Airbnb’s proposed Montreal HQ prompts controversy

Airbnb’s proposed Montreal HQ prompts controversy

A proposed new building expected to house Airbnb’s new Montreal headquarters is making waves on the Lachine Canal, raising concerns of neighbours and heritage activists about an area undergoing a building boom. The planned six-storey complex has been in the works for almost a decade.

Montreal Gazette

Microsoft launches new Toronto tech hub

A group of companies, including Microsoft (MSFT-Q), is opening a new hub devoted to turning Toronto into a “smart city.” The facility will focus on developing high-tech products and services that the companies hope will improve the quality of life for people in big cities.

CBC

Battle of Alberta? Edmonton holds all the CRE cards

When it comes to this Battle of Alberta, Edmonton might just hold all the right cards as far as jobs, economic recovery and growth. Edmonton has a more diverse economy, a massive downtown rejuvenation, a growing health tech cluster and throngs of young grads.

Property Biz Canada

Gov’t, tech on ‘collision course’ for Ottawa office space

Ottawa’s downtown office market has made a strong comeback after years of leasing reductions by the federal government. It’s a rally that could soon put the city’s rapidly expanding tech sector on a “collision course” with the feds for prime office space, says CBRE’s Shawn Hamilton.

Property Biz Canada

The Edison bucking Calgary’s 30% vacancy rate

Aspen Properties’ nondescript 1980s-era office tower failed to attract much notice because the century-old Fairmont Palliser hotel on the opposite side of 9 Avenue tends to draw more attention. But the inside of The Edison is now drawing the attention of millennial Calgarians.

Toronto Star – Property Biz Canada

Natural Resources Canada sets bar high on sustainability

The Government of Canada is trying to lead by example in meeting the country’s sustainability commitments. Natural Resources Canada (NRC) is setting energy-efficiency and carbon reduction goals for its buildings higher than the bar set for the rest of the country.

Sustainable Biz Canada

Ivanhoé named IPE Investor of the Year

For the second time in three years, Ivanhoé Cambridge has won Global Real Estate Investor of the Year as it picked up the latest trophy at the IPE Real Estate Global Conference & Awards 2018 in Milan.

IPE Real Assets – IPE Real Assets

StorageVault acquires two GTA stores for $66.5M

StorageVault Canada Inc., (SVI-X) announced it has completed the acquisitions of two stores located in prime locations in the Greater Toronto Area. The purchase price was for $66.5 million. The GTA acquisitions are arm’s length transactions.

Globe Newswire

Rexall plans to slim down for healthier profit

Domenic Pilla got an unwelcome surprise soon after he took the helm at the company that had just acquired the Rexall drugstore chain. The CEO of McKesson Corp.’s Canadian division, which purchased Rexall for $2.9 billion in 2016, was hit with new rules slashing prices on generic drugs.

Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

SaskPower’s GTH land still racking up costs

Internal documents show SaskPower took just a few months in 2013 deciding to buy 145 acres of land at Regina’s Global Transportation Hub for $25 million. The land has sat idle, accumulating bills at the taxpayers’ expense, since. The total bill is now $29 million and rising.

CBC

Retailers must embrace technology: HBC digital expert

Amazon (AMZN-Q) need not be a bogeyman for all retailers. Some retailers note consumers are using the online giant as a browsing tool for products before they buy at a store, says HBC’s (HBC-T) Jorge Carrasqueiro.

Financial Post – Reuters

Calgary group abandons bid for Churchill port, railway

Calgary-based iChurchill Inc., has walked away from efforts to purchase northern Manitoba’s Hudson Bay Railway and Port of Churchill from Denver-based Omnitrax, blaming the federal government’s focus on selling the properties to Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. (FFH-T).

CTV – CBC – CBC – Winnipeg Free Press

Grosvenor Group appoints Steve O’Connell new CEO

Grosvenor Group, a privately owned international property group, has appointed Steve O’Connell as its new CEO. He will succeed Andrew Bibby who, after 35 years with the company, will retire on Dec. 31.  Joining Grosvenor in 2011, O’Connell led Grosvenor’s development team in San Francisco, establishing its residential programme.

Canada Newswire

Simon to spend $4B on experiential upgrades

Simon Property Group (SPG-N) has big plans for its top shopping centres; $4-billion plans. The retail and mixed-use real estate developer has commenced a multi-billion-dollar program to transform some of its most notable shopping centres into experiential-centric destinations.

CP Executive

Blackstone wins bidding war for LaSalle Hotel Properties

Three days after disclosing plans to sell its remaining shares in Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Blackstone Group (BX-N) is investing in another hotel chain, emerging as the winning bidder for LaSalle Hotel Properties (LHO-N). The all-cash transaction is valued at $4.8 billion US.

CoStar Group – CP Executive

Featured Column

Can affordable housing and rapid mass transit co-exist?

Rapid mass transit is often regarded as the prescription for cities suffering from traffic congestion. A way for urbanites to give up the expense of owning a vehicle. But that convenience comes with a price – land values around transit nodes jump in value. These nodes become prime locations for mixed-use development.

Read more

Market Trends and Research

ICSC is CRE professionals’ Super Bowl

RKF vice-chairman Robert Cohen is in his 25th year attending the International Council of Shopping Centers’ RECon event and he said his purpose has remained the same: to get the deal, you have to meet as many retail professionals, landlords and developers as possible.

Bisnow – CoStar Group – National Real Estate Investor

Toronto church listed for $1 sells for $4M

Broadview Place in Riverdale, listed for only a dollar online, sold for just under $4 million, according to realtor Jeremiah Shamess. Shamess says the church was listed for next to nothing to see what value property buyers placed on the property.

CBC

Real Estate Companies

AY acquires German office property on behalf of pension funds

Avison Young announced it has acquired the office property at Industriestraße 17 in Munich’s Germering submarket on behalf of two Canadian pension funds. The multi-tenant property has a rental space of approximately 79,000 square feet, plus 27,000 square feet of potential expansion area. 

Canada Newswire

Real Estate Investment Trusts

AHIP discloses unit purchases by CEO Rob O’Neill

American Hotel Income Properties (AHIP) REIT (HOT.UN-T) Friday disclosed Rob O’Neill, CEO, purchased 67,000 additional units through open market purchases. Since Jan. 1, O’Neill has acquired 110,322 additional units of AHIP.

Canada Newswire – Property Biz Canada

How to choose REITs for rental income

In the past five years, H&R REIT (HR-UN-T)  increased its FFO per unit by 4.6 per cent. In the same period, Cominar REIT (CUF-UN-T) decreased its FFO per unit by 22.4 per cent and Allied Properties REIT (AP.UN-T) j increased its FFO per unit by almost 19 per cent. 

Motley Fool – Property Biz Canada

Mall REITs need more market patience: Chilton

Chilton Asset Management, a Houston-based registered investment advisor, recently trimmed its holdings in Simon Property Group (SPG-N), which raised some eyebrows in the market. However, Chilton says the move was driven more by a desire to rebalance its portfolio and is not indicative of any wariness about Simon specifically or mall REITs more broadly.

National Real Estate Investor – IPE Real Assets

Cannabis industry news

B.C. to forbid snack sales in cannabis stores

As the smoke clears on how the B.C. government intends to regulate retail cannabis sales, some stipulations stand out that have retailers scratching their heads. Unlike liquor retailers, cannabis outlets will be prohibited from selling “snacks, tobacco or other non-cannabis-related items.”

Business In Vancouver

Oregon’s flooded market a cautionary tale

As marijuana farmers in Oregon say a flood of supply is killing their businesses less than three years after recreational cannabis was legalized, economists say it’s a warning to Canada. Stephen Easton, professor of economics at Simon Fraser University and senior fellow at the Fraser Institute, says large fluctuations in price and supply are bound to happen when you create a legal market where an illegal market already exists.

Vancouver Sun

New Development

Ottawa councillors cut down proposed six-storey building

Ottawa city councillors shaved down Domicile Developments’ proposed six-storey building in Westboro Tuesday, worried the building would cast too much of a shadow over its neighbours.  Councillors at the city’s planning committee voted to restrict the building to four storeys.

CBC – Ottawa Citizen

Sports Venues

B.C. golf courses eye new markets to bolster rebound

It’s been a decade in the rough for many B.C. golf courses, but hopes are high for the upcoming summer season. The sport is especially susceptible to the negative impacts of a recession and has suffered a large drop in participation since the economic downturn. The province’s golf industry hopes to bolster its rebound by expanding into new markets that focus on millennials, women and the Asian community.

Business In Vancouver

Other

Vancouver honours CRE standouts

Four hundred delegates from the business community attended the NAIOP Vancouver and Business in Vancouver Commercial Real Estate Awards of Excellence Gala, held May 17 at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel.

Business In Vancouver

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