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True North plans 3 office acquisitions in GTA, Calgary

5 years ago

True North Commercial REIT (TNT-UN-T) is in due diligence to purchase three offices in the GTA and Calgary, and is issuing $70 million in shares to help fund the acquisitions. Two of the three sites are in the GTA.

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Investors spent a record $8.38-billion purchasing apartment buildings in Canada last year as rents continued to climb and vacancy rates fell. CBRE Canada said multi-unit residential rental buildings have become one of the hottest real estate asset classes in Canada.

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Infrastructure Ontario and the Ontario Ministry of Government and Consumer Services has awarded a fixed-price, $1.536 billion public-private partnership contract to Fengate PCL Progress Partners (FP3) for the Macdonald Block reconstruction project near Queen’s Park in Toronto.

Artis Real Estate Investment Trust (AX-UN-T) has buyers for two of its Ontario office buildings as the trust continues a billion-dollar disposition of assets to recycle capital. The sales of the properties, in Toronto and Ottawa, will net $161 million.

Community Trust

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San Francisco-based Spear Street Capital, which paid $153 million for the O Mile-Ex complex on St-Urbain St. last week, is looking to develop a nearby site on Montreal’s Esplanade St. that could add thousands of square feet of office space.

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Cafés, restaurants, a brewery, a market — the old Rossdale Power Plant could finally be home to those kinds of amenities after Edmonton city councillors agreed to a new plan to redevelop the historic area.

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Twenty years ago, a partnership between West Vancouver’s Don Milliken and Seattle’s Vulcan – the development company of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen – set the stage for 2200 Westlake in Seattle’s Denny Triangle, an area known for car dealerships and single-storey light-industrial buildings.

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Energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and water usage have all been reduced since 2015 as environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues remain a priority for Morguard Corporation (MRC-T).

Stewart Title

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Montreal’s Mirabel airport does not have enough space to expand its flagship air cargo business. Tuesday, the federal government and local airport authority sought to change that, announcing $107 million in funding to boost the airport’s capacity for goods-handling and infrastructure.

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The Groupe Hotelier Grand Château will be undertaking major renovation work on its Sheraton Laval hotel over the next two years. The $13-million investment will include expanding the convention centre by more than 10,000 square feet.

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Basking in Ottawa’s newest co-working space, Coworkly‘s Maher Arar is confident he’s created a place where entrepreneurs will flock to work and nurture ideas that could one day turn into the capital’s next wave of great companies.

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Through all the ups and downs of the past 20 years, the best-performing asset classes for Canadian investors have been REITs and utilities. REITs produced average annual total returns of 11.8 per cent for the 20 years to July 31, according to PWL Capital.

Pattison ONESTOP

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After 16 years of false starts, the behemoth American Dream retail and amusement complex is set to open in New Jersey’s Meadowlands. Edmonton-headquartered Triple Five Group expects crowds to rival those at its Mall of America in Bloomington.

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Vancouver-based Replay Destinations’ ultra-luxury resort in one of the world’s most sought-after destinations is ensnared in an international legal battle between the site’s former U.S. owner and the government of Antigua.

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Hudson’s Bay Co. (HBC-T) will close its 15 department stores located in the Netherlands and lay off around 1,400 employees as it shrinks its European operations, Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad reported last weekend.

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They began operating Airbnbs after losing their jobs. Then they fell in love with the hospitality business and the value of the service they provide, two multi-unit Airbnb hosts testified at an appeal tribunal into Toronto’s long-term rental rules.

BOMA

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In late August, a steady stream of first-year McMaster University students became the inaugural occupants of the recently opened Peter George Centre for Living and Learning (PGCLL) – the first new residence to be built on the campus in 15 years.

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More than 5,000 University of British Columbia students moved onto campus in Vancouver this Saturday, including into 71 new “nano suites.” The 140-square-foot apartments have a small kitchen, a bathroom and a Murphy bed that turns into a desk.

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There have been fewer births in Calgary over last three years, contributing to an overall deceleration in the rate of population growth in the city, according to the latest civic census results.

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Only a third of potential first-time homebuyers in Ontario believe it’s a good time to buy, according to a new survey taken for BMO by Pollara Strategic Insights.

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