Oak Bay Marine selling resorts

Oak Bay Marine selling resorts

The Oak Bay Marine Group is selling its three Vancouver Island resorts — Painter’s Lodge at Campbell River, April Point Resort and Spa on nearby Quadra Island, and Canadian Princess Lodge in Ucluelet. The properties are being marketed through Colliers International. No asking prices have been made public. The resorts will remain open for business.

Victoria Times Colonist

Yuppie industrial development meets Vancouver demand

A new breed of industrial condo – tricked out with big windows, air conditioning and trendy interiors and selling for up to $1.5 million per unit – is emerging from Vancouver’s aging and shrinking industrial base. “Yuppie industrial” allows technology and service companies to secure quality working space while riding Vancouver’s real estate boom, said PC Urban’s Brent Sawchyn.

Business In Vancouver – Business In Vancouver

Omicron’s Eagle Creek open for business

Just over two years after ceremonial shovels turned the dirt and more than nine years since it was planned, the first commercial tenants have opened their doors at Omicron’s $100 million Eagle Creek Village in View Royal. On Tuesday, Tim Hortons opened for business, with Subway and Coast Capital Insurance set to open today.

Victoria Times Colonist

Sun Commercial scooping up Vancouver CRE

Real-estate investment company Sun Commercial Real Estate has just closed a share-sale deal to buy two low-rise apartment buildings in the West End. Located at 1075 Nelson and 1059 Nelson, they are assessed at $16 million and sold for about $60 million, according to sources. The company is under review by the B.C. Securities Commission for its alleged crowdfunding activities.

Vancouver Sun

Kelowna emerges as technological, economic hub

A new building is emerging in downtown Kelowna that symbolizes the Okanagan Valley city’s transformation into a top technology and economic hub that has started to attract more attention from commercial real estate stakeholders. The Okanagan Centre for Innovation is a 104,000-square-foot facility being built at the corner of Doyle and Ellis streets. 

Vancouver Sun

Tubular design pays off for Allied REIT

Building a cutting-edge office tower perched atop two century-old buildings in Toronto’s core was an unprecedented engineering feat. Persuading potential tenants that the concept was even feasible turned out to be just as large a challenge. Allied Properties REIT (AP.UN-T) wanted the redevelopment to be a landmark.

Globe and Mail

Building a wall of silence around LeBreton Flats

It’s Ottawa’s most important redevelopment project in decades. But for much of the next 12 months – and maybe longer if schedules slip –  the two teams competing to transform bleak, barren LeBreton Flats into a glistening, national-capital-worthy destination won’t be able to breathe a word in public about what they propose.

Ottawa Citizen – Ottawa Citizen – Ottawa Business Journal

Half of global CRE assets are in North America

The value of the world’s real estate is unevenly distributed across the globe with the dominance of real estate in Western economies most noticeable in commercial markets, new Savills research shows. Nearly half of the total asset value resides in North America and more than 25 per cent in Europe while Asia and Australasia contain 22% of commercial asset value.

Property Wire

Merger mania strikes hotel sector

In recent years, Airbnb and its explosive growth, the emergence of the select service sector and the hotel business’ seemingly unending, record-breaking strong performance have been the key topics of concern for owners and investors. Those trends continue to dominate discussions but hotel company consolidation has the industry agog.

Globest.com – National Real Estate Investor – Globest.com

Canada’s Fortis bulks up in U.S. with ITC deal

St. John’s-based Fortis Inc.’s (FTS-T) spooked skittish investors on Tuesday with a premium-priced, $6.9-billion US deal for Michigan-based transmission company ITC Holdings Corp., which will greatly expand its exposure to the American electricity business.

Globe and Mail – Financial Post – Reuters – Bloomberg

Smart REIT perfect for today’s tumultuous times

Many investors are tired of owning stocks that move so aggressively, but at the same time they want potential for capital gains over the long term. There are a select few stocks in Canada that have both criteria, but they certainly exist. Smart REIT (SRU.UN-T), formed in 2015 when Calloway REIT acquired SmartCentres, is one such stock.

Motley Fool Canada

Calgary takes stock of grim landscape: CBRE

A mild chinook is blowing through Calgary. Sunlight floods the Devonian Gardens, a massive indoor tropical park within the CORE, the city’s luxurious marble-and-glass downtown shopping centre. But the mood in the adjacent food court is darker than usual among the office workers who populate the surrounding towers.

Toronto Star

Calgary real estate investment plummets: Barclay Street

As was largely expected, the effects of low-priced oil affected investor sentiment and caused the investment market in Calgary to quiet significantly in 2015. In 2014, $2.66 billion was invested in the office, retail, industrial, multi-residential and ICI/residential land asset classes. That total dropped to approximately $1.5 billion in 2015.

Barclay Street Real Estate Year End 2015 Calgary Capital Markets Analysis

Rise of puffy parkas led to Danier’s downfall

A balmy winter gave Danier Leather Inc. its final push towards initiating insolvency proceedings last week, but the rising popularity of down-filled parkas might have had a longer-term hand in the retailer’s downfall, according to court filings. Founded in 1972 with 84 stores across Canada, the leather goods retailer unsuccessfully attempted to reposition itself in 2013.

Financial Post – Toronto Star

Shuttered Walmarts America’s new normal

In January, 269 Walmarts (WMT-N) around the world closed for good, leading to major sales and empty aisles. The closings affected 154 stores and 10,000 employees in the U.S. With the growth of online shopping, brick-and-mortar stores are becoming a less important part of the retail business.

Business Insider

Featured Column

The project sales team is your secret weapon

For years now, in the real world outside planning documents, timelines and spreadsheets, the disconnect between sales and marketing has been pronounced and dysfunctional. If you can fix this in your project, it will be your secret weapon.

Read more

Why pay ‘full value taxes’ on land you can’t use?

In theory, it’s pretty simple — a property’s assessment is based on its size, attributes, intended usage and local market conditions. But sometimes, a property has restrictions placed on what it can be used for. The most common are of course municipal zoning — e.g. residential versus commercial purposes, height restrictions and the like.

Read more

Market Trends and Research

Volatility, risk a concern to investors: CMLS

CMLS Financial, one of Canada’s largest, independently owned mortgage services companies, has released its latest Commercial Mortgage Commentary, an in-depth analysis of the commercial mortgage market in Canada. Among other issues, The February commentary highlights the availability of commercial mortgage credit in light of ongoing market volatility.

Marketwired

Real estate equity funds lead way over 15 years

The past decade and a half seem to have been quite unkind to most Canadian equity fund investors, and even worse to those invested elsewhere. Three of the five top-performing fund categories — real estate equity (8.9 per cent), alternate strategies (6.9 per cent) and long-term fixed income (6.8 per cent) — comprised only 11 funds.

Financial Post

Chicago CRE sales soared to new high in 2015

Investors dropped a record amount of money on Chicago-area commercial properties last year, a mark that will be hard to break in 2016. Sales of office, industrial, retail, apartment and hotel properties hit $22.64 billion in 2015, up 44 per cent from 2014, according to Real Capital Analytics, a New York-based research firm.

Crain’s Chicago Business

Real Estate Companies

Douglas Emmett to buy four L.A. office towers

Douglas Emmett (DEI-N) Tuesday revealed for the first time publicly it will acquire a four-tower, 1.72 million-square-foot office portfolio in the Westwood district of Los Angeles for $1.34 billion US, or $779 per square foot. DEI did not name the seller in confirming the deal for the first time in an 8-K fourth-quarter and 2015 year-end earnings document.

CoStar Group

CalPERS acquires NYC office tower

CalPERS has completed one of the biggest real estate investments in its history, purchasing a New York office tower for $1.9 billion. The pension fund confirmed Tuesday it has bought the 50-storey Manhattan office building, the deal emblematic of its focus in recent years on purchasing real estate properties already generating revenues.

Sacramento Bee‎ – IPE Real Estate

Jamestown buys stakes in NYC towers

Jamestown LP, a real estate company whose holdings include Manhattan’s Chelsea Market, bought 49 per cent stakes in two Madison Avenue office buildings, demonstrating an appetite for the market at a time when deals may be slowing. The properties involved are 750,000-square-foot 200 Madison Ave., and 870,000-square-foot 63 Madison Ave.

Bloomberg

Chubb boosts coverage for N.A. clients

Less than a month after Swiss insurance giant ACE Ltd. acquired Chubb Corp. in the biggest insurance industry deal in history, the company — which retained the Chubb name — has expanded its offerings and capacity for U.S. and Canadian CRE owners and managers and tapped Michael Chang to lead the Real Estate & Hospitality Practice.

Commercial Property Executive

REOC Financial Reports

Latest reports:

* Boston Pizza Royalties, (BPF.UN-T), Marketwired 

* Mainstreet Equity Corp., (MEQ-T), Canada Newswire

* Whistler Blackcomb Holdings Inc., (WB-T), Winnipeg Free Press

REIT Financial Reports

Latest fourth-quarter reports:

* CREIT, (REF.UN-T), Marketwired

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Sustainability expectations must be managed: Kilroy exec

Sara Neff,  vice-president of sustainability at Kilroy Realty Corp. (KRC-N), touched on sustainability missteps companies should look to avoid. One is capital projects, such as lighting retrofits and controls upgrades. Neff explained it’s easy to get overly enthusiastic about such projects and forget there is a commissioning process.

reit.com

Office REITs had an underwhelming 2015

While residential-focused REITS like AvalonBay Communities and Equity Residential saw double-digit returns mirrored by positive stock price performance last year, their office counterparts such as SL Green Realty (SLG-N), Vornado Realty Trust (VNO-N) and Boston Properties (BXP-N) had difficulty coming up with the goods.

The Real Deal

Retail

RONA to open five new stores

RONA inc. (RON-T) today announced the opening of three new Réno-Dépôt stores in Quebec (Boucherville, Trois-Rivières and Valleyfield), along with two new RONA stores (Saint-Félix-de-Valois, Que., and Moose Jaw), and the expansion of two existing RONA stores which are being converted into big-box stores (Saskatoon and Châteauguay).

Marketwired

Staples wins EU approval for Office Depot buy

Staples Inc‘s (SPLS-Q) proposed takeover of Office Depot Inc (ODP-Q) has been approved by European regulators after the U.S. office supplies retailer agreed to sell some of the European operations of its smaller rival. The approval comes two months after the U.S. antitrust regulator filed a complaint to block the $6.3 US-billion deal on concerns it would reduce competition.

Reuters – Montreal Gazette – Chain Store Age

Sears Holdings to speed up closing of unprofitable stores

Sears Holdings Corp (SHLD-Q) estimated quarterly sales below analysts’ expectations, citing unseasonably warm weather and intense competition, and said it would speed up closure of at least 50 unprofitable stores in the next few months. The struggling retailer’s shares fell 3.4 per cent to $16.16 in light premarket trading on Tuesday.

Reuters – Montreal Gazette – MarketWatch

Restaurants and Eateries

Elgin Street makeover on the menu

While many would say he’s joining an Elgin Street restaurant scene in the midst of upheaval, Joshua Bishop believes he’s arriving right on time for a revival. The co-owner of The Whalesbone on Bank Street says his new location, slated to open this spring on Elgin Street, is just one more addition to a restaurant district evolving for the better.

Ottawa Business Journal

New Development

Edmonton Galleria supporters push ahead

Supporters are pushing ahead with work on the proposed downtown Edmonton Galleria arts and culture development, but there’s still no word on whether the $850-million project will receive crucial government support. The Edmonton Downtown Academic and Cultural Centre Foundation has hired an architect to create concept designs.

Edmonton Journal

Regina’s Fairfield Inn and Suites set to open in fall

An ill-starred south-end hotel project that appeared to be heading for the wrecking ball has been a given new lease on life by a joint venture made up of the original developer of the Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriott and a local real estate investment company, YQR Ventures Hotel and Resorts Inc.

Regina Leader-Post

Calgary Legion redevelopment approved

Despite concerns from some residents, council unanimously approved redevelopment of the Kensington Legion through a deal that could save the struggling branch and provide a new model for “asset-rich, cash-flow poor” legions across Canada. The redevelopment would include a four-storey office building and a separate eight-storey condominium with retail outlets.

Calgary Herald

Renovation and Restoration

NAC officially breaks ground on ‘rejuvenation’

Ottawa’s National Arts Centre officially broke ground on a major facelift Tuesday, kicking off a renovation that’s due to be finished in time for July 1, 2017 – Canada’s 150th birthday. The $110-million architectural rejuvenation will include a dazzling new entrance on Elgin Street that will change the face of Confederation Square.

Ottawa Business Journal – CBC News – Ottawa Citizen

Heritage designation sought for Ottawa hotel complex

Ottawa Council’s planning committee has already signed off on the demolition and replacement of a Centretown hotel and office complex, but the work could be held up by a new attempt to protect the 40-year-old structures with a heritage designation. Morguard Corp., (MRC-T) wants to replace the existing structures with a 27-storey modern hotel and a 23-storey condo building.

Ottawa Citizen

Infrastructure

Algonquin Power buying Missouri utility company

Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (AQN-T) plans to buy the Empire District Electric Co., (EDE-N) a Missouri-based utility, in an all-cash deal valued at US$2.4 billion, including debt. Under terms of the friendly deal, Liberty Utilities, a subsidiary of Oakville, Ont.-based Algonquin, will pay US$34 per share for the company, while assuming US$900 million in Empire debt.

Financial Post – Bloomberg

Human Resources

Brixmor execs resign after accounting review

Three top executives for shopping centre owner Brixmor Property Group Inc. (BRX-N) have resigned and former DDR Corp. chief executive Daniel Hurwitz has taken over as CEO following the company’s disclosure of an internal accounting review showing that Brixmor’s financial results were allegedly manipulated to make quarterly results more consistent.

CoStar Group

Other