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GWLRA seeks to add 33 storeys atop T.O. office bldg.

2 years ago

GWL Realty Advisors (GWLRA), on behalf of the  Great-West Life Canadian Real Estate Investment Fund No. 1, wants to add a 33-storey residential addition on top of a 14-storey office building at in downtown Toronto.

Grosvenor Group has stepped up its game in Metro Vancouver, with a number of projects either completed or in the pipeline, including a master-planned community for Burnaby. It also just acquired the former Oakridge Transit Centre site.

Family-owned The Paletta Group of Companies has a new name, Alinea Group Holdings Inc., and has honed both its vision and mission under its second-generation leadership.

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Ottawa’s inventory of vacant industrial space is “dangerously low,” prompting Warren Wilkinson, the managing director of Colliers’ Ottawa office, to warn large-scale tenants could start looking at properties elsewhere to address rising demand for warehousing and storage facilities.

Yardi Rent Cafe

Toronto-headquartered property technology firm Altrio has closed an $8-million round of Series A funding to add staff and spur product development. Altrio provides software and data solutions to the global real estate investment and lending industries.

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Summit Industrial Income REIT (SMU-UN-T) has acquired the remaining 50 per cent ownership interest in a recently constructed light industrial property in Guelph’s Hanlon Creek Business Park, totalling 92,050 square feet of leasable area, from its partner. Summit paid approximately $13.2 million.

IMAGE: Mikael Kurkdjian, Partner and Broker of Record at Baron Realty. (Courtesy Baron Realty)

Partner and Broker of Record

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Starlight Investments Capital has completed its acquisition of all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Stone Investment Group. The successor corporation to Stone has changed its name to Starlight Capital Corp.

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Vancouver city hall’s last-minute move to cancel the July 7 public hearing for Crombie REIT’s proposal for three 29-storey towers, two of them rental, next to the busy Commercial and Broadway SkyTrain station prompted angry criticism.

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First Capital and Pemberton Group’s vision for 2150 Lake Shore Blvd. W., a 28-acre neighbourhood planned for Toronto’s suburban Etobicoke district, will house roughly 13,000 people; offices and retail will employ 4,500 and there will be new schools, parks and community centres.

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Edmonton’s investment market is gathering momentum as the economy reopens post-COVID. The first quarter of 2022 saw investment transactions increase 19 per cent versus a year ago to $682 million on a volume of 177 transactions, according to new Altus Group data.

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Two more office buildings in downtown Calgary – United Place and Canadian Centre, both on Fourth Avenue – have gotten the green light from the city to be converted into residential spaces.

Property Vista

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ANALYSIS: In the midst of an affordability crisis, manufactured home communities (MHC), as they are known in the industry (the words ‘trailer park’ are verboten), are coming into their own.

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The cost of building housing in Toronto will soon rise by tens of thousands of dollars per unit as the city hikes development charges by nearly 50 per cent. The fees are evaluated every five years using a long-standing formula.

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Home sales in Toronto and Vancouver plunged in June from last year’s highs and property prices declined further as higher borrowing costs made it harder for would-be buyers to get into the country’s two priciest real estate markets.

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Ottawa’s resale housing market saw a dive in sales during June, with home sales plummeting 29 per cent year-over-year as the early-pandemic buying frenzy appears to fizzle. Ottawa Real Estate Board members sold 1,508 properties last month, down from 2,122 in June 2021.

Cameron Stephens

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Victoria-based Fisgard Asset Management Corp. has suspended residential construction loans in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba, becoming the latest subprime mortgage lender to hit pause this year as the residential real estate market has slowed significantly.

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Almost 10 years after it began investigating an alleged price-fixing scheme that affected close to $20 million of condominium renovations, the Competition Bureau of Canada has obtained its first guilty plea from CPL Interiors Ltd., for violating the Competition Act.

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Necessity Retail REIT, Inc. (RTL-Q) announced through its operating partnership it has completed acquisition of a portfolio of 81 power, anchored and grocery centres from subsidiaries of CIM Real Estate Finance Trust, Inc. for $1.3 billion.

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OMERS Private Equity announced today it has entered into an agreement with management shareholders and Livingbridge to acquire Network Plus, a leading utility and infrastructure repair and maintenance service provider in the U.K. Financial terms were not disclosed.

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