Chartwell to acquire five Alberta retirement residences

Chartwell to acquire five Alberta retirement residences

Chartwell Retirement Residences (CSH-UN-T) has entered into a definitive agreement relating to the purchase of five retirement communities comprising 1,031 suites in the Greater Edmonton Area. Four of the retirement communities have 775 suites comprising 723 operational suites, plus a 52-suite addition to one community that is under construction and expected to be completed in Q2 2018. The portfolio will be acquired for a purchase price of $298.0 million. 

Marketwired – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

Mainstreet acquires US$425M property portfolio

Mainstreet Health Investments (HLP-U-T) today announced it has entered into definitive agreements with Tiptree Inc. (TIPT-Q) and certain subsidiaries, to acquire Care Investment Trust LLC for an aggregate purchase price of approximately US$425 million. CareIT owns a portfolio of 42 seniors housing and care properties comprising 3,718 suites/beds in markets across the United States. 

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

ReDev looking to buy shopping centres: CEO

Richard Crenian has a retail strategy he believes in and the chief executive officer of ReDev Properties is in the mood to buy. Shopping malls. Several malls, if he can acquire them. “We’ve got a 10-year game plan, and our game plan is specifically this; we want to do more development, mainly in the retail sector,” Crenian told RENX.

Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

Downtown Vancouver office space ‘landlord’s market’

Downtown Vancouver is entering an extended period without any major office tower openings, even as demand for workspace continues to rise, say local commercial property stakeholders. The downtown office vacancy rate is forecast to drop below five per cent, with no new buildings expected in the next three years, said Jeff Rank, a senior vice-president of leasing with Vancouver-based QuadReal, citing figures from Jones Lang LaSalle  (JLL). 

Property Biz Canada

BTB acquires two Montreal office properties

BTB REIT (BTB-UN-T) announced the acquisition of two class-A office properties located in Montreal, in the Saint-Laurent borough. The $35.1-million transaction, excluding transaction fees, brings to 73 the number of properties owned by the REIT. These properties are strategically located near the proposed electric train station (REM) to be set up and functional in the upcoming years. The combined occupancy rate is 98.4 per cent. 

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

Summit to acquire four industrial properties

Summit Industrial Income REIT (SMU-UN-T) announced it has waived conditions and will acquire 100 per cent of a four property light industrial portfolio located in the REIT’s key target markets. In total, the portfolio will add 238,783 square feet of space for a total purchase price of approximately $35.0 million. 

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

Northview buys 1,250 apartments in four provinces

Northview Apartment REIT (NVU.UN-T) will push its holdings over the 25,000-unit plateau with the purchase of a total of 1,250 units from third-party companies as well as affiliates of Starlight Group Property Holdings Inc. Northview will pay $196.8 million for the 10 properties, which are concentrated in Ontario but also include sites in Quebec, B.C. and Nova Scotia.

Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

OSC reviewing TSX approval in HBC land deal

The Ontario Securities Commission held a hearing Wednesday at the request of a Hudson’s Bay Co. (HBC-T) activist investor to review a Toronto Stock Exchange decision concerning shares involved in the sale of a New York City property. Land & Buildings Investment Management applied for the regulator to review the TSX’s Nov. 7 decision to provide conditional support to Rhone Capital’s $632-million equity investment.

BNN – CNBC

Toronto Airbnb rules unchanged, despite criticism

A lawyer warned city councillors Thursday it will be easier to register to host an Airbnb-style short-term rental unit in Toronto than it is to acquire a residential parking permit, but councillors made no changes to their draft rules. Jacqueleine Porter spoke  about the brand new regulations set to rein in the thousands of short-term rentals across the city.

CBC – Globe and Mail – CBC – Vancouver Province

Act II for a Toronto theatre

Every theatre has its secrets, and one is hidden backstage in the Lyric Theatre, one of the four performance spaces in the Toronto Centre for the Arts in North York. The audience sees only the stage and the unusual theatre interior, covered with an intricate array of translucent wall panels that can change colours to add mood and theatrical effect to a performance.

Globe and Mail

Edmonton’s Kingsway Mall getting a facelift

Kingsway Mall is undergoing a $50-million overhaul that’s redeveloping the former Target store and providing space for start-up food vendors. Part of the location once occupied by Target is now taken by Marshalls, HomeSense and a relocated H&M store, while about 15 other retailers are expected to move into other space vacated when the American chain shut down its Canadian operations in 2015, general manager Susan Denney said Wednesday.

Edmonton Journal

Winnipeg pot grower green-lighted for major expansion

Legal cannabis producer Delta 9 Cannabis (NINE-X) has received Health Canada’s conditional approval to expand its Winnipeg facility. Delta 9 cultivates its crop inside individual “grow pods,” which are retrofitted shipping containers. The expansion will add 143 pods to the current 15 pods. 

Winnipeg Free Press – Calgary Herald

Amsterdam firm in JV with Canopy Growth

Canopy Growth Corp. of Smiths Falls, Ont., has formed a joint venture to share ownership of the Agripharm indoor growing operation in Creemore, Ont., with Amsterdam-based Green House Brands. Canopy Growth (WEED-T) says it will retain 40 per cent of Agripharm and the rest will be owned by Green House Holdings North America Inc. and its affiliate in the Netherlands, which does business as Organa Brands.

Ottawa Business Journal – BNN

How the provinces are planning for pot legalization

When the federal government announced it would be legalizing marijuana, it left it up to the provinces to licence the product and oversee its distribution and sale. Here’s a look at which provinces have laid out their plans and which are still working out the kinks.

CBC – Toronto Star – Globe and Mail – CBC

Every company needs an Amazon strategy: NKF

Amidst all the churning in the U.S. industrial market, much of it due to e-commerce, one corporate name stands out: Amazon (AMZN-Q). Some in industrial real estate say everyone, in 2018 and beyond, will need an “Amazon strategy.” “Amazon is in the business of disrupting scalable industries,” Geoffrey Kasselman, executive managing director, national industrial practice, Newmark Knight Frank, tells GlobeSt.com. 

GlobeSt.com – MarketWatch – Reuters

Real Estate Companies

Mattamy Homes purchases Royal Oaks Building Group

 Mattamy Homes, North America’s largest privately owned homebuilder, has signed an agreement in principle to purchase the Royal Oaks Building Group, the largest privately owned builder in the Raleigh-Durham, N.C., area and the fifth-largest builder overall in the market. The deal is expected to close later this month. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Canada Newswire

Avison Young opens new San Jose/Silicon Valley office

Mark E. Rose, chair and CEO of Avison Young, the world’s fastest-growing commercial real estate services firm, announced the opening of a new office in San Jose/Silicon Valley.The newest American office represents Avison Young’s 11th office in California, 55th office in the U.S., and an additional step in the firm’s ongoing aggressive growth and expansion strategy. 

Canada Newswire

Brookfield closes $3B U.S. CRE fund

Brookfield Asset Management Inc. announced it held the final close on Brookfield Real Estate Finance Fund V with aggregate equity commitments of approximately $3.0 billion. BREF V is Brookfield’s fifth commercial real estate finance fund targeting mezzanine debt investments through the origination of financing for high-quality properties predominately in major markets across the U.S.

Globe Newswire

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REIT Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* PROREIT, (PRV-UN-X), Marketwired 

* Pure Multi-Family REIT, (RUF.UN-X), Canada Newswire

Real Estate Investment Trusts

CT REIT belongs in dividend growth portfolio

The parade of dividend hikes continued in November, with CT Real Estate Investment Trust (CRT-UN-T) announcing an increase of four per cent. CT REIT has raised its distribution four times since it was spun off from Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. (CTC-A-T) in 2013. Thanks to its association with Canadian Tire, CT REIT enjoys reliable cash flows from its portfolio of more than 300 properties.  

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

E-commerce upswing is disrupting REITs

For nearly 20 years, strong demand for office properties in major city centres around the world has driven a lot of the total returns in the REIT space, “at least for the period up until the Great Recession,” says Cohen & Steers portfolio manager Chip McKinley. Structural changes related to regulation, technology and demographics are now leading to a shift, says McKinley.

Advisor.ca

Warehouse owners buck sluggish U.S. REIT market

While the broader stock market has been steadily racking up gains and posting new highs, companies that own real estate have been lagging, with some notable exceptions. Losses by struggling mall and shopping centre owners have weighed on REITs, offsetting healthy gains by residential and industrial REITs. Rising interest rates, which can make REITs less attractive to dividend investors, haven’t helped.

Globe and Mail

Retail

MUJI to open Canadian flagship location on Robson

MUJI’s second Metro Vancouver location will be the company’s largest location outside of Asia. The brand will occupy 14,507 square feet of retail space at 1125 Robson Street, previously tenanted by clothing retailers The Gap and Below the Belt. The location will be MUJI’s largest store outside of Asia and is twice the size of its 7,770-square-foot Metrotown location.

Western Investor

Walmart gaining ground on Amazon

The showdown between Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT-N) and Amazon is heating up — just in time for the holidays. Walmart, which has worked hard to shed its image as an old-school retailer, on Thursday offered proof its efforts are working — online sales rose 50 per cent, the company said, as more Americans flocked to Walmart.com for everyday items.

Winnipeg Free Press – Financial Post – Reuters – Associated Press

Restaurants and Eateries

Tim Hortons’ franchisee spat hurting sales: Investor

Prominent shareholder activist and investor Bill Ackman has criticized Tim Hortons and its public spat with its franchisees. Tim Hortons’ battle with its franchisees has helped push down sales over recent quarters along with a cool response to its new espresso-based coffee and lunch offerings, says Ackman, founder of New York hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management LP and an investor in Restaurant Brands International Inc. (QSR-T). 

Globe and Mail

Winnipeg’s growing appetite for Boston Pizza

Winnipeg’s Enright family continues to expand its Boston Pizza franchise empire in Manitoba, with the scheduled opening next month of its 16th location. Its newest restaurant/sports bar location is at 3894 Grant Ave., in the Charleswood Centre. It’s a 6,400-square-foot, stand-alone building that will feature a dining room, sports bar and two seasonal outdoor patios — one for the dining room and one for the sports bar.

Winnipeg Free Press

La Carnita turns Winnipeg bank into hip restaurant

La Carnita, a recently opened Main Street eatery, is a Toronto import. Already dishing out gringoed-up Mexican food in four small neon- and graffiti-covered T.O. venues, the trendy chain has expanded into Winnipeg, transforming an Exchange District heritage building into its fifth location. La Carnita offers a gentrified take on Mexican-style street eats.

Winnipeg Free Press

Other

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