Coquitlam plans dense, vibrant new downtown core

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Condominiums, Office, Apartments, Retail  •  Metro Vancouver

Coquitlam is embarking on a major urban planning mission that will take decades to realize: the transformation of 1970s suburban strip malls and parking lots into a rich, diverse and walkable urban core.

Prepping your portfolio for apt. market slowdown

RENX  Residential  •  Apartments  •  National

The numbers aren’t dramatic at this point, but apartment vacancies are increasing, rents are decreasing and more tenant concessions seem likely. As the recession created by COVID-19 potentially worsens, so could these issues for apartment owners and managers.

Rental builders bet on quick rebound in Toronto

Residential  •  Financial Post

COVID-19 hasn’t stopped Toronto’s bullish developers from banking on a quick recovery. Construction of rental apartments in Canada’s financial capital is at near record levels despite a decline in immigration.

Thind plans four-tower project in Richmond

Residential, Commercial  •  urbanYVR

Thind Properties plans three residential and one office tower – two at 12 storeys and one each at 11 and 13, respectively – in Richmond. The IBI Group-designed development will include a total of 429 units, 161,828 square feet of office space, 25,052 of retail and 632 parking stalls.

Mtl.’s Griffintown Hotel opens amid tourism crash

Commercial  •  Montreal Gazette

Montreal’s newest hotel entered the market at an interesting time. Griffintown Hotel, a $46-million project spearheaded by a group of local investors, opened its doors last month amid the tourism industry’s worst summer on record.

Hotels adjust to new reality with robots

Commercial  •  Bisnow

When Montreal’s Hôtel Monville opened in 2018, it was one of the first hotels in Canada to offer a truly contactless visitor experience. If a guest needed something, a three-foot-tall robot would deliver the item straight to their room.

Sponsored by Firm Capital Corporation Multi-residential mortgage financing solutions by Firm Capital

As part of the Firm Capital Organization, Firm Capital Corporation, a leading non-bank lender since 1988, provides creative and innovative solutions to real estate finance.

Road-trippers boost Ottawa hotel traffic

Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal

COVID-19 may have decimated his industry, but a new wave of leisure travellers drawn to Ottawa’s greenspace, outdoor patios and other attractions has Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites general manager Wayne Day seeing a few rays of hope.

Hamilton developers push for boundary expansion

Residential, Commercial  •  Daily Commercial News

Landowner consultant John Corbett, representing a consortium of Hamilton developers, is spearheading an urban expansion with economic stimulus among its pursuits. The Upper West Side/Twenty Road West project is a collaborative effort of the Upper West Side Landowner Group.

Alberta’s construction industry in a state of limbo

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

Being deemed an essential service hasn’t immunized Alberta’s commercial construction sector from the effects of COVID-19. While existing building sites remain busy, few new projects are breaking ground over supply chain woes and economic uncertainty.

Mendocino shuttering stores, begins restructuring

Commercial  •  Financial Post  •  CTV

Toronto-based retailer Mendocino Clothing Co., has begun restructuring proceedings and plans to close stores to focus on online orders. Prior to the pandemic, the company operated 28 stores in the GTA, according to Insolvency Insider, which first reported the filing.

CIBC sees 25% upside in retail REITs

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

CIBC real estate analyst Dean Wilkinson sees 25 per cent upside potential in the domestic retail REIT sector. Wilkinson’s current top picks in the subsector are RioCan REIT (REI-UN-T), SmartCentres REIT (SRU-UN-T) and First Capital REIT (FCR-UN-T).

Brookfield, OIPP JV on $191M Aussie redevelopment

Commercial  •  Property Observer

OMERS takes additional 7% stake in ESR Cayman

Commercial  •  IPE Real Assets

OMERS has acquired an additional seven per cent stake in ESR Cayman for approximately $664 million Cdn. The Canadian pension fund bought 213 million shares from an associated entity of Warburg Pincus, the original and ongoing backer of the Asia-Pacific logistics group.

Global real estate investment plunges

Commercial  •  Yahoo Finance

Global real estate investment fell by 33 per cent in the first half of 2020. The Asia-Pacific region took the biggest hit, with volumes down 45 per cent year-over-year, because it was the first struck by COVID-19, according to a report from Savills.

Manhattan retail pain worsens, Fifth Avenue rent slides

Commercial  •  National Real Estate Investor

The picture’s getting bleaker for key Manhattan shopping districts. Lower Fifth Avenue had the biggest drop in retail asking rents in Q2, sliding 30 per cent year-over-year, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Soho and Madison Avenue had declines of more than 14%.

BILD working to clear hurdles to home ownership: Wilkes

Residential  •  Toronto Star

This is a challenging time for families planning to buy a GTA home in the near future. Two developments make me hopeful. The first could potentially ease some of the tax burden on first-time home buyers in Toronto.

TPL proposes six-storey Vancouver rental building

Residential  •  urbanYVR

TPL Developments is proposing a six-storey rental building in North Vancouver. The development would include 140 market rental units,  six non-market rental units and 101 underground and at-grade parking stalls, including two car share spots.

B.C. tenants will have until July 2021 to repay missed rent

Residential  •  Business In Vancouver

The B.C. government has released a repayment framework for landlords and tenants looking to settle unpaid rent debt before the ban on evictions because of failing to pay rent is lifted at the end of August.

Mortgage defaults after COVID-19 could look different

Residential  •  Toronto Star

Bank of Canada director of financial stability Mikael Khan says the current economic recovery could be different than that of 2008. He said that while the employment rate has fallen, house prices are recovering and keeping homeowners from filing for insolvency.