Dream, Theia to construct new Ottawa office building

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Condominiums, Office, Apartments, Retail  •  Quebec, Ottawa

Ottawa’s largest development will be home to its first major new downtown office building in five years. The developers of Zibi, a $1.5B mixed-use community straddling the Ontario-Quebec border, are about to break ground on an eight-storey, 200,000-square-foot building.

Canderel giving Constitution Square a makeover

Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal  •  RENX

This summer, Canderel will start to revamp Constitution Square, one of Ottawa’s largest class-A office complexes. The lobby, meeting spaces and some of its suites will be modernized in an effort to respond to changing tenant tastes.

SW Ontario to drive investment growth: CBRE

Commercial  •  KitchenerToday.com  •  Waterloo Region Record

Southwestern Ontario will be the place to be when it comes to real estate investment growth over the next decade. That was the message delivered during CBRE’s Market Outlook, which was presented in Kitchener on Wednesday morning.

JV to build three apartment buildings in Kingston

RENX  Residential  •  Apartments  •  Ontario

Four partners will build three apartment buildings in Kingston, creating 788 new housing units. The project will take four years to complete. Secure Capital Partners Inc., Blue Vista Capital Management and Podium Development Corp., are involved with an Ontario-based pension fund.

Melcor REIT acquires Calgary retail building for $12.45M

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire  •  RENX

Melcor REIT (MR-UN-T) today announced it has acquired a retail property with warehouse space in Calgary for $12.45 million (excluding closing costs). It is a single-user building with total gross leasable area of 56,084 square feet on 3.0 acres.

Plaza acquires 50% stake in Cambridge’s Tri-City Centre

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

Plaza Retail REIT (PLZ-UN-T) today announced it has completed the purchase of Tri-City Centre in Cambridge, Ont. Plaza purchased a 50 per cent managing interest in the 197,000-square-foot centre, well-located adjacent to Highway 401 in the fast-growing Regional Municipality of Waterloo, for $12,650,000.

The Numbers Game › Will higher development costs affect GTA high-density land prices?

Ben Myers: President , Bullpen Consulting

RE availability to stay near record lows: Morguard

Residential, Commercial  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

Positive momentum and strong interest in the multi-suite residential, industrial and office asset classes continued into the first quarter of 2019, according to the latest Research Report issued by Morguard Corp. (MRC-T).

CF breaks ground on 160 Front Street West

Commercial  •  Urban Toronto  •  RENX  •  RENX

Wednesday morning, Cadillac Fairview, the Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO), and TD Bank Group broke ground on 160 Front Street West, a new 46-storey office tower coming to Simcoe and Front at the southwest edge of Toronto’s Financial District.

Mississauga’s biggest residential project underway

Residential  •  Insauga.com  •  RENX

M City, Mississauga’s massive eight-condo community that will span 15 acres (and offer two acres of public parkland) that’s taking shape near Square One, is well underway. M3, the third phase of the development, will become Mississauga’s tallest building.

Site planned for Regina’s tallest skyscraper for sale

Commercial  •  CBC

The site that was supposed to house the City of Regina’s tallest skyscraper can be yours for a cool $8.5 million. Currently an empty lot featuring Saskatchewan’s most famous hole, 1971 Albert Street is now listed as part of a court-ordered sale.

Two more condo towers coming to West Van.

Residential  •  North Shore News

District of West Vancouver council has given the OK for British Pacific Properties to build 10- and six-storey condo towers on the lower slopes of Hollyburn Mountain. The permits include a three-storey private amenity building intended to serve the neighbourhood.

Terra Firma acquires two U.S. properties for $18.8M

Residential, Commercial  •  Globe Newswire  •  RENX

Terra Firma Capital Corporation (TII-X) announced the closing of two preferred equity investments totalling $18.8 million in two assisted-living and memory-care projects to be developed in two separate locations in Florida, Del Ray Beach and Royal Palm Beach.

Vancouver-based Lendesk acquired by U.S. lending giant

Residential  •  BC Business

The biggest mortgage lender in the U.S. is about to get a new Canadian addition to its family. Rock Holdings acquired a majority stake in Lendesk, a Vancouver-based property tech company whose network connects mortgage brokers with lenders.

Is Hudson Yards poster child for middle-class destruction?

Residential, Commercial  •  Newsweek

New York magazine’s architecture critic, Justin Davidson, wrote that every time he approached Hudson Yards he felt “a volatile mix of wonder and dejection roil in my chest.” He added, “I can’t help feeling like an alien here . . .”

Can WeWork survive upcoming downturn?

Commercial  •  The Real Deal  •  RENX  •  D Magazine

In January, Adam Neumann went on CNBC to quiet concerns that his company, WeWork, was in trouble. News had just broken that SoftBank Group, WeWork’s primary investor, had walked back a $16-billion deal.

Vancouver Canada’s most expensive city for builders

Residential, Commercial  •  BC Business  •  Business In Vancouver

Vancouver is Canada’s most expensive city in which to build and the 14th priciest in the world, according to U.K.-based professional services firm Turner & Townsend’s latest International Construction Market Survey, which looks at costs, economic trends and market challenges.

Vancouver’s rental prices have stopped climbing

Residential  •  CBC  •  The Tyee  •  Vancouver Sun

Vancouver’s sky-high rental prices appear to have stopped increasing. Blogger and data scientist Louie Dinh even suggests the price of units have dropped. Dinh compared the prices of more than 5,700 Craigslist rental listings in March year-over-year.

Vancouver dream home turns into nightmare

Residential  •  Toronto Star  •  Toronto Star

The owners of a 5,800-square-foot, five-bedroom, six-bathroom house in West Vancouver’s Sandy Cove neighbourhood listed the property in August 2016 for $6.5 million. Now the price has dropped to $3.988 million, and still there are no takers.

GTA housing affordability among most-asked questions

Residential  •  Newinhomes.com  •  Newinhomes.com

Why is home affordability a challenge in the GTA? was one of the top questions the Building Industry and Land Development Association received as it reached the midpoint results of its Building Answers campaign.