Mission Group plans office, condo towers in Kelowna

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Condominiums, Office  •  British Columbia

Mission Group has an updated plan for its Bernard Block master-planned community in Kelowna, and revisions include a 13-storey, class-A office tower to accompany a second residential condo building. They’d be situated along Bernard Avenue in downtown Kelowna.

KingSett among bidders for Bentall Centre: Sources

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Subscription required)  •  RENX

Canadian real estate firm KingSett Capital, Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing’s CK Asset Holdings Ltd., and U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group have made preliminary bids for Anbang Insurance Group’s office complex in Vancouver, according to sources.

TAS provides updates on its Toronto developments

RENX  Residential  •  Condominiums, Apartments  •  Toronto / GTA

TAS is proposing a mixed-used development in downtown Toronto’s east side at Labatt Avenue and River Street. The 1.3-acre site is zoned for a 560,000-square-foot building with around 600 residential rental and condo suites, commercial space and a Salvation Army facility.

Open house for Westbank’s Bjarke Ingels office tower

Commercial  •  Vancouver Courier  •  RENX

Westbank’s rezoning application for its unusual S-shaped, 17-storey, Bjarke Ingels-designed office tower envisioned for 720 Beatty St. goes before an open house March 11. Ingels, a Danish starchitect, also designed Westbank’s Vancouver House, a twisty luxury condo tower that’s under construction.

Real estate construction costs total $210B in 2018

Residential, Commercial  •  Western Investor

Real estate projects across Canada totalled $210 billion in construction costs last year, led by $87 billion in 1,550 residential projects. Approximately 210,000 new homes are expected for 2019, with an additional $85 billion in residential renovations projects in the pipeline.

The Apartment Building Expert › When is the right time for apartment building disposition?

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

Failure of Payless and Home Outfitters slams retail market

Commercial  •  Vancouver Sun  •  Globe and Mail

The  retail market was hit with a double whammy in February as the impending closures of Payless ShoeSource and Home Outfitters were announced in the same week. Many shopping centres are still dealing with space left vacant by Sears’ demise.

Victoria’s Secret shuttering 53 North American stores

Commercial  •  Bloomberg

Things have gotten so bad at Victoria’s Secret its parent company is tightening the purse strings, including shuttering dozens of underperforming locations. L Brands Inc. (LB-N) Wednesday announced plans to close about 53 Victoria’s Secrets in North America this year.

Whole Foods to rebrand existing 365 stores

Commercial  •  Yahoo Finance

Whole Foods, the grocery chain owned by Amazon, plans to convert all of its existing 365 stores into regular Whole Foods stores by the end of this year. The move follows its decision to stop expanding the smaller format stores.

CRE remains hot commodity in Greater Victoria

Commercial  •  Victoria Times Colonist  •  RENX

Value for money and a strong return on investment will continue to drive activity in Greater Victoria’s commercial real estate market, according to a new report from CBRE Group.

Manitoba’s ‘sleeper’ cities attracting CRE investors

Commercial  •  Western Investor

Manitoba communities such as Brandon, Portage la Prairie and Steinbach are hitting above their weight when it comes to growth and new development. Over the last 24 months, Portage la Prairie has locked down $1.2 billion worth of new investment.

Winnipeg set to sell Pantages Playhouse for $530K

Commercial  •  CBC  •  Winnipeg Free Press

The City of Winnipeg is poised to sell the Pantages Playhouse Theatre for $530,000 to new owners Alex Boersma and Lars Nicholson who would continue operating the heritage property as a performing-arts venue and may develop its plaza along Main Street.

Canadian ski resorts upbeat despite extreme weather

Commercial  •  CBC

After a month of frigid temperatures in the Rockies, an Environment Canada forecast for colder than typical weather in March is good news for ski resort operators hoping to extend the season with packs of spring skiers.

Bridgemarq mourns death of director J. Trevor Eyton

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire

The board of directors of Brookfield Real Estate Services Inc. (BRE-T), is saddened by the news of the passing of the Hon. J. Trevor Eyton, OC. Eyton was a valuable contributor to the board since joining in May 2014.

REIT financial results:

Commercial  • 

Crombie REIT, (CRR-UN-T), Canada Newswire

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

REOC financial results:

Commercial  • 

StorageVault Canada Inc., (SVI-X), Globe Newswire

Canadian investors flood into U.S. multi-family sector

Residential  •  REMI Network

Canadian investors acquired US$9.8 billion worth of multi-family properties in the United States last year, a jump of more than US$3 billion over the previous record high in 2015.

Regulator fires warning shots at B.C. mortgage brokers

Residential  •  Business In Vancouver

Broker behaviour is bound to be under greater public scrutiny these days, said Chris Carter, acting registrar of mortgage brokers for the B.C. government’s Financial Institutions Commission, in a speech Monday to the Canadian Mortgage Brokers Association in Vancouver.

Regulator failed to make checks on risky mortgage brokers

Residential  •  Reuters

The Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) failed to make planned checks on mortgage brokers it had identified as risky because its resources were stretched, according to documents obtained by Reuters.

Affordable housing singular focus of Toronto’s new RE czar

Residential  •  Globe and Mail  •  Globe Newswire

The new CEO of Toronto’s centralized real estate agency, CreateTO, says success in his new job will be measured by just one yardstick: how much affordable housing the city manages to build.