CanFirst funds acquire $156M of GTA, Vancouver industrial

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial, Investment  •  Metro Vancouver, Toronto / GTA

CanFirst Capital Management has made four recent industrial acquisitions in the Greater Toronto Area and Greater Vancouver through two of its funds, which isn’t easy considering how hot the asset class is.

Nicola buys 21-acre Toronto industrial dev. site

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial  •  Toronto / GTA

Nicola Wealth Real Estate continued its aggressive expansion into the Greater Toronto Area industrial market with the acquisition of a 21-acre East Toronto property on which it plans to build a new state-of-the-art warehouse/distribution facility.

Three more office buildings coming to Ottawa’s Zibi

RENX  Commercial  •  Office  •  Quebec, Ottawa

The partners at Ottawa’s massive Zibi development have announced a five-year plan to construct an additional 210,000 square feet of office space in three buildings at the site, along the Ottawa River between the National Capital and Gatineau.

Chartwell, Welltower acquire interest in Mtl. property

Residential  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

Chartwell Retirement Residences (CSH-UN-T) has acquired an ownership interest in Montreal’s 221-suite Chartwell Le Teasdale résidence pour retraités Phase 2 from its partner Batimo Inc. Chartwell and partner Welltower each acquired a 42.5% ownership  interest for a purchase price of $30.3 million.

StorageVault to acquire 2 locations for $29.45M

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire  •  RENX

StorageVault Canada (SVI-X) has agreed to acquire two  stores for an aggregate purchase price of $29,450,000. One of the acquisitions is arm’s length and one for $27,750,000 is a related party acquisition with Access Self Storage Inc. or its affiliates or associates.

Mtl. industrial vacancy rate drops to 1.9%: CBRE

Commercial  •  La Presse  •  RENX

The availability rate of industrial premises in the Montreal region dipped to a 20-year low of 1.9 per cent in Q1 2021, CBRE notes in its most recent market study.

CRE Matters › Dear Diary: Snapshots from 1 year of CRE work-from-home

Lex Perry: Vice President, Marketing, Communications and Research

Bosa planning two 34-storey Van. rental towers

Residential  •  urbanYVR  •  RENX

Bosa Properties is planning two 34-storey rental towers in Vancouver’s West End on sites previously slated for market condos. The buildings would provide 575 rental units – 113 below-market rentals – with unit sizes including studio, one-, two- and three-bedrooms.

Ottawa, Quebec reach agreement on $600M REM station

Commercial  •  CTV  •  Montreal Gazette

A new light-rail (REM) station at Montréal-Trudeau airport will be going ahead. The $600-million deal includes a loan of up to $300 million from the Canada Infrastructure Bank, $100 million from Transport Canada and a $100 million loan from the provincial government.

Pomerleau, Factry partner on Mtl. construction lab

Commercial  •  Daily Commercial News  •  La Presse

Pomerleau is partnering with Factry, Canada’s first training centre specializing in developing creative skills, to create the Pomerleau aXLab, an innovation lab in downtown Montreal dedicated to integrate technology to the construction industry.

Calgary arena progress on pause due to budget issues

Commercial  •  Calgary Herald  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Work on Calgary’s new arena is on pause to try to resolve a budget “difference,” according to  Calgary Municipal Land Corp. president Kate Thompson. City council approved the deal for a $550-million event centre in 2019.

Victoria reduces property tax for business

Commercial  •  Victoria Times Colonist

Victoria council is reducing property taxes for businesses as the pandemic continues to create challenges. Council voted to endorse a 2% decrease in business property taxes — which amounts to a $146 saving for a business with an average assessed value of $647,000.

Hotel REIT preps deal to give Brookfield control

Commercial  •  Bloomberg

Hospitality Investors Trust Inc. is nearing a deal that would hand control of the debt-laden hotel operator to Brookfield Asset Management (BAM-A-T) as part of a pre-packaged bankruptcy, according to sources. HIT owns about 100 hotels across the U.S.

Public Storage REIT acquires ezStorage for $1.8B

Commercial  •  Inside Self-Storage

Public Storage Inc. (PSA-N), a self-storage REIT and third-party management firm, has acquired the 48-property ezStorage portfolio for $1.8 billion. The purchase comprises 4.2 million net rentable square feet across Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

CoStar Group to acquire Homes.com for $156M

Residential  •  Business Wire

CoStar Group, Inc. (CSGP-Q) announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Homes.com, a division of Dominion Enterprises, for $156 million in cash. Homes.com supports over 500,000 U.S. residential agents and brokers in the home sale process.

Colliers affiliate agent for Myanmar military building

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

A local affiliate of Toronto-headquartered Colliers International is a leasing agent for a high-end building in Myanmar built on land owned by an arm of the country’s military despite United Nations efforts to push foreign companies to sever military ties.

Condo construction hammered by rapid rise in costs

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Construction costs in Canada are expected to soar in 2021, with the GTA leading the way thanks in part to booming prices for the materials and labour that go into high-rise buildings, according to Altus Group.

Canadian housing sees hottest month ever

Residential  •  Financial Post  •  Toronto Star  •  CBC

The Canadian housing market hit a new record with more properties changing hands in March than any month in history, as sky-high prices lured more homeowners to try to cash in, according to data by the Canadian Real Estate Association.

In Toronto real estate, new highs every week

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  Toronto Star  •  Financial Post

More new listings are arriving on the Toronto-area real estate market but “we would have to get a boatload of product in order to feed the demand,” says Patrick Rocca, broker at Bosley Real Estate Ltd.

T.O. rent prices slowly picking up after months-long decline

Residential  •  CP 24  •  RENX

Rental prices in Toronto are slowly picking up for the first time in more than 14 months amid the pandemic. Rentals.ca and Bullpen Research and Consulting captured the new figures in a report, which examined how Canadian rental prices are changing.