Office park for sale in Richmond, B.C.

Office park for sale in Richmond, B.C.

A prominent business park in Richmond, B.C., that includes 13 buildings and 700,000 square feet of office space is for sale. Sun Life Financial (SLF-T)  has enlisted CBRE to sell the Airport Executive Park situated around Shellbridge Way in Richmond. Listed in early July, the business park comprises 13 campus-style office buildings on 31 acres of land. Jim Szabo, CBRE’s vice-chairman, capital markets, declined to disclose the asking price.

Vancouver Sun

Canada running out of industrial CRE: CBRE

Canada is not just running out of residential real estate in its key markets — the country’s commercial and industrial real estate is also filling up quickly. Availability of industrial property across the country fell to a historically low level of 3.9 per cent in 2018, while supply tightened in eight of the 10 major commercial real estate markets, according to CBRE Group Inc. (CBG-N), a real estate services and investment firm.

Financial Post – Montreal Gazette

Cadre, partially owned by Kushners, opens Toronto office

Cadre, an online startup which makes commercial real estate investments, recently expanded into Canada through the opening of a Toronto office focused exclusively on software product development. The Canadian office of the fintech firm is strictly for research, engineering, and product development and “we are not raising money or signing deals in the area,” says Raj Singh, director of product and head of Canadian operations at Cadre.

Property Biz Canada

Sunray Group buys Delta Toronto East Hotel property

Sunray Group has won the bidding for the highly coveted Delta Toronto East Hotel and development property after a court-ordered wind-up of the assets of previous owner Tarn Financial Corporation. “There was a tremendous amount of interest in the property from local, regional, national and international investors,” said Robin McLuskie, managing director of hotels for Colliers International, which was retained by KPMG as court-appointed liquidator of Tarn Financial.

Property Biz Canada

Vancouver condo towers putting hotel rooms at risk?

Years of constructing residential buildings has created a shortage of hotel rooms Tourism Vancouver warns could put jobs and the industry at risk. Vancouver city council approved new recommendations to permit three plots of land in downtown along Smithe Street and Davie Street to be redeveloped to include hotels.

Toronto Star – Globe and Mail

First Zibi restaurants, retail to open in 2019

As work continues on turning a derelict 37-acre former industrial site on the Ottawa River into a new mixed-use community, the developers behind the project say they expect Zibi’s first commercial tenants to start moving into their units this fall. In a project update on Tuesday, the developers behind the massive redevelopment sketched out a rough timeline for the completion and occupancy of Zibi’s first buildings.

Ottawa Business Journal – Ottawa Citizen

WiredScore releases design guidelines

WiredScore, the company behind an international standard for rating digital connectivity in commercial buildings, has released the Wired Certification Guidelines for Commercial Developments and Redevelopments – Canada. The guidelines for designing buildings to meet the best-in-class standards for connectivity and telecommunications infrastructure has been localized to address the nuances of the Canadian telecommunications landscape.

Construction Canada – Property Biz Canada

Officials break ground on Gordie Howe International Bridge

The sigh of relief was nearly audible as a dozen shovels held by political and project leaders simultaneously hit the soil Tuesday during a ceremonial groundbreaking in Detroit for the long-awaited Gordie Howe International Bridge. “Today, we celebrate an arduous planning process and finally the beginning of construction,” said Michigan Department of Transpiration director Kirk Steudle. Planning for the government-backed Windsor-Detroit bridge was initially launched in 2001.

Windsor Star – Canada Newswire

Downtown Montreal office space availability stable

In its Real Estate Market Research study published Tuesday, Devencore announced availability rates for all office classes in downtown Montreal have been stable over the past year. During the current quarter they stand at 12.2 per cent.  The study also notes the average gross rent for all office classes is currently $34.46 per square foot, up from $32.79 a year ago.

Globe Newswire

Apartments remain crowd favourite for investors: Morguard

The overall pace of Canadian CRE transactions slowed in the second quarter of 2018, but the dip in volume has nothing to do with demand for assets, according to the latest research report issued by Morguard Corporation (MRC-T). “A drop in transaction volume in the second quarter is very much a function of low product availability rather than a drop in demand,” said director of research Keith Reading.

Canada Newswire

AY to buy European real estate company

Avison Young will use a new, $250-million investment by Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), Canada’s second-largest pension fund manager, to purchase a European real estate services company, CEO Mark Rose said Tuesday. The European acquisition is likely to be announced by the end of the month, said Rose, who declined to indicate the European company’s name or the size of the deal.

Bloomberg – Property Biz Canada

Ivanhoé, Hines to begin latest Houston skyscraper

Hines, in partnership with Ivanhoé Cambridge, is proceeding with plans to build a million-square-foot skyscraper on the former site of the Houston Chronicle building in downtown Houston, a plan that would add to the skyline of the fourth-biggest U.S. city. The prominent Houston-based international developer said it will move its own headquarters to the 47-storey tower once the project is complete, agreeing to a 15-year lease for 155,000 square feet.

CoStar Group – Hines media release

Cushman & Wakefield to buy Irish affiliate

Global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield is acquiring the remaining stake in Sherry FitzGerald Group’s commercial property business in Ireland, adding more than 100 professionals, as well as offices in Dublin, Limerick and Galway. The cost of the planned deal was not released but Cushman & Wakefield expects it to close in early September.

CP Executive

CMHC pushes for better income checks to catch fraud

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. has asked the country’s tax authority to take a “more direct and formal role” verifying income claimed on mortgage applications, part of a two-year plan to tackle mortgage fraud, documents obtained by Reuters show. Unlike tax authorities in the United States and the United Kingdom, the Canada Revenue Agency does not verify income for lenders, even with taxpayer consent.

Reuters

China’s property investment growth weakest in six months

China’s property investment posted its weakest growth in six months in June as developers faced fresh curbs and tighter funding conditions, with sales also slowing, in a sign one of the economy’s key drivers was losing steam. Growth in real estate investment cooled to 8.4 per cent in June year-over-year, compared with a 9.8 per cent rise in May, according to Reuters calculations.

Reuters

Featured Column

Time can be a killer for CRE transactions

There is nothing worse than putting a CRE transaction together that gets mired in a lengthy conditional period with no end in sight. Whether it’s a court-ordered sale, or a deal that continually seems to get extended, time kills deals that take too long.

Read more

Market Trends and Research

Edmonton industrial area businesses frustrated

After more than 35 years, it’s time for the city to pave the Winterburn industrial area’s “deplorable” roads and provide other necessary services, the president of the local business group says. “We’re living within the city limits, but without high-grade roads, no transit service, no sewer, no water, no sidewalks, no nothing,” said Brad Abel, head of the Winterburn Business Association.

Edmonton Journal

Real Estate Companies

Urbanfund closes on sale of Kitchener properties

Urbanfund Corp. (UFC-X) confirmed it has closed the sale of 48 Weber Street, 61 Roy Street and 65 Roy Street in Kitchener, Ont., for a total sales price of $7,300,000. In July 2015, Urbanfund commenced a real estate project through Weber Investments Limited Partnership to purchase and renovate properties in Kitchener. As of the date of closing, Urbanfund’s capital contributions were approximately $2,250,000, representing approximately 90% of the total equity in the Limited Partnership.

Globe Newswire – Property Biz Canada

VICI Properties shells out $508M for Las Vegas hotel

VICI Properties (VICI-N) has completed the $507.5-million purchase, subject to a leaseback agreement, of the Octavius Tower at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The purchase, from Caesars Entertainment Corp., used available cash. Caesars will continue to operate Octavius Tower under the terms of an existing ground lease until the Caesars Palace Las Vegas lease is amended to incorporate the Octavius Tower ground lease.

CP Executive

Blackstone expected to launch global fund this year

Blackstone (BX-N) is expected to come to the market with its latest global real estate fund this year, according to a potential investor. A board meeting report from the Los Angeles Water & Power Employees’ Retirement Plan (WPERP) reveals the pension fund is considering making a commitment to the fund. Blackstone Real Estate Partners IX would be the latest in a line of global opportunity funds.

IPE Real Assets

REOC Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

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

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Agellan leases Illinois office property to Aldi

Agellan Commercial REIT (ACR.UN-T) announced it has entered into a lease with Aldi Inc. at the REIT’s Naperville, Ill., office property for approximately 113,000 square feet at current market rental rates. Aldi is expected to occupy approximately 80% of the approximately 141,000 square feet of space the REIT previously announced would be surrendered by Health Care Service Corporation. Aldi’s lease will commence on Jan. 1 and have a term of 10 years.

Business Wire – Property Biz Canada

Should you buy H&R and Cominar?

Diversified REITs, including H&R (HR-UN-T) and Cominar REIT (CUF-UN-T), have a real estate portfolio of different asset types, such as retail, office, and industrial, from which they generate cash flow. However, are the REITs good buys right now? H&R recently sold 62 U.S. retail properties for about US$620 million; one more grocery-anchored centre is under contract to be sold for US$12.6 million.

Motley Fool – Property Biz Canada

Retail

Walmart, Microsoft partner to use cloud tech

Retail giant Walmart Inc (WMT-N) said Tuesday it entered into a strategic partnership with Microsoft Corp (MSFT-Q) for wider use of cloud and artificial intelligence technology, in a sign of major rivals of Amazon.com Inc (AMZN-Q) coming together. The five-year agreement will leverage the full range of Microsoft’s cloud solutions, including Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365, to make shopping faster and easier for customers, the Bentonville Ark.-based company said.

Reuters

Cannabis industry news

Aphria expands to South America, Jamaica

Aphria Inc. (APH-T) says it’s preparing to expand its cannabis business into South America and Jamaica by acquiring a subsidiary of Scythian Biosciences Corp. for an undisclosed price. The Ontario-based company says it will establish a presence in Colombia and several other countries by acquiring several companies through the purchase of Scythian’s LATAM Holdings Inc.

Toronto Star

New Development

Red River College’s $95M innovation centre underway

After receiving federal assurances that its funding is now secure, Winnipeg’s Red River College will begin construction this week on its $95 million Innovation Centre. RRC president and CEO Paul Vogt said Tuesday the college has received word from the prime minister’s office, Manitoba cabinet minister Jim Carr and the Western Diversification Office $40.6 million in federal funding is firmly in place.

Winnipeg Free Press

Other

	RENX has surpassed 10,460 Twitter followers
	Recent follower NAIOP Calgary is the city’s chapter of the leading organization for developers, owners & related professionals in industrial & mixed-use real estate.
	Follow RENXca, the most comprehensive news feed on Twitter for Canadian real estate professionals.