Crown Realty buys 23 Ottawa flex office buildings

RENX  Commercial  •  Office  •  Ottawa

Crown Realty Partners has acquired seven properties comprising 23 buildings across the south and east suburbs of Ottawa from CanFirst Capital Management for $56.35 million. The 415,000-square-foot portfolio of low-rise, flex offices is 90 per cent occupied by 65 tenants.

Pop-up retail could help save firms hurt by pandemic

RENX  Commercial  •  Retail  •  British Columbia, Alberta, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatchewan

An Alberta/B.C. greenhouse nursery faced a “catastrophic” situation three weeks ago after learning it would be sitting on millions of dollars of inventory due to retail shutdowns. However, Darvonda Nurseries received a lifeline thanks to Avison Young: pop-up retail sites.

Landlords, retailers pitch rent relief plan to Ottawa

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  Edmonton Journal  •  Financial Post

A coalition of Canada’s largest retailers and commercial property owners is lobbying Ottawa for a rent relief package that could see major landlords slash rent by one-third for their distressed tenants and walk away from billions of dollars in revenue.

Retail Council calls for eviction moratoriums

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire  •  Globe Newswire  •  Toronto Star

Retail Council of Canada (RCC) issued an open letter to premiers across the country to draw attention to the urgent need for an immediate moratorium on commercial evictions and distress actions such as changing locks and seizing inventory.

OpenText won’t reopen half its offices

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  KitchenerToday

Waterloo-based Open Text Corp. (OTEX-T), one of Canada’s largest tech companies, says making its employees work from home during the pandemic has gone so well that it’s closing half of its offices for good.

The Apartment Building Expert › Anatomy of an apartment market downturn

Derek Lobo: Founder and CEO , SVN Rock Advisors Inc.

Dollarama CEO reflects on COVID-19 business

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Dollarama Inc. (DOL-T) built a cross-Canada empire with a strategy of lean operations and value-for-money retailing. Now with a health pandemic ripping away sales, it’s opening its purse strings at the expense of profit.

Canada has entered a recession: C.D. Howe Institute

Commercial  •  Toronto Star

The C.D. Howe Institute’s Business Cycle Council says Canada has entered a recession due to the economic devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The council said the economy peaked in February before COVID-19 steps brought the economy to a standstill.

SoftBank to write down WeWork by $6.6 billion

Commercial  •  Reuters  •  Bisnow

SoftBank Group Corp. said it sees a loss of around $6.6 billion US for the year ended March on the portion of its WeWork investment held outside the Vision Fund, as COVID-19 compounds woes at one of the firm’s biggest bets.

Work halted at Facebook’s Hudson Yards HQ

Commercial  •  Bisnow

A number of construction sites around New York City – including the 50 Hudson Yards office development – that had been given permission to move forward have reportedly been halted after the city discovered some of them were flouting the rules.

REIT/REOC COVID-19 business updates

Commercial  • 

CAPREIT, (CAR-UN-T), Globe Newswire

ERES REIT, (ERE-UN-X), Globe Newswire

Lakeview Hotel Investment Corp., (LHR-X), Canada Newswire

Northview Apartment REIT, (NVU-UN-T), Globe Newswire

NexPoint Hospitality Trust, (NHT-U-X), Canada Newswire

REIT first-quarter financial results

Commercial  • 

Allied Properties REIT, (AP-UN-T), Globe Newswire

Morguard REIT, (MRT-UN-T), Canada Newswire

Starlight acquires N.C. apartment complex for $51.5M

Residential  •  Canada Newswire

Starlight U.S. Multi-Family (No. 1) Core Plus Fund (SCPO-UN-X) announced it has acquired Southpoint Crossing Apartments, a 288-unit, garden-style, multifamily property completed in 1999 and located in Raleigh, N.C., for US$51.5 million.

True North’s 101 McNabb earns BOMA certification

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

True North Commercial REIT (TNT-UN-T) announced it has been awarded the BOMA 360 Performance Certification at 101 McNabb Street, Markham, an office property comprising approximately 315,000 rentable square feet. This certification represents the REIT’s efforts to improve tenant experience with an environmental focus.

Tim Hortons’ sales down by more than a third

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail  •  Toronto Star  •  Canada Newswire

Tim Hortons (QSR-T) has lost more than a third of its sales in recent weeks as people have been encouraged to stay home amid the COVID-19 pandemic, disrupting daily coffee routines and shrinking traffic to restaurants and cafes.

McDonald’s profit slides as restaurants limit services

Commercial  •  Reuters  •  Reuters  •  CBC

McDonald’s Corp (MCD-N) missed Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit on Thursday as most of its restaurants limited their services to delivery, drive-thru and take-away to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

House prices will fall 10% before recovery: Moody’s

Residential  •  Western Investor

Housing sales, prices and starts across Canada will plunge this year and stay muted for at least a year, with Western provinces taking the worst hit, according to Moody’s Analytics. Other analysts see a reverse as early as June.

Calgary requires more help than other cities

Residential, Commercial  •  CBC  •  RENX

Before there was COVID-19, there were Calgary’s empty towers. Before there was COVID-19, plenty of “efficiencies” had been found. Those efficiencies drove up the unemployment rate to one of the highest in the country as the rest of Canada flourished.

Amazon sees possible Q2 loss due to COVID-19

Commercial  •  Reuters

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN-Q) Thursday said it could post its first quarterly loss in five years because it is spending at least $4 billion in response to COVID-19, including plans to test its workers for COVID-19 and raising hourly wages.

Macy’s to reopen 68 stores on Monday

Commercial  •  MarketWatch

Macy’s Inc. (M-N) will open 68 stores on Monday in states where the lockdown rules have been loosened, chief executive officer Jeff Gennette told The Wall Street Journal. The stores will be in Georgia, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas and Tennessee.