Space sharing puts building ownership on notice

Space sharing puts building ownership on notice

No matter how hard you look, you won’t find a new million-square-foot office tower on Toronto’s skyline, but the equivalent is there if you search closely enough below the horizon and have time to comb through 85 different locations across the city. There, you’ll find a group of tenants that are neither building owners nor long-term leasers — the mainstays of CRE.

Financial Post

A sneak peek inside Ciena’s new Ottawa campus

It seems every serious tech company is building vast new operations centres — Apple, Google, Nvidia, LinkedIn and, soon, Amazon. Ottawa is no stranger to the trend. On Wednesday, 1,600-plus employees of Ciena Corp. celebrated their shift from multiple locations around Ottawa to the just-completed campus alongside Terry Fox Drive in North Kanata. The 28-month-long construction project was the most significant involving a tech campus since the 2000 boom.

Ottawa Citizen

What crisis? Canada’s retail sector adapting, experts say

Daily headlines of doom and gloom in Canadian retail might be overblown, according to panelists discussing the sector at the 14th annual RealREIT conference in Toronto on Thursday. “Retail has always had turmoil,” said Richard Michaeloff, CEO of OneREIT (ONR.UN-T).

Property Biz Canada

Bentall Kennedy JV to build Calgary industrial project on spec

The Calgary region’s first major speculative industrial development since 2015 is a clear sign the city has come out of its economic doldrums and is on the path of recovery, its backers say. Bentall Kennedy, partnering with the Highfield Investment Group and Hillwood, is moving forward on a 400,000-square-foot facility in Balzac, situated in Rocky View County just north of Calgary’s city limits

Property Biz Canada

Waterloo Region to join Toronto in bid for Amazon HQ

Waterloo Region plans to join in a partnership of Toronto-area municipalities bidding to become the new home of Amazon’s second North American headquarters.  “Let there be no doubt, we plan to join to combine with the Toronto-region bid,” said Tony LaMantia, president and CEO of the Waterloo Region Economic Development Corporation. The e-commerce giant plans to spend $5 billion to build a massive operation.

CBC – Winnipeg Free Press – Victoria Times Colonist

Roots files for IPO, plans international expansion

Another Canadian clothing retailer, Roots Corp, wants to take its company public as it plans a massive North American and international expansion over the next several years. For the heritage-fashion retailer the switch from being a private company for more than four decades comes against a challenging retail environment that’s seen numerous bankruptcies, and mass store closures and layoffs.

Winnipeg Free Press – BNN – CBC

QMLP buys residential portfolios in Hamilton, London

Q Management LP (QMLP) has entered into agreements to acquire 2,019 suites at 24 properties in Hamilton and London, Ont., giving it the critical mass it desires in both cities. “Our strategy is to buy very well-located assets in markets that are growing and strengthening, and to enhance the assets by spending targeted capital expenditures,” said QMLP president and chief executive officer Dan Argiros.

Property Biz Canada

Edmonton votes to shutter Northlands Coliseum

Northlands Coliseum, the storied former home to the Edmonton Oilers, will close permanently at the end of 2017 when the building is turned over to the City of Edmonton. “The Coliseum will come back to the city because Northlands simply cannot sustain it, fiscally,” Mayor Don Iveson told reporters Wednesday after council voted unanimously to approve the move. “That’s really what’s driving this.”

CBC – Edmonton Journal – CBC – Edmonton Journal

NAIT aims to expand to Blatchford in Edmonton land deal

The City of Edmonton, the province and Canada’s largest polytechnic are closing in on a significant land deal linked to the Blatchford project. Mayor Don Iveson cryptically spoke about “protracted negotiations” between the city, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and the province at Wednesday’s council meeting.

Edmonton Journal

B.C. puts kibosh on potential ICBC property sale

ICBC rates are moving up, but the insurance provider’s head office is staying right where it is on West Esplanade – at least for now. The previous B.C. Liberal government was considering selling the $79-million Lower Lonsdale property but Attorney General David Eby recently scrapped those plans, dubbing the idea hasty and short-sighted.

Business In Vancouver

Rosenau Transport lands at CentrePort hub

Officials at CentrePort Canada are doubly pleased with the decision by Edmonton-based Rosenau Transport Ltd. to open a 140,000-square-foot trucking terminal and warehousing operation on the inland port’s footprint. Not only does it further burnish CentrePort’s growing status as a transportation and distribution hub, Rosenau is taking over a portion of a massive 600,000-square-foot building formerly Canada Safeway’s distribution centre.

Winnipeg Free Press

	U.S. hurricanes’ impact on real estate
	The following section of the RENX newsletter is dedicated to news about Hurricanes Harvey and Irma in the U.S. and its impact on real estate.

 

Florida, Texas CRE begin long recovery effort

With relief efforts underway in areas ravaged by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, analysts are now beginning to assess the broader questions of how the back-to-back natural disasters could potentially affect U.S. economic growth, the near-term impact of the thousands of residents and tenants displaced by the storms, and how the threat of future storms may affect investor appetite for coastline property.

CoStar Group – Motley Fool

Slate Retail properties suffer minimal damage

Slate Retail REIT (SRT.U-T), an owner and operator of U.S. grocery-anchored real estate, announced the REIT has completed on site evaluations and estimates remediation costs to be less than US$30,000 across all of its properties in Florida. The REIT’s Florida portfolio consists of 13 retail properties comprising approximately 1.4 million square feet of gross leasable area. 

Marketwired

Independent Ottawa gaming studios to unite in common space

Five Ottawa gaming companies are set unite under a single roof later this year with the goal of building a hub for the local sector. “The Collective,” as gaming HR and marketing professional Jillian Mood has dubbed it, consists of her firm, Jillian Mood & Partners, anchor tenant Snowed In Studios, TheMeatly Games, Breakfall and Steel Crate Games.

Ottawa Business Journal

Cancelled Cambie condo developer could face legal backlash

A cancelled development along the Cambie Street corridor could set the stage for a costly legal challenge, a lawyer says. Vivagrand Developments, the group behind the proposed Langara West has cancelled the 72-luxury unit project citing significant permit delays, which led to a loss of financing. The group says it now plans to sell the property instead.

CBC

Building Canada 150: IPD shaping the future of construction project delivery

It’s a trend not so much to be found in the past 150 years as it will be in Canada’s next 150 years. Five years ago, only one integrated project delivery (IPD) build was under way in Canada. Today, there are at least 10 using the new design and construction delivery model with another 10 to 20 projects in one stage or another of development.

Daily Commercial News 1 – Daily Commercial News 2 – Daily Commercial News 3 – Daily Commercial News 4

JLL to find electric vehicle charging sites in VW Investment

For years, CRE brokers have predicted electric vehicle (EV) charging stations will become standard amenities at office buildings, shopping centres, hotels, service stations and even restaurants. Volkswagen subsidiary Electrify America just handed JLL an assignment to identify EV charging station sites in 17 metros, nearly half of them in California.

CoStar Group

Featured Column

What happens when insurers say, ‘Enough’?

On the West Coast, where it’s only a matter of time before the Big One, or more than one, hits and swamps the Pacific Rim with a tsunami, most people choose not to purchase earthquake insurance. Is there a lesson here for the rest of us facing record annual flooding and other severe weather?

Read more

Real Estate Companies

WeWork suing URWork over trademark

The gloves have come off in the fight for dominance of the shared office market as U.S. co-working champion WeWork takes a swing at Chinese challenger URWork over an oddly similar moniker. Also in the news today, BlackRock unloads its last Malaysian asset, and some Singaporeans have travelled to Manchester, England to convert a nightclub into a hotel. Read on for all these stories and more.

MingTiandi – Fortune

Rohit Group reimagines the corporate video

Rohit Group of Companies has launched its second workplace video “You’re the One that We Want!” The new corporate video is a humorous twist on stale recruitment techniques, themed after the movie “Grease,” and features Rohit’s very own talented employees in the roles of Danny, Sandy and their retro crew as Danny goes through the process of becoming a “Rohitian.”

Marketwired

	RENX 2018 media kit now available
	A blended ad program, take-over advertising, writing services and a second weekly edition of Property Biz Canada in 2018. Advertising that reaches thousands of professionals in the commercial real estate industry every business day. Contact sales@renx.ca, 1-855-569-6300

 

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Pure Multi-Family buys Dallas apartment community

Pure Multi-Family REIT LP (RUF.U-X) announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Farmers Market Apartments, a multi-family apartment community, located in Dallas, for a purchase price of US$66,350,000. Developed in 2016, the property is an institutional quality multi-family asset comprising 340 units with an average unit size of 824 square feet.

Canada Newswire

Will CAPREIT, Allied continue to outperform?

Canadian Apartment Properties REIT (TSX:CAR.UN) and Allied Properties Real Estate Investment (TSX:AP.UN) shares have appreciated nearly eight and about seven per cent, respectively, year-to-date, and they offer yields of 3.8 and four per cent. These are strong performers compared to some other REITs that are in the red and have even cut their dividends.

Motley Fool

Is it time to flee REITs after a second rate hike?

After a second round of interest rate hikes, shares of Canada’s REITs are now perceived to be facing headwinds as the cost to refinance each mortgage will have to be done at higher rates of interest. Before deciding if it is time to sell out of this sector (or double down), investors must first ask: What effect will higher interest rates have on rents?

Motley Fool – Motley Fool

Is Cominar a buy after recent strategy announcement?

Cominar REIT (CUF.UN-T)  is removing geographical diversification from its income portfolio while maintaining a core portfolio with a 37 per cent exposure to retail, 67% of which is in closed mall space — a high-risk area considering the growing weakness in the brick-and-mortar retail business line. There could be increased volatility in Cominar’s unit price as the REIT implements the new plan.

Motley Fool – Property Biz Canada – Property Biz Canada

Retail

UFA Co-operative shuttering Wholesale Sports chain

The Wholesale Sports chain of a dozen hunting, fishing and camping supply stores in Western Canada is shutting down after 30 years in business, leaving 545 workers without jobs. The operation owned by Calgary-based UFA Co-operative Ltd. closed stores on Thursday afternoon to tell workers their jobs would be ending by year-end. Inventory liquidation sales are to begin today.

Edmonton Journal – Canada Newswire

Empire shares soar as turnaround gains traction

Sobeys owner Empire Co. (EMP.A-T) appears to be turning a corner after the bungled acquisition of the Canadian Safeway banner four years ago. The Stellarton, N.S., retailer grew sales and beat analyst expectations on adjusted earnings in the first quarter ended Aug. 5, though CEO Michael Medline says the grocery chain still has much to do “to thrill our customers” and improve its bottom line. 

Financial Post – BNN – CTV – Canada Newswire

Dollarama announces plan to buy back shares

Dollarama Inc. (DOL-T) announced today it intends to purchase for cancellation up to 450,000 of its common shares pursuant to one or more private agreements between Dollarama and an arm’s‑length third-party seller. The purchases will form part of Dollarama’s normal course issuer bid announced on June 7, 2017, which provides authorization for the purchase of up to 5,680,390 common shares from June 19, 2017 to June 18, 2018.  

Canada Newswire

New Development

Oakville moves ahead with second IPD project

The Town of Oakville is moving ahead with a second project that will be delivered under an Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) model coupled with lean construction principles. To be designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects and built by Graham Construction, the Southeast Community Centre will feature a double gymnasium, fitness centre and indoor pool.

Daily Commercial News

Technology

Ottawa pledges $50M for Arctic internet

The federal government has promised to contribute nearly $50 million to bring high-speed internet to Nunavut where some of the poorest and most expensive service in Canada has long been considered an economic drag. The money, together with $73 million from regional service provider Northwestel, will put satellite dishes and ground stations in all 25 Nunavut communities, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains said Thursday in Iqaluit.

Winnipe Free Press

Other

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