NorthWest makes unconditional offer for Aussie REIT

NorthWest makes unconditional offer for Aussie REIT

Toronto-based NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT (NWH.UN-T) has moved to take control of the Australian-based Generation Healthcare REIT. NorthWest announced to the Australian Securities Exchange NWH Australia AssetCo Pty Ltd., as the trustee for NWY Australia Asset Trust had made a reportedly $664- million Cdn unconditional, off-market takeover offer for all the outstanding units it does not already own in Generation.

Money Management – Stockhouse – The Australian

Slate Retail purchases Florida’s Eustis Village

Slate Retail REIT (SRT.U-T), an owner and operator of U.S. grocery-anchored real estate, announced it has entered into a binding agreement to acquire Eustis Village for US$23 million ($147 per square foot). The property is 97% occupied, is Publix-anchored and is located in the Orlando Metropolitan Statistical Area. 

Marketwired

Starlight adds second new downtown Hamilton high-rise

Toronto-based Starlight Investments has added another luxury multi-residential property to its rapidly expanding portfolio in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). Starlight announced this week the completion of the forward sale of the newly constructed 29-storey Regency Suites in Hamilton.

Property Biz Canada

Windmill’s Arch Lofts nearing completion

Arch Lofts, a Toronto church to condominium conversion that was delayed and renamed, is closing in on its first occupancy in July. “Arch Lofts is an intimate-scale project of only 39 units in an established residential neighbourhood that’s well-connected by transit and paths,” said Windmill Development Group partner Alex Speigel.

Property Biz Canada

CAPREIT decries proposed changes to Ontario rent controls

“We believe that the proposed changes to Ontario’s rent control legislation will in fact reduce the availability of future rental accommodation and thus only accelerate the already significant lack of available rental housing in the province,” CAPREIT (CAR.UN-T) president/CEO Thomas Schwartz said late Friday. “There are much better alternative policies the (provincial) government should consider . . .” 

Marketwired

Winnipeg airport’s $3.37-B effect

When the new Winnipeg airport terminal was completed in 2011, it was forecast passenger traffic would hit four million by the end of 2019. That milestone was hit three years early and the overall economic impact the Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport has on the city is growing at a rate faster than the GDP growth.

Winnipeg Free Press

Vancouver, mayor banking on funding for project

A long-standing sore point in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside was aggravated when city staff prepared to market the latest plans for a development at 58 West Hastings Street. At face value, the project sounds like a great idea. It would be funded in part by a $30-million donation from the Chinatown Foundation and will include retail and health care space.

Vancouver Sun

Architect aims to turn farmer’s field into vibrant urban plaza

It could be a bit of magic for architects aiming to create a vibrant, urban plaza on the very western suburban fringe of Edmonton. Parking lots would be pushed to each side, a cafe and shops would spill out into the square and space for market vendors would line the main entrance to the Lewis Farms Recreation Centre.

Edmonton Journal

Home Capital benches two key players

Home Capital Group Inc. (HCG-T)  is benching two of the key figures at the centre of allegations filed against the mortgage lender last week by Ontario’s securities watchdog. The company says current CFO Robert Morton will be assigned new responsibilities after first-quarter results are filed. It also says founder Gerald Soloway will step down from the board of directors.

Financial Post – Globe and Mail – Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

Harry Rosen holding firm against Saks, Nordstrom

A chuckle escapes Larry Rosen’s lips as he thumbs through the most recent issue of Harry, the magazine produced by luxury menswear retailer Harry Rosen. Featuring a male cover model in a slim-cut blue suit who sports a vague scowl, the glossy’s style is a far cry from the staid fashion layouts of a decade ago.

Financial Post

West Georgia and Burrard retail space opens

For the second time in less than a month, retail space has become available at one of the highest-traffic intersections in B.C. Bell plans to move its phone and accessories store out of about 2,000 square feet of space on the southwest corner of West Georgia and Burrard streets and into a similar amount of space one block south.

Business In Vancouver

Sears Holdings negotiating major property sales

Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD-Q) expanded its previously announced plans to close 150 stores this year by adding another 50 locations to its store-closing list, and is now turning its attention to selling another $700 million in properties. Chairman/CEO Edward S. Lampert said Sears Holdings is accelerating its efforts to wring cash from its real estate portfolio. 

CoStar Group – Business Insider – Wall Street Journal

‘Restrained optimism’ reigns in U.S. CRE forecast

Reflecting what one real estate economist described as an overall sentiment of “restrained optimism,” the latest ULI Real Estate Consensus Forecast sees a more modest rate of commercial real estate transaction from the frenzied pace seen in recent years, and a gradual slowing but still increases in rental rates, occupancy and pricing through 2019.

CoStar Group – CoStar Group – National Real Estate Investor – New York Times

Blackstone reveals major cash reserves for investments

Blackstone (BX-N) has revealed it has $32.2 billion US of “dry powder” to invest in global real estate. The amount of capital is roughly one-third of the $94.3 billion available to the private equity firm to invest across all asset classes, according to first-quarter results. Blackstone said its real estate strategies attracted $2.5 billion in Q1. 

IPE Real Estate

Few surprises in U.S. REITs’ Q1 reports

First-quarter reports have begun to appear from publicly traded REITs, and Barclays Capital isn’t expecting any major surprises. Analysts with the firm maintain a “neutral” outlook for REITs as a whole, as well as for most property sectors, with a couple of notable exceptions. In a way, the two exceptions to the rule have something in common: technology.

GlobeSt.com

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Dream Office announces automatic repurchase plan

Dream Office REIT (D.UN-T) announced in connection with its previously announced normal course issuer bid, which commenced on June 22, 2016, it has entered into an automatic securities repurchase plan with its designated broker in order to facilitate purchases of its REIT units, Series A under the bid. 

Marketwired

Is SmartREIT the best retail REIT?

Retail isn’t dying; the deck is merely being reshuffled, and while there are winners and losers in this transformation, brick-and-mortar retail lives on at properties owned by retail REITs such as SmartREIT (SRU.UN-T) and many others. Smart REIT currently yields 5.2%, but it more than makes up for it in quality and size. 

Motley Fool

Retail

Luxury retailer Jimmy Choo puts itself up for sale

British luxury retailer Jimmy Choo has put itself up for sale to try to maximize shareholder value as majority investor JAB increases its focus on consumer goods. JAB Luxury also said on Monday it was reviewing its ownership of Bally International, the Swiss luxury footwear and accessories company, clearing the way for a possible sale of that business, too.

Reuters – Bloomberg

Recent retail IPOs have Indochino considering going public

Indochino is mulling over the idea of an initial public offering following the recent splash Canadian retailers Aritzia (ATZ-T) and Canada Goose (GOOS-T) made in their trading debuts, says the CEO of the Vancouver-based suit maker. Drew Green says the company has been “actively researching” the prospects of taking Indochino public. 

Ottawa Business Journal

U.K. retail sales post biggest quarterly fall since 2010

British retail sales posted their biggest quarterly fall in seven years during the first three months of 2017, as rising prices since last year’s Brexit vote put more pressure on consumers, official data showed Friday. Sterling fell to a day’s low after the weaker-than-expected figures, extending a decline that started after it reached its session peak around 0800 GMT.

Reuters

New Development

New Royal Alberta Museum aims to be transparent

The new Royal Alberta Museum is a work in progress. Its exhibit halls are bare, waiting for display cases and exhibits. The new Bug Room is appropriately hot and humid, but devoid of creepy-crawlies. The 250-seat theatre is going through its final sound checks, but no one struts or frets upon its stage.

Edmonton Journal

Irving Oil plans new Goobies Big Stop

Irving Oil plans a new $8-million Goobies Big Stop in Clarenville, N.L., along the TransCanada Highway. The existing Big Stop location will be taken down to make way for the new location featuring a larger convenience store, additional fuelling stations, enhanced food offerings and improved professional driver amenities. 

Canada Newswire

Human Resources

London Drugs COO Clint Mahlman honoured

The Retail Council of Canada (RCC) announced Clint Mahlman, executive vice-president & chief operating officer of London Drugs Limited, British Columbia, will be the recipient of the Excellence in Retail Awards (ERA) 2017 Distinguished Canadian Retailer of the Year Award.

Canada Newswire

Technology

Electric cars come with ‘range anxiety’

Sunita Halasz has tips for “driving electric” along lonely roads in New York’s Adirondack Mountains: know the locations of charging stations, bring activities for the kids during three-hour recharges, turn on the energy-hogging window defroster in just 10-second bursts. And have a backup plan. 

Toronto Star – CBC

Alberta’s tech sector revelling in spotlight

Alberta’s burgeoning technology sector has long been stuck in the shadow of the much larger oil and gas industry, but judging by the buzz in the air at the province’s flagship entrepreneurs’ conference, many believe that is about to change. More than 400 early- and late-stage startups, angel investors, venture capitalists and service providers attended the seventh annual AccelerateAB conference.

Calgary Herald

Other

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