Canada’s office sector well-placed to survive pandemic: JLL CEO

RENX  Commercial  •  Office  •  Metro Vancouver, Calgary, Greater Montreal, Toronto / GTA, Edmonton, Ottawa

There is never a good time for a pandemic, but JLL Canada chief executive officer Alan MacKenzie says things could be a lot worse for the office markets in six major Canadian cities.

Lachance, Fonds FTQ buy Montreal office tower

RENX  Commercial  •  Office  •  Greater Montreal

Lachance Immobilier and the Fonds immobilier de solidarité FTQ have partnered to acquire a vacant 164,774-square-foot class-A office building at 16 Place du Commerce on Montreal’s L’Île-des-Sœurs (Nun’s Island). The two partners intend to redevelop the property.

RioCan ‘taking the gloves off’ with large rent scofflaws

Commercial  •  Bloomberg

RioCan REIT (REI-UN-T) CEO Ed Sonshine said some of its larger tenants aren’t paying their rent, despite likely stronger balance sheets than RioCan itself. Sonshine added it was “largely American” ​tenants, such as Staples, who failed to pay their rent.

Macdonald Block to undergo $1.5B reconstruction

Commercial  •  Daily Commercial News

The heart of the Ontario government civil service’s office is undergoing a massive $1.5 billion deconstruction and reconstruction. Macdonald Block is a complex of five buildings: four office towers called Hearst, Hepburn, Mowat and Ferguson and the Macdonald Block itself.

Economy in Banff has ‘collapsed’

Commercial  •  Edmonton Journal

Normally, tourists would be flocking in droves to the mountain destination — at this time last year, the main concern was finding enough parking spots. Now, Banff streets are eerily quiet and RCMP checkstops occupy the two main entrances to town.

Fort Mac: ‘Devastation on all fronts’

Residential, Commercial  •  Financial Post  •  Toronto Star  •  CBC

Severe flooding on the Athabasca River has submerged much of downtown Fort McMurray, a key city near Canada’s largest oil facilities, exacerbating economic hardship in a region already reeling from natural and economic disasters.

Sponsored by MNP COVID-19 Impact on Landlords and Tenants

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Tenants and landlords say rent-relief plan lacks clarity

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

With May’s rent nearly due, commercial property tenants and landlords are confused over Ottawa’s rent assistance because the scant details about the program have left them unsure of whether they are eligible and for how much.

Data centre market is growing rapidly

Commercial  •  MarketWatch

Two areas of growth for REITs are data centres that are benefiting from cloud-based collaboration and the work-from-home trend, and the rollout of 5G networks. As office leases expire, corporations will have an incentive and opportunity to save a bundle.

Retailers among Canada’s most trusted brands: Study

Commercial  •  Retail Insider

The retail industry in Canada fares very well when it comes to gaining the trust of Canadian consumers during the current COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent survey by Field Agent Canada.

Canadian Amazon employees flag health concerns

Commercial  •  CBC  •  CBC

Physical distancing while working inside an Amazon warehouse can get tricky, especially since the company still tracks workers’ productivity during the pandemic, according to employees in the Greater Toronto Area.

Winnipeg airport’s flight plan anything but clear

Commercial  •  Winnipeg Free Press

The signs are everywhere at the Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport. Signs telling people to stand six feet apart, wear masks when they travel and self-isolate for 14 days when they land. Staff joke there are more signs than people.

Investors to challenge Neiman Marcus bankruptcy loan

Commercial  •  Reuters

An investor group plans to challenge a $600 million financing package Neiman Marcus Group has lined up for its looming bankruptcy, and will push the U.S. department store operator to sell itself, sources said on Sunday.

Major retailers call for uniform reopening plans

Commercial  •  National Real Estate Investor  •  National Real Estate Investor

The top two trade groups representing major U.S. retailers such as Walmart, Target and Best Buy are calling on governors to adopt uniform reopening standards, including allowing warehouses and distribution centres nationwide to reopen all at once, rather than state-by-state.

Google’s pause shows cracks in tech office demand

Commercial  •  Bloomberg

A plan to buy a Silicon Valley campus. An office lease on San Francisco’s waterfront. Space at a building in the heart of Seattle’s tech hub. Google has walked away from those deals recently as it reckons with COVID-19.

World’s biggest banks embrace new breed of offices

Commercial  •  Bisnow

In order to compete with tech companies and improve productivity, new offices being opened by giant financial services firms offer mindfulness spaces, yoga studios, biophilic design and vegan lunch options. Flexibility is key to how, when and where staff work.

ViveRe Communities closes on Oshawa property

Residential  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

ViveRE Communities Inc. (VCOM-X) has completed, for a purchase price of $7,300,000, the acquisition of all the shares of Emma and Albert Development, whose sole asset is the real property located at 75 Emma St., Oshawa, a newly built multi-unit residential property.

COVID-19 could remake transportation networks

Residential, Commercial  •  Toronto Star  •  Globe and Mail  •  CBC

PODCAST: The way people move around and commute in cities has changed, perhaps forever. Transit ridership has plummeted, car traffic is at its lowest point in decades and the need for wider sidewalks seems more urgent than ever.

Crises helped shape modern architecture

Commercial  •  Winnipeg Free Press

Modern architecture was born out of a global health crisis. With tuberculosis crippling European and North American cities in the early 20th century, gleaming white medical facilities called sanitoriums were designed to provide patients access to sunlight and fresh air.

U.S. homebuilders see sales jump as renters flee

Residential  •  CNBC

U.S. home sales nearly ground to a halt at the end of March, as COVID-19 forced an economic shutdown that scuttled open houses and shattered consumer confidence. Now, demand appears to be coming back, especially for newly built homes.