CanFirst Capital having record year for acquisitions

RENX  Commercial  •  Office, Industrial, Investment  •  National

This is a very busy time for CanFirst Capital Management. The firm has already set a record for acquisitions in 2019, has created its first open-ended fund, and is preparing to launch its seventh closed-end fund.

Grocery stores key to neighbourhood shopping malls

RENX  Commercial  •  Retail  •  National

Neighbourhood shopping centres anchored by grocery stores, restaurants and “personal care” retail outlets are outperforming larger regional malls in both total annualized returns and occupancy, according to research from GWL Realty Advisors (GWLRA).

New Vaughan project joins resistance to urban sprawl

Residential, Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

Steps from her office in Vaughan, Manisha Chen can travel any-where she needs to go, and by just about any mode of transit. Ease of transportation is only one reason Chen moved into PricewaterhouseCooper’s new nine-storey office tower.

Can millennials save Calgary’s office vacancy crisis?

Residential, Commercial  •  Globe and Mail  •  RENX  •  RENX

Millennials are breathing new life into Calgary’s empty office towers, industry insiders say. “We’re battling the storm,” says developer Riaz Mamdani, who has repurposed several empty office buildings into hip new rentals and self-storage space.

Glove factory finds new life as office building

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

Few employees at the Huck Glove factory in Kitchener, Ont., could have imagined where their brick-and-beam workplace would eventually end up a century later: connected to a futuristic steel and glass six-storey commercial office building with condo towers looming overhead.

CIBT subsidiary sells property for $70 million

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire

CIBT Education Group Inc. (MBA-T) announced one of its limited partnership subsidiaries has signed a formal purchase and sale agreement to sell one of its GEC-branded properties for $70 million.

Sponsored by Yardi CRM is key to more conversions and renewals in apartment markets

Successful customer relationship management is essential to turn leads into leases and improve resident retention at your properties. But you can’t personally help every customer. So, what can you do …

MPI reevaulating Winnipeg office space

Commercial  •  Winnipeg Free Press  •  CBC

Manitoba Public Insurance is shuffling more than 100 staff from its CityPlace headquarters to other Winnipeg offices, while conducting a “physical space analysis” of the downtown tower that may result in selling some of its office space to new tenants.

Maisons Vivalto acquires Montreal properties for $80M

Residential  •  Globe Newswire

Maisons Vivalto, a group specializing in assisted-living and long term care facilities for seniors with decreasing independence, announced it has acquired the Floralies Lachine and Floralies LaSalle residences, which offer more than 500 beds, for $80 million.

Arnon proposes Ottawa development with grocery store

Residential, Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal

Ottawa-based Arnon has unveiled plans for a two-phased development in Little Italy that’s expected to include more than 500 housing units and bring a major supermarket to a neighbourhood the ward councillor referred to Monday as a “food desert.”

Brigil applies to build second Ottawa tower

Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal

Developer Brigil has applied to build a 28-storey apartment building next door to its upcoming 32-storey high-rise. The proposal would see a second building with 240 residential units connected to Brigil’s 230-unit apartment currently under construction.

Edmontonians, businesses raise $1M to buy strip mall

Commercial  •  CBC

A strip mall in Edmonton’s McCauley neighbourhood is under new ownership after a community co-op raised $1 million – 34 per cent of the property value – to bring it under local ownership. Roughly 70 investors pitched in as members of the McCauley Development Co-operative.

Baker, Catalyst launch complaints in HBC takeover battle

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

Hudson’s Bay Co.’s (HBC-T) executive chairman Richard Baker and Catalyst Capital Group Inc. have launched complaints against each other after the retailer’s special committee rebuffed catalyst’s $2-billion takeover proposal late Monday night.

Caltex rejects Couche-Tard takeover offer

Commercial  •  Toronto Star

Caltex Australia Ltd., Australia’s largest retail fuel and convenience chain, is rejecting a $7.7-billion takeover offer from Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., (ATD-B-T). However, it is giving the Canadian company a chance to increase its bid.

Indigo CEO slams Amazon’s ‘anti-competitive’ practices

Commercial  •  Bloomberg

Indigo Books & Music Inc.‘s (IDG-T) CEO says there’s no competing with Amazon.com, a company she says is “anti-competitive on so many levels.” “The extent of the non-competitive practices practiced by Amazon (is) outrageous,” Heather Reisman said.

National foreign vacancy tax on residential properties expected

Residential  •  Western Investor

Overseas owners of homes in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the rest of Canada, outside of parts of British Columbia, could soon be subjected to a national vacancy tax for the first time.

Toronto’s rental problem: Too many people, too little space

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  Toronto Star  •  CP 24

The Toronto region has the highest proportion of renter households in Canada that don’t have enough room for all their occupants, a sign the city’s continuing rental crisis is forcing some tenants into cramped conditions to make ends meet.

Labour shortage pinching Vancouver housing supply

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

There is a great deal of discussion about creating more housing supply in Vancouver, but the question is, who is going to build it? The construction industry has a labour shortage and that’s a challenge for new development, including housing.

International homebuyers looking at Montreal

Residential  •  Montreal Gazette  •  Montreal Gazette

The influx of cash from outside Canada has buoyed prices in Vancouver and Toronto beyond what many locals can afford, MacDonald Realty broker Dan Scarrow said. To Scarrow, it looks like it may be Montreal’s turn now.

Halifax plan to replace lead pipes the first in Canada

Residential  •  Toronto Star

Halifax Water’s plan to pay to replace homeowners’ lead pipes has cleared its first hurdle. The public utility cited the Tainted Water investigation into lead in drinking water in the proposal to its board of commissioners on Thursday.