Hines, PC Urban JV on W. Canada’s largest mass timber office

RENX  Commercial  •  Office  •  Metro Vancouver

Houston-based Hines is partnering with Vancouver-based PC Urban Properties Corp to build Western Canada’s largest and tallest mass timber office building. 123 East 6th Avenue, in the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood, will be 10-storeys and 196,000 square feet.

Growing Lowland group adds to K-W industrial portfolio

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial, Office, Retail  •  Toronto / GTA

Lowland Properties Group spent almost three years “pretty quietly” acquiring a few properties in the Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge region. During the past year the Toronto-based firm made a lot more noise, with several acquisitions including three light industrial properties in Kitchener.

81-acre Victoria racetrack to give way to mixed-use

Commercial  •  Western Investor

Bastion Development Corp. and Strand Holdings have acquired the 81-acre Western Speedway site near Victoria for a mixed-use project that could include a film studio, hotel and business park. The 2020 BC Assessment value of the property is $20.1 million.

Regina unanimously approves $4M land sale

Commercial  •  CBC  •  CTV  •  Regina Leader-Post

Regina council has unanimously approved an option for an undisclosed company to purchase more than 250 hectares of land north of the city despite last-minute opposition to the sale. The purchaser is described as “an independent commercial party.”

Mountain resort proposed for Chilliwack, B.C.

Commercial  •  Global News

An all-season mountain resort is proposed for the Chilliwack area with the support of Whistler-based resort planning and design firm Brent Harley and Associates. Bridal Veil Mountain Resort would include approximately 11,500 acres of recreation terrain and two sightseeing gondolas.

Kelowna 53-acre golf course sells for $6 million

Commercial  •  Western Investor

The 18-hole Michaelbrook Golf Club in Kelowna’s Lower Mission area has sold for $6,050,000 in a transaction brokered by Jeff Hudson and Marshall McAnerney of HM Commercial Group, Kelowna. The new owners confirmed the property will remain as a golf course.

Value: Weighed and Measured › Infrastructure investment key to Canada’s recovery … if it’s the right investment

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

Retail giant W. Galen Weston dead at 80

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

W. Galen Weston, the patriarch of the Weston empire that controls Loblaws and other retail holdings, has died at the age of 80. Weston died on Monday, “peacefully at home,” according to a statement put out by his family.

Hospitality sector seeks relief in federal, prov. budgets

Commercial  •  Business In Vancouver

For years he has urged governments to balance their budgets, but during the pandemic Macdonald Development Corp. owner Robert Macdonald has advocated for deficit spending. Macdonald owns Vancouver’s St. Regis Hotel and five Hy’s Steakhouse restaurants across Canada.

Keep wage and rent subsidies going: Small business

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  Edmonton Journal

Small-business groups are urging the federal government to keep up long-term assistance for independent businesses in next week’s budget as Ottawa plots an economic recovery. The most popular programs have been wage subsidies, which have provided more than $73 billion.

B.C. finance minister pledges ‘imminent’ fix on air tax

Commercial  •  Vancouver Sun

B.C. Finance Minister Selina Robinson says she will soon bring forward a solution to the issue of the speculation and vacancy tax hitting the airspace over some small businesses — but the details of the solution remain a work-in-progress.

Savills opens new office in Edmonton

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

Savills is continuing the firm’s expansion throughout North America with the opening of a new office in Edmonton with Alex Heintz as corporate managing director and Kyle Bartkus as managing director, who join from Lizotte and Associate Real Estate Inc.

Partners Group sells U.S. industrial for $1B

Commercial  •  CP Executive

Acting on behalf of its clients, Switzerland’s Partners Group has sold an 8.6-million-square-foot portfolio of U.S. industrial assets to a newly created partnership between Equus and a large U.S.-based insurance company for a total consideration of more than $1 billion.

Dalfen Industrial acquires Chicago-area property

Commercial  •  PR Newswire  •  RENX

Dalfen Industrial has acquired a 174,300-square-foot industrial facility west of downtown Chicago at 1103 Butterfield Road in Aurora, Ill. The facility was built in 2004 and has features sought by e-commerce and distribution tenants, including immediate access to the I-88 Expressway.

Chinese logistics giant leases 350,000-sq.-ft. N.J. warehouse

Commercial  •  Real Estate Weekly

CBRE has completed a 346,858-square-foot industrial lease for JW Fulfillment, Inc., an international logistics and warehouse fulfillment company headquartered in Ningbo, Zhejiang, China, at the newly constructed 300 Cedar Lane (formerly known as 11 C Court South) in Edison, N.J.

Mattamy Homes purchases Tucson-area property for $5.2M

Residential  •  PR Newswire

Mattamy Homes has acquired 54 acres of property in Southeast Vail, one of the fastest growing submarkets in the Tucson area. Cantabria at Rincon Knolls will be built on the property, purchased for $5.2 million, and will consist of 189 homes.

North American lumber prices through the roof

Residential  •  Business In Vancouver  •  Western Investor

Record-high prices for lumber and other wood products are making it hard for homebuilders, especially those companies tied into stipulated price contracts. “Homebuilding is through the roof,” said Larry Clay, incoming president of the Canadian Home Builders Association.

Home prices becoming vulnerable to rate hikes

Residential  •  Financial Post

Canada’s housing market is booming, but what happens when interest rates rise? The economy successfully weathered the blows to the housing market in 2017-’18, but the stakes are now higher because residential investment is a much bigger share of the GDP.

Canadian home prices rise 14.1% YOY: Royal LePage

Residential  •  Canada Newswire  •  BlogTO

According to the Royal LePage House Price Survey, the aggregate price of a home in Canada increased 14.1 per cent year-over-year to $749,165 in Q1 2021, as strong demand continues to outpace supply in virtually every market across the country.

B.C. home sales set another record in March: BCREA

Residential  •  Vancouver Province

B.C. home sales set another record in March, led by markets in the Lower Mainland, according to the B.C. Real Estate Association. Sales increased 123.3 per cent year-over-year for a total of 15,073 residential homes sold, a record for B.C. monthly sales.