Nexus acquiring 9 industrial properties for $146M

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial  •  Ontario, Toronto / GTA, Edmonton

Nexus REIT (NXR.UN-X) has acquired, or has agreements to acquire, nine industrial assets in Ontario and Alberta for a total purchase price of $146 million. Together, the acquisitions will add about 1.8 million square feet to the Nexus portfolio.

CEO Michael Medline, leading an Empire

Commercial  •  Canadian Grocer

In the four years since Michael Medline has been CEO of Empire, it has grown market share with the western expansion of FreshCo, the reorganization program Project Sunrise, its Farm Boy acquisition, and the launch of Sobeys’ e-grocery service Voilà.

JLL launches single-family rental investment advisory

Residential  •  Bisnow

JLL has launched a division specifically for advising single-family rental investment, reflecting the big business that owning single-family homes has become. Single-family REITs outperformed REITs overall in 2020 by 23% and institutional owners control only about 3% of the market, JLL said.

Crestpoint acquires Surrey ind., Hamilton retail assets

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial, Retail  •  Ontario, Metro Vancouver

UPDATED with interview, quotes: Crestpoint Real Estate Investments Ltd. has invested over $300 million to acquire major properties in two Canadian cities; Centre on Barton shopping centre in Hamilton, and South Surrey Business Park in Metro Vancouver.

Moratorium on CRE evictions extended to April 2022

Commercial  •  Toronto Star

The new moratorium, which runs until April 22, 2022, is open to any business that has been approved to receive the federally run Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy, and informs their landlord of that approval. A previous moratorium had expired Oct. 30, 2020.

Fitness and gym memberships may never recover

Commercial  •  Bisnow

The hardest-hit sectors of commercial real estate have been grappling with a central question: How much of the damage is permanent? For fitness-based retail, new survey data suggests that a distressing number of patrons don’t plan to return.

Travelling grocery store hitting Canada’s streets in 2021

Commercial  •  Canadian Grocer

Some time in the next few months a tractor-trailer truck converted to a grocery store on wheels will start to visit neighbourhoods across Canada. And Grocery Neighbour CEO Frank Sinopoli believes that truck will be just the first.

Demolition of Preston Springs Hotel may spur inquiry

Commercial  •  CBC

The Preston Springs Hotel in Cambridge, approximately 130 years old, was demolished starting Dec. 31 after building inspector Dennis Purcell issued an emergency order on Christmas Eve permitting the demolition. City Council, however, had voted against demolition on Nov. 3.

TSX hits 18,000 for first time, erases pandemic losses

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail  •  Bloomberg  •  Calgary Herald

Canadian stocks hit record highs Jan. 7, breaking 18,000 having risen 61% since the spring low. That officially erases losses from the pandemic-sparked crash in stock prices, capping off one of the most remarkable recoveries in the country’s stock market history.

City of St. John’s, Nfld. property insurance soars 88%

Commercial  •  CBC

The cost of insuring City of St. John’s, Newfoundland properties has nearly doubled in this year’s budget to nearly $1 million. This year’s budget adds $462,846 to the cost of insurance — an 88 per cent increase.

U.S. taxpayers to pay Capitol siege insurance tab

Commercial  •  Reuters  •  Business Insider

U.S. taxpayers will be on the hook for damage from a mob attack on the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Wednesday because the building and grounds are not insured, industry sources said. The angry mob broke windows, defaced items inside and set fires outside.

CRE roundly condemns U.S. capitol insurrection

Commercial  •  Bisnow  •  The Real Deal  •  Toronto Star

The commercial real estate industry has strongly condemned the insurrection that took place at the U.S. Capitol this week. In New York, Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman, who supported Trump’s campaign in 2020, condemned the insurrection and blamed the president.

Hotel operators plan for flood of bank-owned properties

Commercial  •  Bisnow  •  Hotel News Resource

A wave of hotels is expected to be taken over by banks and other lenders in the coming months, and some hospitality industry players are looking to build up management arms in hopes of operating those properties for new owners.

Dalfen acquires Orlando industrial property

Commercial  •  PR Newswire  •  RENX

Dalfen Industrial has acquired Sanford Logistics Center at in Sanford, Fla., a northern suburb of Orlando. The  newly constructed, 113,149-square-foot building is 50 per cent occupied with Marine Fasteners signing a 10-year deal and boasts frontage along SR-417.

Realterm, JPMorgan team on 28-market logistics portfolio

Commercial  •  Connect Media

Realterm and J.P. Morgan Asset Management entered a joint venture to acquire a 1.75-million-square-foot logistics portfolio in 28 US core industrial markets, including Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, New Jersey, New York, and Philadelphia. Deal terms weren’t disclosed.

Walgreens divests pharma wholesale business for $6.5B

Commercial  •  Connect Media

Walgreens Boots Alliance, headquartered in Deerfield, IL, will sell the majority of its Alliance Healthcare wholesale businesses to AmerisourceBergen for approximately $6.5 billion. The sale will enable Walgreens to focus on expanding its core retail pharmacy business.

Debt risk from environmental disasters eye-popping

Commercial, Real Estate  •  Financial Post

Financial risk assigned to companies by natural disasters keeps growing and growing. Moody’s Investors Service says 18 sectors have a combined US$7.2 trillion of debt with “high inherent exposure to physical climate risks” such as devastating wildfires, storms and other calamities.

Examining B.C.’s strata insurance issue

Residential  •  Business in Vancouver

VIDEO: Frank Chong, vice-president and deputy superintendent, regulation, with the BC Financial Services Authority walks Hayley Woodin through the BCFSA’s final report to the government on the issue of residential strata insurance.

Ottawa home sale prices up 19-20% in 2020: OREB

Residential  •  Global News  •  Ottawa Business Journal  •  Ottawa Citizen

The average sale prices of both homes and condos in Ottawa rose 19-to-20 per cent over the course of 2020, according to the Ottawa Real Estate Board (OREB), with activity roaring back following a coronavirus-driven slowdown in the spring.

Denmark offers homeowners 20-year loans at zero interest

Residential  •  Sydney Morning Herald

Customers at the Danish home-finance unit of Nordea Bank Abp can get 20-year loans at a fixed interest rate of zero. Denmark is the country to have lived with negative central bank rates longer than any other.

Sponsored by REIC/ICI Are you making smart technology investments, or just keeping up with the neighbours?

New technology can mean new potential for real estate owners and developers. Even so, tech tools themselves are only as powerful as the strategy you employ to use them. From streamlined operations to automated systems and processes, strategically adopting the

Sponsored by REIC/ICI Are you making smart technology investments, or just keeping up with the neighbours?

New technology can mean new potential for real estate owners and developers. Even so, tech tools themselves are only as powerful as the strategy you employ to use them. From streamlined operations to automated systems and processes, strategically adopting the