Time to tackle Calgary’s office vacancy problem

Time to tackle Calgary’s office vacancy problem

If the latest kerfuffle over businesses facing rising property tax bills has taught us anything, it’s that Calgary’s downtown has suffered a serious blow in the past 24 months. And it’s going to take longer — much longer — than two years to fully repair the damage done by the recession.

Calgary Herald – Barclay Street Real Estate Ltd. analysis

Microsoft to double size of Montreal office

One week after buying the startup company Maluuba, Microsoft said Wednesday it will double the size of the company’s Montreal office within two years. By 2019, the Montreal lab, which specializes in deep learning, should balloon to about 80 engineers.

Montreal Gazette

Choice Properties to redevelop Golden Mile site

Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (CHP.UN-T) has unveiled a long-term plan to revitalize and redevelop its Golden Mile Shopping Centre in Toronto. Choice Properties has filed an official plan amendment (OPA) with the City of Toronto.

Property Biz Canada

A look inside Aviva’s ‘Digital Garage’

They call it the Digital Garage. Meeting nooks are made from recycled shipping containers. Conference enclosures have names like Fortress of Solitude and Castle Von Doom. And tables are on wheels so work areas can be easily reconfigured to suit the tasks at hand.

Globe and Mail

PC Urban launches new strata office project in Kelowna

Vancouver developer PC Urban has announced plans to build the first strata industrial building in Kelowna in more than five years. PC Urban is now working to finalize a deal to purchase an eight-acre industrial site and redevelop it into a commercial strata business complex zoned for light industry.

Vancouver Sun

H&R REIT completes sale of shopping centre interests

H&R Real Estate Investment Trust (HR.UN-T) announced the completion of a transaction to sell a 50 per cent non-managing interest in two Canadian shopping centres, specifically, Cataraqui Shopping Centre in Kingston, Ont., and Place du Royaume in Chicoutimi, Quc., to Montez Corporation for a total purchase price of approximately $211.6 million.

Canada Newswire – Canada Newswire

Ivanhoe, Callahan announce lease extension, expansion

Ivanhoé Cambridge and its partner, Callahan Capital Properties, announced today 21st Century Fox and News Corp have signed separate leases, together totalling over 1.2 million square feet to retain each of their corporate headquarters at 1211 Avenue of the Americas, in Midtown Manhattan.

Ivanhoé Cambridge news release

AY acquires Hotel Assets Group

Toronto-based Avison Young acquired Atlanta-based brokerage Hotel Assets Group LLC (Hotel AG) to kick off its newly launched U.S. hospitality practice. The acquisition of 25-person Hotel AG, including 20 brokers, will form the basis of the firm’s new hospitality group.

CoStar Group – Canada Newswire

Fort Mac wildfire costs soaring

Ten months since a wildfire devastated Fort McMurray, the economic damage caused by the disaster is coming into sharper focus. A new report from MacEwan University estimates the total cost of the wildfire will surpass $8.86 billion.

CBC – CTV – Daily Commercial News

Regina says goodbye to Exhibition Stadium

An almost 100-year-old building with an important past was demolished in Regina on Tuesday. Regina Exhibition Stadium, also known as Queen City Gardens, was built in 1919 and has hosted artists from the Beach Boys to Johnny Cash. The building also hosted the Western Hockey League’s Regina Pats until the Agridome was built in 1977.

CBC – Regina Leader-Post

Sears partners with N.B. to open new business centre

The New Brunswick government is giving struggling retailer Sears Canada (SCC-T) $3.5 million to open a business centre in the province that’s expected to create 180 new jobs. The centre, to be located in Edmundston, N.B., will be home to positions such as business services agents, information technology support and human resources personnel. 

CTV – Canada Newswire

Hotel Indigo drops IHG; to become Metcalfe Hotel

The owners of a boutique hotel in downtown Ottawa are ending their decade-long affiliation with international hospitality giant IHG and plan to start operating independently next month. An artistic rendering of the new Metcalfe Hotel atrium. On Feb. 12, the 106-room Hotel Indigo will become the Metcalfe Hotel, marking the latest chapter in the property’s storied history.

Ottawa Business Journal

A developer’s perspective on joint ventures

Developers and sponsors seeking acquisitions and/or development of new real estate projects have long recognized the benefits of attracting a capital partner suitable for its needs, especially now when the acquisition and project costs have escalated dramatically, especially in gateway cities where the sudden price increases are most acute.

CP Executive

U.S. property supply hasn’t kept pace with funds

Investors are piling money into real-estate funds – but fund managers are finding it a challenge to spend it. Global fund managers had a record $237 billion US available to invest in commercial property at the end of last year, according to data firm Preqin.

Wall Street Journal

Global CRE investment activity set to rebound

Despite economic uncertainty and geopolitical challenges, commercial real estate investment activity remains robust and is anticipated to rebound in 2017 according to new analysis by JLL (JLL-N). In fact, global investment volumes are projected to climb back toward $700 billion US this year, up from $650 billion in 2016.

Marketwired

Market Trends and Research

Developers top B.C. Liberals donor list

Eight of the 10 top donors to the B.C. Liberal party in 2016, and so far in 2017, are involved in the province’s property development and construction industries. Combined, the eight donors contributed nearly $1.5 million of the $12.5 million collected by the Liberals during the period, an analysis of the donor list released by the Liberals last week shows.

Vancouver Sun

Calgary’s small business tax aid costly

The City of Calgary may have to spend more than $15 million to help small business property owners with hefty property tax hikes this year. Last year, council voted to reach into savings to protect non-residential property owners outside the core with large tax hikes due to a shift in the tax burden away from downtown.

CBC

Inglewood expected to score with Chargers

The NFL San Diego Chargers’ decision to join the L.A. Rams at a splashy new stadium in Inglewood has at least one builder even more pumped up about the city’s prospects. Real estate developer Sandy Sigal is spending $15 million to renovate a 1960s-era shopping centre there.

Los Angeles Times

Real Estate Companies

Wills Transfer triples footprint of main Ottawa location

Wills Transfer is expanding in its current Ottawa location, growing from 55,000 to 175,000 square feet, company officials say. The fourth-generation family business is headquartered in Smiths Falls, Ont., and has 150 employees, including 20 in Ottawa. Wills Transfer also has locations in Brockville and Perth. 

Ottawa Business Journal

Firm Capital American Realty Partners names interim CEO

Firm Capital American Realty Partners Corp. (FCA.U-X) announced the appointment of Robert McKee as interim president and CEO of the company and the reassignment of Sandy Poklar as CFO of the company effective Jan. 12,. Robert McKee is currently the president and CEO and trustee of Firm Capital Property Trust (FCD.UN-X).

Firm Capital News Release

Real Estate Investment Trusts

Automotive Properties announces equity offering

Automotive Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (APR.UN-T) has entered into an agreement to sell 3,700,000 units of the REIT on a bought deal basis at a price of $10.85 per unit  to a syndicate of underwriters co-led by TD Securities Inc. and Canaccord Genuity Corp. for gross proceeds of approximately $40 million. 

Marketwired

Legal Corner

Defence to call more witnesses in mall collapse trial

Defence lawyer Robert MacRae was scheduled to call on more witnesses in the trial of the only person criminally charged in connection to the fatal 2012 Elliot Lake, Ont., mall collapse that killed two.  MacRae is representing discredited engineer Robert Wood.

CBC

Retail

Lowe’s to lay off nearly 2,400 full-timers

North Carolina-based home improvement retailer Lowe’s (LOW-N) says it’s told approximately 2,400 full-time workers they will be laid off. A statement from the store said the majority of the cuts are at the store level, Lowe’s also announced Bob Hull was retiring as its chief financial officer, to be replaced by Marshall Croom.

Winnipeg Free Press

American Apparel laying off U.S. workers

American Apparel LLC said it had started to lay off staff on Monday, after Canadian apparel maker Gildan Activewear Inc (GIL-T) withdrew its initial plan to acquire some of the bankrupt U.S. fashion retailer’s manufacturing operations. Gildan won the rights to American Apparel’s brand with an $88 US million bid.

Reuters

Target cuts Q4 earnings forecast

Target Corp (TGT-N) cut its quarterly earnings forecast after sales for the holiday season came in lower than expected due to weak demand for electronics, food and other products, and its shares fell more than three per cent. 

Reuters

Amazon to accept food stamps

The world of food stamps is about to go high-tech, and it may turn the grocery industry on its head. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is testing a pilot program this summer that will allow seven online grocery stores to accept food stamps, including online retailing giant Amazon.com (AMZN-Q).

CBS

New Development

Alberta releases plans for Fort Mac seniors facility

The Alberta government has released concepts for a long-awaited, 100-bed continuing care facility planned for the heart of downtown Fort McMurray. On Tuesday, Alberta Infrastructure was set to present the drawings to the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo’s land planning and transportation committee, and discuss other support structures to be built nearby.

CBC

Land-use changes on tap for Winnipeg craft brewers

​Opening a microbrewery or body-modification parlour in Winnipeg will soon involve jumping through fewer regulatory hoops. Tuesday morning, council’s property approved a series of changes to the city’s land-use rules, based on a review of what’s officially known as the Winnipeg Zoning Bylaw.

CBC

Winnipeg Holiday Inn reno nears completion

A Winnipeg hotel is celebrating its 40th birthday in style with a soon-to-be-completed $10-million renovation. The Holiday Inn Winnipeg Airport West’s 2½-year reno project, which will be completed in about three months, involved stripping the 228 guest rooms down to the bare studs and completely redoing them. 

Winnipeg Free Press

Calgary delays golf course development decision

After sitting through a two-day public hearing, Highland Park residents will have to wait another week to learn the fate of a residential and commercial development proposed for a former golf course in their community. In a 8-6 vote, council decided late Tuesday afternoon to move a decision on the redevelopment to Monday’s council meeting.

Calgary Herald

Sports Venues

Ex-mayor lauds Edmonton’s Ice District

In the four months since it opened, Edmonton’s Ice District has lived up to expectations, says former mayor Stephen Mandel. But the agreement that laid the groundwork for the project didn’t come easy, Mandel said during a speech Monday to the Rotary Club of Edmonton at the Chateau Lacombe.

CBC

Infrastructure

FN transmission build moves forward

A transformative plan to supply reliable power to 17 Ontario First Nations communities reaches the new year at a critical stage, with proponents hoping to overcome funding and environmental assessment hurdles in 2017 as sights are set on the start of construction.

Daily Commercial News

International

Drone crashes into Seattle’s Space Needle

Workers installing fireworks at the top of the Space Needle in Seattle ahead of New Year’s Eve got a fright: a drone crashed into a safety railing, close to where they were working. After a couple of minutes of flight, the drone was suddenly directed straight towards the upper areas of the towering Seattle landmark. 

Vancouver Sun

Human Resources

Wal-Mart touts plan to create U.S. jobs

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT-N) plans to add about 10,000 retail jobs in the U.S. as it opens new stores and expands existing locations. The world’s biggest retailer said Tuesday that there will also be about 24,000 construction jobs generated by its expansion plans. There will be 59 new, expanded and relocated Walmart and Sam’s Clubs locations.

Calgary Herald – Wall Street Journal

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