Summit Ind. to buy Ajax distribution centre for $68M

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial  •  Toronto / GTA

Summit Industrial Income REIT (SMU.UN-T) is expanding its GTA portfolio with the pending acquisition of a 342,830 square foot, single-tenant warehouse and logistics facility in Ajax, just east of Toronto.

RioCan sells air rights at The Well, Embassy BOSA

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire  •  Rental Housing Business  •  RENX

RioCan REIT (REI.UN-T) completed the sales of a portion of the air rights at The Well in Toronto and 5^th & THIRD™, Embassy BOSA in Calgary, realizing density value totalling approximately $45.4 million at RioCan’s interest for the development of multi-residential buildings.

Waterfront Toronto seeks partner for Sidewalk Labs site

Residential  •  Toronto Star

Steve Diamond, a developer and chair of the board for Waterfront Toronto is promising to create an “iconic” looking neighbourhood at Quayside as the corporation gets set next year to seek a new partner to co-develop the site abandoned by Sidewalk Labs.

MACH moves into GTA, buys First Meadowvale Centre

RENX  Commercial  •  Office  •  Toronto / GTA

Groupe MACH has taken a significant first step into the Greater Toronto Area office market with the acquisition of First Meadowvale Centre in Mississauga. The 10-storey mid-rise office tower, which opened in 2010, is located at 2465 Argentia Road.

Great Canadian Gaming to be acquired by Apollo

Commercial  •  Financial Post

Apollo Global Management (APO-N) won shareholder approval for its US$1.9-billion takeover of Great Canadian Gaming Corp., sealing a deal that had faced stiff opposition until the private equity firm increased its bid by 15 per cent.

Cineplex CEO predicts movie goers will be back

Commercial  •  Toronto Star

CEO of Cineplex, Ellis Jacob has seen the pandemic played out like a gruesome horror flick for the movie exhibitor’s business. With most of the company’s theatres dark on the eve of the box-office season, does he expect a happy ending?

The Legal Corner › Snow and ice claims: The Occupiers’ Liability Amendment Act. 2020 – new 60-day period for notice of a claim

Darrell Gold: Partner, Robins Appleby LLP

Dream rolls out Onvation restroom tech systems

Commercial  •  Sustainable Biz Canada

Dream Office REIT’s downtown Toronto Adelaide Place is the first commercial tower in Canada to install Kimberley-Clark’s Onvation  smart restroom management system. The sensor-laden systems are designed to reduce waste, create efficiencies for building staff and identify problems in restrooms.

Leading RBC CRE broker, Gary Morassutti, to retire

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

One of RBC’s top real estate brokers, Gary Morassutti, is retiring after nearly four decades working on commercial property deals, including the nearly $1-billion sale of a Toronto office complex. He will be replaced by managing director, David Tweedie.

Ottawa developer eyes 16-storey mixed-use building

Residential, Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal

Scarabelli Realties, an Ottawa real estate firm, proposes to tear down a pair of commercial buildings in mid-town neighbourhood The Glebe and rezone the site to build a new 16-storey mixed-use building with ground-floor commercial space and 150 residential units.

Taking a peek at historic Centre Block’s restoration

Commercial  •  Ottawa Citizen

When the massive-scale renovation, restoration and preservation work began in earnest on Parliament Hill’s historic Centre Block, excavators were caught off-guard to find that Canada’s most historic and significant edifice had been built atop a rubble foundation.

A difficult forecast for commercial real estate

Commercial  •  NAIOP magazine

NAIOP Research Foundation held its National Research Directors Meeting in September bringing together NAIOP’s Distinguished Fellows and research directors from real estate brokerage, data and investment firms to discuss current trends and the effects of the pandemic on the CRE.

10 key questions for real estate in 2021

Residential, Commercial  •  Bisnow

Coronavirus vaccines, social impact, climate change and what constitutes a mainstream real estate sector will be on investors’ minds in the new year, according to UBS Asset Management. Here are the investment bank’s top 10 real estate questions for 2021:

Blockchain in real estate: What’s next in tech innovation?

Commercial  •  CP Executive

Blockchain has been around for a little more than a decade, but the benefits of this digital method for moving around valuables are still unknown. However, experts predict Blockchain and cryptocurrencies will continue to impact the real estate industry.

Alibaba shares tumble as Chinese regulators signal change

Commercial  •  Toronto Star  •  The Chronicle Herald

No longer China’s most valuable company, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. shares tumbled another 8 per cent on Monday erasing almost all its 2020 stock-market gains, just days after Chinese regulators signalled a major change in their posture toward its finance affiliate, Ant Group Co.

China to leapfrog U.S. as world’s biggest economy by 2028

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

China will overtake the U.S. to become the world’s biggest economy in 2028, five years earlier than previously estimated due to the contrasting recoveries of the two countries from the COVID-19 pandemic, said the Centre for Economics and Business Research.

Tim Hudak: New CMHC boss should restore old policies

Commercial  •  Toronto Star

When Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation appoints a new CEO next year, it should restore the government agency’s role as a homeownership champion, ending the policy misadventure under outgoing CEO Evan Siddall that made it harder for Canadians to buy homes.

National housing starts rise, but what’s fuelling them?

Residential  •  Mortgage Broker News

The upward trend in Canadian housing starts continued in November, when the seasonally adjusted annual rate rose 14.4 per cent (to 246,033 units) compared to October. Much of the growth stemmed from outside the single-detached segment, according to the CMHC.

What the experts say about the Toronto’s condo market

Residential  •  Toronto Star

The single-family home market has seen blazing sales and price growth in 2020 but the city’s condo market has dragged as rents dropped and listings flooded the market. Experts said there are signs that condos are poised to sell again.

Leonardo DiCaprio Alberta mansion up for auction

Residential  •  Daily Hive

Located 20 minutes from downtown Calgary, the seven-bedroom, six-bathroom home was where Leonardo DiCaprio lived while filming The Revenant, and it is soon to be up for auction.