Feds readying rehab of Gatineau complex

Feds readying rehab of Gatineau complex

Public Works is looking to hire an architectural firm to help it draft plans for a major overhaul of the country’s largest federal office complex so that it no longer poses a health and safety risk to its occupants or nearby pedestrians.

Ottawa Business Journal

Claridge plans five residential towers for Ottawa

Claridge Homes’ vision for completing its LeBreton Flats development calls for a bustling, high-density Ottawa neighbourhood with shops, cafés and plenty of green space hugging the picturesque aqueduct running through the area west of downtown. At the centre there are five residential towers, including one of 55 storeys, which would make it one of the highest in the city.

Ottawa Citizen – Ottawa Business Journal

Gupta hoping to build 50-storey condo towers in Vaughn

The CN Tower defines Toronto’s skyline. For now, roller-coasters define Vaughan’s . . . for now, anyway. Real estate developer Steve Gupta is hoping to build condo towers, stretching 51 and 53 storeys tall, in an area that will soon be the city’s downtown core. Other new buildings are already springing up in the same area — dubbed the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre by city planners.

CBC

CBRE acquires technology startup

CBRE, the world’s largest commercial real estate company, made an interesting acquisition last week. The mega property development, management, and financing firm purchased Floored, a technology startup focused on interactive 3D imaging. 

Forbes

Dozens of bank branches to shutter

Canada’s vast network of bank branches will shrink in 2017, with dozens of locations closing as institutions cut costs and invest billions in technology as more customers migrate online. Banks aren’t giving up on branches just yet – many existing locations will be overhauled.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

City Office REIT nears milestone

Over the years, a number of REITs based on foreign assets have found a welcoming market in Canada. City Office REIT (CIO-N) has gone the other way: it’s based in Vancouver, it’s listed on the NYSE, and while all of its assets are in the U.S, it does have some Canadian shareholders.

Financial Post

Whole Foods cancels Alberta openings

A plan to quadruple its Canadian presence to 40 stores has hit a snag for Whole Foods Market (WFM-Q), which has confirmed it will not proceed with planned openings in Calgary and Edmonton. The gigantic American natural and organic foods supermarket chain has five stores each in the Vancouver and Toronto areas, one in Ottawa and another in Victoria.

Toronto Star – Edmonton Journal – Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Metro News

Devastated HBC’s CRE plans may be on hold

Hudson’s Bay Co. (HBC-T) shares were pummeled Tuesday after the department store retailer scaled back on its 2016 fiscal outlook for the second time since November, falling as much as 13 per cent and hitting an all-time low since going public in 2012.

Financial Post – Globe and Mail – The Motley Fool

Gildan wins American Apparel auction

Canadian apparel maker Gildan Activewear Inc. (GIL-T) said Tuesday it had won a bankruptcy auction to buy U.S. fashion retailer American Apparel LLC for about $88 million in cash. Gildan’s Toronto-listed and U.S.-listed shares rose more than three per cent in morning trading, hitting their largest intraday percentage gain in nearly two months. 

Globe and Mail – Montreal Gazette – CBC

Freshii sets sights high for IPO

Freshii Inc., the health-food restaurant chain, aims to sell shares for $8.50 to $10 apiece in its Canadian IPO, according to regulatory filings. Freshii and investors including Jaxii Holdings LLC, plan to raise as much as $109 million.

Bloomberg – Globe and Mail

Druxy’s opens three new delis

Druxy’s Famous Deli, providing fresh eating experiences since 1976, announced the opening of three new delis; two in Toronto at 77 Bloor Street West and 2 St. Clair Avenue East, and one in Barrie Ontario at 55 Mulcaster Street.

Marketwired

How lenders can sidestep the mortgage rules

Canada’s subprime mortgage providers are increasingly teaming up with unregulated rivals to sidestep rules designed to clamp down on risky lending. The result of these partnerships are so-called “bundled” loans, which pair a primary mortgage with a second loan from unregulated groups called Mortgage Investment Corporations (MICs).

Financial Post

Mainstreet Health Investments appoints White CEO

Mainstreet Health Investments Inc. (HLP.U-T) announced Scott White has been appointed to the position of chief executive officer. White had been serving as the president and chief operating officer of the company where he was responsible for the day-to-day operations and overall strategy.

Canada Newswire

Brunel to leave Ivanhoe for Gecina CEO role

Meka Brunel has been appointed chief executive of French property company Gecina. Brunel, head of Europe at Ivanhoé Cambridge will replace Philippe Depoux, Gecina’s chief executive since April 2013. Brunel has been president of Europe at Ivanhoé Cambridge since 2009. She has been on Gecina’s board since 2014.

Real Estate IPE

Trump son-in-law named senior adviser

Jared Kushner, New York real estate developer and son-in-law of President-elect Donald Trump, has been named senior adviser to the president. The post has focused attention on Kushner’s myriad potential conflicts of interest, including a Chinese development deal that’s in the works.

Multifamily Executive – The Guardian

Market Trends and Research

Canadian ports expect higher volume in 2017

Some of Canada’s largest ports are anticipating a stronger year for the transportation of cargo. The Port of Montreal says a new cargo terminal should again bolster volumes, which grew 10 per cent in 2016 to a record 35.2 million tonnes. The Ontario ports of Hamilton and Thunder Bay are expecting increased shipments of steel and wheat, respectively.

Montreal Gazette

Ottawa retail resurgence in store for 2017

After a flurry of activity in 2016 that saw the CF Rideau Centre unveil a $360-million expansion and Costco (COST-Q) open a new outlet in Barrhaven, the Ottawa retail sector is set to experience steady if unspectacular growth over the next 12 months, a prominent analyst predicts.

Ottawa Business Journal

Ottawa businesses eagerly await military invasion

Business owners near the new Department of National Defence headquarters in Ottawa’s west end are looking forward to a surge in business with the pending arrival of a big employer. Nortel left the sprawling Carling campus in 2009. The federal government bought the 150-hectare site in 2010 and 8,500 workers are expected to be relocated there beginning this week.

CBC

REOC Financial Reports

Real estate could be portfolio multivitamin

Ask a financial adviser to tell you the key to investment success, and most will say diversification. What about real estate? The approximately two-thirds of Canadians who own their own homes are already real estate-rich, says Kevin Macleod, Money Advisor Wealth Management financial planner.

Globe and Mail

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Agellan Commercial a REIT with growth

Agellan Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust (ACR.UN-T) offers investors an attractive yield of more than seven per cent. In addition, given its focus on U.S. CRE, the rising value of the greenback is a positive for the REIT. The unit price is just below the level required to appear on the positive breakouts list.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

AHIP completes acquisition of Embassy Suites

American Hotel Income Properties REIT LP  (HOT.UN-T) announced the completion of its previously announced acquisition of two Embassy Suites by Hilton hotels located in Dallas, Texas and Tempe, Ariz., for an aggregate purchase price of US$57.6 million.

Marketwired.com

NorthWest provides portfolio update

NorthWest Healthcare Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (NWH.UN-T) Tuesday provided a portfolio update in respect of recent developments at both of its Australasian affiliates, Generation Healthcare REIT (ASX:GHC) and Vital Healthcare Property Trust (NZX: VHP) as well as acquisition activities in Germany and completion of accretive deleveraging in Brazil.

Canada Newswire

RioCan REIT announces public offering of unsecured debentures

RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust  (REI.UN-T) has reached an agreement to issue to the public $300 million principal amount of Series Y senior unsecured debentures. The Debentures will carry a coupon rate of 2.83% and will mature on October 3, 2022.

Marketwired

Retail

What to make of store stock meltdown?

The current meltdown in major department-store stocks reverses what had actually been a pretty good run for names such as Macy’s Inc. (M-N) and Kohl’s Corp., (KSS-N) which had seen their shares rise robustly from the depths of pessimism in early 2016.

Globe and Mail

Nordstrom Rack to open in Mississauga

Seattle-based Nordstrom, Inc. (JWN-N) Tuesday announced plans to open a Nordstrom Rack at Heartland Town Centre in Mississauga. The approximately 35,000-square-foot store is scheduled to open in fall 2018. The property is owned and managed by Orlando Corporation. The new Nordstrom Rack at Heartland Town Centre will join Costco, Loblaws, Marshalls, Winners, H&M and more.

Canada Newswire

Saskatoon neighbourhood sees huge CRE assessment increase

Retail commercial property owners and Riversdale residents of Saskatoon will see the greatest changes in their property assessment values this year. Retail commercial properties saw the biggest increase in value, rising by 57 per cent overall in this assessment. The same sector saw the smallest overall average increase when the last reassessment was carried out four years ago.

CBC

Calgary business owners urge action

Two Calgary entrepreneurs are urging other small business owners to pressure politicians to ease taxes and levies as they endure the “worst recession” in decades. “This is easily the worst recession we have seen since 1982,” said Jim Wright, the owner of Wheel Pro’s. Wright said six of his commercial customers closed their doors in the last year.

CBC

New Development

Ex-engineer saw ‘nothing out of the ordinary’ during mall inspection

Former engineer Robert Wood was expected to face more questioning today in connection with the deadly 2012 Elliot Lake mall collapse that killed two women and injured more than a dozen others. “I saw absolutely nothing out of the ordinary,” Wood told court Tuesday.

CBC

Opinion: Signs point to punishing lumber duties from U.S.

The B.C. Liberals put up a brave front last week when the Americans issued a preliminary finding of guilt against Canadian lumber imports for harming U.S. producers. “These are allegations that, time after time, have been proven false,” declared the statement Friday from Forests Minister Steve Thomson.

Vancouver Sun

Infrastructure

Bombardier-Alstom consortium seal French train deal

A Bombardier (BBD.B-T) and Alstom consortium has won a French train contract estimated to be worth $1.62 billion Cdn, the companies and French authorities said on Wednesday. Alstom and Bombardier had been the only bidders left after rival CAF dropped out last year.

Reuters

International

U.S. CRE construction activity expected to moderate

The Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) forecasts a slowdown of growth in the U.S. commercial and industrial construction industries in 2017 due to rising commodity prices and potential further interest rate increases this year.

CoStar Group

Human Resources

CPPIB’s CFO set to retire

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is readying for a change to the senior management team as its chief financial officer prepares to retire. Benita Warmbold, who also held a senior managing director title, will exit the fund in June of this year.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Indigo announces CFO’s pending departure

Indigo Books & Music Inc. (IDG-T) announced the forthcoming departure of Laura Carr, the company’s chief financial officer, who will be returning to the U.K.for personal reasons. Heather Reisman, Indigo CEO, has appointed Craig Loudon, Indigo’s senior vice-president, Business Finance, to the position of interim CFO, effective Feb. 9.

Canada Newswire

Hi-Rise Capital appoints Kraft CEO

Hi-Rise Capital Ltd., a mortgage broker and administrator focused on funding high quality real estate development projects in the Greater Toronto Area, announced today it has appointed Michael Kraft as chief executive officer. Kraft brings capital markets and mergers and acquisitions expertise to Hi-Rise from his distinguished career in investment banking.

Canada Newswire

Wal-Mart rolling back its workforce

Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT-N) plans to cut hundreds of jobs before the end of January, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer plans to eliminate jobs at its headquarters and regional personnel that support stores, according to the report.

Reuters – Fortune

Technology

Amazon changes pricing practices; pays penalty

Amazon.com.ca Inc. (AMZN-Q) will pay a $1-million penalty and $100,000 towards the Competition Bureau’s costs as part of an agreement resolving the Bureau’s concerns with the online retailer’s pricing practices on its Canadian website. Amazon often compared its prices to a regular price — or “list price” — signalling attractive savings for consumers. 

Canada Newswire

The Uber-ization of the Canadian economy

Living in Singapore a few years ago, Drew Currah had a tough time finding tradespeople. He moved to Edmonton and, along with some friends, developed Trade Pros — a mobile phone app that allows people to post their repair and renovation jobs and contractors to bid on them. 

CBC

Other