Granite buying $393M worth of U.S. industrial

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial  •  International

Toronto-based Granite REIT (GRT-UN-T) is acquiring three U.S. industrial properties comprising 3.5 million square feet and named a head of U.S. operations to work out of a new Dallas office. Granite will pay $393M for the Indiana, Georgia and Texas properties.

525-suite Calgary ExecSuite apt. portfolio for sale

RENX  Residential  •  Apartments  •  Calgary

One of the largest multifamily rental portfolios to come on the sale block in Calgary for more than a decade is being jointly marketed by two brokers. The ExecSuite apartment portfolio consists of nine properties with 525 suites.

Mobilinx awarded $4.6B Hurontario LRT contract

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire  •  Daily Commercial News

Transdev announced Mobilinx has been awarded a contract valued at approximately $4.6 billion by Infrastructure Ontario and Metrolinx for the Hurontario LRT. The Mobilinx team will design, build, finance, operate and maintain the LRT for a 30-year term.

InnVest, Choice commit $100M to revitalize 53 hotels

RENX  Commercial  •  Hotels and Resorts  •  National

InnVest Hotels and Choice Hotels Canada will revitalize 53 InnVest-owned Comfort Inns across Canada with a $100-million investment during the next few years. The first revitalization will be in Winnipeg, followed by selected properties in Southern Ontario, Ottawa and Montreal.

Costco surpasses Walmart as Canada’s No. 2 retailer

Commercial  •  Retail Insider

Costco is poised to continue to grow its market share in the coming years and widen its sales margin over Walmart as the second-highest in the country behind Loblaws, says Toronto-based Amar Singh, a Kantar senior analyst on retail.

Sponsored by Trez Capital The benefits of choosing debt over equity financing have never been clearer

The myriad of logistics that are part of developing real estate can seem endless. Difficult decisions must be made and challenges can arise almost anywhere. Securing financing shouldn’t be one of those challenges.

Brookfield JVs on downtown Edmonton TOD

Residential, Commercial  •  Edmonton Journal

A new development in Edmonton’s is transforming railyard lands into a connected and vibrant, transit-oriented community. The seven-acre Stadium Yards redevelopment is a joint collaboration between Brookfield Residential, Rohit Land Development, the City of Edmonton and the Province of Alberta.

Tight vacancy sends Vancouver office rents soaring

Commercial  •  Vancouver Sun  •  RENX

Competition among Metro Vancouver office brokers is ramping up as the region now faces the lowest office vacancy of any city region in North America, according to a new report by Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL).

Continuum files amended IPO preliminary prospectus

Residential, Commercial  •  Canada Newswire

Continuum Residential Real Estate Investment Trust announced the filing and receipt for an amended and restated preliminary long-form prospectus for the proposed initial public offering of trust units of the REIT.

REITs the hottest sector on Bay Street

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  Motley Fool

Canadian REITS are capitalizing on a growing hunger for yield-driven stocks, tapping investors for fresh cash in an unexpected flurry of financings. REITs have raised $1.3 billion through share sales since the start of September, outpacing any other sector in Canada.

Reworked offer illustrates just how far HBC has fallen

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

The numbers behind Richard Baker’s sweetened privatization offer for Hudson’s Bay Co. (HBC-T) are a testament to the dire state of department-store retail. The buyout bid for Canada’s oldest company is built on sobering math.

SoftBank takes control of WeWork; Neumann exits

Commercial  •  Calgary Herald  •  Reuters  •  Business Insider

SoftBank Group Corp. is taking control of WeWork, part of a rescue financing plan that will see founder Adam Neumann depart from the company’s board, according to sources. Neumann is expected to sell about US$1 billion of stock to SoftBank.

SmartStop sells San Antonio property

Commercial  •  PR Newswire  •  RENX

SmartStop Self Storage REIT, Inc. announced the sale of a self-storage property located in San Antonio to a third party that intends to redevelop the historical site into a mixed-use office and multifamily project. The sales price was not disclosed.

Google affiliate begins drone deliveries in Virginia

Commercial  •  CBC

A Google affiliate has begun using drones to deliver customers’ Walgreens and FedEx purchases in a test being run in a Virginia town. Wing, owned Alphabet, received federal approval earlier this year to make commercial deliveries by drone.

U.S. REITs may focus on ‘tactical mergers’

Commercial  •  National Real Estate Investor

M&A activity involving publicly-traded equity REITs soared to nearly $76.3 billion in 2018, a peak not reached since 2007, Nareit data shows. With a little over two months remaining on the 2019 calendar, it’s questionable whether last year’s level of M&As will be matched.

Chicago’s Old Post Office gets $800M makeover

Commercial  •  NBC

Developers who overhauled Chicago’s Old Post Office just revealed the “after” of the historic building’s $800 million makeover which includes a 3.5-acre rooftop park, a 28,000-square-foot fitness center, 10,000 square feet of meeting space and plans for a big food hall.

Top 10 largest construction project starts in Canada

Residential, Commercial  •  Daily Commercial News

The accompanying table records the 10 largest construction project starts in Canada in September 2019. Also included is the latest trend graph on starts. This looks at 12-month moving totals of the civil and non-residential building categories in Canada.

Unprecedented number of Montrealers being evicted

Residential  •  Montreal Gazette  •  CTV

Tenants are losing their homes on an unprecedented scale as owners evict them for renovations, Québec solidaire MNAs and housing organizations said at a press conference Sunday.

Underground public transit usually boost home prices

Residential, Commercial  •  Financial Post

While new infrastructure is bound to reshape the mobility landscape in cities where such investments are made, it also can influence property values, especially those in the vicinity of newly constructed stations.

Holborn Group earns praise for Holborn University Heights

Residential  •  Globe Newswire

Vancouver-based developer Holborn Group won five awards at the 26th International Property Awards ceremony in early October for its single-family residences in Phase II of Holborn University Heights.