Groupe Mach buys former Loblaw Montreal office

RENX  Commercial  •  Office  •  Greater Montreal

Montreal developer Groupe Mach spent $33.7 million to purchase 400 Sainte-Croix, the class-A office building that served as the Quebec headquarters of Loblaw in Montreal’s borough of Saint-Laurent. Built in 2000, the 282,644-square-foot, brick-and-glass building comprises three wings of three storeys each.

Microsoft closing physical retail locations

Commercial  •  PR Newswire

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT-Q) today announced a strategic change in its retail operations, including closing Microsoft Store physical locations. The company’s retail team members will continue to serve customers from Microsoft corporate facilities and remotely providing sales, training, and support.

Michael Medline on the future of e-grocery

Commercial  •  Canadian Grocer

COVID-19 may have “supercharged” e-grocery sales in Canada, but it’s still a relatively small portion of the total market, says Empire (EMP-A-T) CEO Michael Medline. “It’s off such a small base, probably at 1.5% penetration before the pandemic,” said Medline.

RENX’s Canada Day vacation week June 29-July 3

RENX  Residential, Commercial

TO OUR READERS: The staff at RENX is taking our annual Canada Day holiday from June 29 to July 3 so our editors can have a well-deserved break and recharge their batteries. The daily newsletter will return on Monday, July 6.

Only 8% of Quebecers want full-time return to the office

Commercial  •  Les Affaires

Only eight per cent of Quebec teleworkers say they want to work solely in an office in the future, according to a survey by VMware Canada. Conversely, 62% say they prefer to work from home more often, even 100% of the time.

Investissement Québec has chance to save head offices

Commercial  •  Montreal Gazette  •  Daily Commercial News  •  CTV

Investissement Québec’s role as an emergency lender to companies hit by the COVID-19 crisis is providing the government-owned investment agency with opportunities to safeguard head offices in the province. IQ has received about 600 financial aid requests from Quebec-based companies.

CRE landlords call rent relief program onerous

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Commercial landlords say the application process for small-business rent-relief funding is so confusing and onerous that many wouldn’t apply for the pandemic program, which has already faced criticism for leaving tenants powerless to apply themselves.

T.O. CRE taxes killing small businesses: Advocates

Commercial  •  Toronto Star  •  Vancouver Province

In the area covered by Toronto’s West Queen West Business Improvement Association, nearly half of the businesses have permanently closed, said Djanka Gajdel, the area’s BIA treasurer. Another 20 per cent aren’t sure they’ll be able to hold on much longer.

Ottawa’s LeBreton Flats redevelopment on hold

Residential, Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal  •  CBC

The first phase of the LeBreton Flats redevelopment project will remain in a holding pattern until the National Capital Commission sees more signs of “stabilization” in the Ottawa real estate market following the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency said Thursday.

Ottawa office vacancy inches up: CBRE

Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal  •  RENX

Ottawa’s office leasing market suffered only a minor hit amid COVID-19 this spring, although questions surrounding the long-term impact of so many employees working from home continue to hang over the industry, according to CBRE’s second-quarter market report.

Sidewalk Labs lays off most Toronto staff

Residential, Commercial  •  Toronto Star  •  Toronto Star

Google affiliate Sidewalk Labs is shuttering its Toronto office and has laid off the majority of its local staff after cancelling its smart-city project. Sidewalk said 20 had been laid off from the Toronto office, while some employees had left voluntarily.

REIT/REOC COVID-19 business updates

Commercial  • 

Artis REIT, (AX-UN-T), Canada Newswire

True North Commercial REIT, (TNT-UN-T), Canada Newswire

Lendlease, CPP reinforce build-to-rent partnership

Residential  •  Canada Newswire

Lendlease and Canada Pension Plan Investments are continuing to strengthen their partnership in the build-to-rent sector in the United Kingdom, agreeing to another $144 million Cdn of investment to help fund 123 new homes at Elephant Park in South London.

U.S. workers trickle back to the office

Commercial  •  CP Executive  •  National Real Estate Investor

Having — for the most part — quickly sheltered in place in March and April, office workers across the U.S. are slowly venturing back to their workplaces, according to a new weekly report from Kastle Systems International.

U.S. industrial leads the way out of the COVID crisis

Commercial  •  Globest.com

As NAIOP’s I.CON Virtual 2020 conference kicked off this week, keynote speakers, panelists and a COVID commercial real estate tracking survey all pointed to the strength and momentum of the industrial real estate sector.

U.S. government has 999-year leasehold in Hong Kong

Commercial  •  South China Morning Post

In April 1999, less than two years after Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty, an unusual land deal was signed between the city’s administration under then-CEO Tung Chee-hwa and the U.S. government – a 999-year lease for $$7.7 million Cdn.

Record 27% of U.S. homebuyers look to relocate

Residential  •  PR Newswire  •  Forbes

A record 27 per cent of home searchers looked to move to another metro area in April and May, according to a new report from Redfin. Redfin.com users searching for homes outside their area is up 26.0% from Q1 2020.

Landlords’ bid to appeal short-term rental rules dismissed

Residential  •  Toronto Star

A court has dismissed a motion by seven short-term landlords to appeal the decision of a provincial tribunal that sided with the City of Toronto’s regulations of Airbnb-style accommodation in November.

New Ont. tenant bill could ‘fast-track’ evictions: Hearing

Residential  •  Toronto Star

Legislation proposed by the Ontario government could lead to an influx of evictions after the COVID-19 pandemic and disproportionately impact vulnerable populations, lawyers and tenant groups warned on Wednesday – during the first of three scheduled days of hearings on Bill 184.

Edmonton may convert problem properties into affordable housing

Residential  •  Edmonton Journal

The City of Edmonton is proposing a grant program to convert five problem properties into affordable housing in a bid to clamp down on squatting and drug labs in abandoned homes. The pilot project is expected to cost $1.5 million.