Crestpoint buys two major Calgary office properties

RENX  Commercial  •  Office  •  Calgary

Just days after making a major office purchase in Montreal, Crestpoint Real Estate Investments Ltd., announced the acquisition of two office properties in Calgary. Crestpoint purchased Stampede Station and TransAlta Place, adding 498,000 square feet of space to its portfolio.

FN’s MST Development Van.’s ‘richest landowners’

Commercial  •  Vancouver Sun

Land holdings of 65 hectares spread across the region make the First Nations-owned MST Development Corp. “the richest landowners in the city of Vancouver,” Tsleil-Waututh Chief Leah George-Wilson said to a Greater Vancouver Board of Trade audience Monday.

Q’s new $500M fund targeting Toronto rentals

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Following its billion-dollar sale of 44 rental apartment buildings in the GTA, private equity firm Q Management is fundraising for a $500-million war chest to do it all over again. In November, Q sold Continuum Residential REIT to Starlight for $1.7 billion.

Prével spurns condo investors in favour of affordability

RENX  Residential  •  Condominiums  •  Greater Montreal

Prével, one of Montreal’s largest condo developers, won’t sell multiple units to buyers as a way to discourage investors and maintain housing affordability in the city. “We won’t sell more than two units to our buyers,” said co-president Laurence Vincent.

Feds plan to redevelop lands opposite Parliament Hill

Commercial  •  Ottawa Citizen  •  CBC

The most prestigious property in Canada is up for development and the federal government is asking architects from around the world to brainstorm ideas for the 105,000 square feet of  land known simply as “Block 2.”

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 . . .

Hamilton office vacancy rate lowest in eight years

Commercial  •  CBC

Downtown Hamilton has a growing number of jobs and a decreasing percentage of office vacancies, a new city report says. The vacancy rate of downtown office space is 11.9 per cent, the lowest in at least eight years.

Pickering casino construction nears completion

Commercial  •  Daily Commercial News

Construction of One Toronto Gaming’s 330,000-square-foot Pickering Casino Resort is moving along and is expected to open in April. It is all part of the first phase of a $2-billion, 240-acre, multi-use development known as Durham Live.

Real estate firms hitting record debt levels

Commercial  •  Financial Post  •  Toronto Star

Canada’s real estate, manufacturing and oil and gas industries are leading in corporate debt, according to a new report by TD Bank. The three sectors account for approximately 45 per cent of total non-financial corporate debt, the report notes.

Ottawa seeks to give away Chinatown building

Commercial  •  Ottawa Citizen  •  CBC

The City of Ottawa wants to virtually give away a 114-year-old building in Chinatown rather than potentially collecting more than $3 million off its sale in a deal that would allow a community health centre to expand children’s programs.

London Drugs, Fresh St. opening at Vancouver House

Commercial  •  Daily Hive

Two anchor retailers for the Vancouver House complex in downtown Vancouver will open this week. Both Fresh St. Market and London Drugs are set to open within the base of the new tower.

Montrealers battle over reasons for empty storefronts

Commercial  •  Toronto Star

On the corner of Montreal’s historic St-Laurent Boulevard and trendy St-Viateur Street – known for the 24-hour St-Viateur Bagel Shop – lies an empty storefront that has become a symbol of the city’s retail woes.

Westdale Properties JVs on $120M Florida hotel

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire  •  Business Wire

A joint venture between Toronto-based Westdale Properties, King Street Real Estate and Cedar Capital Partners is acquiring the Shelborne South Beach Hotel in Miami Beach for $120 million. The 275-room hotel is located in Miami Beach’s art deco district.

AY acquires Washington-based BMS Realty Services

Commercial  •  PR Newswire  •  CP Executive

Mark E. Rose, chair and CEO of Avison Young, the world’s fastest-growing commercial real estate services firm, today announced it has acquired Washington, D.C.-based BMS Realty Services, LLC (BMS), bolstering Avison Young’s property management offering in the D.C. Metro area.

Dalfen Industrial signs long-term lease with Amazon

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire

Dalfen Industrial today announced the signing of a 10-year lease with Amazon at Eastpoint Distribution Center, located at 8901 Forney Rd. in Dallas. Eastpoint Distribution Center consists of 419,626 square feet and is strategically located in East Dallas.

Behind Amazon’s HQ2 fiasco

Commercial  •  Financial Post

When Elon Musk secured US$1.3 billion from Nevada in 2014 to open a gigantic battery plant, Jeff Bezos noticed. In meetings, the Amazon.com chief expressed envy for how Musk had pitted five Western states against one another in a bidding war.

Winnipeg project impeded by traffic concerns

Residential  •  Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg’s Sherwood Developments hope to turn a five-acre strip of riverside land in St. Vital’s Minnetonka neighbourhood into luxury rental residences for the 50-plus crowd — but first, they’ll need to reassure a community already spooked by heavy traffic.

B.C.’s top five retirement towns

Residential  •  Western Investor

While Victoria is considered the reigning queen of B.C.’s retirement sector, smaller centres featured below have among the highest ratio of seniors in Canada and may provide an opportunity for real estate investors to share in the grey tsunami.

Port Moody sees slight population drop

Residential  •  Tri-City News

Fears of rampant residential development and out-of-control growth in the city of Port Moody do not align with new population estimates. The Tri-City municipality is one of only a handful of Metro Vancouver cities to see its population decline recently.

Nanaimo a pivot city for Vancouver Island growth

Residential  •  Western Investor

In Q3 2019, B.C. welcomed 16,909 people, a 72.5 per cent year-over-year increase. About four per cent of immigrants to B.C. settle on Vancouver Island which is also attracting more Canadians who are drawn to the warmest winter climate in the country.