Ottawa Island Park Towers sell for city record $267M

RENX  Residential  •  Apartments  •  Ottawa

One of Ottawa’s most prestigious multiresidential rental complexes has been sold, making it the largest such transaction in Ottawa’s history. Island Park Towers was acquired by Homestead Land Holdings for $267 million.

Oxford, CPPIB seek $1B plus for Toronto RBC Plaza

Commercial  •  Bloomberg  •  Business HaLa

Oxford Properties Group and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board may sell Toronto’s Royal Bank Plaza at 200 Bay Street, a deal that may be worth more than $1 billion. It is roughly 1.5-million square feet with two towers and a retail concourse.

Two Sevens sees opportunity in value-add Ont. apts.

RENX  Residential  •  Apartments  •  Ontario

The past month has been a big one for Two Sevens Capital, as it celebrated its third birthday and made its third and fourth acquisitions in the Ontario cities of Hamilton and Kingston.

Crypto mortgages coming, but there are big hurdles

Residential  •  Financial Post

This summer, cryptocurrencies advanced in Spain when a bill was introduced that would allow borrowers to pay their mortgages using digital assets. The legislation would allow for investment in crypto mortgage pools and blockchain tracking of mortgages and insurance.

ICM breaks ground for Calgary industrial project

Commercial  •  Calgary Herald

ICM Asset Management (ICM) has begun construction of a 46,500-square-foot build-to-suit industrial project in the City of Calgary-developed Point Trotter Industrial Park south of Glenmore Trail. It is a single-tenant facility that will be the new home of Doka Canada.

Toys R Us purchaser focused on brick-and-mortar retail

Commercial  •  Retail Insider

Doug Putman is a serial entrepreneur with a strong belief in the potential of brick-and-mortar retail. Recently, Putman Investments, a Canadian, family-owned company bought the Toys ‘R’ Us and Babies ‘R’ Us Canada brands with 81 stores in the country.

The Saskatchewan Edge › Every toy (store) has a story

Kelly Macsymic: Business Manager, Stuart Commercial Inc., Sales Associate, ICR Commercial Real Estate

Gap Inc.’s CEO has an ambitious plan to revive retailer

Commercial  •  Toronto Star

Efforts to turn around long-struggling Gap are beginning to work. CEO Sonia Syngal, Gap’s fourth chief executive in 18 years, is closing over 300 stores at its underperforming namesake Gap and Banana Republic chains, eight per cent of the store count.

M5V partners, developers with a conscience

Residential  •  Real Estate Magazine

For Sherard McQueen and Yaseen Nimjee, there’s a lot more to development than selling, building and walking away. The partners at M5V Developments offer education for first-time buyers and make sure their developments offer options to make them more affordable.

Corporate office staff vaccination mandates on the rise

Commercial  •  Vancouver Sun  •  Vancouver Sun  •  Toronto Star

Vaccine mandates by B.C. companies are likely to become “increasingly popular” as exhaustion with COVID-19 and desire for a return to normalcy sets in.  Vancouver’s Telus Corp. and retailer London Drugs have joined other employers requiring most staff get vaccinated.

Couche-Tard sees 40 per cent revenue boost in fiscal Q1

Commercial  •  Toronto Star  •  La Presse  •  Globe and Mail

Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. beat expectations, even though net profit slipped in the first quarter of its fiscal year despite a 40 per cent revenue increase. The Quebec-based convenience store retailer earned US$764.4 million compared with US$777.1 million a year earlier.

REITs that offer safety and value in Canada’s RE sector

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

Soaring property prices and low mortgage rates have made the real estate market a hot topic. This review includes both corporations and REITs that hold a variety of asset types such as commercial, office, residential and industrial.

Saputo acquires two facilities for US$118 million

Commercial  •  Toronto Star

Montreal-based Saputo Inc. has acquired two food manufacturing facilities in North Carolina for US$118 million. Lino Saputo, CEO and board chairman of Saputo, says the acquisitions complement the company’s organic growth.

SkipTheDishes launches new grocery offering

Commercial  •  Canadian Grocer

SkipTheDishes is testing a new business model to help it sell household goods and groceries directly to customers. The delivery service’s new offering called Skip Express Lane will accept orders only through an app and walk-in customers are not accepted.

Amazon unveils 55,000 new corporate, tech positions

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail  •  Toronto Star

Amazon plans to hire 55,000 people globally for corporate and technology positions. Chief executive Andy Jassy revealed it means a 20 per cent increase in current corporate and tech jobs to 275,000, increasing the total workforce to about 1 million.

Ida causes catastrophic flooding in New York area

Commercial  •  NY Mag  •  Globe and Mail

The NYC metropolitan area was struck by sudden disaster on Wednesday night as the remnants of Hurricane Ida flooded subways, roads and homes. Three inches of rain in an hour caused intense flooding on Long Island and New Jersey.

Election shines light on housing affordability: OREA

Residential  •  Globe Newswire

The Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) wants to keep the dream of owning a home alive but that will only happen if governments make it easier for first-time home buyers, through increasing housing supply and reducing red tape.

Liberal housing platform hints at land seizures

Residential  •  Western Investor

The federal Liberals have raised some concerns in B.C.’s real estate community with an election statement that hints at governments seizing privately-owned vacant land that could be used for affordable housing with the use of a $4 billion Housing Accelerator Fund.

High demand killing off rental incentives

Residential  •  Globe and Mail

Rental incentives in large cities such as offering a year of free internet or cable, a gift card to Starbucks, a first month rent-free, or even cash bonuses for moving in are disappearing.

Ontario longtime residents claim ‘campground coup’

Residential  •  CBC

Since 2018, hundreds of renters from two RV campgrounds have registered their names to the municipal voters list of Wollaston, a heavily forested 22,000-hectare township midway between Toronto and Ottawa. Some longtime residents say their rights and interests are being trampled.