3Bridges plans $1B Niagara Falls development

RENX  Residential  •  Condominiums, Hotels and Resorts  •  Ontario

The CEO of 3Bridges Properties’ says his company plans to tap into its “unique background” to draw Asian visitors to a new billion-dollar, three-tower development in Niagara Falls which includes a luxury hotel and condominiums with views of the falls.

WeWork to lease 10 floors in new Vancouver tower

Commercial  •  BNN Bloomberg

WeWork Cos Inc. has inked a deal to anchor BentallGreenOak’s new Vancouver development, dubbed B6 currently being built by a unit of Sun Life Financial Inc. WeWork will occupy 172,000 square feet on 10 floors of the 32 storey new office tower.

The new workplace: A millennial designer’s perspective

Commercial  •  CP Executive

It’s been a few years since the first crop of Millennials joined the workforce. Millennials have forever changed how and where we work with new ideas about work/life balance that have led to modern mainstays such as the office dog, stadium seating and meditation spaces.

Vancouver a N. American launch pad for global retailers

Commercial  •  Business In Vancouver

International retailers are selecting Vancouver as their launch pad for North American operations in part because its multicultural mix and culture make it an ideal testing ground, particularly for companies from the Asia-Pacific region.

Parkland Fuels to double head count in Calgary

Commercial  •  Calgary Herald

Parkland Fuels, an independent supplier of petroleum products that also operates more than 1,800 service stations, says it will use a $4 million grant from a city investment fund to double its headcount in Calgary, bringing approximately 200 jobs to the city by 2020.

Tech giant Fujitsu picks Vancouver for global AI HQ

Commercial  •  Vancouver Sun

In a sign of Vancouver’s growing presence in artificial intelligence, Japanese tech giant Fujitsu has picked the city as its international headquarters. It is a small beachhead with about 20 employees, up from nine employees who relocated from Japan last fall.

Value: Weighed and Measured › LRT and residential development: How much parking is needed?

John Clark: Vice President , The Regional Group of Companies Inc

Ottawa LRT clears final testing hurdle

Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal

OC Transpo head John Manconi confirmed at Wednesday’s regular finance and economic development committee update that the Ottawa Confederation Line LRT will be ready for handover on Aug. 16, with the line opening to Ottawa riders some four weeks later.

Vancouver’s ‘boldest’ plan for property tax surge

Commercial  •  Vancouver Sun

A solution outlined at a closed-door Vancouver briefing calls for a new “subclass” for the development potential in the air above commercial properties. Currently taxed not on their based on “highest and best use” some businesses property taxes have doubled.

Latest Metro Vancouver new rental housing hopes dashed

Commercial  •  Vancouver Sun

A Metro Vancouver developer is going back to the drawing board after a proposed 84-unit rental building in White Rock was rejected by council, illustrating the hurdles some developers face trying to get rental projects built despite near-zero vacancy.

Winnipeg’s Academy Road upgrades make room for retail

Commercial  •  Western Investor

Academy Road, three blocks north of Corydon Avenue is leading a mini-development boom in south Winnipeg. Atop the list is the long-time home to Academy Uptown Lanes bowling alley conversion into a multi-use building, including retail, office and condos.

A pie-in-the-sky plan for Toronto’s Main Square

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

There are no benches here, and shade is in short supply at Main Square, a complex of four brick-and-concrete high rises built in 1970-71 by the Victoria Wood Development Corp., with financing from the CMHC as a place for low-income families.

Canada’s ’embarrassing’ lack of female CEOs

Commercial  •  BNN Bloomberg

BNN Bloomberg reviewed the 100 most influential companies within the S&P/TSX Composite, a group that represents 88 per cent of the index. Within that industry-spanning group, there is currently one woman serving as a CEO: Nancy Southern, who runs Calgary-based Canadian Utilities.

Subway got too big, too fast. Franchisees paid the price

Commercial  •  Financial Post

It was the middle of 2017, and inspectors sent by Subway’s regional manager were finding a new problem to cite each month: a handprint on the glass door, the wrong brand of bathroom soap, cucumber slices that were too thick.

Avison Young acquires German real estate advisory firm

Commercial  •  PR Newswire

Avison Young announced today that it has acquired Hamburg, Germany-based Völckers & Cie Immobilien GmbH Real Estate Advisors. The purchase represents Avison Young’s first acquisition in Germany and further expands the company’s full-service platform across the country.

Brookfield seeks to buy Australian retirement village owner

Commercial  •  Real Estate Assets

Australian retirement communities manager Aveo Group today confirmed that it has selected Brookfield Asset Management as its “preferred party” in takeover talks. Aveo operates 94 retirement and aged care communities valued at A$2bn.

Toronto market improves, Montreal leads top-tier RE: Sotheby’s

Residential  •  Globe Newswire  •  New in Homes

A new report released today by Sotheby’s International Realty Canada revealed  Greater Toronto Area market revitalized with healthy increases in sales over $1 million, while Montreal’s $1-million-plus real estate sales achieved new records in condo activity and balanced gains overall.

Developer asks for co-operation as condo project teeters

Residential  •  Globe and Mail

Toronto Haven Developments is taking the unusual step of seeking co-operation from customers at its proposed Six25BV as it tries to avoid being the latest to cancel a condominium project. Since 2017, there have been 6,350 condominium units cancelled in the GTA.

Toronto condos ditching walls for sliding glass doors

Commercial  •  Toronto Star

Amid the city’s housing crisis, as condo units have been getting smaller another curious thing has happened: walls and doors have turned to glass. MLS is full of ads selling or renting condo units in which glass has replaced bedroom walls and doors.

Ontario tribunal rules realtor accused of theft keep licence

Residential  •  Globe and Mail

In 2015, RECO issued a notice to revoke the registration of Mississauga realtor Akbar Zarehhossainabadi, broker of record of Kingsway Real Estate Brokerage.  Zareh admitted that he removed more than $30,000 worth of “chattels” from a house purchased in a power-of-sale transaction.