Teachers’ JV buying Brookfield’s Enwave for $4.1B

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail  •  Winnipeg Free Press  •  Globe Newswire

Brookfield Infrastructure (BIP-UN-T) has signed deals totalling US$4.1 billion to sell Enwave, its North American district energy business. The company says Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Australian firm IFM Investors have agreed to buy Enwave’s Canadian business.

Ottawa’s Regional Group passes torch to 3rd generation

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Industrial, Office, Retail, Homes  •  Ottawa

Sender Gordon, at age 33, has just taken the reins as the third-generation chief executive of a large family enterprise, Ottawa’s Regional Group of Companies.

Calgary’s loss, St. John’s gain: Boost for downtown office sector

RENX  Commercial  •  Office  •  Atlantic Canada

In a tale of two struggling office markets, Calgary’s loss is St. John’s gain with the announcement oil company Equinor is relocating its Canadian headquarters. The Norwegian company will consolidate its operations into its existing downtown St. John’s location.

Bay Street firms move to shrink office footprints

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

TMX Group, Mercer Canada and a growing number of Bay Street firms are trying to shed some of their downtown Toronto office space, as COVID-19 keeps staff working remotely and companies grapple with how they will work in the future.

Too many developers, no green reps: Hamilton mayor

Residential, Commercial  •  CBC

Hamilton city councillors and the executive director of Environment Hamilton think recent changes by the province to conservation authorities will “decapitate”  them and erode years of work to curb global warming and other environmental issues.

Rapid testing could speed up return to the office

Commercial  •  Financial Post  •  Toronto Star

CPP Investments and Loblaw Companies Ltd. are among 12 Canadian companies that came together in August to start a non-profit consortium centred around companies asking employees to go through twice-weekly COVID-19 testing when they appear at work.

Sponsored by MNP Your construction company – employee share ownership plans and profit sharing

Building Resilience, and Bench Strength for Changing Times. It’s no secret Canadian construction companies are experiencing change at an unprecedented pace – fueled by almost daily shifts due to the impact of COVID-19, compressed margins, an aging workforce . . .

Undercounting population will have major impact: Tal

Residential  •  Bloomberg

VIDEO: Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist at CIBC, joins BNN Bloomberg to discuss how groups of people are being left out of the population growth statistics. He says we must put more emphasis and resources on counting the population correctly.

Van.’s mCloud Technologies relocates HQ to Calgary

Commercial  •  Calgary Herald  •  Canada Newswire

Vancouver-based mCloud Technologies Corp., which uses artificial intelligence, cloud computing and sensors to monitor and improve the efficiency of energy-intensive assets — from commercial buildings to oil and gas facilities — is relocating its head office to Calgary.

Van. residents get a say on False Creek South

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  Business In Vancouver

Vancouver city staff have decided taxpayers should get a say in how the valuable land in False Creek South, home to a 50-year-old city experiment in affordable urban housing, should be developed.

Fronsac acquires retail property; to JV on new project

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire  •  RENX

Fronsac REIT (FRO-UN-X) announced the acquisition of a retail property in Lac Brome, Que., for $2,840,000 and a 50 per cent participation in a new development in Chicoutimi, Que., in partnership with Odacité Immobilier and Benny & Co.

REOC financial results

Commercial  • 

Brookfield Property Partners, (BPY-UN-T), Globe Newswire
Lakeview Hotel Investment Corp., Canada Newswire

Nexus REIT graduates to the TSX

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire

Nexus REIT (NXR-UN-T) commenced trading on the TSX Monday. Nexus received final approval for the listing of its REIT units on the TSX on Thursday.

BGO buys 2.18M-sq.-ft. U.K. portfolio

Commercial  •  IPE Real Assets  •  RENX

BentallGreenOak is buying seven U.K. logistics assets from funds managed by Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing. BGO has agreed to buy the 2.18-million-square-foot portfolio, including Magna Park, Lutterworth, DIRFT, Hams Hall and Warth Park. Financial details were not disclosed.

Empire Communities acquires North Carolina builder

Residential  •  Globe Newswire  •  RENX

Toronto-based Empire Communities, one of North America’s largest privately held homebuilders, has acquired Shea Homes North Carolina, expanding its growing U.S. presence to include Charlotte, one of the fastest growing cities in America.

Helix building at heart of Amazon HQ2 campus

Commercial  •  Washington Post

Toronto has registered only 2,800 Airbnbs

Residential  •  Toronto Star  •  CBC

On Dec. 12, shortly before Toronto officially launched its new short-term rental licencing rules, Airbnb had 18,553 listings. By mid-January, new restrictions in place, that number still stood at 16,000. At the end of January, the number of city-approved Airbnbs sits at about 2,800.

Real estate sentiment remains near record highs

Residential  •  Financial Post  •  Financial Post

Real estate sentiment remains near record highs with just over half of all respondents to the Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index saying they believe the value of real estate in their neighbourhood will increase in the next six months.

More pre-construction condos sold in 905 area than in T.O.

Residential  •  Toronto Star  •  BlogTO

Smaller apartments with big appeal for investors helped the 905 areas outside the city dominate the Toronto region’s 2020 condo market in a trend that is expected to continue in 2021, said Shaun Hildebrand, president of market research firm Urbanation.

Will COVID show us how to build better housing?

Residential  •  Toronto Star  •  Toronto Star

As society inches back this year, stakeholders are asking questions about our housing choices — is vertical living viable or desirable going forward? How do we build healthier communities, and how do we bridge the gaps in our housing system?