Reliance, KingSett, Crestpoint acquire Vancouver tower

Commercial  •  Vancouver Sun  •  RENX  •  RENX

Vancouver’s one-time MacMillan Bloedel headquarters, a Arthur Erickson-designed, 26-storey office tower, was acquired today by Reliance Properties, KingSett Capital and Crestpoint Real Estate Investments. The property was assessed at $255.117 million in 2018.

Sun Life nears deal to buy 47-storey Montreal tower

Commercial  •  Bloomberg  •  RENX

The real estate unit of Sun Life Financial (SLF-T)  is close to a deal to purchase the Montreal office tower at 1250 René-Lévesque Boulevard West from Oxford Properties Group and Public Sector Pension Investment Board for about $600 million, according to sources.

Westinghouse HQ brings Hamilton office building back to life

RENX  Commercial  •  Office  •  Ontario

A historic but long-vacant east-end Hamilton building is being reborn as Westinghouse HQ, the first project for a new company. The 102-year-old former Canadian headquarters for Westinghouse Company will become a centre for commercial and cultural activities.

Diamond Schmitt, Knightstone add to student residence projects

RENX  Residential  •  Apartments  •  Ontario, Greater Montreal

A 10-year collaboration between Knightstone Capital Management and Diamond Schmitt Architects continues in Montreal with the opening of Campus1 Montreal student residence. “I was introduced to David Lehberg, CEO of Knightstone, in 2009,”  Diamond Schmitt principal Don Schmitt told RENX.

Concert Properties proposes 53-storey Toronto condo

Residential, Commercial  •  Urban Toronto  •  RENX

Concert Properties has submitted a Site Plan Application for their property at Howard and Sherbourne Streets in Toronto. Kitty corner from The Selby, currently completing, and across Howard from 591 Sherbourne, the IBI Group-designed tower at 603 Sherbourne would rise 164 metres.

Sponsored by Harbour Equity Harbour Equity’s 4th joint venture development fund 50% committed

Harbour Equity closed its 4th joint venture development fund in April 2018 and has now committed 50% of the Fund. Harbour Equity continues to actively review investment opportunities for the balance of the Fund. As a capital provider for developers,

Ontario engineering firm go-to for tower designs

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

Walking into the headquarters of RWDI is like stepping into a museum of architectural marvels and engineering feats. Despite its relative obscurity to the general public, the company has become a household name among top architects globally.

WeedMD acquires 98-acre licensed Strathroy property

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire

WeedMD Inc. (WMD-X) has exercised its option to purchase the Health Canada-licensed, 98-acre Strathroy property from Perfect Pick Farms. The purchase includes the licensed 610,000-square-foot state-of-the-art hybrid-greenhouse, more than 100,000 square feet of ancillary structures and 50 acres of land.

Holiday Inn Toronto Airport seeks to expand, add office space

Commercial  •  Urban Toronto

The owners of the Holiday Inn Toronto Airport East have submitted a Site Plan Approval application to expand the existing hotel with an 11-storey mixed-use addition. The new building would add 205 new hotel units and 60,720 square feet of office space.

Ottawa eyes baseball stadium for development

Residential, Commercial  •  CBC

Tom Brown arena, the Bob MacQuarrie recreation complex in Orléans and the baseball stadium on Coventry Road could one day be redeveloped for affordable housing, according to a City of Ottawa inventory of 20 sites walking distance of future LRT stations.

Ballpark plans could change a Montreal neighbourhood

Residential, Commercial  •  CBC

Stephen Bronfman was upbeat last week, giving his semi-regular update on the push to bring baseball back to Montreal. The next step, he said, is to officially secure a site where a new ballpark will be built.

Schooners, Sport Nova Scotia JV on planned stadium

Commercial  •  TSN  •  Halifax ChronicleHerald  •  CFL.ca

Schooners Sports and Entertainment, the group looking to bring a Canadian Football League franchise to the Halifax area, announced Saturday it has partnered with Sport Nova Scotia on the group’s stadium plan.

Prince Rupert quietly becomes a port powerhouse

Commercial  •  Western Investor  •  Business In Vancouver

An Exxon-Mobile Corp.-led consortium has pulled back from a planned LNG plant at Prince Rupert and Ottawa is selling the expanding Ridley Terminal, but the northwest B.C. city’s bustling port expects an even bigger share of gas exports.

Shop owners bail out of Calgary’s trendy districts

Commercial  •  Calgary Herald  •  CBC  •  Barclay Street Real Estate media release

In the span of two months this winter, Calgary’s 17th Avenue S.W. lost 29 businesses. The iconic retail and entertainment strip had 370 operating businesses in December 2018 and 341 at the end of February 2019 — a decline of 8.5 per cent.

Vancouver Island’s Quality Foods a community hub

Commercial  •  Canadian Grocer

A group of thirty-somethings sit casually shooting the breeze on oversized leather couches while drinking local craft beer and B.C. wine. Nearby, a trio of students, fuelled by Starbucks coffee, are deep in animated conversation.

REIT financial results:

Commercial  • 

Boardwalk REIT, (BEI-UN-T), Sedar

Cominar REIT, (CUF-UN-T), Sedar

Crombie REIT, (CRR-UN-T), Sedar

Dream Global REIT, (DRG-UN-T), Sedar

Dream Industrial REIT, (DIR-UN-T), Sedar

Dream Office REIT, (D-UN-T), Sedar

Executive rentals collateral damage in Airbnb backlash

Residential  •  CBC  •  Globe and Mail

After first disrupting the hotel business industry, shared rental services like Airbnb are making life difficult for Canada’s corporate housing sector. Condominium buildings are shutting their doors to companies that help find temporary accommodations for executives on short-term work projects.

Toronto’s new home shortage costing governments billions

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Subscription required)

New home construction in the Toronto region fell short of provincial targets by almost 100,000 units between 2006 and 2018, spurring higher prices and costing governments over $10 billion in missed taxes and fees, a new study has found.

Canada’s five fastest-growing urban areas are all in Ontario

Residential  •  CBC

Statistics Canada says more than seven in 10 Canadians live in an urban area — and the five fastest-growing census metropolitan areas are in Ontario. Peterborough tops the list, with its population growth rate per thousand jumping from 19.8 to 30.5, from 2016-’17 to 2017-’18.

Empire Communities partners with Atlanta-based EA Homes

Residential  •  Canada Newswire

Empire Communities, one of North America’s largest homebuilders, has formed a strategic partnership with Atlanta-based builder Edward Andrews Homes (EA Homes). This expands Empire’s presence in the U.S. to include Houston, Austin, and San Antonio, Texas, and Atlanta.