Delta industrial development fills Greater Van. need

Delta industrial development fills Greater Van. need

As Metro Vancouver’s industrial vacancy rate sinks to nearly two per cent, or lower in some markets, Tsawwassen First Nation (TFN) and its development partners are at work on one of the region’s newest industrial parks taking shape near Deltaport. GWL Realty Advisors together with the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) are constructing the first building of the 57-acre Delta iPort section of TFN’s Deltaport Logistics Centre.

Vancouver Sun

Avigilon’s sale yanks potential anchor from Vancouver tech sector

Avigilon Corp. (AVO-T) earlier this month became the latest Vancouver tech company to let some air out of the balloon in the region’s efforts to develop more anchor companies in the innovation space. Motorola Solutions Inc.’s (MSI-N) announced it would pay US$1 billion in an all-cash deal to acquire the B.C. company. The past year has been especially notable for the high-profile exits among Vancouver tech companies.

Business In Vancouver – Property Biz Canada – National Post

Devimco to build $500M Montreal Metro development

UPDATED: Montreal-based Devimco Immobilier will plan and develop a $500-million mixed-use urban living space at the Longueuil-Université-de-Sherbrooke Metro station. The transit-oriented development will cover an area of one million square feet and will be built above the existing Metro station, as part of the City of Longueuil’s $3 billion Centre-Ville redevelopment.

Property Biz Canada

Montreal’s Carbonleo lays out Royalmount mega-project

Carbonleo’s massive Royalmount mixed-use mega-project, which it plans to build at the busy intersection of Highways 15 and 40 in the heart of Montreal, will include 3.6 million square feet of commercial space. To be built on an 85-acre site, the project will feature nearly 200 stores, 1.5 million square feet of office space, five hotels, a public square and a number of entertainment choices.

Property Biz Canada – Montreal Gazette

Six projects that are reshaping downtown Edmonton

For a couple of decades leading up to the mid-1990s, Edmonton seemed to be a living laboratory for everything you could do to kill downtown. Poor zoning decisions, protracted chaos during light-rail construction and the rise of the West Edmonton Mall sucked the life out of the area around the Jasper Avenue core. Signs of a new orientation were visible by 2008.

Globe and Mail – Property Biz Canada

In Edmonton, good things come in mall packages

Edmonton is the festival city, the gateway to the North, home to the Alberta Legislature. It is also a shopping mall mecca. For years, part of Edmonton’s identity went hand-in-hand with the behemoth retail centre in the city’s west end. When West Edmonton Mall opened in 1981, it was the biggest indoor shopping mall in the world. And it just kept growing. 

CBC

Choice Properties forges new path with acquisition of CREIT

Choice Properties REIT (CHP.UN-T) has set itself on a course of redevelopment, diversification and expansion with its $6 billion purchase of Canadian REIT’s (REF.UN-T) sizeable portfolio of assets. The real estate arm of retail giant Loblaw (L-T), George Weston Limited  (WN-T) and the Weston family announced the acquisition on Thursday. It will create Canada’s largest diversified REIT with an enterprise value of more than $15 billion.

Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Motley Fool

Enwave expands Toronto thermal energy system to The Well

Enwave Energy Corporation has teamed with Allied Properties REIT (AP-UN-T) and RioCan REIT (REI-UN-T) to build a thermal energy storage facility under The Well mixed-use development in Toronto’s downtown west. “We have a number of unique types of deals with this thermal battery concept, but this is first one we’ve done in Toronto,” said Enwave East Region president and chief operating officer Carlyle Coutinho.

Property Biz Canada

Design work underway on Ontario’s high speed rail route

The Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) has begun preliminary design work on a proposed high speed rail (HSR) route. To date, the MTO has commissioned a Special Advisory Report and Preliminary Business Case which are now complete. The Provincial Government is investing $15 million in a comprehensive environmental assessment (EA), projected to begin in the spring of 2018.

Avison Young media release

JLL completes sale of 17-building U.S. MOB portfolio

JLL’s Capital Markets experts Tuesday announced the company completed the sale of an institutional-quality, multistate medical office portfolio known as the PHT portfolio. JLL represented the seller, Toronto-based Bentall Kennedy, on behalf of a state pension fund. Heitman LLC, a global real estate investment management firm, acquired the 17-building, 1.4 million-square-foot portfolio on behalf of an affiliate of Heitman. The purchase price was not disclosed.

PR Newswire – Columbia Business Times

Apple’s new spaceship campus has one painful flaw

The centerpiece of Apple Inc.’s (AAPL-Q) new headquarters is a massive, ring-shaped office overflowing with panes of glass, a testament to the company’s famed design-obsessed aesthetic. Unfortunately, since it opened last year employees keep smacking into the glass. Surrounding the building, located in Cupertino, Calif., are 45-foot tall curved panels of safety glass. Inside are work spaces, dubbed “pods,” also made with a lot of glass.

Bloomberg

Firm Capital acquires $41.8M in U.S. multi-family

Firm Capital American Realty Partners Corp. (FCA-U-X) has acquired a multi-family residential portfolio in Irvington, N.J., comprised of seven different properties and 189 units in total for approximately $22.5 million Cdn.  The company is also under contract with a partner, subject to customary closing conditions, for the acquisition of a multi-family residential property in Houston, comprised of 12 buildings and 235 apartment units for approximately $19.3 million.

Globe Newswire

Northwood buys HNA’s NYC office tower for $305M

Northwood Investors has purchased 1180 Ave. of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan for a reported $305 million. The 23-story, 386,921-square-foot building, along “Corporate Row” in the Plaza District, includes 13,679 square feet of ground-floor retail. The seller was Chinese conglomerate HNA Group, which had bought the building in 2011 for $259 million from the Carlyle Group. 

CP Executive

Old post offices have a timeless allure

The United States Postal Service moved out of its long-time main post office in downtown Chicago in 1997, but ideas for remaking the Art Deco behemoth never gained traction. The huge building sat vacant, a far cry from the time when workers could sort up to 35 million letters a day. Now, 601W Companies is taking a crack at reviving it.

Globe and Mail

Investors still aren’t worried about natural disaster risks

It was 11 p.m. on a Friday when Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas. Anxious investors watched as record rainfall flooded Houston businesses, and 10s of thousands of residents fled their homes in boats. When the rain stopped, investors started calling Caldwell Cos. president and CEO Fred Caldwell, whose company invests, manages, brokers and develops residential and commercial real estate throughout the Greater Houston area.

Bisnow

Market Trends and Research

Closing of Alberta Spitz plant latest sign of U.S. investment shift

Tom and Emmy Droog parlayed a small sunflower crop at their southern Alberta farm into the famous Spitz brand, built the well-known snack business over more than two decades, and sold the company to PepsiCo Inc. in a private multi-million-dollar deal 10 years ago. PepsiCo (PEP-Q) will soon close the 53-employee Bow Island, Alta., facility Droog founded in favour of production in the U.S.

Globe and Mail – CBC – CBC

Seattle rents for offices soaring

It’s not just housing prices: Seattle is not the bargain it used to be for companies, either. The city’s recent boom driven by Amazon and other tech companies has propelled Seattle up the ranks of the nation’s most expensive places to rent an office, passing Chicago and Los Angeles just in the last three years.

Seattle Times

What’s the CRE strategy for ultra-high-net-worth investors?

Investment managers Paul and Wesley Karger view themselves as financial confidants for ultra-high-net-worth families and individuals. You might call them money whisperers for the well-off. The twin brothers — who previously handled investments for high-net-worth clients at UBS — launched Boston-based TwinFocus Capital Partners LLC in 2006 to serve clients with balance sheets totaling at least $100 million. 

National Real Estate Investor

Mexican investors focus on South Florida

In the last two months, Diego Arnaud of Aventura-based DA Luxury Realty has spotted a noticeable increase in sales activity among his clients from Mexico, who account for nearly all of his business. Several have just purchased multimillion-dollar units at the Ritz-Carlton Residences in Sunny Isles Beach and at Prive at Island Estates in Aventura, the broker-owner said.

The Real Deal

Real Estate Companies

Kitsilano Anglican Church for sale for $12M

The Anglican Church has decided to sell St. Mark’s in Kitsilano where no Anglicans have worshipped for five years. St. Mark’s Anglican at 1805 Larch sits on three lots with a 150-foot frontage along West 2^nd. Total square footage of the corner site is 17,700 sq. ft. The asking price is $11,998,000 according to a listing for Colliers International. Rev. Richard Leggett said the diocese has a number of vacant properties.

Vancouver Province

Pacific Mall takes measures to combat imitation goods

Pacific Mall management announced Tuesday they will be conducting an internal investigation and sending warnings to store owners following the U.S. Office of the Trade Representative’s annual review of so-called “notorious markets.” The review listed the Markham-based mall as one of the most notorious sources of pirated and counterfeit goods in the world.

Toronto Star – CBC – Canada Newswire

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REIT Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* Dream Industrial REIT, (DIR-UN-T), Globe Newswire 

* Slate Retail REIT, (SRT-U-T), Globe Newswire

* Summit Industrial Income REIT, (SMU-UN-T), Canada Newswire

Retail

Home Depot profit, sales top estimates again

Home Depot Inc’s (HD-N) profit beat market estimates for the sixth straight quarter on Tuesday as more shoppers visited the No.1 U.S. home improvement chain and spent more on average amid an improving housing market. The company raised its quarterly dividend by 15.7 per cent, which along with the strong results helped send its shares up 1.2 per cent to $189.18 in trading before the bell.

Reuters – Bloomberg – Canada Newswire

Competition Bureau reaches settlement with Leon’s, the Brick

The Competition Bureau says it has reached an agreement with Leon’s Furniture Ltd. and the Brick Ltd. regarding allegations of deceptive marketing practices. As part of the settlement, Leon’s and the Brick have agreed to each donate $750,000 worth of home furnishings over two years to charities. The regulator alleged in July 2013 the retailers’ “buy now, pay later” promotions often resulted in customers paying more than advertised.

Financial Post

New Development

Citrus trees inspired performing arts centre design

The orange may no longer be the socioeconomic driver of the City of Anaheim, but its former importance has not been forgotten. Take, for example, the design of the new $500-million Anaheim Performing Arts Center (APAC). SPF:architects studied the trunks, root structures, and leaves of orange trees, and even the skin of oranges, to draw inspiration for the project.

Building Design & Construction

Other

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