The Well updates office, retail leasing and condo sales

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Office, Retail, Apartments, Condominiums  •  Toronto / GTA

RioCan and Allied Properties REITs have provided a leasing update for their landmark The Well development in Toronto, with more than 110,000 square feet of retail space and a million square feet of office space now accounted for.

Reliance, Hines JV to build 32-storey Van. office tower

RENX  Commercial  •  Office  •  Metro Vancouver

Reliance Properties will partner with international real estate developer and investor Hines to build its 32-storey class-AAA office tower at 1166 West Pender, currently the site of the Canada Revenue Agency tower.

IKEA acquires T.O.’s Shops at Aura mall from Kingsett

Commercial  •  Nasdaq  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

IKEA has acquired the 129,000-square-foot Shops at Aura mall in downtown Toronto as part of its strategy shift toward inner cities. It bought the mall, which has been struggling to attract tenants and visitors, from private equity firm KingSett Capital.

Warehouse demand pushing industrial into new territory

Commercial  •  Financial Post

The once-stodgy world of industrial real estate is being forced to turn to novel solutions such as vertical warehouses and repurposed retail as the growing popularity of e-commerce and other new business trends drive demand for space.

Multiple Ont. Amazon facilities under COVID scrutiny

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

Ontario’s Ministry of Labour has five active investigations at Amazon facilities in addition to one recently completed at a company warehouse in Brampton that the local public-health unit shuttered after 617 workers tested positive for COVID-19 since October.

Empire joins push for grocers’ code of conduct

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

Sobeys owner Empire Company Ltd. (EMP-A-T) and Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada announced they are proposing the Canadian government adopt a code of conduct to oversee the relationships between retailers and the product vendors who stock their shelves.

Supreme Court of Canada weighs in on duty to perform a contract in good faith

Daniel Waldman: Lawyer, Pallett Valo LLP

Multiple bidders expected for Weston Foods

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

George Weston Ltd. (WN-T) is hoping for a lineup for its bakery business, which churns out well-known brands including Wonder Bread, ACE Bakery and Country Harvest. A number of North American private equity funds are expected to take a look.

Boathouse expands into former Le Chateau stores

Commercial  •  Retail Insider

St. Catharines-based Boathouse, a retailer of men’s and women’s clothing, footwear, and accessories, is expanding its footprint across Canada seeking out retail spaces recently vacated by Le Chateau, says Janet Weatherhead, director of sales and operations.

RYU Apparel pushes forward after restructuring

Commercial  •  Retail Insider  •  Canada Newswire

After a year of restructuring, Vancouver-based RYU (Respect Your Universe) Apparel (RYU-X) believes it has set the foundation for success as the retailer focuses on growing its omni-channel strategy while operating some key flagship stores in Vancouver and Toronto.

London cracking down on vacant commercial buildings

Commercial  •  CBC

London city council Tuesday updated its vacant building bylaw to include penalties of $400 per infraction and double that for repeat offences. The fine applies for a failure to submit a floor plan for buildings left empty for more than 30 days.

REIT fourth-quarter financial results

Commercial  • 

Automotive Properties REIT, (APR-UN-T), Canada Newswire
Inovalis REIT, (INO-UN-T), Business Wire
PROREIT, (PRV-UN-T), Canada Newswire

Ontario budget renews small-business grants

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  Toronto Star

The Ontario government is renewing its small-business support grants and providing extra help to sectors hit hardest by the pandemic. The Ontario budget, tabled Wednesday, included the announcement of a second round of the Ontario Small Business Support Grant.

Hardest-hit businesses call for extension of subsidies

Commercial  •  Toronto Star  •  Toronto Star

The federal Liberals are facing calls from some of the hardest-hit businesses in the pandemic to use the coming budget to extend emergency relief programs beyond June, saying many will still need help even as the economy picks up.

Stuck ship in Egypt’s Suez Canal imperils shipping worldwide

Commercial  •  CTV  •  Toronto Star

A skyscraper-sized cargo ship wedged across Egypt’s Suez Canal further imperiled global shipping Thursday as at least 150 other vessels needing to pass through the crucial waterway idled waiting for the obstruction to clear, authorities said.

AY expands service delivery across Central, Eastern Europe

Residential, Commercial  •  Canada Newswire

Avison Young Thursday announced two new strategic affiliations that expand the firm’s service delivery to clients further across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)  with the addition of a newly established venture in the Czech Republic and Slavtchev Consulting in Bulgaria.

Home prices vulnerable to correction: CMHC

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

In its latest housing market assessment released Thursday, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa, Moncton and Halifax are highly vulnerable to instability – its highest warning level.

National Bank CEO cautions banks to monitor mortgages

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

A booming mortgage market “needs to be monitored” to make sure rising housing prices and surging home sales aren’t being driven by borrowers taking on excessive debt, National Bank of Canada’s (NA-T) CEO Louis Vachon said on Wednesday.

Blind bidding driving up Canadian home prices

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

As Canadian home prices continue to skyrocket, one common real estate practice is coming under increased scrutiny: blind bidding. Many bidders aim high in hope of beating out everyone else.

Five-year fixed mortgages below 2% disappearing

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Five-year fixed mortgage rates that start with a “1” are an endangered species. For the first time since last summer, Canada’s major banks are all back above two per cent on Canada’s most popular mortgage term.