Vancouver strata office space sells out, sets record

Vancouver strata office space sells out, sets record

When word started swirling in Vancouver the Bosa Waterfront Centre office tower had sold in less than a week at prices topping $2,000 per square foot, the news was greeted with incredulity. Turns out the original rumours were a bit off, but the facts remain mind-boggling, as confirmed by Bosa Development executive vice-president Richard Weir. Even Bosa executive were among the doubters when the class-AAA tower was being planned.

Western Investor

Cadillac Fairview suing Four Seasons for breach of lease

Commercial landlord Cadillac Fairview Corp. is suing Four Seasons Hotels Ltd. for breach of lease, claiming the company’s hotel on West Georgia isn’t furnished and equipped up to the standard of a “typical first-class luxury hotel.” Cadillac Fairview, VANPC LP and VANPC GP Ltd. filed a notice of civil claim in BC Supreme Court on Oct. 20. According to the lawsuit, the original lease was signed in 1976.

Business In Vancouver

Manhattan’s StuyTown to host massive solar energy project

Blackstone and Ivanhoé Cambridge are about to turn the largest rental apartment community in the United States into a major producer of green energy in Manhattan. The two real estate giants announced Wednesday they will build the largest private multi-family residential rooftop solar project in the U.S. at Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. The project will be run by StuyTown Property Services (SPS).

Sustainable Biz Canada

The One project plans to include luxury hotel

The developer behind what would be the tallest residential building in Canada has decided to scale back plans for 10 floors of retail and bring in a luxury hotel.  Sam Mizrahi, president of Mizrahi Developments, confirmed The One project, slated to be completed as early as 2022, plans to pivot from his initial retail plans to take advantage of the hot market for luxury hotels.

CoStar Group

Vancouver approves annual licence for short-term rentals

Vancouver City Council has approved new rules that will require a $49 annual licence for anyone who lists their property as a short-term rental on websites such as Airbnb and Expedia. The regulations also ban hosts from listing units that are not their principal residence and require Airbnb-style platforms to charge a transaction fee. The city says about 6,000 short-term rentals are in operation.

National Post – CBC – Business In Vancouver – CTV

Rental tower, 47-storey mixed-use tower coming to Metrotown

The Metrotown skyline is going to change when a new 14-storey apartment building and a 47-storey mixed use tower are built. The apartment building will be unlike other towers that have popped up in the neighbourhood recently, as this one will consist of only non-market rentals. New Vista Society wants to build 125 non-market units on a site currently occupied by three low-rise rentals totaling 64 units.

Business In Vancouver

Cidex Group buys Edmonton Quarters site

A gaping hole in the ground at the corner of 95th Street and Jasper Avenue in downtown Edmonton has been sold. Calgary-based Cidex Group has purchased the property, Bartosz Jarocki, supervisor of property sales with the City of Edmonton, said Tuesday. Two marquee residential towers had been planned for the site but the developer pulled out after failing to meet conditions before a deadline in 2015.

CBC – Property Biz Canada

New Westminster’s Anvil Centre nearly fully leased

Patience is paying off at the Anvil Centre in downtown New Westminster, which Kingswood Capital Corp. and CRS Group acquired in December 2014 for $35.5 million. The 139,000-square-foot building is 93% leased to tenants that include Douglas College, Land Title and Survey Authority of BC, Evolution Gaming Ltd., Century Group and Aerotek. Leasing has proceeded steadily over the past 18 months.

Business In Vancouver

Agellan announces agreement with ELAD Canada, Sandpiper

Agellan Commercial REIT (ACR-UN-T) announced it has entered into a strategic settlement agreement with ELAD Canada Inc. and Sandpiper Group.  The agreement is unanimously supported by the Board of Trustees of the REIT. Sandpiper has withdrawn its unitholder meeting requisition and each of ELAD and Sandpiper have agreed to vote in favour of the newly reconstituted board at the annual meeting of unitholders in 2018. 

Business Wire

Loblaw closing 22 unprofitable stores in 2018

Loblaw Companies Limited (L-T) said Wednesday it plans to close 22 unprofitable stores, with the closures happening in a range of its banners and formats. The announcement comes almost a month after the company said it was cutting approximately 500 corporate and store support positions. Loblaws said the changes will allow it to save about $85 million annually. 

CBC – CTV – Reuters – Canada Newswire

Brookfield aims to expand retail footprint with GGP bid

Brookfield Property Partners LP (BPY-UN-T) is betting on shopping centres at a time when malls are under pressure from online retailers, and big departments stores are overhauling their businesses. The Canadian property owner made an unsolicited $14.8-billion US cash-and-stock bid to buy the rest of U.S. retail real estate company GGP Inc. it does not own amid a shakeout in the bricks-and-mortar retail industry, particularly in the U.S. 

Globe and Mail – Bloomberg – Property Biz Canada

Retailers can’t see the way forward in online-dominated market

In the wake of the recent Sears Canada bankruptcy, it seems every brick-and-mortar retailer is fighting to survive against the swell of online purchases that dominate the market. According to a new report from accounting and advisory firm Deloitte Canada, more than 60 per cent of retail executives know they need a strategy to battle digital disruption, but they don’t know what approach to take.

BC Business – Globe and Mail (Subscription required) – Reuters

Quebec to sell cannabis online via SAQ: Sources

Legal cannabis could be just a click away for Quebecers once Canada’s new marijuana law comes into effect, Radio-Canada has learned. The Quebec government plans to table its own legislation to manage legal marijuana sales Thursday, Radio-Canada has confirmed, and it intends to manage online marijuana sales through the SAQ, Quebec’s publicly owned liquor agency.

CBC – Globe and Mail – Business Wire – Bloomberg

Industrial art deco repurposed in Toronto

Although 99 per cent of guests will never see it, there’s a wonderful “tell” in the catering kitchen of Toronto’s newest event space, the Symes, at 150 Symes Rd. in Toronto’s ascending, former meat-packing district near St. Clair Avenue West and Weston Road. There, partly obscured by gleaming stainless-steel sinks and snaking PVC pipes, stencilled directly onto the buff brick wall is: “NO FIREARMS BEYOND THIS POINT.”

Globe and Mail

Surrey City Hall stays in municipal property game

How cosy a city should get with its private real estate development sector has been an ongoing debate in municipalities across the Lower Mainland. The City of Surrey has embraced an aggressive pro-business strategy as it plows ahead with a building spree in hopes of attracting people, jobs and companies to the area.

Business In Vancouver – Western Investor

Featured Column

Saskatoon still shining brightly

I used to smirk a little every time former mayor Don Atchison found a way to work in the “Saskatoon Shines” message into public speeches. But I’m drinking the Kool-Aid and on-board these days with repeating something he was fond of reminding people: Saskatoon is where it’s at.

Read more

Real Estate Companies

Firm Capital appoints new director

Firm Capital Mortgage Investment Corporation (FC-T) has announced the appointment of Victoria Granovski to the Board of Directors, effective immediately. Victoria Granovski joined Firm Capital Mortgage Investment Corporation in 2013 and currently holds the position of senior vice-president, Credit and Equity Capital, as well as vice-president of Mortgage Operations at Firm Capital Corporation. 

Globe Newswire

Home Capital profit falls more than half in Q3

Home Capital Group (HCG-T) reported net income of $30 million in its most recent quarter, about half of what it earned in the year-ago period before it was hit with allegations it misled investors. The Toronto-based mortgage lender’s third-quarter income included the impact of reduced loan balances, increased interest expenses, elevated non-interest expenses and loss on sale of mortgage assets. 

Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail – Canada Newswire

Brookfield lands EY as One Manhattan West tenant

Ernst & Young (EY) has agreed to lease 600,000 square feet of office space in Brookfield Property Partners‘ (BPY-UN-T) new One Manhattan West located at 400 West 33rd St., becoming the latest major office tenant to decamp for the emerging area of the city. The 67-storey, 2.1 million-square-foot One Manhattan West is the first of two office towers Brookfield is building as part of its Manhattan West development. 

CoStar Group

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REOC Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* Dream Unlimited Corp., (DRM-T), Globe Newswire

REIT Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* Agellan Commercial REIT, (ACR-UN-T), Business Wire

* Boardwalk REIT, (BEI-UN-T), Canada Newswire 

* H&R REIT, (HR-UN-T). Canada Newswire 

* Inovalis REIT, (INO-UN-T), Canada Newswire 

* InterRent REIT, (IIP-UN-T), Globe Newswire 

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Spanish REIT merger could create $15B prime office landlord

Colonial Group has launched a takeover attempt of rival Spanish-listed property company Axiare Patrimonio. Colonial, a Spanish REIT, said it has increased its stake in Axiare from 15% to 28.3% and has launched a voluntary tender offer to acquire remaining shares. A takeoever would lift Colonial’s asset value to $10 billion Cdn and consolidate its standing as a landlord of prime office assets in Paris, Madrid and Barcelona, it said.

IPE Real Estate – Reuters

Seniors housing REITs might be stepping away from acquisitions

Private equity and institutional investors from the U.S. and around the world have been stepping up their pursuit of seniors housing assets, seizing an opportunity to capitalize on a pullback in acquisitions by seniors housing REITs. What’s driving the slowdown in acquisitions by the REITs? Mitchell Kiffe, senior managing director at CBRE Capital Markets, points to a broad decline in the REITs’ stock prices as tied to NAV.

National Real Estate Investor

Should your next investment be Crombie REIT?

Crombie REIT (CRR-UN-T), a $2.02-billion mid-cap, is a real estate company operating in an industry which remains the single largest sector globally, and has continued to play a key role in investor portfolios as an asset class. Crombie leads the pack with its impressive earnings growth of 44.40 per cent over the past year. This proven growth may make Crombie a more expensive stock relative to its peers. 

Simply Wall St

Retail

HBC investors anxious for debt reduction, payouts

As Hudson’s Bay Co. (HBC-T) steps up the pace of extracting value from its $5 billion property portfolio, the department store chain’s shareholders want it to reduce debt, return cash to them and not invest the proceeds in traditional retail operations. Hudson’s Bay is not new to selling real estate, but its actions are under greater scrutiny amid rising tensions between the company and activist hedge fund Land & Buildings. 

Reuters

Home Depot lifts full-year forecasts as hurricanes spur demand

Home Depot Inc (HD-N), the largest U.S. home improvement chain, on Tuesday raised its full-year profit and sales forecast after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma spurred demand for generators, flashlights and rebuilding materials. The Dow component, which is riding a multi-year recovery in the housing market, got a huge boost in the quarter as the hurricanes drove customers.  

Reuters

Canopy Growth doubles revenue, but reports loss

Canopy Growth Corp. (WEED-T) reported Tuesday it took a $1.6-million loss in its fiscal second quarter, a slip that comes as the Smiths Falls, Ont.-based medical marijuana company gears up for Canada’s planned legalization of recreational cannabis. “It seems that, with our company and maybe this sector generally, the subsequent events are greater than the prior period’s total events,” said Bruce Linton, Canopy chairman/CEO. 

Financial Post – Ottawa Citizen – Globe and Mil – CBC

New Development

Toronto creating waterfront music hub

Last week, the City of Toronto committed to providing $200,000 for the creation of a waterfront music hub, which will serve as the new home of The Remix Project,  a non-profit organization that focuses on providing programming for youth facing barriers to success. The new music hub will be located in the Daniels Waterfront – City of the Arts community on Toronto’s east waterfront

Newinhomes.com

Human Resources

Ottawa honours trailblazing retail developer

John Ruddy‘s father John Sr., a former star football halfback, launched his own company selling home heating oil and installing mechanical systems in downtown Ottawa office buildings. “When (John Sr.) first started his business, his office was in the house,” Ruddy, 65, says during an interview at Trinity Development Group, the company he founded in 1992. “Obviously, that rubbed off on me.”

Ottawa Business Journal

Other

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