Allied, Perimeter plan new office at Breithaupt Block

RENX  Commercial  •  Office  •  Ontario

Allied Properties REIT (AP.UN-T) and Perimeter Development Corp. will build an almost-300,000-square-foot office building as Phase III of The Breithaupt Block in Kitchener’s Innovation District. Allied has “a high-calibre user” signed to a 15-year lease for the 294,054-square-foot building.

Kingdom moves into Toronto with KSquare condos

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Condominiums  •  Toronto / GTA

Kingdom Developments has officially kicked off construction of its first major Toronto project, the mixed-use condominium development KSquare Condos. “This project is probably about $300 million by the time it’s all said and done,” said Kingdom’s VP projects Eric Jensen.

Quebec consortium acquires Montreal brewery site

Residential, Commercial  •  Canada Newswire

Selection Group, Groupe Montoni and the Fonds immobilier de solidarité FTQ announced they have officially acquired the Molson brewery site in Montréal and the Quebec consortium can now put forward its redevelopment vision for this rapidly evolving Montréal region.

The secretive billionaires behind the Château Laurier

Commercial  •  Ottawa Citizen  •  Ottawa Business Journal

We don’t know much about the real people behind the Fairmont Château Laurier addition. Larco Investments bought the historic property in 2013 through one of its many related companies, subsidiary Capital Hotel, but continues to lease day-to-day operations to the chain.

ALEA to Pure Multi-Family: Suspend exclusive sale talks

RENX  Residential  •  Apartments  •  National, International

UPDATE: American Landmark/Electra America has called on the management of Vancouver-based Pure Multi-Family REIT LP (RUF.UN-X) to sever an exclusivity agreement with a potential suitor and move forward with separate negotiations toward a deal to sell all its shares.

Empire to invest $70M in expanding Farm Boy network

Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal  •  Bloomberg  •  Canada Newswire

Farm Boy’s parent Empire Co. (EMP-A-T) Thursday revealed it plans to invest about $70 million to expand the Ottawa-born grocery chain’s network this coming fiscal year. Overall, the company plans to invest some $600 million in its operations.

Canada’s largest Costco just opened

Commercial  •  CTV

The largest Costco (COST-Q) in Canada opened its doors Thursday in a subdivision of St. John’s, N.L., amid concerns about increased traffic. The store in the developing Galway subdivision covers nearly 183,000 square feet and has 1,000 parking spaces and 24 gas pumps.

The People Space › People Space: Zegarac heads Waterfront Toronto, Dockrill COO at AY

Don Wilcox: Managing Editor

Sidewalk plan could derail waterfront projects: Developer

Residential, Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  Globe and Mail

Castlepoint Realty Partners, one of the largest private landowners in Toronto’s Port Lands, warns a plan by Sidewalk Labs to guide development of 190 acres in the district faces long odds of success and has the potential to paralyze continuing projects.

Ottawa OKs nine-storey apt. building, two towers

Residential  •  Ottawa Business Journal  •  CBC

Ottawa’s planning committee gave the all-clear Thursday to Regional Group‘s nine-storey, 119-unit apartment building on Oblats Avenue. The planning committee also approved plans for two towers of six and nine storeys at 716 and 770 Brookfield Rd.

RENX vacation week: July 1-5

Residential, Commercial  • 

NOTE TO READERS: RENX takes our annual summer break July 1-5. We won’t be publishing articles or our Daily Newsletter during that time, but will return Monday, July 8 to resume normal publishing activities. We wish you all a Happy Canada Day!

Four new restaurants opening in ICE District

Commercial  •  Financial Post  •  Globe Newswire  •  RENX

An Ontario-based restaurateur said it will open four eateries in an ICE District hotel on Aug. 1. Oliver & Bonacini Hospitality will run all four restaurants in the Marriott hotel next to the Rogers Place arena in downtown Edmonton.

Mitsubishi plans to open a design centre in Quebec

Commercial  •  La Presse

Mitsubishi is studying “rather seriously” the possibility of establishing a design and engineering centre in the Montreal area that would help it develop the next versions of its SpaceJet regional aircraft, according to a source.

Dalfen Industrial acquires Georgia fulfilment centre

Commercial  •  Property Funds World

Dalfen Industrial has acquired Northfield Fulfilment Center at 1075 Northfield Ct., in Roswell, Ga. Northfield Fulfilment Center is 100 per cent occupied by Kimberly Clark and Mattress Firm and totals 152,900 square feet.

Blackstone buys three Aussie office towers for $1B

Commercial  •  APAC Real Estate  •  IPE Real Assets

Australian-listed Scentre Group has offloaded its Sydney CBD office towers to U.S. asset manager Blackstone (BX-N) for US$1.06 billion, just weeks after selling off a stake in a Sydney mall.

CPPIB $7.5B JV takes Legoland owner private

Commercial  •  Reuters  •  La Presse  •  Canada Newswire

Lego’s founding family, Canadian pension fund CPPIB and private equity firm Blackstone are taking Britain’s Merlin private again in an agreed deal valuing the Madame Tussauds and Legoland owner at $7.5 billion. Legoland is the world’s second-largest operator of visitor attractions.

Toronto condo prices see weakest growth in five years

Residential  •  Bloomberg

Toronto resale condo prices continue to level off amid tighter lending rules and a surge in new supply. The average price per square foot rose 3.3 per cent to $683 year-over-year in Q1, the weakest gain since 2014, according to Urbanation Inc.

B.C. residential building permits hit record high

Residential  •  Business In Vancouver

B.C. residential building permits more than doubled in April to a record-high $2.2 billion (seasonally adjusted). The Vancouver census metropolitan area (CMA) drove the gain with dollar-volume permits up 164% to $1.42 billion almost entirely for multi-family projects.

Surprise $17K empty homes tax on Vancouver live-work townhouse

Residential, Commercial  •  CBC

The owner of a Vancouver property zoned for both business and residential use was shocked to receive an empty homes tax bill of almost $17,000 — even though it’s occupied for most of the year.

N.S. attempts to find balance in $70M short-term rental market

Residential  •  Global News

Bill Stewart says his block in the upscale Hydrostone area of Halifax is usually quiet. But he says the typically tight-knit community changed when one of the neighbouring homes was purchased.