Forum, Crofton Moore buy $98.5M Quebec power centre

RENX  Commercial  •  Retail  •  Quebec City

Forum and Crofton Moore have acquired Quebec City’s Mega Centre Sainte-Foy retail power centre in an off-market deal for $98.5 million from  Choice Properties and OPTrust. The 60-acre site is at Autoroute 40 and Autoroute Duplessis.

BTB buys 10 W. Canada industrial, office assets for $94M

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial, Office  •  Ontario, Edmonton, Saskatchewan

BTB Real Estate Investment Trust (BTB-UN-T) has announced a series of transactions which will see the trust acquire nine industrial properties and one office asset in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and divest a portfolio of four assets in Cornwall, Ont.

Amazon adding Burnaby mega-distribution hub

Commercial  •  Western Investor  •  RENX

Amazon will be taking over about 500,000 square feet of space for a new observational platform being built by Oxford Properties in Burnaby as part of a multi-building business development, says Ed Kozak, the city’s director of planning and building.

Downtown Ottawa devastated by work from home

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

Canada’s capital, usually abuzz with thousands of employees who commuted into its downtown core to work, has experienced the largest downtown traffic decline in all of North America during COVID-19, says Business Council of Canada CEO/president Goldy Hyder.

Van. developer proposes four Kelowna towers

Residential  •  Castanet

Vancouver developer Ledingham McAllister has submitted plans for mixed-use towers that would climb 36, 34, 32 and 28 storeys into the Kelowna skyline on the corner of Ellis Street and Industrial Avenue. Waterscapes II follows on the heels of  Waterscapes that was built in 2010.

Expo 67 site to undergo major redevelopment

Residential, Commercial  •  Daily Commercial News

Montreal’s beloved Parc Jean-Drapeau, island site of Expo 67 almost 55 years ago on the St. Lawrence River, will be undergoing a dramatic $1-billion transformation over the next eight years with major works set to launch in the next year.

Real World of Real Estate › Podcast: Money laundering and terrorist financing with Bryan Statt

Gerald Tostowaryk:

Dream sets out to achieve net-zero GHG by 2035

Residential, Commercial  •  Sustainable Biz Canada

The Dream group of companies has set out to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 in its operations and developments. As part of the initiative, the Canada Infrastructure Bank will loan Dream up to $136.6 million for 19 building retrofits.

Cominar unitholders approve Canderel-led takeover

Residential, Commercial  •  Bloomberg  •  La Presse  •  RENX

Cominar REIT (CUF-UN-T) shareholders accepted a $2.2 billion offer to go private on Tuesday. Under the deal, a consortium of investors led by Montreal-based Canderel will pay $11.75 per share. The REIT expects the transaction to be completed in Q1 2022.

Boardwalk sells 180-unit Saskatoon walk-up for $25M

Residential  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

Boardwalk REIT (BEI-UN-T) has closed on the sale of a non-core, 180-unit asset in Saskatoon. Reid Park, a three-storey wood frame walk-up community, sold for $25 million, or $138,800 per apartment door, inline with the trust’s IFRS fair value of the asset.

Reitmans creditors to receive $95 million

Commercial  •  CTV  •  Canada Newswire

Reitmans (Canada) (RET-X) creditors have approved a Plan of Arrangement that will see them receive a distributed $95-million settlement. The Montreal-based clothing retailer filed for creditor protection and obtained an initial order under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act in May 2020.

B.C. bars, nightclubs ordered closed

Commercial  •  Business In Vancouver  •  Montreal Gazette

British Columbians hoping to wrap up 2021 at their favourite bar or nightclub will need to rethink their plans after new public health orders aimed at curbing COVID-19 variant Omicron include the shut-down of all such venues in the province.

Weston close to selling Selfridges for $6.28B: Sources

Commercial  •  Financial Post

Central Group, Thailand’s largest department store owner, is just days away from closing a $6.28 billion Cdn acquisition of the Weston family’s Selfridges stores in the United Kingdom, sources say. An official announcement could be made as early as Thursday.

Toys “R” Us opens at American Dream

Commercial  •  Chain Store Age

Toys “R” Us has opened the doors to its first U.S. store under its new owners. The iconic toy retailer opened a two-level, 20,000-square-foot store at American Dream, Triple Five‘s three-million-square-foot-plus entertainment and retail centre in East Rutherford, N.J.

CommonWealth Partners buys $1B NYC office tower

Commercial  •  Bloomberg

Los Angeles-based real estate firm CommonWealth Partners has acquired 697,958-square-foot sold Hudson Commons, a redeveloped office tower at 441 Ninth Ave., on the far west side of Manhattan, for $1 billion. Cove Property Group and Baupost Group were the sellers.

Hudson Yards developer Mitsui Fudosan to invest $6B

Residential, Commercial  •  Nikkei Asia

Japanese developer Mitsui Fudosan is set to invest $6.2 billion overseas within three years to broaden its real estate portfolio in growing markets as office rentals in its home country slump. Much of this expansion will be in the U.S.

Van. approves six-storey rental towers on major arteries

Residential  •  Globe and Mail

A recent policy is meant to spur new purpose-built rentals in Vancouver. On main streets where they’ve been allowed before, it will mean six storeys instead of just four are allowed without a rezoning.

Feds look to tamp down on investment homes

Residential  •  Global News  •  Financial Post

Canada’s Housing Minister Ahmed Hussen says the federal government plans to take a tougher stand on investment properties to help cool housing prices. The broad strokes of the agenda were outlined in a mandate letter by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Suburb sales to stay hot as remote work lingers

Residential  •  Financial Post

VIDEO: Lauren Haw, CEO and broker of record at Zoocasa, talks with Financial Post’s Larysa Harapyn about the expectation for suburb sales to stay hot in 2022 as remote work lingers.

Home Capital buying back nearly $300M of its shares

Residential  •  Business Wire

Home Capital Group Inc. (HCG-T) announced today the preliminary results of its substantial issuer bid to repurchase for cancellation up to $300 million of its common shares. Home Capital expects to purchase for cancellation 6,896,551 shares for $43.50 per share.