Boardwalk plans to add up to 15,000 apartments

Boardwalk plans to add up to 15,000 apartments

Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust (BEI.UN) is forging ahead with a new plan to grow its overall portfolio in strategic locations, providing it with more geographic diversification. Sam Kolias, chairman and chief executive officer of Boardwalk REIT, said the last two years of a very difficult Western Canadian economy and the introduction of a significant number of new luxury apartment rentals have taught Boardwalk many lessons.

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H&R REIT to sell 91 U.S. retail, industrial properties

H&R REIT says the departure of Sears from its malls gives the REIT the opportunity to lease the department store’s former spaces to higher paying tenants that can generate higher traffic and greater profits. Sears paid net rents of only $3.47 per square foot, accounting for less than 0.4 per cent of the REIT’s gross revenue, and was “an unproductive anchor tenant paying rents well below market rates,” H&R said.

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Northview buys 1,250 apartments in four provinces

Northview Apartment REIT will push its holdings over the 25,000-unit plateau with the purchase of a portfolio of 1,250 units from independent third-party vendors and affiliates of Starlight Group Property Holdings Inc. Northview will pay $196.8 million for the properties, which are concentrated in Ontario but also include sites in Quebec, British Columbia and Nova Scotia. In total, Northview is buying 10 properties.

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Kingston’s Cornerstone Suites student housing for sale

Investors interested in the Kingston, Ont. student housing market had a chance to bid on the Cornerstone Suites residence until this week. “It’s brand new. There’s strong demand for rental-quality housing in Kingston,” said Michael Betsalel, one of the JLL Multifamily Investment brokers representing the property. “They’re furnished apartments. They’re full. Tenants pay for the majority of utilities so there’s very little expense exposure. It’s well-constructed.”

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Is volunteerism an answer for cash-strapped municipalities?

When municipalities are short of operating capital to maintain infrastructure and services, we traditionally have had two choices: settle for reduces services and maintenance, or pay more in taxes and user fees. But what about a third option, volunteerism? Reduced services sabotage a municipality’s efforts to attract new investment in the form of new retail, residential and commercial development, and to attract new anchor employers.

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Six months ago: GTA a hotbed of housing development

Soaring prices for condos in the Greater Toronto Area and $1-million average single-family home prices in Toronto illustrate a severely unbalanced housing market, attendees of an industry panel were told at the Land & Development Conference last week. The numbers don’t lie. The average price for a condo in the GTA recently surpassed $500,000 and $1 million for a single family home is the new normal for Toronto, according to figures released by Altus Group.

Property Biz Canada

One year ago: Deerfoot City is taking shape in Calgary

The evolution of Calgary’s Deerfoot Mall into Deerfoot City took another step forward this month with the opening of a new 103,000-square-foot Canadian Tire. Vancouver-based Shape Properties purchased the property from Ivanhoé Cambridge for a reported $78 million in 2011 and is undertaking a two phase redevelopment that will almost double the leasable area.

Property Biz Canada

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