BGO acquires 50% of Waterfront Innovation Centre

RENX  Commercial  •  Office, Retail  •  Toronto / GTA

BentallGreenOak is expanding its relationship with Menkes Developments at major downtown Toronto properties, acquiring a 50 per cent interest in the Waterfront Innovation Centre. The 475,000-square-foot office and retail development on Toronto’s east waterfront is scheduled for occupancy in 2021.

Feds seek developer for 1.6M-sq.-ft. Ottawa project

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Office, Homes, Retail  •  Ottawa

The federal government seeks a developer to design, build and manage a 1.6 million square foot office/mixed-use development for up to 8,000 workers in East Ottawa. It’s a kilometre from another five-acre mixed-use redevelopment site recently purchased by two private developers.

‘Pent-up demand’ will carry industrial CRE

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial  •  National

Industrial real estate was a top-performing asset class backed by strong fundamentals until the COVID-19 pandemic hit. However, the consensus from an April 24 Canadian Real Estate Forums webinar is the sector will emerge from the crisis in good shape.

Developers try new ways to sell condos

Residential  •  Globe and Mail

As real estate activity slows down due to COVID-19, sellers of pre-construction condominium apartments are finding the old reliable methods to shift units just don’t work. To carry on, developers are trying everything from virtual sales centres to price guarantees.

Small landlords bear brunt of chaotic rental scene

Residential  •  Western Investor

Retail Council developing reopening framework

Commercial  •  Retail Insider

The Retail Council of Canada is working with Boston Consulting Group to develop a framework for the retail industry to prepare for the eventual reopening of stores across the country when the COVID-19 crisis is finally over.

Loblaw reports sales spike

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail  •  Canada Newswire  •  Reuters

A surge in demand at grocery stores and pharmacies accounted for $751 million in additional sales in the first three weeks of March for Loblaw Companies (L-T). The unusual level of demand provided a net earnings boost of 14 cents per share.

Starbucks to reopen as many stores as possible in May

Commercial  •  Toronto Star  •  MarketWatch  •  Reuters

Starbucks (SBUX-Q) plans to reopen as many of its Canadian stores as possible between now and the end of May, the company announced this week. Provincial bans on in-room dining remain in place.

Ottawa’s historic Magee House on market for $3.2M

Residential, Commercial  •  Ottawa Citizen  •  OttawaMatters

Ovidio Sbrissa has put his “castle in the sky” in Hintonburg on the market, deciding the historic Magee House is probably a goner. The $3.2-million asking price is the market valuation on the land without the building, he said.

Vancouver to open 2 of 3 civic golf courses Friday

Commercial  •  CBC  •  Vancouver Sun  •  Vancouver Is Awesome

You can’t touch the flag sticks, and high-fives, fist bumps and handshakes are definitely out. However, golfers will get to tee it up for the first time in 2020 when Vancouver opens two of its three city-run golf courses on Friday.

Cominar collects 88 per cent of office rent

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

Cominar REIT (CUF-UN-T) has collected approximately 88% of billed office gross rent for April including payments from government tenants payable at the end of the month. Cominar has received rent deferral requests representing approximately eight per cent of office gross rent.

REIT first-quarter financial results

Commercial  • 

Morguard North American Residential REIT, (MRG-UN-T), Canada Newswire

Simon prepares to reopen 49 U.S. properties

Commercial  •  CNBC

Simon Property Group (SPG-N) is preparing to open 49 of its malls and outlet centres  across the U.S., as states such as South Carolina and Georgia start to reopen during the coronavirus pandemic, according to an internal memo obtained by CNBC.

U.S. CRE ready to return to the office

Commercial  •  Bisnow

Cushman & Wakefield‘s (CWK-N) Joseph Lising is ready to get back to work. “I feel like I’m ready now,” said Lising, a managing director of retail in Irvine, Calif. “It was a good break. I’m itching to restart the engine overall.”

Strong U.S. CRE firms to take over whole new markets

Commercial  •  MarketWatch

OPINION: The world of commercial real estate is getting turned upside down by the coronavirus pandemic. There’s likely to be a lot of pain that will result in a new landscape of companies and different business models.

Credit to emerge as favoured Asian investment asset

Commercial  •  IPE Real Assets

Real estate credit is expected to emerge as the favoured investment asset post the COVID-19 pandemic as debt offers a more defensive strategy for investors where underlying credit exposure was secured by an asset.

Banks expected to tighten home equity access

Residential  •  Reuters

Canadian banks are expected to tighten access to home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) when coronavirus-linked government assistance programs end in a few months, as lenders seek to limit credit to already stretched borrowers, industry watchers said.

Suburban homes outselling downtown T.O. condos

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

COVID-19 has brought a strange reversal to the Toronto-area real estate market: houses in the surrounding suburbs and cities are selling more briskly than condo units downtown. “Nobody is selling downtown,” says Re/Max Hallmark Bibby Group Realty’s Christopher Bibby.

Short-term rentals in for the long haul

Residential  •  Globe and Mail

Travellers may be postponing or cancelling upcoming reservations, but they haven’t lost faith in short-term rentals. 3BNB owner Maksym Halenda says occupancy rates are around 80 per cent thanks to marketing to longer-term guests and people in a housing transition period.

Quebec to start reopening May 4

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

Hundreds of thousands of Quebec workers will be going back to jobs at factories, constructions sites and stores in May in an economic relaunch the province’s public health officials warn will come at a cost of illness and death.