Growing Groupe Hazout buys 3 Gatineau apt. buildings

RENX  Residential  •  Apartments  •  Greater Montreal, Ottawa

A growing Montreal real estate investor, Groupe Hazout, has bought its second property in Gatineau with the acquisition of three Bedard Street apartment towers for $39 million. The 320 apartments are the largest single purchase for Groupe Hazout,

3-tower B.C. project just the start for Orchard Park

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Office, Retail, Condominiums  •  British Columbia

North Vancouver-based Orchard Park Properties was established to facilitate the development of the Water Street by the Park three-tower project in Kelowna, but the company also has ambitions to seek out other residential opportunities in British Columbia.

Couche-Tard to sell 355 stores across Canada, U.S.

RENX  Commercial  •  Retail  •  National, International

Global convenience and fuel industry giant Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (ATD-A-T) is selling 49 U.S. stores and has earmarked an additional 306 sites across North America for disposition. Among the sites it intends to sell are 37 stores in six Canadian provinces.

Great Gulf JVs on $200M U.S. single-family rentals

Residential  •  Canada Newswire

The Great Gulf Group and Westdale Real Estate Investment and Management have committed an initial US$200 million of equity to source land opportunities, develop, build, own and operate dedicated build-to-rent single family housing communities in the U.S. Sunbelt.

Abbotsford industrial listing drew 99 calls on first day

Commercial  •  Western Investor

In less than 24 hours after listing a 1.05-acre parcel that has the potential to be zoned industrial in West Abbotsford, Exp Realty, Abbotsford‘s Bob Edwards received 99 calls from potential buyers, along with at least 50 text messages and 50 emails.

Plaza proposes 10-storey mixed-use on Dundas

Residential, Commercial  •  Urban Toronto

Plaza has submitted a zoning by-law amendment to build a 10-storey condo with 3,207 square feet of ground-level retail at 401 Dundas St. E. in Cabbagetown. The BDP Quadrangle-designed building would include 92 residential units ranging from 445 to 1,194 square feet.

Physical stores aided Canadian Tire’s success: CEO

Commercial  •  Toronto Star

Behind the scenes, the folksy Canadian Tire (CTC-A-T) chain has undergone a rapid transformation into a tech-forward, digital analytics-driven omnichannel powerhouse whose sales last year soared by 18 per cent, including a nearly 200 per cent spike in e-commerce.

Infrastructure Bank can bridge risk gap: CEO

Commercial  •  Toronto Star

Canada Infrastructure Bank CEO Ehren Cory says there is a short runway to prove its worth, and thinks it can stand out by taking on outsized risks to attract private dollars for billions in new construction projects.

Torstar latest news outlet to close physical offices

Commercial  •  Winnipeg Free Press

Some of Canada’s newsrooms will permanently exist only in cyberspace, as publishers look to save money on physical offices. Torstar is permanently closing the physical office spaces for the Waterloo Region Record and the St. Catharines Standard in April.

Rogers to build hundreds of E. Ontario cell towers

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Rogers Communications Inc. (RCI-B-T) has beaten out Bell Mobility Inc. for a contract to build hundreds of cellphone towers that will service a swath of 113 municipalities in Eastern Ontario. Rogers will invest more than $150 million in the P3 project.

$181M TTC bus repair garage opens in Scarborough

Commercial  •  Toronto Star  •  CP 24

REIT fourth-quarter financial results

Residential, Commercial  • 

Flagship Communities REIT, (MHC-U-T), Canada Newswire
Nexus REIT, (NXR-UN-X), Globe Newswire

S2 Architecture creating new Calgary HQ for itself

Commercial  •  Calgary Herald  •  RENX

After 15 years at TransAlta Place, master-planning firm S2 Architecture is relocating its Calgary studio a block away to the IBM three-building, mid-rise complex The District that is undergoing a $10-million redevelopment. S2 will occupy more than 17,000 square feet of space.

Starlight No. 2 fund files IPO final prospectus

Residential  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

Starlight U.S. Multi-Family (No. 2) Core Plus Fund announced it has received expressions of interest and commitments that in the aggregate exceed the minimum offering amount of $106.8 million for a final prospectus for an initial public offering of limited partnership units.

Lower rent spurs Manhattan’s office market

Commercial  •  Wealth Management

Manhattan’s office market is starting to pick up, with lower rents and concessions pushing some companies to seek space after months of remote work. The number of new requests has jumped 57 per cent over the average from July and November.

American Ventures’ $1B fund to invest in distressed U.S. CRE

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire  •  CP Executive

American Ventures Partners has launched the American Ventures Strategic Property Fund to invest in distressed U.S. commercial real estate, with a target capital raise of $1 billion. The investment fund provides a tax-advantaged structure to non-U.S. investors.

Overpriced housing moving into small cities and towns

Residential  •  Toronto Star  •  ReMax blog  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

The City of Chilliwack, B.C., which may be best known for its corn production, saw home resale prices surge from a $110,409 average in October 2019 to nearly $620,000 by late 2020. In Alberta, there was an overall jump of nearly 40 per cent.

Condo market joins COVID-19 real estate frenzy

Residential  •  Global News  •  Toronto Star

Canada’s COVID-19 housing market extravaganza has extended to condos. In Toronto, 41 per cent of condos sold for more than the seller’s asking price last month, according to John Pasalis of real estate brokerage Realosophy.

Calgary market hits sweet spot: Soper

Residential  •  Calgary Herald

Calgary’s market is in a Goldilocks zone relative to other parts of Canada, says Royal LePage president Phil Soper. “The price increases are healthy and modest in the single digit percentages,” he says about the Calgary and Alberta markets.

Vancouver housing market may be just a prelude

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  Global News

“There are bidding wars on many homes throughout the Lower Mainland, on the Island, and even in the Kootenays,” says LandQuest Realty Corp.’s Rudy Nielsen. “Realtors, mortgage brokers, mortgage lenders, have never been busier and are making a fortune.”