Clarke to acquire hotel owner Holloway Lodging

RENX  Commercial  •  Hotels and Resorts, Office  •  National, Atlantic Canada

Majority shareholder Clarke Inc. (CKI-T) seeks to acquire all remaining shares of Holloway Lodging Corporation (HLC-T) in a transaction which values the hotel and office owner at about $265M. Clark currently owns 51 per cent of Holloway’s shares.

Ivanhoé halts partial sale of 10 Canadian malls

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  RENX

For the second time, Ivanhoé Cambridge has halted the partial sale of 10 Canadian malls after it failed to get the price it wanted, according to a source. In 2018, the firm had also taken Calgary’s CF Market Mall off the market.

20.7 M sq. ft. of office development in Canada’s big cities

RENX  Commercial  •  Office  •  National

Office developments in Canada reached 20.7 million square feet in Q2 2019, the highest level in this cycle but below the peak of 23.1 million in 2014. Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal comprise the bulk of activity, according to JLL’s national office snapshot.

Canadian hotel construction hits all-time high

Commercial  •  Lodging Econometrics media release  •  RENX

Analysts at Lodging Econometrics (LE) report that in Q2 2019, the total construction pipeline in Canada hit an all-time high with 273 projects/35,787 rooms. Construction pipeline projects are up 14 per cent and rooms are up a lofty 20 per cent year-over-year.

Hotel tax not worth it for many Ontario businesses

Commercial  •  CBC

Hotel owners and operators in Renfrew County are speaking out against a proposed four per cent tax on overnight stays that’s meant to help boost tourism, says Jim Hemlin, chief operating officer of Calabogie Peaks Resort.

‘Stop building’ hotels in Calgary, industry urges

Commercial  •  CBC  •  RENX

All told, 2,600 new hotel rooms have been added to the City of Calgary in the past three years, and 1,200 are less than a year old. Supply is outstripping demand and some hotel operators are struggling to find enough guests.

U.S. recruiters try to entice Calgary companies

Commercial  •  CBC

As Calgary businesses grapple with rising property taxes and economic anxiety, recruiters from the United States are trying to lure companies to cities south of the border with land and tax incentives.

Mackage opens new store in Chinook Centre

Commercial  •  Financial Post

Shoppers at Calgary’s CF Chinook Centre may have noticed a chic, new addition that recently popped up among other high-end retailers in the mall’s unofficial luxury row – Montreal-based Mackage opened its doors earlier this summer.

Winnipeg’s Gregg Building to receive facelift

Commercial  •  Winnipeg Free Press

The Gregg Building, a 117-year-old Exchange District warehouse that has sat empty for years, will be reborn sometime in the 2020s as a mixed commercial-residential space. Winnipeg’s Knysh Construction acquired the property for $885,000.

Tribunal rules against Groupe Mach’s Transat offer

Commercial  •  CTV  •  Reuters

Transat A.T. (TRZ-T) says a Quebec securities tribunal has cease traded an offer made by Groupe Mach Acquisition for 6.9 million class-B voting shares of the travel company. The decision means the Montreal developer is not allowed to acquire any shares.

Slater Retail, Morguard offer 8 per cent payouts

Commercial  •  Motley Fool

Slate Retail REIT’s (SRT-U-T) management are dedicated value investors who insist on getting a bargain whenever a property is purchased. Morguard REIT (MRT-UN-T) is the owner of 49 different office, industrial, and retail properties, and its 8.1 per cent dividend is sustainable.

REOC second-quarter financial results

Commercial  • 

Bridgemarq Real Estate Services, (BRE-T), Canada Newswire

Chartwell Retirement Residences, (CSH-UN-T), Canada Newswire

Firm Capital Property Trust, (FCD-UN-X), Globe Newswire

Holloway Lodging Corp., (HLC-T), Canada Newswire

Inter Pipeline’s $3.5B project testing nerves

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

Calgary’s Inter Pipeline (IPL-T) is well into its biggest-ever construction project, a $3.5-billion petrochemical complex that has made some investors nervous due to the cost of funding it. Inter appears to want to see the project through on its own.

QuadReal to JV on $567M Aussie office tower

Commercial  •  IPE Real Assets  •  RENX

Quadreal Property Group – the real estate arm of British Columbia Investment Management Corporation – and Australian real estate fund managers Charter Hall and Abacus have teamed up to acquire a Sydney office tower for $567 million Cdn.

Prologis to acquire Spanish logistics portfolio

Commercial  •  IPE Real Assets  •  RENX

Prologis (PLD-N) is acquiring a five-million-square-foot Spanish logistics portfolio on behalf of its $15.7-billion Cdn pan-European fund. The 18 existing facilities and developments will be acquired for the open-ended PELF fund from Spanish real estate investment trust Colonial.

Developers jump on loans to build rental housing

Residential  •  Bloomberg

Demand has been so hot for Canada Mortgage & Housing Corp.’s low-cost loans to boost rental housing the government plans to increase the program to almost $14 billion over the next nine years. That’s up from $2.5 billion when it was launched in 2017.

Fort Sask. condo building ‘structurally unsafe’

Residential  •  CBC

Over a week after their sudden eviction, residents of a Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., condo building learned Sunday night the structure was not constructed according to its blueprint, which led to it being deemed “structurally unsafe” 16 years after it was built.

Gap between GTA condos, low-rise housing shrinks

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Home buyers in the Toronto region are starting to shift their focus to low-rise housing options as condominium prices continue their march higher, shrinking the price gap compared with other types of properties.

T.O. battles to reconcile high-density, livability

Residential  •  Globe and Mail

One weekday afternoon in July, Jane Auster and Andy Gort picked their way through the side streets of a neighbourhood that has become ground zero in Toronto’s struggle to reconcile high-density development and livability.

Quebec City seniors win rent increase case

Residential  •  CBC

A provincial coalition of housing committees is calling for simpler leases after a group of seniors fighting a rent increase at their private seniors’ residence in Quebec City won a case at the rental board last week.