Five new hotel projects slated for Winnipeg

Five new hotel projects slated for Winnipeg

Manitoba’s hotel industry is about to go through another growth spurt, with at least five new projects underway or in the works for the next few years, a report from Stevenson Advisors says. The projects include the construction of four hotels and the expansion of an existing one to create a dual-hotel property. 

Winnipeg Free Press

Simons focused on culture and people: CEO

Peter Simons is a dream tenant for mall landlords, but it wasn’t always this way. He said there were several years where Simons fashion department store couldn’t find space. Landlords were more interested in large American retailers. “It’s another business model based on purely maximizing capital efficiency, and I get that,” he said. “I read Milton Friedman.”

Financial Post – Edmonton Journal

Downtown Toronto office market remains tight

New office space in downtown Toronto will continue to be hard to come by until the results of the latest major development cycle come to fruition in 2020 at the earliest, according to a new report from Newmark Knight Frank Devencore (NKFD). Nearly 10 million square feet of office space has been delivered to downtown Toronto over the past decade.

Property Biz Canada – CBC – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

Allied Properties buys ‘strategic’ Toronto property

Allied Properties REIT (AP.UN-T) has added another building to a collection of properties in Toronto’s downtown St. Lawrence Market area it calls the “Assembly.” The purchase of 56 The Esplanade complements five other properties Allied owns from 35 to 49 Front St. East.

Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

Toronto’s Port Lands redevelopment faces many hurdles

Rerouting the Don River through brownfield lands that saw their first industrial use more than a century ago is among the hurdles facing Toronto in its quest to redevelop the Port Lands — an 800-hectare parcel of underused waterfront property just east of the city’s downtown. The work, tabulated at $1.2 billion, includes environmental testing and soil remediation.

Daily Commercial News

More Bear Mountain storeys on horizon

Vancouver architect Arno Matis has ambitious plans for the Bear Mountain development near Victoria. Matis has proposed a series of concave towers for the high point at Bear Mountain that could offer 450,000 square feet in what he bills as a “vertical micro-climate resort (VMR) concept.”

Business In Vancouver – Property Biz Canada

New CEO, focus make ROI Land Investments a developing story

Montreal-based ROI Land Investments recently announced new top leadership, a desire to raise the profile of the publicly traded company and a focus on finding new investments, particularly in the U.S. ROI, which trades on an over-the-counter basis, last month appointed German financial executive Martin Scholz as CEO and Stéphane Boivin as COO and a member of the board.

Property Biz Canada

Buffett: ‘I always have been enthusiastic on Canada’

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B-N) came to the aid of Home Capital Group Inc. (HCG-T) last week, signing an agreement to inject up to $400-million in equity into the distressed mortgage company. “It does reflect (a) belief on my part – I’m bullish on Canada. . . .But I do like Canadian investment,” Buffett said. 

Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Motley Fool

Redevelopment of malls means less retail: Colliers

Plans to shut down 59 Sears Canada (SCC-T) locations is grim news for the chain’s landlords across Canada. Anchor tenants — typically big department stores — have always been a critical component of mall design. But the majority of malls were facing a big overhaul even before the severity of the troubles at Sears became clear, according to Colliers International. 

CBC

TransLink seeks retailers to ramp up revenue

TransLink plans to help pay for Metro Vancouver’s transit system by leasing more space to retailers at its rapid-transit stations in the future. The transit-system operator is the landlord to a combined 10,000 square feet of space at 47 stations and it expects that number to jump to 17,000 square feet by 2022, said director of real estate programs and partnerships Guy Akester.

Business In Vancouver

Walmart Canada takes another swipe at Amazon

Walmart Canada (WMT-N) is moving a step further into Amazon’s (AMZN-Q) territory at a most convenient time. The Canadian retailer is increasing the number of products available on its Walmart.ca website in the next two months by opening it up to an “endless aisle” of third-party Marketplace sellers, making goods from outside brands and small businesses available for sale. 

Financial Post – Globe and Mail – Retail Dive

What Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods really means

Two days before announcing it would be acquiring Whole Foods Market (WFM-Q), Amazon (AMZN-Q) released a short promotional video for a new product called the Dash Wand, a chocolate bar-sized gizmo that costs $20. It sticks to your refrigerator and lets you order products by talking — it features Amazon’s voice assistant, Alexa — or by scanning barcodes. 

The New Yorker – The Guardian – National Real Estate Investor – CNBC

Costco stock suffers massive slide

It’s a bad time to be in the grocery business was the message markets sent Costco (COST-Q) last week, as the bulk retailer’s stock took a vertiginous 12.7 per cent drop. The hammering began after the June 16 announcement online retailer Amazon would acquire the high-end grocery chain Whole Foods. It’s the stock’s worst six-day loss since Nov. 19, 2008.

Fortune

How Imax went from a high-school lab to 1,000 theatres

When Galt, Ont., science teacher Gordon Clark gave three of his students the run of the high-school lab after hours in the 1940s, he would have had no idea that, years later, they would come up with one of the biggest innovations in movie history. There are now more than 1,000 Imax theatres in 66 countries, according to the company.

Globe and Mail

Gordie Howe bridge authority inks property deal with Detroit

A major hurdle for the construction of the Gordie Howe International Bridge was cleared Friday with the announcement of a $48.4-million property deal with the City of Detroit. The agreement will see governments on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border fork over the cash to the city to buy property and spur on neighbourhood development.

CBC – Windsor Star

Market Trends and Research

Kelowna draws new residents with tech boom

Thanks to a thriving tech industry that has seen more than a 30 per cent growth in just two years, Kelowna has seen its demographics change drastically and its cultural scene adapt to appease younger tastes. The B.C. city has long been known for just its world-class wineries — Mission Hill, for example.

Globe and Mail

Creating communities from defunct U.S. malls

At the current pace, more stores will close in 2017 than at the height of the Great Recession. As store vacancies — and lost tax revenues for local communities — mount, so do disinvestment, blight, and crime. Nowhere is this more visible than in the hundreds of struggling malls across the US. The likely culprit: overbuilding.

Building Design & Construction

Toronto’s property price surge hits small business

A new study shows Toronto commercial property prices have experienced massive gains, putting small businesses sensitive to lease rate hikes at risk. A recent City of Toronto study provided to The Globe and Mail looks at the assessed value of non-residential properties from 2012 to 2016 in the 84 business improvement areas (BIAs) across Toronto.

Globe and Mail

Real Estate Companies

YVR signs revenue-sharing agreement with Musqueam F.N.

Vancouver International Airport (YVR) and the Musqueam Indian Band announced they have signed a 30-year revenue-sharing agreement “for a sustainable and mutually beneficial future for the community.” YVR shares its land with the Musqueam, the only First Nations band whose reserve community lies within boundaries of the City of Vancouver.

Business In Vancouver – Vancouver Province

VA planning to reuse or demolish vacant buildings

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced plans to dispose of all of its vacant buildings over the next 24 months. If it can’t sell, re-use or otherwise dispose of the property, it plans to knock them down and clear the site for something else. The Secretary also announced VA will review another 784 non-vacant but underutilized buildings.

CoStar Group

Real Estate Investment Trusts

W.P. Carey exiting non-traded REIT business

W. P. Carey Inc. (WPC-N), which has been sponsoring non-traded REITs since 1990, has decided to get out of that business. The internally-managed net lease REIT’s board last week approved plans to exit all non-traded retail fundraising activities and plans to shift its business focus from structuring fees from REIT fundraising to generating property revenue from net lease investments. 

CoSar Group

Three excellent REITs for passive income

As of March 31, Pure Industrial Real Estate Trust‘s (PIRET) (AAR.UN-T) portfolio consisted of 162 income-producing properties totalling about 20.2 million square feet of GLA. CT REIT (CRT.UN-T) owned 299 properties, four distribution centres, three development properties, and one mixed-use property that total about 24.95 million square feet of GLA. Plaza Retail REIT (PLZ.UN-T) owned 298 properties and t 7.8 million square feet of GLA.  

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

The challenge with Dream Office

Investors looking for a sustainable dividend yield in excess of seven per cent that’s trading at a discount to tangible book value need not look any further than Dream Office REIT (D.UN-T). Clearly, there is value to be had, but let’s not jump in without first looking deeper into what seems like a home run on the surface. 

Motley Fool – Property Biz Canada

Retail

Sears Holdings shuttering 20 more stores

Sears Holdings (SHLD-Q) is closing 20 more stores in the US, in addition to the 245 closings that had already been announced this year. The company announced the latest closures to store employees on Thursday. The closings will bring Sears’ store count to about 1,180, down from 2,073 five years ago. Sears announced its first round of store closures in January.

Business Insider

Sin City betting on retail to boost its economy

It doesn’t take long to realize how big shopping has become in Las Vegas, a desert destination casino gambling once ruled. Digital signs inside the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace urge visitors to “Shop as the Romans Do” along a 675,000-square-foot path with a Roman streetscape and talking statues. A model for experiential retailing.

Toronto Star

Retailers want to work out your wallet – and your body

Stores such as Saks and Urban Outfitters are looking to work out more than your wallet. As retailers struggle to draw in shoppers who have migrated online, stores are seizing on one of the few bright spots in the industry — fitness and wellness — in hopes of engaging consumers.

Winnipeg Free Press

Restaurants and Eateries

Disgruntled U.S. Tim Hortons franchisees form alliance

A group representing Tim Hortons franchisees who are unhappy with the management of the coffee-and-doughnut chain says it now has a U.S. chapter. The Great White North Franchisee Association (GWNFA) said in a statement the U.S. chapter was created to give a united voice to franchisees concerned about the management of Restaurant Brands International (QSR-T). 

CTV

Starbucks has come a long way since IPO 25 years ago

VIDEO: Starbucks (SBUX-Q) was founded in 1971 and began with one store in Seattle Since then it has come a long way and become a global coffee superpower. The company that was founded by three friends who met at university now has over 24,000 stores and 238,000 staff across six continents and 72 countries. 

USA TODAY – Kotaku

New Development

Regina receives federal grant for Railyard Renewal Project

The City of Regina has received $175,000 in federal grant money for the Railyard Renewal Project. The grant was awarded by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Green Municipal Fund to recognize commitments to sustainable community development.  The Railyard Renewal Project will see 17.5 acres on Dewdney Avenue transformed into a mixed-use area to connect the Warehouse District and Regina’s downtown.

CBC – Regina Leader-Post

Cyprus signs deal to build ‘Europe’s largest casino’

Cyprus signed a deal Monday for the construction of what officials say will be Europe’s biggest casino.  The proposed casino will include 136 gambling tables and 1,200 gambling machines, while the adjoining luxury hotel will have a 500-room capacity, a health spa and 1,500-seat concert hall.

Winnipeg Free Press

New Chinatown proposals rise from ashes of condo rejection

Following a showdown over a landmark street corner, one of Canada’s endangered historic neighbourhoods is at a crossroads. Vancouver councillors are expected to introduce a pair of motions this week arising from the rejection, earlier this month, of a rezoning application by local developer Beedie Development Group seeking to build a 12-storey condo development on the edge of Chinatown.

Vancouver Province

Other

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