Portfolio repositioning pays off for BTB REIT: Léonard

RENX  Commercial  •  Office, Industrial, Retail  •  Greater Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City

A move started four years ago to reposition its portfolio is paying dividends for BTB REIT (BTB-UN-T) during the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing economic uncertainty, CEO Michel Léonard told analysts during its Q2 2020 financial results conference call.

A sector-by-sector analysis of Canadian CRE: Altus

RENX  Commercial  •  Hotels and Resorts, Office, Industrial, Technology, Investment, Retail  •  National

Accelerated evolution in all commercial real estate sectors, especially in technology and work-from-home strategies, was a key theme during an Altus Group webinar. Ray Wong offered a sector-by-sector update of the pandemic’s impact on Canadian CRE markets.

Van.’s new downtown office towers on track

Commercial  •  Business In Vancouver

Vancouver’s downtown office market has hit some serious headwinds but industry analysts expect all 15 of the planned new office towers – some not yet under construction – will complete by 2024. The towers will total five million square feet of new office space.

KingSett, Quadrangle plan 30-storey residential tower

Residential  •  Urban Toronto

Proposed to climb 30 storeys beside the Crosstown LRT’s Fairbank Station, a residential tower conceived by KingSett Capital and Quadrangle aims to capitalize on one of the largest transit expansions in Toronto history.

U.S. office vacancy rate to hit 20% in 2022: Moody’s

Commercial  •  Business Wire

Moody’s Analytics projections show the U.S. office vacancy rate rising to 19.3% in 2020 before surpassing the 1991 record high of 19.7% to reach 19.9% in 2021 and 20.0% in 2022. Effective rents are also expected to fall by 10.4% nationally in 2020 — including as much as 21% in New York.

CEO Phillip Burns tells ERES’ story

Residential, Commercial  •  Canada Newswire

PODCAST: TMX Group client service specialist Omar Khafagy discusses ERES REIT (ERE-UN-X), Canada’s only European-focused, multiresidential REIT, with CEO Phillip Burns.

Sponsored by Snaile Carrier companies and COVID-19: How do social distancing guidelines affect office deliveries, and what’s the solution?

As thoughts turn towards a return to work in a post-COVID-19 lockdown world, one of the key concerns is elevators. Elevators are confined spaces in which social distancing is difficult. This means their capacity must be limited . . .

Teachers’ invests in warehouse robotics firm

Commercial  •  CBC  •  TechCrunch  •  BetaKit

Attabotics, a Calgary-based firm that bases its warehouse robotics system on the structure of ant colonies, says it has attracted US$50 million in funding from a group led by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board.

Plaza’s Mississauga Square reaching final height

Residential  •  Urban Toronto

Plaza‘s Mississauga Square, the latest addition to a spine of residential density coalescing along Hurontario Street in Mississauga in advance of the Hurontario LRT, is approaching its final height. The Turner Fleischer Architects-designed tower will be 33 storeys.

Montreal hotels are empty; gov’t offers no solutions

Commercial  •  La Presse

In July, the occupancy rate in downtown Montreal hotels was just 9.8 per cent, compared to 83.5% year-over-year, according to the Association des Hôtels du Grand Montréal (AHGM). The average price per room also fell from $220 in July 2019 to $137.25.

Lanterra updates condo-hotel-retail proposal

Residential, Commercial  •  Urban Toronto

Lanterra Developments has submitted updated plans for Glenhill Condominiums, a nine-storey mixed-use project and public park at 2788 Bathurst St. The IBI Group-designed mid-rise project would include residential units, hotel suites, and retail space at grade.

Winnipeg’s impact-fee decision presents opportunity

Residential, Commercial  •  Winnipeg Free Press

OPINION: In early July, the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench declared impact fees not within the City of Winnipeg’s legal jurisdiction, and ordered that the money collected be refunded to developers. The judgment is a very important opportunity.

New Château Laurier design evidence of failed system

Commercial  •  Ottawa Citizen

OPINION: After nearly four years, we have a proposal for the addition to Fairmont Château Laurier that has met Heritage Ottawa’s approval. Is it a truly outstanding design that will be a jewel in the parliamentary precinct crown? No.

GWO subsidiary Empower closes Personal Capital acquisition

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire

Great-West Lifeco Inc. (GWO-T) announced Colorado-based subsidiary Empower Retirement has completed the previously announced acquisition of Personal Capital. Empower acquired Personal Capital for up to US$1 billion in enterprise value, including US$825 million on closing.

Bankers fear impact of COVID-19 on CRE, industrial

Commercial  •  PR Newswire

U.S. bankers are most concerned about the impact of the novel coronavirus on commercial real estate and industrial  lending, according to the latest survey of top bank executives by Promontory Interfinancial Network.

Proptech taking off in Chinese real estate

Commercial  •  Mingtiandi

Growing cooperation between real estate companies and technology firms is boosting adoption of technology in China’s property sector as demand grows for big data, cloud computing and Internet of Things solutions, according to a report by JLL.

Better density key to residential design: Quadrangle

Residential  •  REMI Network

“As city builders, we have a tremendous opportunity to learn from this (COVID-19) experience and make positive changes to the way we design our residential buildings that extend beyond limiting the spread of infectious disease,” says Quadrangle’s Dev Mehta.

COVID-stricken T.O. neighbourhoods have more evictions

Residential  •  Toronto Star

As Ontario’s eviction moratorium has lifted, new research shows that the Toronto neighbourhoods where tenants have faced the highest eviction filing rates in recent years mirror those where COVID-19 has hit hardest.

Seniors lodge expansion to include affordable housing

Residential  •  Daily Commercial News

The Parkview Seniors Lodge expansion development in Newcastle, Ont., is on the receiving end of $2.6 million in funding from the Ontario government to provide seniors at risk of homelessness in Durham Region affordable housing options.

Saskatchewan cottage sales double YOY

Residential  •  Western Investor

Saskatchewan cottage sales have risen dramatically in this pandemic summer, according to Saskatchewan Realtors Association CEO Jason Yochim. Every month but January and April saw an increase in sales. June sales numbers were up 102 per cent year-over-year.