First Capital ponders future of massive SW TO site

First Capital ponders future of massive SW TO site

A few decades ago, the backdrop to the Christie’s bakery tower as seen from the Gardiner Expressway was the water of Lake Ontario. Today, looming large behind the bakery’s iconic water tower is a phalanx of condo buildings. And soon, those condos may be moving a little closer. The bakery was shuttered in 2013 and with it, 550 jobs were lost. Immediately, speculation began about the 27-acre property’s future.

Globe and Mail

Menke’s gamble on Parq Vancouver hit the jackpot

On a brilliant late-June afternoon, Scott Menke strides through the posh lobby of Vancouver’s Rosewood Hotel Georgia. “What’s up?” asks the co-founder and CEO of Paragon Gaming as he extends a hand. At first glance, his aquiline gaze appears haughty, but don’t mistake the tall American’s confidence for condescension.

BC Business

Feds should increase private-sector leasing, CRE execs hear

The Government of Canada is the largest occupier of office space in Ottawa and Gatineau, so Keith Radford had a rapt audience when he discussed its future plans during Tuesday’s 2017 Ottawa Real Estate Forum. Radford, the assistant deputy minister, Real Property Branch, Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), had a lot to talk about.

Property Biz Canada

Kanata office sector rebounds as Ottawa tech hub

For most of the past 15 years — ever since Nortel began hemorrhaging jobs — the morning rush hour traffic in Kanata has largely been outbound, heading into downtown Ottawa or other parts of the region. Office buildings had floors of unused space. That’s changed in the past few years. Both office space and talent are scarce in the Kanata tech park.

Ottawa Citizen: Part I – Ottawa Citizen: Part II

Ericsson to close $1.3-billion Vaudreuil facility

Less than a year after it opened following a $1.3-billion investment, Ericsson’s data facility in Vaudreuil-Dorion will close, the company announced. “I’m very disappointed in the situation,” Mayor Guy Pilon wrote in a statement issued by the city. “I am very confident that we will welcome another internationally renowned company and we will make every effort in our power to do so.”

Montreal Gazette – Global News

Tour des Canadiens 3 condo tower launches in Montreal

The Montreal Canadiens are having trouble scoring goals but the team has scored a hat trick when it comes to branded condominiums. The close-to-$150 million Tour des Canadiens 3 condominium development has been launched near the Bell Centre in downtown Montreal, the third condo tower in the proposed $2 billion Quad Windsor venture.

Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

Barrick hopes to strike gold with B.C. ski resort

Is there gold in the hills above Hope? Barrick Gold Corp. is floating the idea of turning an old nickel mine in the area into a year-round recreational playground called the Giant Nickel All Season Resort. It would include a ski hill and gondola and restaurants that grow their own vegetables. The 10-run ski hill in terms of vertical drop would fall between Whistler Blackcomb and Sun Peaks.

Vancouver Sun

Canadian bids for Amazon headquarters face long odds

If senior executives at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters had never heard of Bradford, Innisfil or West Gwillimbury before, the little Ontario towns have put themselves on the radar screen with a surprise joint bid to become home to the online retailer’s second global headquarters. The communities located in Simcoe County north of Toronto are definitely a long shot.

Globe and Mail – CBC – CBC – Global News

HBC CEO Storch steps down; Baker to resume role

The CEO of Hudson’s Bay Co. will leave the company and return to his consulting firm next month, the company says — less than two months after he helped bring the Canadian department-store chain to an international market. Gerald Storch, who joined the Toronto-based retailer in January 2015, will return to Storch Advisors effective Nov. 1, the company said in a statement.

Toronto Star – Reuters

Walmart ramps up self-checkout

When Laura Schnurr tried out scan and go at Walmart in Ancaster, Ont., she was immediately hooked. The new technology allows customers to scan and tally up their items while shopping, saving them time at checkout. “When I go up to the checkout, it’s just bing, bang, boom, I’m done,” Schnurr said. “I am addicted.”

CBC

Turning the corner on Winnipeg’s Isabel Street

An area on the edge of downtown Winnipeg that hasn’t seen a major new development in years has suddenly become a mini beehive of activity. Two new developments are underway just a few steps from the corner of Notre Dame Avenue and Isabel Street. One is the construction of a new 5,000-square-foot flagship store for Independent Jewellers.

Winnipeg Free Press

Victoria developer Piercy dead at 81

Clive Piercy, owner of the Chateau Victoria, never looked upon himself or his businesses as anything but opportunities to help. Piercy died at home on Oct. 17, just months after being diagnosed with cancer. He was 81. After he earned a commerce degree, he entered the mortgage business before going into property development in the 1970s and 1980s. 

Victoria Times Colonist

High-tech ‘sports districts’ seen as winning strategy

Live-action sports are finally coming to Las Vegas, which until recently was one of the largest major U.S. markets without a major-league sports franchise. Wednesday, MGM Resorts International announced it purchased the WNBA’s San Antonio Stars and will move the team to Las Vegas, joining the Golden Knights NHL franchise, which makes its debut this season. 

CoStar Group

U.S. online retail sales likely to surpass $1T by 2027: FTI

U.S. online retail sales will surpass $1 trillion by 2027 compared with $445 billion this year, according to a forecast by business advisory firm FTI Consulting Inc, as more Americans move away from brick-and-mortar stores. Online sales will grow at a compound annual rate of 12 percent through 2020 and at a relatively moderate nine per ent over the next decade, according to the report released Tuesday.

Reuters

CRE investors shun Brexit Britain

European real-estate investors say they’re turning away from the U.K. commercial-property market in favour of countries including Germany and Spain, worried by high prices, low supply and political uncertainty. A survey of 148 investors by broker Knight Frank found less than 12 per cent rated Britain as their preferred medium-term investment target, down from 16 per cent a year ago.

Bloomberg – IPE Real Estate

Market Trends and Research

Could data be the new oil in Calgary?

The City of Calgary thinks it can engineer a rebound by transforming Canada’s energy capital into a high-tech hub. And the owner of the Edison building is trying to attract those tenants to the city’s core. “We were targeting what we were thinking was the future…” says Scott Hutcheson, of Aspen Properties, in between shooting hoops in his blazer and brogues.

CBC

CRE trends: Tech, demographics, policy to converge

“Venturing guesses about the future is always a risky business—more so when innovative concepts stem from inventors, owners and investors who advocate on their behalf and promote them, sometimes to the point of hype.” The new report commissioned by Capital One and prepared by MIT’s Center for Real Estate nonetheless does place some bets on what lies in store for the industry.

GlobeSt.com – GlobeSt.com – CP Executive

Movie theatre skepticism breeds net lease opportunity

The net lease marketplace is as crowded as ever. The specialty entertainment industry, specifically movie theatres, has proved an interesting sub-sector that has left the net leased investor landscape divided about the long-term viability of the concept at large.

CP Executive

The value of real estate in new economy retailing

In the new economy, the value of retail real estate will be defined by its ability to meet the needs of a retailers’ omni-channel sales strategy. The implication for landlords is the need for both a significant repositioning of existing assets and less demand for physical real estate. For investors, the best assets will benefit from extremely high demand.

CP Executive

Real Estate Companies

Calgary’s Bird Construction settles into new nest

Moving his Calgary staff into a new office at 59th Avenue and 11th Street S.E. is piece of Ian Reid’s journey in the construction industry. Reid, the vice-president and Calgary district manager of Bird Construction, joined the company in 1989 after graduating from SAIT as a journeyman carpenter. He quickly rose through the ranks to a superintendent’s role working on a University of Lethbridge expansion.

Calgary Herald

Timbercreek announces proposed merger of funds

Timbercreek Investment Management Inc. announced its intention to merge Timbercreek Global Real Estate Fund into Timbercreek Global Real Estate Income Fund. Timbercreek Global Real Estate Fund is a closed-end investment fund managed by Timbercreek. Timbercreek Global Real Estate Income Fund is an open-end mutual fund also managed by Timbercreek. Both funds have similar investment objectives and strategies.

Marketwired

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Retail

Survey: Canadians prefer shopping in-store

A survey conducted for BMO Capital Markets suggests Canadians overwhelmingly prefer shopping in store to ordering online. The bank asked Canadians if they would consider buying different products in five categories from Canadian Tire, Walmart or Dollarama. The 1,200 surveyed overwhelmingly preferred to buy items from a physical retail location, as opposed to online in every category.

Canadian Grocer

Analysis: The end of high-end department stores

There once was a time when large and diverse creatures freely roamed the land, only to fall into extinction, Of course, I’m talking about high-end department store chains. The most recent case is Sears Canada, whose life is coming to an end after an Ontario court recently approved the company’s request to liquidate, meaning roughly 130 remaining stores are shutting down and 12,000 people are out of work.

Charlottetown Guardian – CBC – Reuters

Restaurants and Eateries

The Cheesecake Factory to open first Canadian location

Cheesecake lovers near Toronto should save their appetites for Nov. 21 when The Cheesecake Factory will open the doors at its first Canadian location. The U.S. chain, which serves dozens of different kinds of cheesecake, announced earlier this year it would bring its restaurant to Toronto’s Yorkdale Shopping Centre this fall.

Globe and Mail

New Development

Whitby rail yard nears completion

The new 500,000-square-foot GO Transit Whitby Rail Maintenance Facility is within two months of completion, Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation announced. The facility is on schedule to be completed by the end of 2017 and will include maintenance, repair, cleaning and tracks and storage space for 13 trains, expandable to up to 22 trains. The project is valued at $859.2 million.

Daily Commercial News

Labour shortage spikes U.S. construction costs

The coming year or two could be a momentous time for the construction trades, and therefore the contractors that employ them and, in turn, the developers that hire the contractors. It’s within that time frame that the spikes in construction costs deriving from a chronic shortage of qualified labour could become more acute.

GlobeSt.com

Resorts

Whistler Blackcomb a buy-and-hold success story

Investors in the former TSX-listed Whistler Blackcomb Holdings celebrated an anniversary last week: one year back the company was acquired by the U.S. publicly-listed Vail Resorts in a cash and share offer. Owners were offered $17.50 in cash and 0.0975 of a Vail share — a package worth $36 at the time. The plan of arrangement was completed on Oct. 17. Canadian shareholders received exchangeable shares, which are unlisted.

Financial Post

Technology

France turns to Vancouver in hunt for tech talent

France’s sudden thirst for technology startups and entrepreneurs – spurred in large part by the election of President Emmanuel Macron in May – has its government on a recruiting drive in Western Canada and, more specifically, Metro Vancouver. French officials in Vancouver are taking the opportunity to blitz the local tech market with information on what’s now Europe’s second-largest venture capital market.

Business In Vancouver

Other

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