Cosmetica plans six-building mixed-use development

Residential, Commercial  •  Urban Toronto

A Cosmetica Laboratories‘ IBI Group-designed master plan seeks to redevelop their Scarborough’s ‘Golden Mile’ property with five high-rise residential towers and a six-storey industrial building that would serve as Cosmetica’s new expanded home.

Sidewalk Labs tests timber possibilities

Residential, Commercial  •  Dezeen  •  RENX

Sidewalk Labs has unveiled a digital model for what would be the world’s tallest mass-timber building, reaching 35 storeys. Sidewalk Labs plans to build mass-timber high-rises as part of its redevelopment of the Toronto waterfront.

How demographics will impact CRE in the 2020s

RENX  Commercial  •  Human Resources  •  National, International

Our new decade brings with it demographic shifts that will impact the way people live work, shop and relax. They’re also bound to impact the real estate sector in multiple ways, according to a new Cushman & Wakefield report.

Some B.C. condo buildings unable to buy insurance

Residential  •  Vancouver Sun  •  Victoria Times Colonist

More B.C. stratas are reporting unpleasant surprises when they try to renew their condo insurance, with some facing shocking hikes in their premiums while others are unable to secure building insurance at all.

KRP’s Kanata North eight-storey office approved

Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal

KRP Properties got the thumbs-up from Ottawa’s planning committee Thursday for an eight-storey office building in Kanata North’s tight CRE market. The Kanata tech park landlord now needs the green light from council to construct a 200,000-square-foot, class-A office tower.

Shopify confirms new Ottawa R&D centre

Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal  •  Ottawa Citizen

Shopify (SHOP-T) confirmed plans to open an Ottawa-based R&D centre to trial new robotics and fulfilment technologies. Shopify is also opening its first permanent office in Vancouver and will lease space at The Well complex under construction in Toronto.

Value: Weighed and Measured › Affordable housing: The real challenge is long-term maintenance

John Clark: Vice President , The Regional Group of Companies Inc

Building boom in Fort St. John as permits surge

Commercial  •  Western Investor

B.C.’s Fort St. John saw $57.6 million in new building construction in 2019, a 30 per cent year-over-year jump. There were 36 commercial building permits issued for the year, valued at $25.5 million, up from 27 permits and $6.4 million in 2018.

Renting a new office? Check network infrastructure

Commercial  •  IT World Canada  •  Building Design & Construction  •  Toronto Star

This simple relationship between the end-user and operator has held for decades, but with 5G set to proliferate in Canada, a new question arose: Who’s responsible for establishing a reliable mobile connection in large buildings?

7-Eleven takes aim at Amazon Go

Commercial  •  Canadian Grocer  •  National Real Estate Investor

It appears 7-Eleven is taking a page out of Amazon’s playbook. The convenience store chain is piloting a cashierless store concept at its corporate headquarters in Irving, Texas, similar to the Amazon Go concept that launched in January 2018.

Canadian Tire expanding in-store pickups

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail  •  Canada Newswire  •  Financial Post

Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. (CTC-T) will roll out lockers for online order pick-ups at hundreds of its stores in 2020 as it works to convince online shoppers to visit its stores.

REIT fourth-quarter financial results

Commercial  • 

H&R REIT, (HR-UN-T), Canada Newswire

Morguard REIT, (MRT-UN-T), Canada Newswire

Vancouver region transit funding touted

Residential, Commercial  •  Business In Vancouver

The challenges of growth were a hot topic of conversation among the Vancouver region’s mayors, who joined in a panel discussion the Urban Development Institute recently hosted in Langley.

Westbank, Urban Community to develop San Jose portfolio

Residential, Commercial  •  Pacifica Tribune  •  Canada Newswire

Vancouver-headquartered Westbank and Urban Community announced a partnership to develop several sites in downtown San Jose. Westbank‘s San Jose portfolio includes the Bank of Italy Building, Museum Place, BoTown Valley Title, Fountain Alley and 255 West Julian.

Firm Capital acquires Texan multires portfolios for $106M

Residential  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

Firm Capital American Realty Partners Corp., (FCA-U-X) has entered into conditional agreements to acquire two multifamily portfolios from two unrelated third-party vendors, both of which are located in Austin, Texas for a total combined purchase price of US$106 million.

‘Terrible’ WeWork bet caused us headaches: T. Rowe Price

Commercial  •  Reuters  •  Forbes  •  RNZ

Asset management firm T. Rowe Price Group Inc. has called its investment in WeWork a “debacle” that caused the firm “outsized headaches and disappointments” and left it holding shares worth just a fraction of their original value.

Canadian January house sales best since 2008

Residential  •  CBC  •  Canada Newswire

The average price of a Canadian home eclipsed $500,000 last month and it was the best January for sales in a dozen years, new data from the Canadian Real Estate Association showed Friday.

Luxury home prices plummet in Vancouver

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Vancouver’s high-end house values took a major tumble last year, with the number of houses valued in the $3-million-and-over range dropping 28 per cent year-over-year, according to research by  Simon Fraser City Program director Andy Yan.

Blame Ottawa for OSFI’s U-turn on stress tests

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

OPINION: Speaking at a housing finance forum a year ago, Superintendent Jeremy Rudin had a message for critics: It’s not the job of the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) to help Canadians buy homes they cannot afford.

Montreal borough moves to restrict Airbnbs

Residential  •  CBC

Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie plans to restrict short-term rentals like Airbnbs to the Plaza Saint-Hubert shopping district, in an effort to free up apartments for tenants looking for long-term leases as Montreal faces its worst rental housing crisis in 15 years.