B.C. speculators pour into Calgary

B.C. speculators pour into Calgary

British Columbia real estate developers are betting big on a Calgary recovery, spearheading the biggest speculative plays in Alberta’s biggest city. The gambles are taking place while nearly a fifth of Calgary’s downtown office towers have gone dark, condo starts have fallen 60% in the past year and residential foreclosures have soared 30% from two years ago.

Business in Vancouver

U.S online sales shatter records on Cyber Monday

It’s no coincidence that this week’s Cyber Monday, now officially the biggest single sales day in e-commerce history, follows the largest roll out of regional fulfillment centers since 2012 by the dominant online retailer, Amazon.com, with 26 warehouses added to the giant internet seller’s global distribution network since Sept. 30 alone.

CoStar Group

Caisse and DP World partner up for shipping port investments

Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is teaming up with marine terminal giant DP World to invest in shipping ports around the globe, starting with two hubs on Canada’s West Coast. To begin with, DP World is selling stakes in its two Canadian port assets to the Caisse.

Globe and Mail – Canada Newswire – Financial Post

Toronto’s Pearson Airport wants to be a mega-hub

Canada has long been an afterthought for the global aviation market, an out-of-the-way destination with taxes and fees so high that some five million Canadians a year trek across the border to fly out of cheaper U.S. airports. But Air Canada and the Greater Toronto Airports Authority are determined to flip that view on its head.

Montreal Gazette

Former Montreal Children’s hospital officially sold

The former Montreal Children’s Hospital has officially been sold to a buyer that had previously hinted about using the site for a future baseball stadium. This comes just over a year after the company, only known as 9333-8580 Québec Inc., won the bid following a formal public tender process.

CBC

L’Équipe Spectra partners with Telus to revamp Metropolis

Say hey to M Telus. That’s what the popular concert venue Metropolis will become known as in May. L’Équipe Spectra, which has operated Metropolis since 1997, had been looking for a partner with deep pockets to help refurbish the building.

Montreal Gazette

Vancouver to probe fee break to real estate developer

The City of Vancouver has launched a probe into why a developer received a $1.5-million discount on construction fees even though it didn’t qualify for the break. City manager Sadhu Johnston said the city made a mistake and has launched an audit to find out how Onni, the developer, received the deep discount under the city’s Rental 100 plan.

CBC

Carling Building site for Civic Campus: hospital, politicians

The Ottawa Hospital and local politicians say they’ve reached a compromise on the location of a new Civic Campus. Officials said Friday morning that the new hospital would be built on the site of a former federal office complex, the Sir John Carling Building, on the eastern edge of the Central Experimental Farm near Dow’s Lake.

Ottawa Business Journal – CBC – Ottawa Citizen

Starbucks: Schultz to step down as CEO

Starbucks says CEO Howard Schultz, who transformed the chain into a global coffee brand, is stepping down from that role at the chain that he joined more than 30 years ago. Kevin Johnson, who was named president and chief operating officer last year, will become chief executive as of April 3.

The Chronicle Herald

Colliers Names New Head of US Brokerage Ops

Colliers International has quietly promoted one of its senior managers to president of its U.S. brokerage operations.
Martin Pupil, who previously served as president of the Colliers West Region, was promoted this week to the top position of president of U.S. brokerage for the global commercial real estate services company.

CoStar Group

JLL tops inaugural ‘JUST 100’ list for real estate

JLL (JLL-N) today was named America’s Most JUST Company in the real estate industry, according to JUST Capital and Forbes magazine’s inaugural “JUST 100 List.” The list ranks U.S. publicly traded companies that perform best on workplace and ethics issues that Americans care most about.

Marketwired

Small towns unlikely to benefit from infrastructure bank

Finance Minister Bill Morneau is suggesting that small municipalities won’t see much, if any, benefit from the federal government’s proposed new infrastructure bank. The bank, to be launched next year, is intended to attract billions in private investment for public infrastructure projects.

Daily Commercial News

TransLink urged to reveal costs of megaprojects

Property tax and fare hikes are on the way after Metro Vancouver mayors and the TransLink board rubber-stamped a $2 billion expansion funding package on November 23. To pay for more buses and a new SeaBus, and to increase SkyTrain and WestCoast Express frequency, fares and taxes will increase.

Business in Vancouver

Brookfield in talks to buy India’s Bharti Infratel

Brookfield Asset Management Inc. has entered exclusive talks on a takeover of Bharti Infratel Ltd., India’s largest listed wireless tower owner, after submitting a bid valuing the company at about $11-billion.

Globe and Mail

Trump team revives talk about privatizing Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac

Call it an early Christmas present for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Treasury Department, Steven Mnuchin said the two housing finance agencies should not be under government control.

CoStar Group

Market Trends and Research

Quebec blows past Alberta as Canada’s job hotspot

Quebec’s unemployment rate fell to the lowest on record last month while Alberta’s surged to a two-decade high, underlining the swing in Canada’s economic momentum through the recovery from an energy crash. Joblessness in the mostly French-speaking province fell to 6.2 percent in November from 6.8 percent in October.

Bloomberg

Real Estate Investment Trusts

American Hotel Income Properties REIT LP completes hotel acquisitions

American Hotel Income Properties REIT LP (HOT.UN-T) completed acquisition of a portfolio of six branded, select-service hotels in the U.S. for an aggregate purchase price of US$61.0 million excluding approximately US$10.6 million for brand-mandated property improvement plans and closing costs.

Marketwired

Restaurants and Eateries

	RENX 2017 media kit now available
	A blended ad program, take-over advertising, writing services and a second weekly edition of Property Biz Canada in 2017. Advertising that reaches thousands of professionals in the commercial real estate industry every business day. Contact sales@renx.ca, 1-855-569-6300

 

Renovation and Restoration

Incentives needed to design accessible buildings: Rick Hansen

Canada’s Man in Motion Rick Hansen says creating a program for celebrating and certifying accessible buildings — patterned on one that certifies buildings for environmental design — could encourage building designers to create more inclusive spaces. And a report released Friday suggests a large number of Canadians agree.

CBC

Other

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