Square Phillips joins battle to be Mtl.’s tallest condo

RENX  Residential  •  Condominiums, Apartments  •  Greater Montreal

With more than 75 per cent of condo units sold in the first phase, Brivia Group has kicked off construction of its 1 Square Phillips project in downtown Montreal that it says will include the tallest residential tower in the city.

Calgary area sees huge return of industrial space

Commercial  •  Calgary’s Business

Nearly 1.1 million square feet of industrial real estate inventory was returned to the Calgary-area market in the second quarter, representing the first quarter of negative absorption since Q4 2016, says a report by commercial real estate firm CBRE.

Office subleases flooding downtown Toronto: JLL

Commercial  •  Delta Optimist  •  RENX

Jones Lang LaSalle says it has seen a “spike” in vacant offices in downtown Toronto as businesses have struggled to sublet their expensive spaces. A JLL report indicates only one large, new downtown lease was signed during the second quarter.

Gateway Casinos sale collapses

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

New York-based Leisure Acquisition Corp. (LACQ-Q) walked away Thursday from the $1.5-billion takeover of Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Ltd., one of Canada’s largest gambling companies. It’s the latest in a series of deals to fail during the pandemic.

Nine-storey mixed-use building planned in Ottawa

Residential, Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal

Richmond Churchill Limited Partnership has filed plans to build a nine-storey mixed-use development in Ottawa’s Westboro neighbourhood. The development would feature ground-floor commercial space, residential units on the eight floors above and indoor and outdoor amenity space on the roof.

Wave plans nine-storey development in Vancouver

Residential, Commercial  •  urbanYVR

Wave Developments is planning a nine-storey, mixed-use building at East 2nd Avenue and Scotia Street, designed by Studio Balcaen Kwan Architecture. The development will include two levels of office space, a restaurant and two levels of underground parking.

The Saskatchewan Edge › The shopping mall needs to be OK

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

Crane collapses into downtown Toronto building

Commercial  •  CBC  •  Global News  •  National Post

Four downtown Toronto buildings were evacuated after a construction crane collapsed onto a building near Wellington and Simcoe Streets Thursday morning. Toronto Fire District Chief Stephan Powell said dismantling of the crane was to resume on Friday morning.

Urbacon proposes four-storey data centre

Commercial  •  Urban Toronto

The 2015-built TR2 Parliament Street Data Centre in Toronto’s Corktown area could soon be expanded via a new building for Urbacon. A new application seeks approval for the proposed four-storey Downtown Data Centre.

QuanU opens first Canadian furniture store in T.O.

Commercial  •  Retail Insider

Iconic Chinese furniture store QuanU is set to launch its first location in Canada this month at RioCan’s Kennedy Commons in Toronto. The company hopes to have 10 to 15 stores across Canada by the end of 2021.

B.C.’s Freshslice Pizza plans Canadian expansion

Commercial  •  Retail Insider

B.C.-based Freshslice Pizza, which currently has 74 locations in B.C. and will soon open its second Calgary location, plans to open 120 locations across Alberta and another 200 in Ontario over the next 10 years.

REIT/REOC COVID-19 business update

Commercial  • 

Lakeview Hotel Investment Corp., (LHR-X), Canada Newswire 

Sienna Senior Living Inc., (SIA-T), Globe Newswire

Singapore’s OUE exits iconic L.A. office tower at discount

Commercial  •  IPE Real Assets

Singapore-listed real estate developer and investor OUE has sold the famous Los Angeles landmark US Bank Tower for US$430 million – a discount to its last book value of $650 million. OUE said it sold the 72-storey skyscraper to USBT Property Owner.

U.S. office leases getting shorter, rents dropping

Commercial  •  Commercial Observer

New JLL data shows U.S. office leasing plummeted 53.4 per cent in Q2. JLL also reported the average lease in the U.S. fell 15 per cent in the first five months of 2020, primarily driven by tenants at the end of their lease.

U.S. mortgage refinancing soar as rates drop

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

With the 30-year mortgage rate falling this week below three per cent for the first time in a half-century, Americans refinanced nearly two million home loans from January through April, more than double year-over-year, according to data company CoreLogic (CLGX-N).

Blackstone’s secondary fund raises $1.9B

Commercial  •  CP Executive

Blackstone’s secondary and fund solutions business, Strategic Partners, has completed the final close for Strategic Partners Real Estate VII LP, having raised $1.9 billion for the fund and its related committed program vehicles.

Promise of low rates could spur housing speculators

Residential  •  Reuters

Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem’s reassurance that interest rates will remain low for at least two years could unleash a wave of speculative demand in the country’s hottest housing markets, realtors and mortgage brokers warned.

Vancouver buyers paying over assessed value near SkyTrain

Residential  •  Burnaby Now

Apartment buyers have paid 4.5 per cent above assessed value on average for units near a SkyTrain station between March 15 and May 31, according to a report by Vancouver-based real estate marketing and analytics firm Roomvu.

First-time buyers spur Montreal-area market

Residential  •  CTV  •  Globe Newswire  •  CBC

Greater Montreal Area home prices saw a dramatic spike in June as first-time buyers flooded the market following relaxed restrictions. The most dramatic rise was the median price of a two-story house, which rose up 8.7 per cent in Q2 to $566,874.

U.S. senior housing occupancy hits 15-year low

Residential  •  National Real Estate Investor

Occupancy in U.S. senior housing has hit a 15-year low with families bringing loved ones home, and some centres either limiting new residents or being unable to attract them given the threat to older Americans from the COVID-19 pandemic.