InterRent, Trinity, PBC JV on major Ottawa development

InterRent, Trinity, PBC JV on major Ottawa development

InterRent Real Estate Investment Trust has announced a multi-use “transformational development” in downtown Ottawa at the junction of the city’s two new light rail transit (LRT) lines. InterRent purchased one-third of the approximately 3.6-acre site at 900 Albert St. for $14.2 million in a joint venture with Trinity Developments and PBC Real Estate Advisors Inc. Each of the partners holds a one-third interest in the development. 

Property Biz Canada

Calgary’s New Horizons Mall already nearly sold out

Retail Insider

Aspen gets creative at Calgary Encana Place redevelopment

A soaring vacancy rate in the Calgary downtown office market is forcing some landlords to be creative in attracting and retaining tenants. Aspen Properties, for example, is transforming the former Encana Place Tower, across the street from the Fairmont Palliser Hotel, to include a social gathering spot.

Property Biz Canada

Canada must catch up on smart buildings: Uniserve CEO

Canadian developers, landlords and governments are about three years behind their international counterparts when it comes to establishing smart buildings and cities, says the new boss of Uniserve Communications Corporation (USS-X). A newcomer to Canada, Nicholas Jeffery joined the 28-year-old publicly traded telecommunication company as CEO about six months ago.

Property Biz Canada

Cambie land assemblies send prices soaring

There is a home at 35th Avenue and Cambie on the Canada Line corridor in Vancouver where many properties have been bundled together and sold for twice what they might get on their own to make way for new condo projects. But this one sits lonely on a corner. Now, it’s on the market got $11 million for just over 8,700 square feet of dirt.

Vancouver Sun

Pricey RE fuels Chevron’s decision to sell five more Van. locations

The lure of cashing in on pricey real estate has fuelled Chevron‘s latest decision to sell another five of its gas stations in Vancouver. On Thursday, a spokesperson confirmed the closures of five more locations, all on the west side of the city. “The economics of the land value really is what’s driving the decision to divest,” said Adrien Byrne.

CBC – Western Investor

CPPIB increases exposure to Brazilian office market

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is increasing its exposure to the Brazilian office market through a “portfolio exchange” with Cyrela Commercial Properties (CCP). CPPIB has acquired a 33 per cent interest in CCP’s office portfolio in Brazil while selling its 50% equity stake in the existing logistics joint venture, CCP Logística Empreendimentos Imobiliários. The two parties have also committed a combined $507 million Cdn for a new joint venture.

IPE Real Estate – Marketwired – Bloomberg – IPE Real Estate

Chinese pullback won’t dent CRE prices: Brookfield Property CEO

CRE prices, hovering at record highs in the U.S. following a six-year boom, are sustainable even as Chinese regulators tighten restrictions on overseas investment, according to Brookfield Property Partners LP (BPY.UN-T). There is enough capital pouring into real estate from multiple regions to counter any potential slowdown in Chinese investment, Brookfield Property CEO Brian Kingston said.

Bloomberg

Chairman steps down so he can bid to buy Sears Canada

The executive chairman of Sears Canada has stepped down in order to head up a bid to buy the company. According to an employee memo, Brandon Stranzl will step away from his day-to-day operations at the company to instead focus on putting together a bid to buy the company and keep it going once it emerges from its current restructuring. 

CBC – Financial Post – Toronto Star

Creditor group wants to sue Sears Canada executives, board

A group of aggrieved creditors wants to sue the executive officers and directors of Sears Canada for negligence and intended to ask an Ontario judge Friday to schedule a hearing for their motion on whether they can proceed with their claim. A number of suppliers and construction companies are collectively owed millions by the struggling retailer.

Financial Post – Winnipeg Free Press

Prestigious acquires Central Alberta mobile home parks

Prestigious Properties Group announced the acquisition of three mobile home parks with over 160 pads in Central Alberta for $6.3 million, well below appraised value. Prestigious Properties acquires, manages and/or improves undervalued apartment buildings and mobile home parks in Western Canada.

GlobeNewswire – BCLocalNews

Greybrook, Tribute invest in residential development

Greybrook Realty Partners Inc. announced today the closing of an equity investment by its managed issuer of $15,920,000 to acquire and oversee the development of two prime parcels of land located in Courtice, Ont. Together with its developer partner, Tribute Communities, the firm will develop the lands into a residential community consisting of more than 230 single-detached homes and freehold townhomes.  

GlobeNewswire

Morguard acquires U.S. multi-suite residential property

Morguard North American Residential REIT (MRG.UN-T) and Morguard Corporation  (MRC-T) announced today the acquisition of The Fenestra at Rockville Town Square, a 492-suite apartment community in Rockville, Md. The acquisition was completed for a purchase price of $163.1 million. The entities will own the property on a 50/50 joint venture basis.

Canada Newswire

CAPREIT continues to grow Dutch presence

Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (CAR.UN-T) has waived conditions and entered into a binding agreement of purchase and sale to acquire a portfolio of three high-quality apartment properties in the Netherlands totalling 78 residential suites. The properties are well-located in Enschede, Meppel and Oldenzaal, centres where CAPREIT already owns properties. The purchase price of approximately $19.4 million Cdn. 

Marketwired

World’s largest data centre being built north of Arctic Circle

Ballangen, Norway, located about 140 miles north of the Arctic Circle, will be home to the largest data centre in the world when it completes construction in 2018. Ballangen was selected because of Norway’s abundance of green energy, cool climate, large technical workforce, and its access to international high-performance fiber in neighbouring Sweden.

Building Design & Construction

Featured Column

Why so shy? The undisclosed buyer

Most commercial real estate transaction are negotiated between parties with full disclosure as to who each party is. So why do offers from buyers sometimes come in undisclosed?

Read more

Market Trends and Research

Tech investors scrambling for a piece of the pie

Venture capitalists are flocking to real estate tech companies across the globe in search of the next WeWork or Airbnb, but it is not just the startups that are winning. Last year, both commercial and residential real estate tech companies raised record funds, with investors pouring $2.6 billion US into tech startups through 235 deals worldwide, according to CBInsights research.

Forbes

More than 500 NYC buildings likely vacant

A title company has used open data to map more than 500 buildings across NYC that are likely vacant. Daniel Price, founder and CEO of OneTitle National Guaranty Company, analyzed 40,000 calls to NYC’s 311 line over the last six years and matched them with other data to identify 541 properties in 137 zip codes that could become targets for developers as well as for nonprofits and affordable housing.

New York Post

REOC Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* Firm Capital American Realty Partners Corp., (FCA.U-X), Canada Newswire 

Real Estate Investment Trusts

OneREIT obtains interim order for plan of arrangement

OneREIT (ONR.UN-T) announced today it has obtained an interim order from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Commercial List) with respect to OneREIT’s previously announced plan of arrangement involving, among others, OneREIT, SmartREIT and Strathallen Acquisitions Inc. The interim order, among other things, authorizes OneREIT to call and hold a special meeting of OneREIT unit-holders to consider the transaction. 

Marketwired – Property Biz Canada

U.S. REITs turn toward pay-for-performance

REIT executive compensation increased by a slightly greater margin in 2016 than the year prior, according to FTI Consulting’s 2017 REIT Executive Compensation Trends study of pay practices at the 150 largest real estate trusts. However, while the average increase was greater – five per cent compared to three per cent in 2015 — the range was narrower: two to seven per cent in 2016, compared with one to nine per cent in 2015.

GlobeSt.com

Dream Office, RioCan scream ‘buy me’

Dream Office REIT (D.UN-T) completed a substantial issuer bid via dutch auction in the past few weeks, retiring close to 20 per cent of shares outstanding. After selling off by more than five per cent over the past three months, RioCan REIT  (REI.UN-T) currently offers a dividend yield of almost six per cent while trading at a slight discount to tangible book value. 

Motley Fool

Three of the best apartment REITs for your income portfolio

I love the idea of owning rental property. Looking after rental property? Not so much. Between deadbeat tenants and hefty maintenance bills, there are too many headaches that come with being a landlord. But for people who want the benefits of owning income property without all the hassles, there’s a solution: residential REITs.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Retail

HBC names J.C. Penney’s Edward Record new CFO

Hudson’s Bay Co. (HBC-T) Thursday named former J.C. Penney Co Inc executive Edward Record chief financial officer, effective Aug. 28. HBC and other large retailers are struggling to reinvent themselves amid an industry-wide upheaval, blamed in part on changing shopping trends that have seen shoppers migrate online. Last month, U.S. activist investor Jonathan Litt ratcheted up pressure on HBC. 

Reuters

The online ‘war’ is on with Wal-Mart: Analyst

Wal-Mart’s second-quarter results make it crystal clear the retailer is committed to growing its e-commerce business, with Jet.com founder Marc Lore at the helm of it all. Faced with the threat of Amazon encroaching on its turf, Wal-Mart has been rolling out initiatives like “easy reorder,” free two-day shipping with no membership required, and an online grocery service.

CNBC – Financial Post – Globe and Mail – Reuters

New Development

Bigger role for heritage buildings in Reliance project

Reliance Properties has unveiled the new look of its Johnson Street Gateway project, with more emphasis on heritage buildings at the Victoria site and tweaks to differentiate the new building from a sister project across the street. The Vancouver-based developer also recently completed the reinvention of the historic Janion Hotel as a 122-unit micro-loft development.

Victoria Times Colonist

Infrastructure

Ottawa approves funding for electricity in remote Ontario FN

The federal government has approved up to $60-million in spending to bring electricity transmission to the remote First Nations community of Pikangikum, where lack of reliable power is contributing to a social and mental-health crisis. Pikangikum is one of 22 remote Indigenous communities in northwestern Ontario that own a majority stake in Wataynikaneyap Power.

Globe and Mail

Other

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