Blackstone to buy Simply Self Storage from Brookfield

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial  •  International

Brookfield Asset Management (BAM-A-T) is selling U.S.-based Simply Self Storage to Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT) in a deal valued at just under $1.6 billion (all figures Cdn). Simply Self Storage owns and operates more than 120 facilities in 23 states.

Property tax a burden to businesses: Altus/REALPAC

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire  •  RENX  •  RENX

Altus Group and the Real Property Association of Canada‘s (REALPAC) 2020 Canadian Property Tax Rate Benchmark Report found that, for the third consecutive year, eight of the 11 cities surveyed have a commercial tax rate at least double that of residential.

Strategic opens Calgary high-rise rental building

Residential  •  CBC  •  RENX

After 20 years of setbacks, Strategic Group‘s Upten apartment tower is officially open in Calgary. The 38-storey mixed-use building has 379 rental suites with prices ranging from $1,600 to $3,000 per month. Strategic CEO Riaz Mamdani is not concerned about units sitting empty.

Brookfield buying mortgage lender Genworth/Sagen

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Homes, Investment  •  National

Brookfield Business Partners (BBU-UN-T) announced Monday morning it plans to purchase all outstanding shares of Genworth MI Canada, the country’s largest private sector residential mortgage insurer, in a deal which values the firm at about $3.8 billion.

Dialog signs lease extension in Calgary’s Customs House

Residential, Commercial  •  Calgary Herald

Calgary architectural firm Dialog has signed a 10-year extension on its lease in the Customs House in the Beltline. It took 16 months from being initially chosen by Dialog’s studio managing principal Doug Cinnamon to completion by Colliers International.

Coliseum demo slated to make way for Edmonton TOD

Residential, Commercial  •  Edmonton Journal

Edmonton’s Northlands Coliseum is targeted for demolition in the “short term” as one of the first steps in the proposed redevelopment project on the site. A transit-oriented development is planned as part of the larger 81-hectare project.

Value: Weighed and Measured › Whatever the future holds, how we use real estate will change

John Clark: AACI, FRICS | Vice President, The Regional Group of Companies Inc.

Lamb proposes 18-storey building on Bloor

Residential  •  Urban Toronto

Lamb Development Corp. has proposed adding new density on a challenging site at 1405 Bloor St. W. The proposal seeks zoning for an 18-storey building that steps down to 12 storeys, and then to four storeys to the south, and includes 326 residences.

NorthWest Healthcare REIT worth a look

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  RENX

NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT (NWH-UN-T) offers a portfolio of high-quality health care real estate composed of interests in a diversified portfolio of 183 income-producing properties and 15 million square feet of GLA located throughout major markets in the Americas, Europe and Australasia.

Richmond industrial sale leaves tenants hanging

Commercial  •  Vancouver Sun

Shortly after seeing an ad, Brian Johns signed a five-year lease on a space in a Richmond industrial building. His attempt to move in two weeks later was denied as the building had subsequently been sold in a court-ordered sale.

Alberta municipalities plagued by crumbling infrastructure

Residential, Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

Manning, a small town in northwestern Alberta, needs to upgrade its arena. Parts of the storm drainage system are rusted out. The backlog of roadway maintenance is, at best, double what is considered healthy. Manning is also short on cash,

T.O. startup to test drone flight paths above Waterloo

Commercial  •  CBC

Waterloo region is lending its skies to Toronto-based tech startup AirMatrix which is working to map out the “road infrastructure” for cities and businesses to use drones safely in the future.

Too many strings attached to bailout programs

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

OPINION: The Business Credit Availability Program (BCAP) has plenty of money available. The hard part has been getting those funds to businesses. To encourage banks to lend to companies that need cash flow, the feds agreed to share the risk.

Application submitted for Pinnacle Etobicoke Phase 2

Residential  •  Urban Toronto  •  RENX

Pinnacle International has submitted an application for approval for the second phase of its Pinnacle Etobicoke development. The first condominium tower — Cypress at Pinnacle Etobicoke — is under construction, while Phase 2 represents the next two towers sprouting from a shared podium.

Loblaw’s added charges spur food security worries

Commercial  •  Toronto Star  •  Financial Post

Loblaw (L-T), Canada’s largest grocery chain, is charging more fees to suppliers, a move experts say could lead to less variety and potentially higher prices. Walmart Canada was the first to offload some of the additional cost of onto suppliers.

Port of Halifax celebrates $38M pier expansion

Commercial  •  CBC

Port of Halifax officials celebrated the $38-million expansion of the city’s south-end container pier Friday. By expanding the existing pier to 2,600 feet long, crane operators can load and offload the world’s largest container ships, two at a time.

Layoffs have Albertans in danger of losing their homes

Residential  •  Financial Post  •  Edmonton Journal

OPINION: Suspecting a crisis ahead, Peggy asked her bank to defer payments on her Calgary house when the COVID-19 pandemic hit this spring. That caution, it seems, was warranted as her family’s economic outlook deteriorated as the months progressed.

Toronto condo prices surge — but so are listings

Residential  •  Financial Post  •  Globe Newswire  •  Globe Newswire

On the surface, the latest Toronto Regional Real Estate Board report indicates what appears to be another stellar quarter for the condo market in the Greater Toronto Area. Although sales and prices are up, so too are listings, however.

Pandemic ‘lit the fire’ in red-hot St. John’s

Residential  •  Halifax ChronicleHerald

Since COVID-19 struck, St. John’s-based Hanlon Realty agent Richard Kennedy has been fielding multiple offers on properties — a staple of Ontario’s market, but a rarity in Newfoundland & Labrador. His clients can no longer take weeks to make a decision.

Buyer acquires $7M Van. lot next to Meng mansion

Residential  •  Straight

A buyer has purchased a $7 million property next to the Vancouver mansion of Canada’s most famous detainee. The lot-only sale at 1625 Matthews Ave. in the posh neighbourhood of Shaughnessy was listed RE/MAX Masters Realty on Sept. 23 for $7,980,000.