Anthem expands Victoria portfolio; buys strategic site

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Office, Retail  •  British Columbia

Vancouver-based Anthem Properties has purchased a mixed-use commercial building in the heart of Victoria West. The single-storey, 45,000-square-foot building at 220 Bay St. is currently fully leased, including tenants Castle Building Supplies, Carmanah Technologies and Big Brothers Big Sisters Victoria.

Cortland’s is Pure Multi-Family’s best offer

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

Pure Multi-Family REIT (RUF-UN-T) announced today Scotiabank has advised the board of directors that no superior proposals to that of Cortland Partners, LLC’s $2-billion offer have been received as part of the “go shop” process, which ends on Sunday.

Tridel and First Capital partner on Edenbridge

RENX  Residential  •  Condominiums, Retail  •  Toronto / GTA

Tridel and First Capital Realty (FCR-T) have launched a 50-50 partnership to develop Edenbridge on The Kingsway, a condominium on the same Toronto site as First Capital’s Humbertown Shopping Centre.

Canadian Tire acquires Party City’s Canadian business

Commercial  •  CBC  •  Canada Newswire  •  Canada Newswire

Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited (CTC-T) is diversifying its store offerings with the purchase of 65 Party City (PRTY-N) stores across Canada for $174.4 million cash, a move the national retailer expects to strengthen its connection with millennial customers.

Calgary’s Stephen Avenue getting major makeover

Commercial  •  CBC  •  Calgary Herald  •  Global News

Calgary’s Stephen Avenue will be getting a new look via a partnership between the city and renowned international design firm Gehl Studio, a Danish urban design firm that’s worked with cities like New York City and Copenhagen.

Sponsored by Yardi CRM is key to more conversions and renewals in apartment markets

Successful customer relationship management is essential to turn leads into leases and improve resident retention at your properties. But you can’t personally help every customer. So, what can you do … ?

Parish wants to partner with developer to rebuild church

Residential, Commercial  •  CBC

One Catholic parish is taking advantage of Toronto’s condo craze to revitalize an aging church. St. Monica’s Parish is working with Collecdev on a plan to tear down its church and rebuild it adjacent to a 44-storey residential condo tower.

Landlords ponder co-working limit

Commercial  •  Bisnow

Amidst the hype of WeWork’s highly anticipated initial public offering, the commercial real estate community continues to wrestle with how to hedge against the exploding co-working and flexible workspace sector, and how to capitalize on it.

SNC committed to Ottawa LRT expansion

Commercial  •  Ottawa Citizen  •  CBC  •  Ottawa Citizen

SNC-Lavalin (SNC-T) says it’s committed to building the Trillium Line expansion and maintaining the north-south O-Train line for 27 years, despite the company’s signalling it’s no longer pursuing big fixed-price construction contracts because of the financial risk.

Retailers keep ear out for voice commerce

Commercial  •  Business In Vancouver

Virtual-assistant home speaker systems are prompting analysts and retailers to envision a time not too far in the future when customers will commonly tell their devices to add paper towels, detergent or other items onto their shopping lists.

New designer outlets coming to Richmond’s McArthurGlen

Commercial  •  Business In Vancouver

Shoppers will have a new excuse to hit up McArthurGlen, with a number of designer outlets set to make their Western Canadian debut. Brands such as Jimmy Choo, Stuart Weitzman, All Saints, Movado and North Face will open.

Fourth Winnipeg Perkins location shuttered

Commercial  •  Winnipeg Free Press

People hunting for a mid-morning feast at Perkins Restaurant on Madison Street on Tuesday found the doors locked and no signage indicating why. It’s the fourth Winnipeg Perkins location to close — with no warning — since last fall.

Sweden’s H&M coming to Crombie mall

Commercial  •  CBC  •  Canada Newswire

St. John’s fashion game is about to get a boost, with H&M planning to open a store in Crombie REIT’s (CRR-UN-T) Avalon Mall next year. The Swedish retail clothing giant is opening its first store in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Seattle to sell land steps from Amazon

Residential, Commercial  •  Bloomberg

Seattle is poised to get a new $1-billion development steps from Amazon.com’s sprawling urban campus as part of a major land sale. Alexandria Real Estate Equities agreed to buy the nearly three-acre Mercer Mega Block from Seattle for $138.5 million.

REIT second-quarter financial results

Commercial  • 

Cominar REIT, (CUF-UN-T), Canada Newswire

Crombie REIT, (CRR-UN-T), Canada Newswire

Partners REIT, (PAR-UN-T), Globe Newswire

Summit Industrial Income REIT, (SMU-UN-T), Canada Newswire

True North Commercial REIT, (TNT-UN-T), Canada Newswire

WPT Industrial REIT, (WIR-U-T), Globe Newswire

REOC second-quarter financial results

Commercial  • 

Brookfield Asset Management, (BAM-A-T), Globe Newswire

Dream Alternatives, (DRA-UN-T), Globe Newswire

Genesis Land Development Corp. (GDC-T), Canada Newswire

MCAN Mortgage Corporation, (MKP-T), Canada Newswire

Morguard Corporation, (MRC-T), Canada Newswire

Temple Hotels Inc., (TPH-T), Canada Newswire

Timbercreek Financial, (TF-T), Globe Newswire

Tricon Capital Group Inc., (TCN-T), Canada Newswire

Airbnb tax nets Ottawa $1.1M in 11 months

Residential  •  CBC

The City of Ottawa has raked in nearly $1.14 million in revenue from Airbnb rentals after it implemented a tax on listings last year. The municipal accommodation tax on short-term rentals came into effect on Aug. 1, 2018.

Ottawa unit sales highest in 15 years

Residential  •  Ottawa Citizen  •  Ottawa Business Journal

Ottawa’s resale housing market in July posted its second straight month of double-digit gains. Prices for residential homes averaged $487,300 last month, up 10.4 per cent year-over-year, according to data compiled by the Ottawa Real Estate Board.

Lower Mainland sales see unexpected surge

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

If you thought the unanticipated uplift in Lower Mainland home resales last month was an anomaly, consider this: the slumping pre-sale sector also seemed to experience a transaction surge in July compared with previous months.

Element senior community coming to Victoria

Residential  •  Senior Housing News

Element Lifestyle Retirement is on track to start work next year on an $88-million senior living community in Victoria. The five-story community, Aquara by Element, will have 156 units located and represents the third residence from Element Lifestyle Retirement.