Montreal’s Top-10 CRE transactions of 2020

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Office, Retail, Apartments  •  Greater Montreal

Deals which started in 2019 but were not completed until early 2020 dominated Montreal’s top commercial real estate transactions during the year. A CBRE report prepared for RENX shows there were 1,439 transactions valued at $6.12 billion in the city.

Power Corp. looks to vacate T.O.’s Brookfield Place

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Montreal-headquartered Power Corp. of Canada (POW-T) is looking to vacate its penthouse at Brookfield Place in downtown Toronto, another financial services company seeking to shed prime real estate. Power Corp. leases the top two floors in the two-building office complex.

Median condo along métro network topped out at $869K

Residential  •  Montreal Gazette

Via Capitale du Mont-Royal agent Charlyse Amoussou’s research into one-kilometre bubbles around Montreal métro stations determined the median cost of a condo near Montmorency station in Laval was $250,000 in 2020. The median cost along the métro network topped out at $869,000.

Wesgroup proposes eight Van. residential buildings

Residential  •  urbanYVR  •  RENX

Wesgroup has unveiled its plans for Vancouver’s Balfour Block site, which will consist of a six-storey rental building; a six-storey condo building with ground-floor childcare space; and eight three-to-four storey townhouse buildings. The plan calls for 241 units in all.

SAQ expanding Montreal distribution centre

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire

The Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) announced it will invest $45.8 million to expand its Montreal distribution centre. Construction of the 200,000-square-foot expansion and installation of automated single order picking equipment will boost operational efficiency.

Value: Weighed and Measured › Ottawa’s proposed new Goldbelt, and the costs of urban sprawl

John Clark: AACI, FRICS | Vice President, The Regional Group of Companies Inc.

Regina hotels expecting $80M-plus losses in 2021

Commercial  •  Regina Leader-Post

Tracy Fahlman, president/CEO of the Regina Hotel Association, said Regina hotels are expecting losses in excess of $80 million in 2021 and that she anticipates the hotel industry will remain in “survival mode” for the next 12 months.

Marlin Spring reworks two-tower proposal

Residential  •  Urban Toronto  •  RENX

Marlin Spring recently submitted revised applications for 10 through 30 Dawes Rd. in the Danforth Village area. The original design called for residential towers of 26 and 33 storeys, while the latest IBI Group-designed proposal calls for 41- and 24-storey towers.

Hotel, film studio proposed for Victoria-area lands

Residential, Commercial  •  Victoria Times Colonist

Bastion Development Corporation and Strand, the firms behind a bid to Langford’s Western Speedway lands, has applied to  rezone the property to allow for residential development and a business park that could house a new film studio.

PCI plans 14-storey mixed-use Vancouver building

Residential, Commercial  •  Urban Toronto  •  RENX

PCI Developments is planning a 14-storey, mixed-use building with retail, office and market rentals in Vancouver. It will include 112 secured market rental units and two floors of retail and commercial space, which is 100 per cent leased to TD bank.

Victoria’s retail vacancy rate nearly doubled YOY

Commercial  •  Victoria Times Colonist

Downtown Victoria’s retail vacancy rate nearly doubled year-over-year in Q4 – from 3.1 per cent to six per cent – according to a new Colliers Canada report. That figure would likely have been substantially higher if not for government support, Colliers said.

HBC to pay half of its rent to Penticton mall

Commercial  •  Castanet  •  Penticton Western News  •  InfoTel News

The Bay is going to pay just half of its monthly rent to Penticton’s Cherry Lane mall in 2021, even as outstanding rent debts from 2020 remain the subject of duelling lawsuits. The pay 50 per cent represents a total of $38,489.65 per month.

Crown announces initial closing for fifth value-add fund

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire  •  IPE Real Assets

Crown Realty Partners announced it has launched its fifth value-add fund, Crown Realty V Limited Partnership and completed its first closing with $140 million of commitments from both institutional groups and family offices. The fund expects to close later this year.

Dalfen Industrial sells Cincinnati asset for $51M

Commercial  •  CP Executive

Dalfen Industrial has finalized the disposition of Capital Center Industrial Park, an 896,523-square-foot ensemble of 14 light industrial buildings in Cincinnati. TradeLane Properties paid $51.3 million to acquire the asset in the sought-after Tri-County submarket. JLL Capital Markets represented the seller.

Flagship acquires Ky. manufactured housing, lots for $6M

Residential  •  Canada Newswire

Flagship Communities REIT  (MHC-U-T) announced it has completed the acquisition of two new Kentucky manufactured housing communities and additional manufactured housing lots adjacent to a current community for a purchase price of approximately US$6.05 million.

10 U.S. real estate predictions for 2021

Commercial  •  Forbes

This year, U.S. CRE will slowly start recovering from the shock of COVID-19. As we noticed in 2020, this recovery will have its challenges and setbacks along the way. Here are the most impactful trends we can expect to see in 2021:

Short-term operators find gaps in T.O.’s new regulations

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Toronto is barely a month into enforcing its rules for short-term rental (STR) accommodations, but already some of those who run so-called “ghost hotels” are slipping through gaps in the regulations.

The most housing-friendly recession ever: Tal

Residential  •  Financial Post  •  RENX

VIDEO: CIBC World Markets managing director and deputy chief economist  Benjamin Tal speaks with Financial Post’s Larysa Harapyn about why the pandemic-fuelled recession hasn’t had as big a mark on housing in Canada.

Black Vancouver neighbourhood aims for rebirth

Residential, Commercial  •  CBC  •  CBC

When Randy Clark wants to return to the home where he spent his formative years from 12 to 16, it means gazing at a viaduct that many credit with the destruction of Vancouver’s historic Black community – “Hogan’s Alley.”

Edmonton housing sales up nearly 50% YOY

Residential  •  Edmonton Journal  •  Edmonton Journal

Housing sales in Edmonton rose nearly 50 per cent in January from the year prior, the most activity the month has seen in more than a decade, says the chair of the Realtors Association of Edmonton (RAE).