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AHIP buys 12 U.S. hotels, transitions to ‘premium’ brands

5 years ago

American Hotel Income Properties REIT (HOT-UN-T) said in June it planned to become exclusively an owner of “premium-branded” U.S. hotels. Today, the company has fulfilled that goal with the announcement it will acquire 12 such properties in six U.S. states.

Georgian International is active in the aviation, automotive and real estate industries, and the Barrie-based company is building three major housing projects in Simcoe County. Its private equity real estate investment company has been active in development since 1985.

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Amazon.com is tripling the size of its planned office space in Vancouver’s core to 1.1 million square feet. The e-commerce and cloud services giant will take up an entire city block by leasing two new office towers in The Post.

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Vancouver-based Daiya Foods is preparing to dramatically increase the size of their workspace and workforce in a relocation of their operations to Burnaby. The existing 400,000-square-foot building is now being renovated by Wales McLelland Construction at a cost of $50 million-plus.

NAI Commercial

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Real estate has always been a mainstay in investment portfolios, but the rise of e-commerce and increasing urban population densities have put two classes of buildings squarely in investors’ crosshairs in recent years, says PwC Canada’s Frank Magliocco.

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Its recent $0 appraisal has spurred investment interest in CentreVenture‘s HBC flagship Winnipeg store. The building, which has more square footage than any other commercial property downtown, is not currently suited for any purpose other than as a department store.

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Coun. Evan Woolley says he wants the city to pull out of a deal to pay for half of a new arena for the Calgary Flames and direct most of that $290 million to the Green Line LRT project.

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Cineplex (CGX-T) is expanding its roster of entertainment, theatre and dining complexes to include a new concept. Junxion, a 45,000-square-foot space to open at the Erin Mills Town Centre in Mississauga in 2020, will feature six auditoriums and a food hall.

Captivate at the 2019 Building Show

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Domio, a New York-based apartment-hotel startup, has announced plans to open an engineering office in Toronto. The new location will serve as the company’s first expansion into Canada, as Domio aims to gain access to top technology and engineering talent.

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The Murphy Hospitality Group, set to celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2020, has helped spearhead a rejuvenation of Charlottetown’s downtown core over the past decade, opening a progression of trendy restaurants and brewpubs inside once-dilapidated buildings that have been carefully renovated.

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Jeff Rabb, the former head of Winpark Dorchester Properties, was ordered to pay $100,000 to the Manitoba Securities Commission. He was also sentenced to 12 months house arrest and another $20,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to criminal charges of false pretences over $5,000.

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A pair of high-profile properties at The Forks of the Thames have been sold to London, Ont.,-based York Developments, which plans to convert them into a “mixed-use” facility which could include offices and residences.

SVN Leading Edge Strategies

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Susan Senecal is 18 months into her role as A&W’s (AW-UN-T) CEO, but a company veteran, starting as an area manager in 1992 and doing stints as both chief marketing officer and chief operating officer.

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Less than a month after the official opening of a “new concept” store at CF Fairview Pointe-Claire, Bentley Leather is on the verge of bankruptcy and has sought the protection of its creditors as part of a restructuring plan.

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Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (ATD-A-T) will continue to focus on expanding its U.S. footprint despite proposing an acquisition in Australia it hopes will be a springboard for expansion in Asia Pacific, the convenience-store operator’s chief executive said Wednesday.

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NexPoint Hospitality Trust, (NHT-U-X), Canada Newswire

Toronto Real Estate Forums

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Edmonton Destination Marketing Hotels — a non-profit marketing association representing 57 hotels in Edmonton — launched a new online campaign Thursday singling out short-term rentals and encouraging Edmontonians to write letters of complaint to city councillors.

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Ottawa city council approved a pair of regimes Wednesday that will both curb the proliferation of Airbnb-style short-term rentals and crack down on problem landlords in the traditional rental market.

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Vancouver’s city council has approved a new rental housing policy that will allow apartments on side streets, permit the creation of rental-only zoning for some commercial areas, and speed up the process for approving projects on main streets.

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Tenant advocates are voicing their support Wednesday after Toronto city council voted unanimously to beef up a program aimed at holding landlords accountable for keeping their buildings in good repair, but some renters are skeptical it will work.

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