TMX pipeline OK no panacea for Calgary office woes

RENX  Commercial  •  Office  •  Alberta, Calgary

Approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion was celebrated in some quarters of Alberta last week, but the commercial real estate industry isn’t breaking open the champagne. Turning around the downtown Calgary office market requires more than an announcement.

Montreal’s new $4.4B Champlain Bridge opens

Commercial  •  CBC  •  Montreal Gazette  •  Ottawa Citizen

Montreal’s expensive new Samuel De Champlain Bridge opened to traffic for the first time this morning, about six months behind schedule. Various delays pushed back the opening and added another $235 million to the original $4.2-billion price tag.

Teachers’ sells major stake in Hudson’s Bay Co.

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail  •  Bloomberg  •  Reuters

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan has sold a major stake in Hudson’s Bay Co. (HBC-T) to other investors, two sources said. Teachers sold the shares for $9.45 apiece, the price HBC executive chairman Richard Baker offered to take it private.

CEO Evan Siddall charts new course for CMHC

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

Canada’s national housing agency looks nothing like it did when Evan Siddall was appointed five years ago. The chief executive of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. has overseen a transformation of the Crown corporation since 2014.

Zibi announces government lease, new residential tower

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Office, Apartments  •  Ottawa

UPDATED: Ottawa’s Zibi development has its first major commercial tenant, the Federal Government of Canada. It will also be home to a 24-storey apartment tower being built with U.S.-based housing provider Common, containing “co-living” and traditional rentals.

The Apartment Building Expert › An enlightening chat with Minto visionary Alan Greenberg

Derek Lobo: Founder and CEO , SVN Rock Advisors Inc.

Ottawa’s golden age of city-building

Residential, Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal

In the very appropriate venue of Ottawa’s Horticulture Building, first erected a century ago to house the central exhibition, a hodgepodge of business leaders, government officials, developers and politicians gathered in mid-June to ponder the awesome task of city-building.

Ottawa expects to recoup LRT delay costs from builders

Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal

Ottawa taxpayers won’t be on the hook for an estimated $34.4 million in costs related to the delayed opening of Phase 1 LRT – assuming the city can get the light-rail builder to pay, according to a memo sent by city staff.

NCC to receive proposed LeBreton master concept plan

Residential, Commercial  •  Ottawa Citizen  •  Ottawa Business Journal  •  Ottawa Citizen

A proposed master concept plan for the development of LeBreton Flats will be in front of the NCC board in early 2020. Board members lauded the agency’s“Building LeBreton” process to plot future development of the 59 acres in downtown Ottawa.

The silver lining in Musée d’art’s stalled renovation

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

On June 20, five months after closing its doors to prepare for a $44.7-million renovation, the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal reopened a building that hasn’t changed in the least little bit.

Toronto will stand its ground on Sidewalk Labs: Opinion

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail  •  Toronto Star

When it comes to Toronto’s Quayside, a neighbourhood project proposed by Sidewalk Labs (a subsidiary, like Google, of Alphabet), the most prevalent sense from critics has been one of doubt and fear.

B.C. developers are on borrowed time

Residential  •  BC Business

Although B.C. has arguably been the biggest beneficiary of the most recent housing boom, a tidal wave of cheap money has flooded into the hands of real estate developers desperately trying to keep up with a home-buying frenzy.

Old sawmill turned B.C. high-tech centre

Commercial  •  Toronto Star

The scenic village of Canal Flats at the base of the Canadian Rockies is undergoing a “brave experiment,” transitioning from a forestry-dependent economy to tech and trades with the launch of the Columbia Lake Technology Center.

Pacific FC building B.C.’s largest field house

Commercial  •  Victoria Times Colonist

Pacific FC is building the largest indoor field house in B.C. The $5-million facility, under construction on West Shore Parkway, is being paid for by the Canadian Premier League professional soccer club on land leased from Langford.

Strategic Storage acquires 637-unit facility in Houston

Commercial  •  PR Newswire  •  RENX

Strategic Storage Growth Trust II, Inc., a private REIT sponsored by SmartStop Asset Management, LLC, announced its acquisition of a 637-unit self storage facility in Houston. This is the third acquisition completed by SSGT II.

Eldorado Resorts to acquire Caesars in $17.3B deal

Commercial  •  CBC  •  Reuters

Eldorado Resorts Inc. (ERI-Q) will buy Caesars Entertainment Corp. (CZR-Q) in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $17.3 billion US. The acquisition puts about 60 casinos and resorts under a single name, one of the biggest gambling and entertainment ventures in the U.S.

Could laneway homes be Toronto’s future?

Residential  •  Toronto Star

When Toronto approved the rules for building homes on its more-than-300 kilometres of laneways one year ago, the new housing was frequently described as secondary suites, suggesting the homes would be the above-ground equivalent of a basement apartment.

Toronto could learn a lot from Tokyo housing model

Residential  •  Toronto Star

In early June, a Building and Land Development Association (BILD) delegation visited Tokyo and came away with quite a few impressions.

B.C. money-laundering estimates may be wildly off the mark

Residential  •  Western Investor

Media headlines proclaimed recent findings of an estimated $7.4 billion in dirty money laundered in B.C. in 2018, with approximately $5.3 billion of that going through real estate. In reality, these figures are looser even than an estimate.

Cricket Property Management enters Alberta market

Residential  •  Globe Newswire

Cricket Property Management has expanded its property management franchise into Alberta. This will enable the company to directly service landlord and tenant clients, and support property management franchisees across the province.