto

Plans are advancing for a condominium development on Eglinton Avenue at Wincott Drive in Etobicoke, partly upgrading an existing shopping plaza, and partly built on adjacent land which was previously set aside for the now cancelled Richview Expressway.

M2M aims to create hub of community amenities

Residential, Commercial  •  Urban Toronto

As the first phase in Aoyuan International‘s M2M Condos community gears for launch, new details continue to be released about the multi-phased five-tower, Wallman Architects-designed development that replaces the aging Newtonbrook Plaza in North York.

Loss of gas-tax revenue slams TO transit plans

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail  •  Toronto Star

Ontario’s move to nix a planned increase in how much gas-tax revenue it would pass on to municipalities has blown a $1.1-billion hole in Toronto’s capital plan, with much of the money already committed to maintaining the city’s transit system.

Vacant Toronto buildings become unique spaces

Commercial  •  Toronto Star

Andrew Williamson likes to call them “interstitial spaces” — buildings slated to be torn down that, until the red tape clears, are caught between their future and past. The buildings offer a unique opportunity for pop-up offices, stores and art galleries.

B.C. RE sector submits money laundering report

Residential  •  Globe Newswire

Organizations representing key professions in the B.C. real estate sector submitted joint recommendations to the provincial and federal governments today to help protect B.C.’s housing market from money laundering.

Calgary seeks input on Eau Claire developments

Commercial  •  CBC  •  CTV

The City of Calgary is hosting an open house at Eau Claire Market for Calgarians to help shape the area’s future, including the design of a new promenade, plaza, a bridge replacement, street improvements, and flood mitigation projects starting in 2020.

Rogers Arena to test weapons detection technology

Commercial  •  Business In Vancouver

Rogers Arena is set to serve as a testing ground for 3D imaging and artificial intelligence to detect concealed weapons at venues. Liberty Defense Holdings Inc. (SCAN-X) and Vancouver Arena Limited Partnership will detect firearms, knives, explosives and other weapons.

Bed Bath & Beyond to shutter stores

Commercial  •  Daily Mail

New-Jersey based Bed Bath and Beyond is planning to close 40 stores after it lost more than $137 million last year. CFO Robyn D’Elia said the number will increase “unless we are able to negotiate more favorable lease terms with our landlords.”

Peaking H&R REIT yielding 5.9 per cent

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Year-to-date, the unit price has rallied 16 per cent with H&R REIT (HR-UN-T) currently yielding 5.9 per cent. The unit price is trading near a multi-year high. On April 3, COO Nathan Uhr exercised his options at a price per unit of $15.42.

Vancouver needs new rental program: Mayor

Residential  •  Globe and Mail  •  Globe and Mail

The only way Vancouver is going to get new affordable housing for lower-income working people is if council is willing to approve projects under a new controversial rental program, Mayor Kennedy Stewart says.

Average price falls by almost 2% year-over-year

Residential  •  CBC  •  Bloomberg  •  CBC

The average price of a Canadian home sold last month was $481,745, a year-over-year drop of  1.8 per cent, the Canadian Real Estate Association says. The CREA also notes the number of homes sold was also down by 4.6 per cent year-over-year.

Low inventories are hurting Ottawa’s housing market

Residential  •  Ottawa Citizen

“About 90 per cent of my sales this year have come after bidding wars,” RE/MAX Absolute Realty‘s David Berry said Saturday just before showing a two-bedroom house backing onto Kanata’s busy Campeau Drive.  “There’s just so little inventory.”

Toronto’s two front doors issue courts controversy

Residential  •  Toronto Star

In approving zoning changes for secondary suites late last month, Toronto council rejected a move that would have let homeowners build second front entrances “as of right” at their detached homes and semis to accommodate renters in secondary units.