Huge investments pay off: Canadian Shopping Centre Study

RENX  Commercial  •  Retail  •  National

Shopping centre owners spending big bucks to become major destinations and attract the widest variety of shoppers are continuing to see their investments pay off, according to the Retail Council of Canada’s Canadian Shopping Centre Study 2018.

Record demand for Montreal industrial real estate: CBRE

Commercial  •  Montreal Gazette

Montreal’s industrial leasing market had a record year in 2018, according to a report released by CBRE on Thursday. Net absorption in Montreal totalled 8.9 million square feet in 2018, according to the report.

Montreal committee rejects Carbonleo development

Commercial  •  Montreal Gazette  •  CBC

A Montreal agglomeration committee on Thursday said Carbonleo’s controversial Royalmount development should go back to the drawing board. Failing that, it says the city should use legal means to stop the project.

Gupta Group hits Vaughan development snag

Residential, Commercial  •  Toronto Star  •  Toronto Star

A controversial Vaughan condo development application has hit a snag. An 11th-hour application for a legal injunction against Gupta Group prompted the committee to postpone indefinitely a decision on the company’s variance application.

JRG owner of 26 hospitality and retail properties

Commercial  •  Financial Post

Since its co-founding in 2009, Ryan Moreno and André Bourque have built Surrey’s Joseph Richard Group (JRG) into a thriving operation that owns and manages 26 hospitality and retail properties in B.C.

Coquitlam Centre Tri-City’s most valuable property

Commercial  •  Tri-City News

The most expensive addresses in the Tri-Cities are commercial properties. According to BC Assessment, Coquitlam Centre is the most valuable parcel of land in the area, appraised at close to $700 million.

Value: Weighed and Measured › Attention Small Town Canada: Get in on the CRE boom

John Clark: Vice President , The Regional Group of Companies Inc

C Hôtels Tremblant announces $45M investment

Commercial  •  PR Newswire

C Hôtels Tremblant today announced an investment of approximately $45 million in a luxury hotel complex with a spa at the foot of Versant Soleil. The condominium project with hotel management will take shape next to Casino de Mont-Tremblant.

Arena talks reboot between Calgary and Flames

Commercial  •  CBC  •  Calgary Herald  •  Calgary Herald

Ahead of a city council meeting on Monday that will help determine which capital projects will take priority, proponents of a new Calgary Flames arena are pushing for it to be on top of the pile.

NCC has plan for LeBreton if RendezVous deal collapses

Commercial  •  CBC

If negotiations to save the RendezVous LeBreton deal fall through, the National Capital Commission has a plan to “bring a living community back” to the vacant Ottawa land, outgoing CEO Mark Kristmanson said Thursday.

Montreal developer Tony Magi shot dead

Commercial  •  Montreal Gazette  •  CBC  •  Ottawa Citizen

To many police investigators familiar with the conflicts developer Tony Magi was involved in over the course of many years, what happened Thursday was inevitable. Magi died shortly after been shot.

Ottawa councillors reject Thai office proposal

Commercial  •  CBC  •  Ottawa Citizen  •  Ottawa Business Journal

City councillors on Ottawa’s planning committee remained unconvinced Thursday the Royal Thai Embassy deserves a special exemption to construct an office building on Island Park Drive. The committee voted 7-2 to reject the advice of planning staff.

Goldman Sachs affiliate acquires office portfolio for $710M

Commercial  •  CP Executive

An affiliate of Goldman Sachs — Broad Street Principal Investments LLC — has acquired an 11-property office portfolio for $710 million US. Unico Investment Group LLC sold the Unico Partners I portfolio, which comprises 27 buildings throughout Seattle and Denver.

Nearly a third of U.S. office space will be flexible by 2030

Commercial  •  World Property Journal  •  BC Business

According to JLL’s latest research, Flexing Their Muscles: Markets to Watch in 2019, the U.S. office market is poised to take on significantly more office flex space in the coming year.

Non-listed REITs capitalize on fundraising momentum

Commercial  •  National Real Estate Investor

Even as American publicly traded equity REITs struggled to shake off negative returns amid stock market volatility, their non-listed peers pulled off a year of both positive performance and strong fundraising.

Rothschilds sell last piece of Austrian empire

Commercial  •  Bloomberg

Vancouver mayor files motion to ‘improve’ empty homes tax

Residential  •  CBC

Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart has filed a motion to have staff come up with a plan to “review and improve the fairness and effectiveness” of the empty homes tax.  Last fall, Stewart campaigned on a promise to triple the levy.

Navigating B.C.’s new rules for MICs

Residential  •  Business In Vancouver

Unlike their counterparts in every other jurisdiction of Canada, mortgage investment corporations (MICs) have previously operated in British Columbia without the regulatory oversight of the local securities commission. That is about to change effective Feb. 15.

Toronto’s densification goals run headlong into reality

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Where, precisely, does a neighbourhood end? That seemingly anodyne question has become the flashpoint in a low-profile but closely watched Toronto development application – a row of six luxury townhouses proposed for a pair of Evergreen Gardens lots.

Housing affordability in Canada is so nasty that . . .

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Housing affordability in Canada is strained and getting worse. In its latest look, National Bank Financial found  affordability deteriorated in the fourth quarter for the 14th three-month period in a row.