Decade Capital buys Pickering plaza, plans redevelopment

RENX  Commercial  •  Retail, Condominiums  •  Toronto / GTA

Decade Capital has closed on what its founders, Idan Mizrahi and Mike Siskind, call a “marquee acquisition” in Pickering, Ont. The Toronto firm acquired 2.2 acres at 375 Kingston Rd., occupied by a 27,500-square-foot retail plaza, for future redevelopment.

Dream acquires 100% of huge Ottawa Zibi development

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Office, Retail, Apartments, Condominiums  •  Ottawa

The “Dream team” behind what is arguably the largest and most complex waterfront redevelopment in Canada has taken full ownership as the multi-billion-dollar Zibi project continues to unfold.

Province uses MZOs to fast-track 4 GTA developments

Commercial  •  Toronto Star

The Province of Ontario has allowed four more developments to bypass the municipal approvals process with Ministerial Zoning Orders (MZO) including two movie studios in Mississauga and Markham; a logistics centre in Cambridge; and a residential facility in Simcoe County.

Class-action lawsuit against 14 insurers gets green light

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

An Ontario court has given the green-light to several class-action lawsuits against 14 Canadian property and casualty insurers who have denied business interruption insurance coverage during the pandemic to hotels, restaurants and salons which claim they’re owed billions of dollars.

First post-pandemic tower being built in Edmonton

Commercial  •  Edmonton Journal

Langham Developments broke ground on the Falcon Tower in downtown Edmonton, the first to start construction since the pandemic began. It is a 240-unit, 30-storey building and one of two towers replacing a parking lot at 104 Street and 100 Avenue.

Montreal Peel Basin review excludes Bronfman, Devimco

Commercial  •  La Presse

A roundtable review of the Peel Basin development, in downtown Montreal, has excluded participation of Stephen Bronfman’s Montreal Baseball Group, which wants to build a major league baseball stadium there, and Devimco, which has purchase options over adjacent land.

Ottawa apartment plan includes 322 spots for bicycles

Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal

Smart Living Properties and Forum Equity Partners have applied to the city to build a nine-storey mixed-use building with 322 rental units at 112 Nelson St. aimed at “young professionals” with 20 underground parking spaces for cars and 322 spots for bicycles.

Former Owen Sound jail for sale for $229,000

Residential, Commercial  •  blogTO

The old Owen Sound Court House & Jail is massive, beautiful, and rich with history dating to its construction in 1854. Bought by the city of Owen Sound in 1960 the building has been vacant since 2014. It just hit the market for $229,000.

Nike opens massive flagship store at Yorkdale

Commercial  •  Retail Insider

U.S.-based retail giant Nike opened its first Canadian concept flagship store at Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre. More locations are to follow as Nike continues a partnership with Israeli fashion chain Fox-Wizel, which operates sports and beauty stores in Canada.

Popeyes opens 100 locations in past three years

Commercial  •  Retail Insider

Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen has seen tremendous growth in Canada in the past five years, with more to come, as it continues its expansion across the country. Over the past three years, Popeyes opened 100 Canadian locations.

Save-On-Foods opens ninth Surrey store

Commercial  •  Canadian Grocer

Save-On-Foods opened a 39,000-square-foot store in Surrey’s Guildford area on Thursday, its ninth location in the city and an anchor for Guildford Village. Save-On-Foods is Western Canada’s largest grocery retailer, with 184 stores across B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Yukon.

Customers flock to T&T’s downtown Toronto reopening

Commercial  •  Canadian Grocer  •  BlogTO

T&T Supermarket made its long-awaited return to downtown Toronto last week, and the lineups to enter suggested shoppers have really been missing the Asian grocer since it closed its Cherry St. location in Toronto’s Port Lands early last year.

Global shipping to impact retailers’ Christmas orders

Commercial  •  La Presse  •  Financial Post

For Paule Rancourt, Christmas is synonymous with worry, even if there are still several months before winter arrives. The Jouet KID CEO is already anticipating the potential repercussions of the “nightmare” arising from the global shipping crisis.

Cape Breton’s Annette Verschuren a business success

Commercial  •  Saltwire

Annette Verschuren’s prestigious business career includes being president of The Home Depot Canada, a position she held for 15 years during which she oversaw the company expand from 19 stores to 180 outlets and led Home Depot’s entry into China in the mid-2000s.

Vornado to sell five Manhattan retail for US $184.5M

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire

Vornado Realty Trust has entered into agreements to sell five Manhattan retail properties located on Madison Avenue, Broadway and Spring Street for $US 184.5 million. In the aggregate, the properties currently have negative income and street-level occupancy is approximately 30%.

Medical Solutions to be acquired by Centerbridge, CDPQ

Commercial  •  PR Newswire  •  Canada Newswire

Medical Solutions, which deployed clinicians to more than 4,500 U.S. healthcare facilities in 2020, has been acquired by funds advised by Centerbridge Partners and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) from TPG Growth and will rebrand to CP Capital.

Home buyers, builders refused insurance near B.C. wildfires

Commercial  •  CBC

Potential homebuyers and home builders in areas within 25 to 100 kilometres of wildfires are struggling to find insurance because insurers won’t issue new coverage for properties or construction sites within a certain distance of an active blaze.

Victoria to encourage townhouse, duplex construction

Residential  •  Western Investor  •  Victoria Times Colonist

Victoria is exploring ways to address a lack of housing options that city staff and builders say is driving young families out of the city. While real estate and rental prices are increasingly out of reach there’s also a lack of diversity in housing types.

Mortgage costs are less than inflation for first time in 40 years

Commercial  •  Financial Post

Canadians have zeroed in on the fact that for the first time in over 40 years the cost to carry a mortgage was less than the rate of inflation which in July was 3.7 per cent the largest annual spike since October 1987.

Out-of-province buyers eyeing Alberta’s high-end housing

Residential  •  Calgary Herald