As Pickering preps for massive growth, development heats up

RENX  Commercial  •  Retail, Homes, Hotels and Resorts, Investment, Land  •  Toronto / GTA

The City of Pickering, just east of Toronto, is preparing for massive growth projected during the next 15 to 20 years. Now a community of 90,000, its population is projected to double during that time.

Retail REITs under pressure to slash monthly payouts

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Escalating economic shutdowns are increasing pressure on Canada’s retail-focused real estate investment trusts to slash their payouts, putting investors at risk of losing out on monthly income that used to be considered sacrosanct.

Staples offers $2.1B cash to buy Office Depot parent

Commercial  •  Reuters  •  Financial Post

Office supplies retailer Staples on Monday said it made an offer to buy Office Depot owner ODP Corp. for $2.1 billion in cash. USR Parent Inc, or Staples, said it would offer $40 per for each ODP share (ODP-Q).

InterRent, Crestpoint acquire Vancouver apt. portfolio

RENX  Residential  •  Apartments  •  Metro Vancouver

UPDATED with additional details: InterRent REIT (IIP.UN-T) has created a joint venture with Crestpoint Real Estate Investments to enter the Vancouver market with the $292.5 million acquisitions of 15 rental apartment properties, comprising 614 apartments.

Reserve, Westdale propose 66-storey mixed-use building

Residential, Commercial  •  Urban Toronto  •  RENX

Reserve Properties and Westdale Properties have proposed a 66-storey, IBI Group-designed mixed-use building at 277 Wellington West in Toronto. The lower levels would house office replacement space and retail space. As well, 645 residential units would spread across 57 floors.

Emblem proposes 40-storey condo tower

Residential, Commercial  •  Urban Toronto

Emblem Developments has proposed an IBI Group-designed tower at 234 through 250 King East, rising 40 storeys and containing a total of 488 condominium units in a mix of 51 studios, 313 one-bedrooms, 74 two-bedrooms, and 50 three-bedrooms. The plan also includes ground-floor retail space.

Real Estate by the Numbers › Articulate optimists: A caution for investors

Volodya Gusak: President, Denciti Development

Office towers struggle for relevancy

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

A new survey by RBC shows CRE lenders remain reluctant to allocate funds to retail and office space. Lenders also remain concerned about the prospects of hotels, regional malls and entertainment and food service retail in the near term.

Bonnis proposes office building at Granville and Robson

Commercial  •  urbanYVR  •  RENX

Bonnis Properties is working with architecture firm Perkins and Will on a plan to build a modern building bridging Vancouver’s historic Commodore Ballroom and the Orpheum Theatre, adding 377,000 square feet of large floor-plate office space in a cascading, glass-enclosed structure.

Canal Capital proposes two buildings in Dartmouth

Residential, Commercial  •  CBC

Canal Capital Investments has proposed a two-building Zwicker Zareski Architecture and Planning-designed development along Dartmouth’s Portland Street. One is a two-storey brick building with street frontage. A seven-storey modern building rises from the back of the structure.

Québec court rules insolvent tenants must pay rent

Commercial  •  Mondaq

In the proceedings of clothing retailer Groupe Dynamite, the Québec Superior Court decided an insolvent tenant should not be relieved of paying rent in circumstances where its ability to use leased premises is impeded by government decree.

The value of IPOs reached nearly $5 billion in 2020

Commercial  •  Les Affaires

The value of Canadian initial public offerings (IPOs) increased fivefold last year from 2019 and reached nearly $5 billion, despite the COVID-19 pandemic and uncertainty, according to PwC Canada, although Canadian corporate IPOs have become rarer than in previous years.

Maple Leaf Foods to acquire, expand U.S. plant

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire  •  Globe and Mail

Maple Leaf Foods (MFI-T) announced its subsidiary Greenleaf Foods is advancing plans to increase tempeh production capacity through the acquisition and planned build-out of a food processing plant in Indianapolis. The estimated cost of the project is US$100 million.

Slate Grocery acquires U.S. porfolio for US$54.3M

Commercial  •  Business Wire  •  RENX

Slate Grocery REIT (SGR-UN-T), an owner and operator of U.S. grocery-anchored real estate, announced today it has entered into an agreement to acquire a portfolio of five grocery-anchored assets for US$54.3 million (US$137 per square foot).

MedCraft, Cadence launch $500M MOB acquisition fund

Commercial  •  CP Executive

MedCraft Healthcare Real Estate and Cadence Healthcare Group have launched $500-million MedCraft Investment Partners to acquire medical office buildings and ambulatory assets over the next 18 to 24 months. The platform is capitalized through an unidentified institutional partner.

Real Brokerage acquires RealtyCrunch business assets

Residential  •  Canada Newswire

The Real Brokerage Inc. (REAX-X) announced it has completed the acquisition of the business assets and intellectual property of RealtyCrunch Inc., a collaboration web and mobile app for home buyers and real estate agents launched in September 2020.

B.C. leads the way in residential building boom

Residential  •  CBC  •  Vancouver Sun

According to Statistics Canada, B.C. led the pack with a 27.8 per cent month-over-month increase in the value of residential building permits in November. Across the country, the value rose 10 per cent in November to $6.4 billion.

Majority of Canadians believe in housing market strength: RBC

Residential  •  Canada Newswire  •  Financial Post

Canadians’ belief in the strength of the real estate market held steady in December, according to the RBC Home Buying Sentiment Poll. High home values also continued to drive potential homebuyers outside of major metropolitan areas.

Demolition begins before Halifax tenant vacates building

Residential  •  CBC

A Halifax councillor wants better co-ordination between the city and the province around demolition permits after Mosaik Properties began to tear down a building while a tenant was still living there. The tenant had been appealing an eviction order.

New forecast calls for modest growth in Edmonton, Calgary

Residential  •  Edmonton Journal  •  Calgary Herald

Momentum from 2020 in Edmonton’s real estate market is expected to carry into 2021, leading to a slight increase in prices, Royal LePage’s Market Survey Forecast suggests. It predicts the median price of a home will increase by 1.5 per cent to $375,600 in 2021.