Canada’s hotels face long, slow road to recovery: CBRE

RENX  Commercial  •  Hotels and Resorts  •  National

Canada’s hotels have faced several crises during the 2000s, but might be facing their most arduous recovery yet due to COVID-19, a CBRE report says. It predicts 2020 REVPAR will be 50 per cent of 2019 levels, as occupancy and room rates nosedive.

Avenue31 plans million-sq.-ft. Ottawa business park

Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal

Ottawa real estate investment firm Avenue31 has submitted a proposal to build more than one million square feet of office, warehouse and industrial space on 100 acres of federal land at 4120 and 4055 Russell Rd. in SouthEast Ottawa.

Minto Apt. REIT receives OK to step up T.O. projects

Residential  •  Ottawa Business Journal  •  RENX

Investors have given Ottawa’s Minto Apartment REIT (MI-UN-T)  the green light to redevelop a bigger share of its rental properties as the organization looks to add to its stable of rental suites in the Toronto area.

Canada’s economy suffers worst quarter since 2009

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail  •  Financial Post  •  Reuters

Statistics Canada says the economy in the first quarter had its worst showing since 2009 as steps taken to slow the spread of COVID-19 forced businesses across the country to close their doors and lay off workers.

Van. Entertainment District reopens in survival mode

Commercial  •  CBC

At this time last year, Bill Kerasiotis was nearly finished transforming one of Granville Street’s biggest nightclubs into something completely different. The DJ booths and dance floors at Caprice were replaced with a bocce ball court and arcade games.

Halifax waterfront biz adjusts to life without tourists

Commercial  •  CBC

Halifax’s typically bustling boardwalk is slowly reopening, with business owners hoping to make the best of a season potentially without tourists. Sarah Craig, the owner and operator of I Heart Bikes, was hoping to do a major expansion this year.

Real Estate Wealth Insights › Apartments can stabilize a portfolio during economic downturns

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

Vacancy grows in Winnipeg’s iconic Osborne Village

Commercial  •  CBC  •  CBC

When Jorge Requena Ramos moved to Winnipeg in 2005, he fell in love with Osborne Village. It was an artsy, cool neighbourhood, with a plethora of restaurants, record stores and underground music venues.

Canopy Growth posts $1.3-billion loss

Commercial  •  Reuters  •  Canada Newswire  •  Toronto Star

Smiths Falls, Ont.-based pot producer Canopy Growth Corp. (WEED-T) on Friday reported a bigger loss for the fourth quarter, hit by non-cash charges of $743 million related to its recent restructuring actions and impairment of some assets.

Tilray shuttering Leamington cannabis greenhouse

Commercial  •  Bloomberg  •  Toronto Star

Tilray Inc. is shutting one of its indoor cannabis production greenhouses. The firm plans to close its High Park Gardens greenhouse in Leamington, Ont., over the next several weeks, which will help save the company about $7.5 million annually.

T.O. entrepreneurs shine light on grocery disinfection

Commercial  •  Canadian Grocer  •  Canadian Grocer

High-end Toronto grocer Summerhill Market made news last week for allowing the first test of a machine that exposes groceries to ultraviolet light to kill germs and viruses. The pilot ran at Summerhill’s recently opened location in the Annex neighbourhood.

REIT/REOC COVID-19 business updates

Commercial  • 

NexPoint Hospitality Trust, (NHT-U-X), Canada Newswire

Slate Office REIT, (SOT-UN-T), Business Wire

Starlight acquires Texas apartment complex for $55M

Residential  •  Canada Newswire

Starlight U.S. Multi-Family (No. 1) Core Plus Fund (SCPO-UN-X) announced it has acquired 401 Teravista, a 320-unit, garden-style, multifamily property completed in 2008 and located in Austin, Texas. The purchase price was $55 million US.

Nordstrom sales plunge nearly 40% on store closures

Commercial  •  Reuters

Upscale department store chain Nordstrom Inc. (JWN-N) on Thursday reported a nearly 40 per cent slump in quarterly sales, as lockdowns to contain the COVID-19 pandemic shut stores. Seattle-based Nordstrom said online sales rose five per cent to $1.1 billion in Q1.

Costco profit falls on coronavirus-related costs

Commercial  •  Reuters

Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST-Q) reported a 7.5% fall in quarterly profit on Thursday, as it spent more on wages and sanitizing its warehouse clubs and halted sales of some high-margin products due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

U.S. retail, office most squeezed by pandemic: Survey

Commercial  •  Mississippi Business Journal

Triage for various U.S. commercial real estate classes during a pandemic looks like this: Retail, office, multifamily and industrial warehouse-distribution, says Integra Realty Resources’ Covid Real Estate Impact Survey Report.

Quebecers love the ‘burbs, poll suggests

Residential  •  Montreal Gazette

A survey conducted by RE/MAX Québec real estate firm suggests 46 per cent of respondents — particularly those with young children — could see themselves buying a home in the suburbs.

Fraser Institute predicts declining home ownership

Residential  •  Financial Post

Because of increased risk aversion, North American home ownership likely will decline. Owning a home not only concentrates risk in a single asset but can also lock people into particular real estate markets, says Steve Lafleur, Fraser Institute policy analyst.

Moncton real estate listings at a 15-year low

Residential  •  Global News

VIDEO: Real estate listings in the greater Moncton area are at a 15-year low. As Shelley Steeves reports, this is a good time to put a house on the market.

B.C. home sales suffer steep drop in April

Residential  •  Business In Vancouver  •  Vancouver Sun

Housing activity fell sharply across B.C. in April. Multiple Listing Service (MLS) home sales in B.C. declined 55.4 per cent from February to a seasonally adjusted 2,763 units – the lowest going back to mid-1986. Sales fell 50.5 per cent year-over-year.