First Capital sells Quebec City retail assets to Trudel

RENX  Commercial  •  Land, Retail  •  Quebec City

Trudel Alliance has purchased the Quebec City-area real estate holdings of First Capital Realty (FCR-T) for $165 million. The transaction consists of seven retail and shopping centres with 28 buildings in the Quebec City region.

Centreport marks a first in Manitoba industrial

Commercial  •  Winnipeg Free Press  •  RENX

CentrePort Canada may be 10 years old but beside construction of the highway, Centreport Canada Way, people would have been excused for not being able to point to evidence of any manifestations of the inland port’s presence … until the summer of 2018.

Cannabis fails to deliver anticipated CRE buzz

Commercial  •  Business In Vancouver  •  Financial Post  •  Business In Vancouver

CRE owners aren’t as high on cannabis legalization as they had hoped they’d be. More than a year after cannabis was legalized, some analysts say the sometimes overhyped economic potential of the pot industry also infected B.C.’s real estate market.

Hungerford sells Icon Business Park in Calgary

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial  •  Calgary

Hungerford Properties has sold the 46-acre Icon Business Park in Calgary, which it bought in 2013 and repositioned from a vacant single-use property to multi-tenant facility 98 per cent occupied. Michael Hungerford, partner in Hungerford Properties, confirmed the sale to RENX.

N.A.’s first indoor triathlon centre on track in Edmonton

Commercial  •  CBC  •  CTV

Plans that will see Edmonton build the first indoor triathlon centre in North America remain on track after city council voted to stand by its decision to fund the Coronation Community Recreation Centre to the tune of $112 million.

WEM’s Galaxyland to undergo Hasbro-themed rebrand

Commercial  •  Global News  •  CTV  •  Edmonton Journal

After 24 years of being space themed, West Edmonton Mall‘s amusement park Galaxyland is getting a big makeover due to a new licensing agreement with toy and entertainment giant Hasbro. Hasbro branding will be incorporated in an area of three-and-a-half acres.

Grosvenor vows net-zero carbon emissions by 2030

Commercial  •  Sustainable Biz Canada

Grosvenor Group, a property developer and manager with a history dating back more than 340 years, has promised to achieve net-zero carbon operational emissions at its buildings around the world. Grosvenor has significant holdings in Vancouver and some in Calgary,

SNC Lavalin pleads guilty to fraud; to pay $280M

Commercial  •  CBC  •  Financial Post  •  Globe and Mail

A division of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. (SNC-T) has pleaded guilty to fraud over $5,000 in relation to the company’s activities in Libya, ending the criminal case at the centre of one of the year’s biggest political controversies.

Manitoba to forgo tax revenue for Forks development

Commercial  •  CBC

The Manitoba government has agreed to forgo up to $11.9 million worth of future property tax revenue to stimulate development on one of the surface parking lots at The Forks, the first phase of the Railside development.

Fredericton’s Centennial Building to be redeveloped

Residential, Commercial  •  CBC  •  Global News

Downtown Fredericton’s Centennial Building is being sold for $4 million to Centennial Heritage Properties Inc., whose two-phase plan for the building includes 200,000 square feet of residential space and 40,000 square feet for hotel and restaurant space.

SmartCentres REIT issues $450M in debentures

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire  •  RENX

SmartCentres REIT (SRU-UN-T) announced it has agreed to issue $450 million aggregate principal amount of Series U senior unsecured debentures on an agency basis. The Series U debentures will carry a coupon of 3.526 per cent and will mature on Dec. 20, 2029.

REALPAC releases 2019 Open-End Fund Survey

Commercial  •  REALPAC news release

REALPAC announce the results of the 2019 Canadian Open-End Fund Survey ─ a first in Canada. The survey is meant to obtain data on the Canadian open-end fund market and bring Canadian fund governance standards in line with global standards.

WeWork in talks to sell business unit

Commercial  •  Bloomberg  •  Bloomberg  •  Business Insider

Manulife closes $1.2B JV with Harel

Residential, Commercial  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

Manulife Investment Management (Manulife) announced it has closed a $1.2 billion US real estate joint venture with Harel Insurance Company Ltd., Israel’s largest insurance and financial group. Manulife anticipates the portfolio will focus on U.S. office, industrial, and multifamily assets.

CF, IMCO, Lincoln close on $800M U.S. multifamily fund

Residential  •  Canada Newswire

Lincoln Property Company‘s residential division and its partner, Cadillac Fairview, as co-sponsor, announced the close of a US multifamily fund with $800 million in equity commitments from Lincoln Residential, Cadillac Fairview and the Investment Management Corporation of Ontario (IMCO).

Amazon seeks out first Irish warehouse

Commercial  •  Bloomberg

HomeEquity sells first reverse-mortgage portfolio

Residential  •  Canada Newswire  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

HomeEquity Bank, the largest Canadian provider of reverse mortgages, has sold $75-million of the loans to another bank, marking the first time a portfolio of the special category of home loans has been sold as a financial product in Canada.

Feds, Ontario commit $1.4B for affordable housing

Residential  •  CBC

The federal and provincial governments say they will be investing a combined $1.4 billion in a bid to help low-income families in Ontario with housing costs. Representatives from both governments were on hand in Toronto Thursday morning to make the announcement.

Five-storey rental apartment approved for Kitsilano

Residential  •  CBC  •  Vancouver Sun

A controversial five-storey rental building proposed for the heart of Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood is going ahead. Common complaints included the majority of units not being affordable and the apartment being out of place with nearby single-family homes.

B.C. geography stokes tensions on the home front

Residential  •  Business In Vancouver

The constrained geography of B.C. seems like one of the best explanations for the uneasy tension between Metro Vancouver’s pride in its livability and the continuing clampdown over the past year on new development on the residential side.