OPTrust, GIC investing $1B in N.A. data centres

OPTrust, GIC investing $1B in N.A. data centres

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund and Canadian pension fund OPTrust have joined forces to invest $1 billion Cdn of equity in data centres. GIC Real Estate and OPTrust, which manages the $19 billion OPSEU Pension Plan, have formed EdgeCore Internet Real Estate, an investment vehicle that will develop, acquire and operate centres in North America. The investment strategy will have an investment capacity of more than $2 billion.

IPE Real Assets – The Business Times – Business Wire

Edmonton Ice District towers on the block

It hasn’t even opened its doors yet, but Edmonton’s Stantec Tower is up for sale. The 60-plus-storey skyscraper, expected to be the tallest building in Western Canada, is one of three key pieces of commercial real estate to hit the market in the city’s revitalized downtown core in 2018. Stantec Tower, along with Edmonton Tower and Edmonton City Centre have recently been put on the block.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

SmartCentres, Goldhar, Revera to JV on retirement homes

SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust (SRU.UN-T), Mitchell Goldhar’s Penguin Group of Companies, and retirement residence owner and manager Revera Inc., have launched a joint venture to develop new seniors living residences across Canada. The three companies said Monday afternoon in a release they have already selected three SmartCentres properties and another property owned by Penguin.

Property Biz Canada

Calgary’s ReDev expands into commercial construction

Canadian commercial real estate owner and manager ReDev Properties has launched a new commercial construction division as the company positions itself for future growth. Richard Crenian, founder and president, said its first project is new construction at Jacksonport Retail, on a three-acre site near the Calgary International Airport.

Property Biz Canada

Vancouver council approves Northeast False Creek development

The concept plan for a substantial new downtown Vancouver neighbourhood got the go-ahead at city hall Tuesday, after councillors agreed Northeast False Creek should get more subsidized rental housing, more consultation with the Chinese community and an Indigenous name. Councillors argued over the multiple issues raised by the plan for the area, which is supposed to bring in $1.7 billion worth of community benefits.

Globe and Mail – CBC – Vancouver Sun

Van. tower redevelopment further squeezes vacancy rates

The renoviction of a downtown Vancouver office tower is going to make it a little tougher for tenants to find work space. Bentall Kennedy recently gave notice to tenants at 1090 West Pender St. they must move out of the 76,000-square-foot building by July 31. The site had been slated for a redevelopment that will replace the 48-year-old, 12-storey building and parkade with a new 530,000-square-foot office tower and underground parkade.

Vancouver Sun

Vancouver municipalities adopt BC Energy Step Code

The District of West Vancouver has joined with its North Shore neighbours in the adoption of British Columbia’s new Energy Step Code. On Feb. 5, West Vancouver’s government approved implementation of the step code, aligning itself with the City of North Vancouver and the District of North Vancouver. The BC Energy Step Code is a voluntary provincial standard launched in April.

Sustainable Biz Canada

Sobeys closes two stores to advance Burnaby development

Sobeys Inc. (EMP-A-T), the parent company of Safeway, is closing two Burnaby stores – at Royal Oak and Kingsway and at Lougheed Town Centre. The latter site is part of Shape Properties‘ $827-million redevelopment project that will see it and the surrounding mall transformed into the City of Lougheed.

Business In Vancouver

Simplot to more than double size of Manitoba facility

French fry processor J. R. Simplot Company in Portage la Prairie is investing $460 million to more than double production in the Manitoba community. Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister is in Portage this morning for the announcement. Simplot’s facility along the TransCanada Highway will be increased from 180,000 square feet at present, to 460,000 square feet. The expansion will more than double the plant’s purchase of potatoes from regional growers.

Winnipeg Free Press

Ottawa orders security review of Aecon sale

The Trudeau cabinet has ordered a formal national-security review of the $1.5-billion takeover of Canadian infrastructure firm Aecon Group (ARE-T) by a Chinese state-owned construction and engineering enterprise. Aecon released a statement saying the Toronto-based firm and China Communications Construction Co. (CCCC) have extended the closing of the transaction until March 30 to allow time for a formal national-security review.

Globe and Mail – CBC – Winnipeg Free Press

InterRent acquires two Hamilton-area rental properties

InterRent Real Estate Investment Trust (IIP-UN-T) announced Tuesday it has reached an unconditional agreement to acquire 2 properties, totalling 172 suites, in Grimsby, Ont., for $21,075,000. The properties are  comprised of a four-storey building and an eight-storey building with a combined total of 172 suites. There are 43 bachelor suites, 39 one-bedroom suites, 67 two-bedroom suites, and 23 three-bedroom suites.

Globe Newswire

Starlight sells Houston apartment complex for $37.3M

Starlight U.S. Multi-Family (No. 5) Core Fund (STUS-A-X) announced today it has sold The Villages at Sunset Ridge, a class-A, garden-style apartment community located in northeast Houston. Pursuant to a purchase and sale agreement, Sunset Ridge Acquisition LLC, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of the Fund, sold The Villages at Sunset Ridge for the sale price of approximately $37.3 million Cdn.

Canada Newswire

U.S. office market vacancy rate at 10-year low

Transwestern released its 2017 year-end report on the national office market, which revealed December’s 11.5 per cent vacancy rate was the lowest reported in 10 years.  Significant net absorption in markets such as Dallas/Fort Worth; San Jose/Silicon Valley; Seattle; Northern Virginia; and Austin, Texas, contributed to this decline in vacancy, as did a deceleration in new construction starts during the fourth quarter.

Building Design & Construction – GlobeSt.com

The future of real estate tech

In 2017, venture investors deployed more than $5 billion in real estate technology, more than 150 times the $33 million invested in 2010. Driving this investment explosion is the evolution of real estate tech from its initial phase of software and marketplaces complementing the incumbents to a new era where tech enabled players are going head to head against the sector’s largest incumbents (hotels, commercial landlords, brokerages).

Forbes – Forbes

Trump’s plan to privatize space station ‘unrealistic’: ESA chief

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration wants private businesses to run the International Space Station (ISS) by 2025, but that’s “unrealistic” according to the head of the European Space Agency (ESA). “The total operation of the space station is simply too expensive,” said Jan Wörner.

Deutsche Welle – Washington Post – Atlanta Journal Constitution

Market Trends and Research

Largest U.S. banks shrinking CRE loan balances

The nation’s 25 largest banks, which collectively control more than $11 trillion in assets, reduced their exposure to commercial real estate loans across the board last month, reflecting an ongoing change in the CRE finance markets and a softening in loan demand. The amount on the largest banks’ books for construction and development, multifamily and nonresidential loans were all down at the end of January compared to year end, according to weekly Federal Reserve Bank data. 

CoStar Group

Edmonton’s CRE investment tailed off in Q4

During 2017, Edmonton’s CRE marked demonstrated three consecutive quarters of year-over-year dollar volume increases with only Q4 falling short of 2016’s levels. Driven by renewed interest in office properties and a consistent demand for retail assets, $1.79 billion in overall dollar volume invested in commercial properties.

Barclay Street Real Estate media release

Real Estate Companies

Starwood’s Sternlicht blasts U.S. lawmakers

Barry Sternlicht, chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, weighed in on a number of topics during last Friday’s University of Miami’s Real Estate Impact Conference. He even swore while chastising lawmakers for passing a $300-billion spending bill after agreeing to tax reform, calling the deficit spending irresponsible and blaming it as the source of recent stock market volatility. 

CoStar Group

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REOC Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* First Capital Realty Inc., (FCR-T), Canada Newswire 

* Mainstreet Equity Corp., (MEQ-T), Canada Newswire

REIT Financial Reports

Latest financial results:

* Choice Properties REIT, (CHP-UN-T),  Canada Newswire

* CT REIT, (CRT-UN-T),  Canada Newswire

* Killam Apartment REIT, (KMP-UN-T),  Globe Newswire

* Morguard North American Residential REIT, (MRG-UN-T),  Canada Newswire

* RioCan REIT, (REI-UN-T),  Globe Newswire

Real Estate Investment Trusts

South African REITs take a pounding

A group of intertwined South African real estate investment trusts is finding that while their close ties and dealings with each other have business benefits, when it comes to suffering, they also suffer together. Fortress REIT Ltd. and Resilient REIT Ltd. extended losses on Monday to cement their positions as the worst-performing REITs this year among 199 global funds tracked by Bloomberg.

Bloomberg

Retail

Toys “R” Us pays landlords to extend bankruptcy deadline

Toys “R” Us has offered certain of its landlords an unprecedented payment package in exchange for more time to decide which leases it will keep and which it will dispose of in its chapter 11 bankruptcy case. The package includes payment of “additional rent,” including common-area maintenance, insurance, and real estate tax arrearages under rejected leases, amounts that ordinarily would not be paid in full.

Lexology

Restaurants and Eateries

Chipotle names Taco Bell executive next CEO

Chipotle, hoping to rebuild its business after a series of food safety scares, has named an executive from fast-food chain Taco Bell as its next CEO. Brian Niccol, chief executive at Yum! Brands Inc.’s (YUM-N) Taco Bell chain for three years, will start at Chipotle next month. He’ll be tasked with helping turn around the burrito chain, which has long positioned itself as a step up from fast food.

Toronto Star – BNN

Cannabis industry news

Ottawa approves one of Canada’s largest cannabis production facilities

LiveWell Foods Canada Inc.. announced it has received approval from Ottawa City Council to turn its existing 540,000-square-foot greenhouse into a cannabis production facility. The project, owned by LiveWell’s wholly owned subsidiary Artiva Inc., will retrofit existing greenhouses that sit on 100 acres of farmland, in the region of Metcalfe, near Greely. The retrofit has an anticipated completion date of Q2 2018.

Globe Newswire

New B.C. retail rules cause rifts in cannabis sector

The B.C. government’s plan to launch a chain of publicly owned cannabis stores and to license entrepreneurs to run cannabis dispensaries has unleashed a mix of excitement and frustration among business owners already in the cannabis sector. BC Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson echoed many in the sector when, after winning his party’s leadership on Feb. 3, he said government should not be in the business of selling cannabis.

Business In Vancouver

Technology

The first real estate-backed cryptocurrency is here

El Segundo-based startup Aperture Real Estate Ventures plans to launch a real estate-backed cryptocurrency by the end of February. The company said it will give investors an “opportunity to own a professionally managed portfolio of real estate assets via the blockchain.” When an investor buys Aperture’s Property Coin, the person is buying into a fund backed by the company’s fix-and-flip portfolio. 

The Real Deal

Cryptocurrency mining taxing Iceland’s electricity supply

The value of bitcoin may have stumbled in recent months, but in Iceland it has so far only known only one direction: upward. The stunning success of cryptocurrencies around the globe has had a more unexpected repercussion on this island of 340,000: It could soon result in an energy shortage in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Calgary Herald

Other

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