Vancouver, Toronto tie for lowest office vacancy: CBRE

RENX  Commercial  •  Office, Industrial  •  National

Vancouver’s office vacancy rate has moved into a tie with Toronto’s, and both cities now share the lowest office vacancy rates in North America, according to CBRE’s Canada Q2 Quarterly Statistics Report covering the office and industrial markets.

Montreal-founded Sonder plans second HQ in Canada

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

A Montreal-founded startup, Sonder Canada Inc., offering an alternative to Airbnb and traditional hotels, has raised US$210-million in financing. In 2019 Sonder surpassed US$200-million in revenue year-to-date and reached a valuation of more than US$1-billion.

InterRent raises $201M to fund Montreal acquisitions

Residential  •  Ottawa Business Journal

Ottawa-based InterRent REIT (IPP-UN-T) closed $201.3 million in bought-deal financing to fund a series of acquisitions in Montreal. The fresh cash will go towards paying down debt and funding acquisitions, including four properties in Montreal valued at $166 million.

Oakridge wants to be Vancouver’s second city centre

Commercial  •  Design Boom

Plans have officially been unveiled for ‘Oakridge’ — a mixed-use development with designs on becoming Vancouver’s second city centre. The ambitious scheme to create an “entirely new urban typology” is backed by Westbank, which has teamed up with 50 global firms.

Developer offers Oka Crisis land to First Nation

Commercial  •  CBC

Quebec developer Grégoire Gollin said he’s committed to transferring around 60 hectares of the forest known as The Pines to the Mohawks of Kanesatake in the spirit of reconciliation, through a federal ecological gifts program.

Real Estate Wealth Insights › Why the soft issues matter in REIT investing

Greg Placidi: Chief Investment Officer & Portfolio Manager, Equiton Capital

Canadian parks report compiles urban best practices

Residential, Commercial  •  Sustainable Biz Canada

From the ever-present challenge of dog poop to the benefits of nature on mental health, and the consequences of flooding across Ontario and Quebec, a 23-city Canadian City Parks Report is giving us a big picture of parks across Canadian cities.

Industrial space in short supply in London, Waterloo

Commercial  •  London Free Press  •  The Record

London’s industrial availability rate dropped to 3.7 per cent in the second quarter of 2019, an all-time low, down from 5.4 per cent one year earlier, according to a report published Tuesday by CBRE.  Falling vacancy is expected to drive up rents.

CRE property insiders reveal summer’s top stories

Commercial  •  Vancouver Sun

It’s that point when many in Canada’s CRE industry head out of the cities for vacations in the mountains, at the lake or perhaps to network at the Calgary Stampede. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t issues and stories.

Couche-Tard wants to double its profits

Commercial  •  La Presse

DavidsTea: right team, right strategy, says management

Commercial  •  La Presse

A year after taking control of DavidsTea, Herschel Segal and his new team yesterday presented the shareholders with their strategy to get the company back on track: “The expansion of product availability” in 1,250 or more supermarkets.

HBC hires advisers to help review privatization bid

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

Hudson’s Bay Co.’s special board committee has hired Toronto-Dominion Bank as independent evaluator and Centerview Partners LLC as special adviser to help evaluate a $1-billion take-private bid by the retailer’s executive chairman.

Vancouver’s on-street parking revenue up 400% in 20 years

Commercial  •  CBC

What’s one topic that virtually everyone on Vancouver’s minority city council can agree on? That the city’s increasing reliance on parking as a source of revenue is a good thing.

Push begins to rebuild the Vancouver-Chilliwack rail line

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

Imagine a modern regional tram that could get people out of their cars and connect communities between Surrey and Chilliwack. The line already exists. It’s the old interurban track that was built by B.C. Electric Railway and completed on Oct. 3, 1910.

Calls grow to halt Calgary’s Green Line as another boss leaves

Commercial  •  Calgary Herald

Green Line or Pipe Dream Line? Calgarians are entitled to wonder as more trouble piles up around the massive north-southeast LRT project. The latest appears to be management. Project deputy director Fabiola MacIntyre has resigned, effective immediately, with no explanation.

Impact of Mount Royal tunnel closure not considered

Commercial  •  Montreal Gazette

It’s possibly the largest-ever disruption in Montreal regional public transit services but planners have no idea how traffic or the existing transit network will be affected when the Mount Royal tunnel, used by 18,000 daily commuters, closes in six months.

Can Ottawa support proposed high-rise condos along LRT?

Commercial  •  Ottawa Citizen  •  RENX

From the 23rd floor of Ottawa’s newest apartment complex at 100 Frontier Path Private, the east end of the city stretches toward Montreal, bisected neatly by Highway 417. Down below, Blair Station, the easternmost terminus of Ottawa’s LRT, lies silent.

Home prices projected to rise in Eastern Canada, slump in West

Residential  •  Globe and Mail  •  Ottawa Business Journal  •  BNN Bloomberg

A new Royal LePage housing forecast expects home prices will decline in Western Canada by the end of 2019, but grow in major centres from Ontario eastward with a modest 0.4-per-cent increase nationally by year-end compared with 2018.

Small apartment virtually impossible to build in Toronto

Residential  •  Toronto Star

The first in a weekly series where the Star seeks simple, affordable solutions to the problems faced by Torontonians.  With increasingly unaffordable housing options, some neighbourhoods are overwhelmed by high-rise construction, while others are losing vitality because of depopulation.

The rental housing market needs condo investors

Residential  •  Financial Post

Many recent real estate market commentaries have been critical of privately owned housing, especially condominiums, being a major source of new rental supply. Implicit in this criticism is the call for more purpose-built rentals.