Toronto remains ‘very attractive’ CRE market: Altus

RENX  Commercial  •  Condominiums, Hotels and Resorts, Office, Apartments, Land, Industrial, Retail  •  Toronto / GTA

“The GTA remains a very attractive place to put your real estate dollars,” said Patricia Arsenault, executive vice-president of research consulting for Altus Group Data Solutions, while opening Altus Group’s recent 12th annual Toronto State of the Market event.

BTB acquires Ottawa office building, development land

RENX  Commercial  •  Office, Land  •  Ottawa

BTB REIT (BTB-UN-T) has acquired a four-storey, state-of-the-art office building along Ottawa’s Queensway corridor for $21.75 million that includes land for new office or mixed-use development. 2611 Queensview Dr. has a total leasable area of 77,575 square feet and is fully leased.

Broccolini launches suit over Radio-Canada rent

Commercial  •  La Presse

Must CBC/Radio-Canada pay its monthly rent of $1.8 million in the new Maison de Radio-Canada, even if it believes the new building is not yet ready? The matter will be settled in the courts after a Broccolini-led consortium launched a lawsuit.

IBC launches commercial task force

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire

Commercial insurance is becoming challenging on a global level following years of significant losses. Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) is launching the National Commercial Insurance Task Force to examine how this is impacting Canadian companies and consumers.

Gowling goes non-traditional in new office

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

Law firms traditionally want their offices to reflect heritage and solidity, and Gowling WLG’s downtown Hamilton location had that in spades. For 14 years, its legal team has worked in a Greek-columned building with gilded ceilings at 1 Main St. W.

Open-concept offices hamper productivity: Survey

Commercial  •  Western Investor  •  Instant Offices

Open-concept offices and unassigned “hot desks” may be all the rage, but they could be costing firms or office tenants up to two hours a day in productivity per employee, according to a poll commissioned by co-working firm iQ Offices.

Sponsored by First National Financial LP Have an intensification project on the books? Read this first.

Across Canada, governments at all levels have jumped on the site intensification solution to housing shortages and for good reason. As the country’s population grows, it is economically and environmentally preferable to increase the housing density of existing neighbourhoods . . .

Vancouver Olympics left mixed legacy

Residential, Commercial  •  CityNews  •  Vancouver Province  •  Business In Vancouver

When Gregor Robertson took office as mayor of Vancouver, he said he didn’t anticipate the “financial meltdown” of a planned housing development as the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralymics approached. The 2010 Olympics coincided with the recession.

FCPT acquires half-stake in Alberta industrial portfolio

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire  •  RENX

Firm Capital Property Trust (FCD-UN-X) announced the acquisition of a 50 per cent interest in two industrial properties in Edmonton and Leduc, Alta. The acquisition price for 100 per cent of the portfolio is approximately $10.7 million, excluding transaction costs.

The history of four of Montreal’s most iconic buildings

Commercial  •  MTL Blog

Buildings that we walk by every day we know so little about. With this in mind, I decided to dig into the history of Montreal to find out more about some of the city’s most iconic buildings.

Hotel investment trends to watch: JLL

Commercial  •  CP Executive

Though global hospitality industry investment was strong this past year, the forecast for 2020 is marked by more than the usual uncertainty, according to JLL’s Hotel Investment Outlook 2020, which labels the overall sense of the industry “optimistically cautious.”

Temple shareholders approve Morguard takeover

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire

Temple Hotels (TPH-T) announced a majority of shareholders approved the special resolution authorizing the statutory plan of arrangement to which Morguard Corporation (MRC-T) will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Temple it does not currently own.

Aecon B.C. bridge JV worth nearly $1B

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire  •  CBC

Aecon Group Inc. (ARE-T) announced Fraser Crossing Partners has reached financial close on the Pattullo Bridge Replacement Project in British Columbia. The bridge will provide network connections to New Westminster and Surrey. The total contract is valued at $967.5 million.

Brookfield ‘dark horse’ buyer for pipeline

Commercial  •  Reuters  •  Reuters

Canada’s Trans Mountain oil-pipeline expansion is no bargain after a multibillion-dollar increase in the cost of the project. However, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP-UN-T) may be a “dark horse” buyer should the opportunity arise as it recently completed a big equity raise.

U.S., Canadian construction performances in review

Residential, Commercial  •  Daily Commercial News

Following a contraction in 2018, construction starts in the US grew four per cent to reach $795 billion in 2019. Canadian construction starts saw a less positive story, with starts declining 22.1 per cent, much of that a hangover from strong growth in 2018.

T.O. market headed for another round of froth: RBC

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  Vancouver Sun

RBC’s housing economist Robert Hogue fears the Toronto market is heading for another round of froth. “It’s looking more and more like early 2016 all over again for the Toronto housing market,” Hogue warned. “This is not a good sign.”

Montreal residents decry Airbnb rentals

Residential  •  Montreal Gazette

A frat house atmosphere taking over the building is how Manon Wascher describes the “Airbnb nightmare” she has gone through since the apartment complex she lives in on Montreal’s Guy Street was sold four years ago.

RESCON seeks updated building, planning processes

Residential  •  Daily Commercial News

Ontario’s building and planning development approvals process is out of date and needs to be improved, the Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON) states in its 2020 pre-budget submission.

B.C. condo owners warned of insurance increases

Residential  •  Vancouver Sun

Condos across B.C. could be hit by soaring insurance bills this year, a New Westminster strata council president is warning. Residents of Anchor Pointe in New Westminster learned their building’s insurance premiums were expected to increase by 40 per cent for 2020.

Ottawa YOY housing starts more than double: CMHC

Residential  •  Ottawa Business Journal  •  Reuters  •  Canada Newswire

Developers in Ottawa-Gatineau launched 611 new residential units last month, up from 249 in January 2019, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. Those numbers were bolstered by a significant jump in multi-unit starts, which rose 187 per cent.