Penn West lease abatement a sign of Calgary’s future?

RENX  Commercial  •  Office  •  Calgary

Morguard REIT‘s (MRT-UN-T) announcement of a significant rent abatement for Obsidian Energy at Penn West Plaza in Calgary could be just the beginning of how building owners will deal with the economic impact of COVID-19 and the oil-price collapse.

Bridging Finance, Romspen freeze investor withdrawals

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Two of Canada’s largest private debt funds, Bridging Finance Inc. and Romspen Investment Corp., froze investor redemptions on Monday, the latest sign of COVID-19-related stress in a sector popular with wealthy, income-seeking investors.

Small businesses call for commercial rent relief

Commercial  •  CBC  •  Globe and Mail  •  Globe and Mail

A push for grants and direct relief for expenses in this country is coming from small business associations and experts looking at aid packages that have been doled out in places like the U.K., Denmark and Australia.

Apartment building owners’ thoughts turn to May rents

RENX  Residential  •  Apartments  •  National

Eighty-five per cent of apartment residents paid their April rent, which is better than expected, but concerns remain for May according to surveys collected by SVN Rock Advisors. CEO Derek Lobo conducted a 35-minute webinar viewed by over 1,000 people.

Updated application submitted for CIBC SQUARE

Commercial  •  Urban Toronto  •  RENX

Developers Hines and Ivanhoé Cambridge have submitted revisions to the application for the second phase of CIBC SQUARE. The proposed Yonge-facing podium will include ancillary retail at grade and on the second and fourth floors and also additional office space.

Ottawa OKs Huntington Properties’ retirement complex

Residential  •  Ottawa Business Journal

Ottawa’s planning committee has given local developer Huntington Properties the green light to build a six-storey retirement and seniors’ apartment complex on former industrial land in the city’s East End.

Value: Weighed and Measured › COVID-19, Band-Aid fixes and overhauling assessment in Ontario

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

Edm. faith community plans retail building

Commercial  •  Edmonton Journal

Edmonton’s St. George’s Greek Orthodox Community plans to build a three-storey retail building of curved glass that will be a “gem” on the southwest corner of 114 Street and Jasper Avenue. The community has owned the land for nearly 75 years.

Canadian hotels see huge drop in business

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail  •  CBC  •  CBC

Canadian hotels have lost most of their business, sending revenues plunging and resulting in more than 200,000 job losses as the coronavirus pandemic halts travel. The hotel occupancy rate in the week of March 29 to April 4 was just 13 per cent.

Banff Springs Hotel temporarily closes

Commercial  •  CBC

An iconic hotel in the Rocky Mountains has ceased operations — temporarily — as COVID-19 continues to decimate Alberta’s tourism. The Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel has closed as of noon Friday, an unprecedented move for the 132-year-old business.

REIT fourth-quarter financial results

Commercial  • 

Inovalis REIT, (INO-UN-T), Canada Newswire

REOC fourth-quarter financial results

Commercial  • 

Firm Capital American Realty Partners Corp., (FCA-U-X), Globe Newswire

Quebec golf courses anxious to reopen soon

Commercial  •  CBC  •  CBC  •  Calgary Herald

The protective winter tarps came off the greens and fairways at many golf courses around the province of Quebec this week. It’s usually a sure sign of spring, but with the COVID-19 outbreak, this year is different.

Calgary aims to repurpose downtown fire hall

Commercial  •  CBC

The City of Calgary is looking for a new use for the former Fire Hall No. 1, which has been a part of downtown since 1911. The structure was home to a car rental company for more than 30 years.

Will micro-restaurants repair a broken industry?

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

Ottawa chef Marc Lepine sells pre-reservation tickets online for his six-seat, 20-by-10-foot restaurant, Thru, a month in advance. Last summer, they sold out in 78 seconds – for the whole month. Thru is one of a handful of recently opened micro-restaurant concepts.

Tightening credit standards challenge CRE industry

Commercial  •  Bisnow

COVID-19 is making it increasingly difficult for CRE investors to access capital, especially for new construction, which financial institutions see as risky during the best of times. Borrowing costs are on the rise, as banks ratchet up their credit standards.

Residential construction to resume in Quebec

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  Montreal Gazette  •  CBC

Quebec is reopening residential construction over the coming days but under tighter operational restrictions as it expands its list of essential services in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

National home prices to remain stable in 2020

Residential  •  Canada Newswire

According to the Royal LePage House Price Survey and Market Survey Forecast released today, the aggregate price of a home in Canada is expected to remain remarkably stable through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Will resale house prices drop by 10% in 2020?

Residential  •  Bullpen Research blog

Those that work in the residential housing industry, current homeowners, and prospective home buyers are all wondering, what will happen with real estate prices? Is there a major crash coming? Will we see major mortgage defaults?

Canmore housing corp. cuts rent by 25%

Residential  •  Globe and Mail  •  Globe and Mail

The town-owned housing corporation in Canmore, Alta., has cut rent prices by 25 per cent to offset the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in a region where the tourism-dependent economy has been hit particularly hard.