Molson site sale could transform Montreal neighbourhood

Molson site sale could transform Montreal neighbourhood

The Molson Coors brewery in Montreal has been making beer at its current site, on Notre-Dame Street East along the St. Lawrence River, for more than 200 years. After announcing last summer that the company would be moving its operations to the South Shore by 2021, the land and facilities of North America’s oldest brewing company are officially for sale.

CBC – Montreal Gazette – CTV

Sears Holdings files for bankruptcy

Sears Holdings (SHLDW-Q), the 125-year-old national retailing icon that defined how – and where – America shopped for more than a century, filed for bankruptcy protection Monday. It is the latest move in a wretched saga of what was once the most dominant and respected U.S. retailer. The Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based parent of Sears, Sears Auto and Kmart stores said it would keep stores open as it attempts to reorganize operations.

CoStar Group – Business Insider – Bloomberg

U Store It Canada a pioneer in self-storage industry

A 140,000-square-foot five-storey building is rising right beside the busy central corridor through St. Albert, a well-to-do suburban community north of Edmonton. Nestled among the big-box Costcos and other retail chains on St. Albert Trail, in close proximity to high income residential neighbourhoods, U Store It Canada Ltd.’s highly visible building represents the new image of the self-storage industry.

Property Biz Canada

Aspen’s Scott Hutcheson: Developer, athlete, Olympic bid leader

The roots and passion for real estate began at a young age for Scott Hutcheson and his brother Blake. Today, Scott Hutcheson is executive chair of Aspen Properties in Calgary and chair of the Calgary Olympic Bid Corporation for the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics and Blake Hutcheson is president of OMERS.

Property Biz Canada

Vancouver 2018 CRE sales second only to record 2017

Commercial real estate investment activity in B.C. involved more than 100 deals and a total of $3.04 billion in the first half of this year, according to Avison Young’s mid-year investment report. That total is the second-highest ever in terms of deal numbers and dollar volumes, the brokerage firm said. The B.C. record for investment sales came in the first half of 2017, which involved 109 deals worth $5.09 billion.

Vancouver Sun

Tight Vancouver office market sends companies to Broadway

Triple-A office vacancies in Vancouver continued to decline in the third quarter. Preliminary numbers from Cushman & Wakefield (CWK-N) indicate a dramatic drop in the city proper from four to 1.4 per cent during the period, with the downtown core tightening slightly from 2.7 to 1.7 per cent. With so little space available in the core, tenants have looked to the Broadway corridor and beyond, where absorption totalled 202,188 square feet.

Business In Vancouver

Fraser Valley becomes favoured investment destination

The selection of Surrey for a massive new distribution centre comes as no surprise to industrial real estate professionals on both sides of the Fraser River. “Surrey has the greatest amount of industrial space under construction in Metro Vancouver, at approximately 1.05 million square feet,” noted Andrew Rojek, manager of market intelligence, Western Canada, for Colliers International (CIGI-T).

Western Investor

R2, Gillam partner on first crowd-funded deal in Ontario

Private equity firm R2 and construction management company Gillam Group have partnered on a north Toronto infill development R2 believes will be the first crowd-funded real estate deal in Ontario. “The Avenue Road project is a corner site, across from the LCBO and a Loblaws grocery store, that will be redeveloped from an existing two-storey building into a five-storey mixed-use property . . . ,” said R2 founder/CEO Amar Nijjar..

Property Biz Canada

Wave of growth for Canadian outlet malls slows

Just a few years ago, outlet malls were a beacon of hope in a rocky retail industry. Industry officials were predicting a big rush of new outlet centres – large malls that draw a wide swath of customers with discounted prices. However, after a wave of seven outlet centres were built in Canada since 2013, the segment is showing signs of starting to reach a saturation point.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Property Biz Canada

Walmart Canada spending $175M to improve stores

Walmart Canada (WMT-N) says it will spend $175 million to help upgrade its stores across the country and improve the integration between its e-commerce business and physical locations. The company plans to renovate 23 stores by February 2019. Walmart also plans to make changes to help its online shopping business such as dedicated parking spaces for online grocery pickup and new areas in stores devoted to online orders.

CP 24 Toronto

$80M shape-shifting parkade approved for Calgary’s East Village

An $80-million, shape-shifting, multi-use parkade for Calgary’s East Village has been approved by city council. The Calgary Municipal Land Corporation will build the new parkade at Ninth Avenue and Third Street S.E. for the Calgary Parking Authority. The land is currently used for surface parking lots. The structure will initially provide 500 parking stalls across five levels but also house a creative space “for innovators” called Platform.

CBC

Starlight Capital launches new real assets trust

Starlight Investments Capital LP (“Starlight Capital”) has filed a preliminary prospectus for the Starlight Hybrid Global Real Assets Trust. The trust will invest no less than 60 per cent of the net capital raised into a subsidiary, Starlight Global Real Assets LP, that will hold an actively managed global portfolio of real estate and infrastructure securities, managed by Dennis Mitchell of Starlight Capital, the trust’s investment manager.

Canada Newswire

NorthWest Healthcare files $1B preliminary base shelf prospectus

NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT (NWH.UN-T) announced it has filed a preliminary base shelf prospectus with the securities regulatory authorities in each of the provinces and territories of Canada. The final base shelf prospectus would allow the REIT to offer and issue trust units, debt securities, warrants and subscription receipts, or any combination thereof, having an aggregate offering price of up to $1 billion Cdn.

Canada Newswire

Deadline looms for Blackstone to match Oxford’s Investa bid

U.S. private equity giant Blackstone (BX-N) has four days to match a near-$3.4 billion US takeover bid for Investa Office Fund by its rival Canada’s Oxford Properties Group or give up the chase. The listed Investa fund’s manager handed down the four-day deadline Monday after the Canadian group, the real estate arm of Canadian pension fund OMERS, completed its due diligence and declared its offer binding.

Commercial Real Estate

Sports venues reach outside their walls

Some of the smartest gamesmanship is taking place off the field, as professional and collegiate sports organizations aim to expand the fan experience. Little Caesars Arena, a multi-purpose venue shared by the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings and NBA’s Detroit Pistons, anchors The District Detroit, a 50-block mixed-use development in the heart of the city. The arena’s lower main concourse is positioned at street level.

Building Design & Construction – National Mortgage News – Marketplace.org

Market Trends and Research

U.S. bankers worried about sky-high CRE prices

Janet Yellen recorded the warning a day before stepping down as Federal Reserve chair in February: CRE prices look strikingly high. Her successor, Jerome Powell, flagged it again a month later. Analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. tried in May to put a number on it: Properties may be overvalued as much as 16 per cent. Soon, Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan went on TV, saying some deals looked “frothy.”

Bloomberg

U.S. non-residential construction reaches new high in August

National non-residential construction spending expanded 0.7 per cent in August to its highest level since the U.S. Census Bureau began the data series in 2002, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis. Total non-residential spending stood at $762.7 billion on a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate in August, which represents an increase of 8.4% compared to one year ago.

Building Design & Construction

Saudi buyers snapping up European CRE

Saudi Arabian asset managers have their eyes on European CRE. Sherif Selim, head of global real estate at Saudi Arabian asset management firm SEDCO Capital, said, “Since the British pound weakened against the dollar in 2016, UK assets have become even better value. While London has traditionally been the centre of focus of foreign investment, we believe that there are unique opportunities to be found in regions across the UK.”

Arabian Business

Real Estate Companies

Timbercreek Financial announces up to $20M private placement

Timbercreek Financial (TF-T) announced it intends to complete a private placement offering through the issuance of common shares at a price of $9.22 per share to raise gross proceeds of up to $20 million. The corporation may pay certain finders who are registered dealers a cash commission of up to two per cent of the gross proceeds of the offering.

Globe Newswire

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Check out CAPREIT, Killam and InterRent

Canadian Apartment Properties REIT (CAPREIT) (CAR.UN-T) is the largest by market capitalization of the three REITs listed here at $6.7 billion. Killam Apartment REIT (KMP-UN-T) is focused on the Canadian market. With rising home prices, demand for rental units has been rising and the REIT has been capitalizing on the trend. InterRent REIT (IIP-UN-T) operates properties all over Canada, with a large number in the major centres of Ontario and Quebec.

Motley Fool

Retail

Wilson family sells Kit and Ace

The family of Lululemon founder and billionaire Chip Wilson has sold Vancouver-based fashion chain Kit and Ace to the company’s CEO, George Tsogas, and four other executives for an undisclosed amount. The sale marks the end of a fanciful journey for the Wilsons, who founded the company with one store in July 2014 and went on an expansion spree that saw the company have 700 employees and 61 stores around the world.

Business In Vancouver

Deciem stores reopen after founder/CEO ousted

Deciem stores that had been shuttered for several days reopened on Saturday, after the founder of the so-called “Abnormal Beauty Company” was ousted by an Ontario court ruling. The stores were closed last week by decree of then-chief executive Brandon Truaxe, who announced on Instagram all Deciem operations would be shutting down until further notice, alluding to allegations of criminal misconduct.

Winnipeg Free Press

Cannabis industry news

EPHS set to break ground on 1.2 million-sq.-ft. facility

EPHS Holdings Inc., together with Joint Venture Partner, Merritt Valley Cannabis, today announced its intention to commence work on its expansion plan located in Merritt, B.C. The 56-acre Merritt site is located on industrial properties, has 40MW of low-cost energy immediately available with all required services in place and is zoned for both cannabis and technology infrastructure.

Canada Newswire

Canopy buying U.S. hemp researcher Ebbu for more than $425M

Canopy Growth Corp. (WEED-T) has signed a deal to buy Ebbu Inc., a Colorado-based hemp researcher, in a stock-and-cash deal worth more than $425-million. Under the agreement, Canopy will pay $25 million in cash and issue 6,221,210 shares to Ebbu. The company will also pay up to an additional $100 million if certain scientific-related milestones are achieved within two years of the deal closing.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Canada Newswire

Consumers face slow rollout of cannabis stores in B.C.

Entrepreneurs eyeing Wednesday’s arrival, when Canada legalizes recreational marijuana, are frustrated with delays and government bureaucracy that have combined to ensure B.C. will not have any privately run cannabis stores for months to come. A single British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch-run (BCLDB) cannabis store is slated to open in Kamloops on the day legalization takes effect, and the government has promised to have its e-commerce platform operational.

Business In Vancouver – Business In Vancouver

New Development

New $64M engineering and architecture facilities open at Dal

Dalhousie University celebrated the opening of two new architecture and engineering buildings Wednesday, a $64-million project on the school’s downtown Halifax campus. The facilities on the Sexton campus were paid for by $32 million from the federal government and $32 million in donations from some of the region’s biggest corporations, including $10 million from energy conglomerate Emera and $1.5 million from Irving Oil.

CBC

Infrastructure

New subway extension transforming Vaughan

The recently opened Toronto-York Spadina subway extension is being credited for driving “transformational” growth in downtown Vaughan, though some of the new stations appear to be suffering some early growing pains, according to the latest ridership numbers from the TTC. The line, which opened in December 2017, includes six new stations stretching from Downsview Park to the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre.

CBC

How Alberta built enough roads to reach the moon

Split up all the roads in Alberta, lay them end to end, and you’d have more than enough to reach the moon. From the Peace Country’s sleepiest range road to Calgary’s bustling Deerfoot Trail, add it all up and nearly a quarter of Canada’s total roadway is in Alberta — some 473,000 kilometres of single-lane equivalent, in total. 

CBC

Other

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