District REIT has acquisition pipeline, star power

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Office, Apartments, Investment, Retail  •  Ontario, Toronto / GTA

The current portfolio of District Property Trust (District REIT) is not large, but the trust’s vision certainly is. And it’s even bringing in some star power in an effort to raise its profile, partnering with HGTV personality Scott McGillivray.

Slate Office sells T.O. property for $63M

Commercial  •  Business Wire

Slate Office REIT (SOT.UN-T) announced it has entered into an agreement to sell 4211 Yonge St. for $63.0 million. This transaction was completed at a significant premium to the REIT’s purchase price and IFRS value.

New Horizon Mall monument to Alberta’s struggles

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail  •  RENX

Sohail Panjwani and Braj Tripathi lean against an empty storefront in the New Horizon Mall north of Calgary; the holiday shopping rush is on elsewhere but here there are no customers and the two store owners gossip to pass time.

Baker to improve offer to take HBC private?

Commercial  •  Bloomberg  •  Toronto Star  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Hudson’s Bay Co. (HBC-T) chairman Richard Baker and his partners have approached minority shareholders, including Catalyst Capital Group, about potentially raising their offer to take the Canadian retailer private, according to sources.

Imperial acquires Nisku Business Park building

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

Imperial Equities Inc. (IEI-X) today announced it has finalized the purchase of the 37,200-square-foot Wajax Building in Nisku Business Park, Leduc County, Alta. The transaction, which closed on Dec. 30, 2019, is a sale lease-back arrangement, valued at $6,670,000.

Park Lawn acquires two Nashville firms

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire

Park Lawn Corporation (PLC-T) announced it has entered into definitive agreements to acquire all of the outstanding stock and membership interests of Family Legacy as well as all of the outstanding membership interests in WG-TN. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The Saskatchewan Edge › What does 2020 have in store for Saskatoon’s CRE?

Kelly Macsymic: Business Manager, Stuart Commercial Inc., Sales Associate, ICR Commercial Real Estate

B.C.’s top court rules for $6.6B pipeline

Commercial  •  Financial Post  •  Toronto Star

The Supreme Court of British Columbia has ruled that Indigenous law is not necessarily Canadian law in a decision that will enable more construction work on the $6.6-billion Coastal GasLink pipeline despite some First Nations opposition.

Bird Construction tapped to build Ottawa LRT stations

Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal

The consortium building the east and west extensions to Ottawa’s light-rail line has subcontracted Mississauga-based Bird Construction to build seven of the 16 stations along the Confederation Line.

Federal procurement policies top newsmakers list

Residential, Commercial  •  Daily Commercial News  •  Daily Commercial News

Hard-fought successes on prompt payment, procurement of professional services and enhancing worker training are the 2019 Canadian construction newsmakers, say national construction stakeholders

Could drones help ease construction worker shortage?

Residential, Commercial  •  CBC

An aging construction workforce and a shortage of workers has some businesses looking to drones to help fill the gaps in Canada’s labour force, and help them do their work faster and with fewer people.

Robots take over warehousing; workers must adapt

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  CBC  •  Financial Post (Sub. required)

U.S. warehouse workers are getting used to working with robots in their everyday lives. However, doing your job alongside robots isn’t easy. According to their makers, the machines should take on the most mundane and physically strenuous tasks.

Home Capital looks for second act after rebound

Residential  •  Financial Post

In Toronto’s Fairmont Royal York Hotel in November, alternative mortgage lender Home Capital Group (HCG-T) delivered its latest pitch to analysts and investors. That might have shocked those who had given up on the company more than two years ago.

Top mortgage stories of 2019

Residential  •  Canadian Mortgage Trends

Falling fixed mortgage rates and recovering housing markets were two of the key themes in mortgage news over the year. Here’s a rundown of some of the year’s top stories, rate movements and mortgage-related stocks:

The most pivotal multifamily stories of 2019

Residential  •  Multi-Housing News

Rent control was arguably one of the biggest buzzwords in real estate in 2019. The crisis took centre stage in June, when New York state legislators passed sweeping rent control laws, stunning the real estate industry.

Ten Quebec transactions on our radar … in 2019

Commercial  •  La Presse

Here is what happened (or did not happen) to the anticipated Quebec transactions a year ago:

Van. suburb transformed into hip destination

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

Stroll through the rapidly transforming Lower Lonsdale area of the once-suburban City of North Vancouver and it’s easy to notice the gentrification bingo card fills up pretty quickly. It’s the new look for the waterfront core of the city.

Looking back at a decade of Vancouver real estate

Residential  •  CBC  •  Globe and Mail  •  Daily Hive

The last decade was a tumultuous one for Vancouver’s real estate market, according to researcher Andy Yan. Yan has spent a decade poring over the data of one of the hottest real estate markets in the country.

Ottawa, Alberta to clash over rent supplement cash

Residential  •  Globe and Mail  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Alberta is pushing back against the Trudeau Liberals’ expectation provinces and territories pick up half the cost of a new rent supplement, asking instead to substitute federal funding for their own.

Approved Toronto triplex becomes a battleground

Residential  •  Toronto Star

As Toronto descends further into a housing crisis, communities are getting caught between the need for increased density and the struggle to maintain neighbourhood character. Such is the case for a Kensington Market development by Stephen Denning and Michael Jewett.