Massive developments to redefine Mississauga waterfront

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

The transformation of Mississauga’s waterfront through major new developments is in its early stages, but the excitement was palpable during an Urban Land Institute webinar which offered updates on the projects.

Alignvest acquires two Waterloo student housing assets

Residential  •  Canada Newswire

Alignvest Student Housing REIT has entered into a binding contract to acquire two purpose-built student accommodation assets located at 315 King Street North and 328 Regina Street North in Waterloo, Ont. This purchase propels the REIT’s bed count from 3,394 to 4,189 beds.

Edmonton airport rolls out $36M cargo area expansion

Commercial  •  Edmonton Journal

Passenger travel is down to a trickle at the Edmonton International Airport, but cargo flights are looking up following a $36-million expansion. The federal government is pitching in $18 million toward the expansion of the airport’s apron area by 506,000 square feet.

Concert buys Montreal distribution centre and office

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial  •  Greater Montreal

Concert’s CREC Commercial Fund LP has acquired a class-A distribution centre, fully leased by L’Oréal Canada in the Montreal borough of Saint-Laurent, from Vista Properties for $90 million.

‘Massive’ security concerns with vacant CRE space

Commercial  •  Western Investor

Every commercial space sitting empty must be protected, preserved and ready for post-pandemic reopening. The first line of defence is making sure there is no water ingress and that HVAC systems keep operating, said Toronto-based FirstOnSite Restoration‘s Jim Mandeville.

Ottawa bars hit with soaring insurance costs

Commercial  •  Ottawa Citizen  •  Financial Post

Ottawa’s bar owners, whose businesses have suffered from nearly a year of pandemic-related restrictions on socializing, have had to deal with the additional weighty frustration of insurance costs that have as much as doubled.

Value: Weighed and Measured › Let’s not be dense about urban densification

John Clark: AACI, FRICS | Vice President, The Regional Group of Companies Inc.

Giant downtown T.O. food hall shuttered

Commercial  •  blogTO

A gigantic downtown Toronto food hall that recently opened and was normally flooded with office workers every lunch hour has closed. Harbour Eats by Mercatino encompassed multiple food concepts within the same sleek cafeteria-like space, including sushi, panini and tacos.

Colliers, CEO Hennick to redefine MSA, incentives

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire

Colliers International Group Inc. (CIGI-T) has entered into an agreement with chairman and CEO Jay S. Hennick, the company’s largest voting shareholder, to settle the Management Services Agreement, including the long-term incentive arrangement, originally entered into on Feb. 1, 2004.

ULI looks for solution to black displacements

Residential, Commercial  •  Toronto Star  •  Toronto Star  •  Toronto Star

In February, an Urban Land Institute Toronto webinar explored the issue of redressing the displacement of black people and their communities across Canada. The group of Canadian black women included an entrepreneur, an architect, a lawyer and developer Westbank.

Full steam ahead on B.C.’s $16B Site-C dam project

Commercial  •  Western Investor  •  CBC  •  Bloomberg

The B.C. government will finish building Site C dam, despite new estimates that now put the cost of completing the dam at $16 billion. The dam will also be one year behind schedule in completion and commissioning.

REOC fourth-quarter financial results

Commercial  • 

Morguard Corporation, (MRC-T), Canada Newswire
StorageVault Canada Inc., (SVI-X), Globe Newswire

CoStar sweetens buyout offer for CoreLogic

Commercial  •  Reuters

Commercial property data vendor CoStar Group Inc. (CSGP-Q) Monday sweetened its offer to buy CoreLogic Inc. (CLGX-N) by adding another $450 million to the original offer of $6.9 billion, hoping to triumph over another competing bid by private equity firms.

Parkland acquires fourth U.S. operating centre

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire

Calgary-based Parkland Corporation (PKI-T) announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Conrad & Bischoff Inc. and its related companies. Through this acquisition, Parkland will establish a fourth U.S. regional operating centre in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Best Buy set to shutter more stores in 2021

Commercial  •  Bisnow

Best Buy‘s (BBY-N) bricks-and-mortar contraction will continue in 2021. “We have closed approximately 20 large-format locations each of the past two years and expect to close a higher number this year,” Best Buy CEO Corie Barry said.

Tim Hortons plans 200 more restaurants in China

Commercial  •  Reuters

Tim Hortons China has completed a new fundraising round from Sequoia Capital China, Tencent Holdings and Eastern Bell Capital, and plans to add more than 200 shops to its network this year, Restaurant Brands International Inc. (QSR-T) said on Friday.

Millennials take their place powering property market

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

In the midst of the pandemic, Berkeley Loh, 29, and Tom Holmes, 35 became part of a trend: millennial-age people driving the property market. They put a deposit on a 1,136-square-foot, two-bedroom condo in Port Moody, with a price tag of $819,000.

New report identifies shift in renter preferences

Residential  •  REMI Network

Pre-pandemic features in high demand among Canadian renters included swimming pools, pet-friendly amenities, multi-use common areas and entertainment rooms, according to a Local Logic white paper. Since March, preferences are amenities that support work, play, rest at home.

Fixed mortgage rates are on the rise: Brokers

Residential  •  Global News

After hitting record lows this summer, mortgage brokers such James Laird, co-founder of financial product comparisons site Ratehub.ca and president of CanWise Financial, are  warning that fixed mortgage rates are starting to climb back up — if only a little.

GTA new single-family homes sales at 15-year high

Residential  •  Toronto Star  •  Globe Newswire

The 1,506 detached homes, semi-detached homes and townhouses sold in January in the Toronto area was the highest number for that month since 2006, said the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD).