Crestpoint buys 50% of Calgary industrial portfolio

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial  •  Calgary

Toronto-based Crestpoint Real Estate Investments Ltd. has acquired a 50 per cent interest in a 14-building, 4.4-million-square-foot industrial portfolio in and around Calgary. Crestpoint president Kevin Leon said the company’s commercial real estate assets under management now exceed $4.5 billion.

QuadReal plans major redevelopment at Cloverdale Mall

RENX  Commercial  •  Homes, Retail  •  Toronto / GTA

QuadReal Property Group has major plans to redevelop its Cloverdale Mall in Toronto into a major mixed-use community if new zoning is approved. QuadReal plans to apply in December to permit uses including retail, residential, parks and open spaces.

Major WeWork investor may move to fire CEO

Commercial  •  CBC  •  Bisnow  •  Business Insider

Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp, the biggest investor in WeWork owner The We Company, is exploring ways to replace Adam Neumann as chief executive of the U.S. office-sharing start-up, four people familiar with the matter said on Sunday.

Metrolinx discusses transit-oriented development

Residential, Commercial  •  Daily Commercial News

Under the Ford government, Metrolinx has been sent full-bore into the business of real estate development, tasked by the government with putting together mixed-use projects with private sector developers at its transit stations.

Caisse’s stake in A40 REM station troubling: Probe

Commercial  •  Montreal Gazette

The future A40 station of the Réseau express métropolitain will rise on a site where its builder, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, lost money in a multi-million-dollar real estate boondoggle it tried to conceal in the mid-1990s.

The Saskatchewan Edge › I want the advisors I engage to challenge me

Barry Stuart: Managing Partner and Senior Sales Associate , ICR Commercial Real Estate

Can Tim Hortons’ president restore its glory?

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Not quite two years ago, fresh from helping turn around Burger King North America, marketing hot shot Alexandre Macedo was parachuted in to fix what RBI’s (QSR-T) first three years of Tim’s ownership had wrought — a franchise system in turmoil.

Facilities acquires Ottawa office building for $6.2M

Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal  •  RENX

Ottawa’s Facilities Commercial Realty has acquired a 35,000-square-foot office building in South Ottawa from Guelph-based Skyline Commercial REIT for $6.2 million. Facilities owns 14 commercial properties in the Ottawa and Kingston areas and manages more than 620,000 square feet of CRE space.

Université de Montréal’s $350M new campus

Commercial  •  CBC  •  CBC

Just a few years ago, it was nothing more than a rail yard — a vast tract of fenced-off land in the middle of Montreal. On Friday, the new $350-million Université de Montréal science complex officially opened to the public.

Home building underway on Blatchford site

Residential  •  Edmonton Journal  •  CTV  •  Daily Commercial News

The green Blatchford community’s first homes are now officially under construction on former municipal airport lands. Blatchford, sitting on 536 acres, will take up to 30 years to fully develop into a carbon-neutral community of 30,000 residents.

Vancouver Commercial Brokers adds cannabis listings

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire  •  Vancouver Sun

Vancouver Business Brokers is paving the way for brokers to welcome retail cannabis clients in real estate transactions by adding first-ever segment listings to MLS Canada. The first two listings are retail storefronts in Vancouver.

Miniso closes nearly all of its stores in Quebec

Commercial  •  La Presse

Japanese retailer Miniso, which has experienced tremendous growth in the world in recent years, is struggling in Canada. Sheltered from its creditors since July, the company has just closed almost all its stores in Quebec, just one year after landing.

Barron Hilton dead at 91

Commercial  •  CP Executive

Barron Hilton, the retired chairman, president & CEO of Hilton Hotels Corp. and son of the company’s founder, died Thursday at 91. Hilton died of natural causes at his home in Los Angeles, according to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

U.S. CRE market bounces back in Q2

Commercial  •  PR Newswire

Ten-X Commercial‘s Summer Commercial Real Estate Volume & Pricing Trends report found that while Q1 2019 experienced a slowdown in deals, there was recovery in Q2. Total Q2 deal volume rose 10 per cent year-over-year and saw an increase of 24 per cent from Q1.

A new Goldilocks moment for Global REITs

Commercial  •  IPE Real Assets

REITs are attractive for rental and cash-flow growth. Earnings estimates have been revised up for global REITs, reflecting strong fundamentals for most property types across developed markets; and equity earnings projections have been trimmed, giving listed property an incremental edge.

Brookfield, Meraas Holding create $1.4B retail JV

Commercial  •  Reuters

Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (BAM-A-T) and Dubai’s Meraas Holding have agreed to form a joint venture valued at $1.4 billion US to own and operate Meraas’ retail assets. The assets include Dubai sites The Beach, City Walk and La Mer.

Canada’s perilous road to an asset-based economy

Residential  •  Globe and Mail

OPINION: I predict Canada’s housing market will crash next year, or in 2021 at the latest. If we look at housing booms in the past, each lasted around 10 years and we’re close to reaching that boom end point.

Rising prices encourage consumers to borrow and spend

Residential  •  CBC

As Canadian home prices rose from 2014 to 2017, many households tapped the growing value in their homes for other spending, according to study by Bank of Canada economists. About two million households used home equity lines of credit (HELOCs).

B.C. housing starts drop after four-month run

Residential  •  Business In Vancouver

Housing starts in B.C. finally cooled in August following four months of record-high performances. Annualized urban-area starts fell to 36,900 units during the month, from 50,800 units in July, following strong results since April. This was the lowest monthly reading since March.

Airbnb a disrupter in small Saskatchewan towns

Residential, Commercial  •  Saskatoon StarPhoenix

Russell Wittke remembers the first time Airbnb affected his hotel. A curling bonspiel was taking place in town and a team had booked two or three double rooms at Humboldt’s Pioneer Hotel & Motel, a family-run business built by Wittke’s father.