Record Q1 for CRE investment in Greater Toronto Area

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial, Office, Retail, Apartments, Hotels and Resorts, Land  •  Toronto / GTA

GTA commercial real estate investment hit a record $6.07 billion in the first quarter, surpassing the $5.77 billion during the same period in 2018. Activity picked up in the latter half of 2020 and that momentum continued early in 2021.

Laval offers 1.2M sq. ft. of life sciences dev. space

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial, Office  •  Greater Montreal

The City of Laval and the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) are launching Phase II of  Biotech City, a property destined for up to 1.2 million square feet of additional life and health sciences development in coming years.

Groupe Mach may acquire 2 Caisse malls

Commercial  •  La Presse  •  RENX

Groupe Mach is in line to acquire two flagship properties from the Caisse de dépôt: Laurier Quebec and Place Ste-Foy, La Presse has learned. “. . . there are serious discussions at the highest level,” said Groupe Mach owner Vincent Chiara.

Brookfield acquires seven U.K. retail parks for $574M

Commercial  •  Reuters  •  IPE Real Assets  •  Fashion United

Hammerson said on Wednesday it sold seven retail parks to Canadian private-equity firm Brookfield Asset Management (BAM-A-T) for $574 million Cdn, marking the mall operator’s exit from the U.K. retail parks sector. Hammerson reported a loss of nearly $3 billion in 2020.

11-, 45-storey towers coming to Cityzen’s Pier 27

Residential, Commercial  •  Urban Toronto

Cityzen has detailed its design concept for the final two buildings of Phase 3 at Pier 27, on Toronto’s Queens Quay. The architects-Alliance-designed complex will feature buildings of 11 and up to 45 storeys with 136 and 446 residential units, respectively.

Fed plan to convert CRE into homes raises questions

Residential, Commercial  •  Financial Post  •  Toronto Star

In Monday’s budget announcement, the federal government indicated $1.3 billion of previously announced funding will be reallocated to create more homes. Of that, $300 million will be dedicated to converting vacant commercial properties into 800 units of market rental housing.

Four ways builders must future-proof Canada’s new office spaces

Brian Roche: President and CEO, Rendition Developments

Reshoring initiative targets behaviours, not laws

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

OPINION: One problem with governments ordering supply-chain localization through legislative measures is that they could run up against the World Trade Organization agreement and its strictures forbidding discriminatory measures that favour domestic suppliers over foreign providers of goods or services.

Daycare, 124 rental units planned for Van. buildings

Residential  •  urbanYVR

Two six-storey buildings containing 124 secured market rental units are planned at Vancouver’s Main Street and East 54th, south of the Sunset Community Centre. Matthew Cheng Architect Inc. designed the two buildings, which share a podium with 10 commercial retail units.

New ground improvement methods simplify projects

Residential, Commercial  •  Urban Toronto

With the scarcities in developable urban land, many new developments are being built abutting heritage structures or incorporate restored facades, while others are from ever-tighter sites that require greater structural loads to be placed on limited-sized footprints.

Metro sees continued grocery sales gains

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

Montreal-based retailer Metro Inc. (MRU-T) reported second-quarter sales of $4.2 billion, up 5.1 per cent year-over-year. Metro’s grocery stores saw 5.5-per-cent growth in same-store sales – a metric that tracks sales growth excluding the impact of store openings and closures during the year.

Small businesses want more aid: CFIB

Commercial  •  Toronto Star

Small business owners and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business say Ottawa should rethink the eligibility requirements for subsidies after Monday’s federal budget failed to include companies launched shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic or after it began.

$1B life science project underway in Boston

Commercial  •  CP Executive  •  Business Wire

Life sciences REIT IQHQ, Inc., and local co-developer Meredith Management have begun construction on their Fenway Center project, a $1 billion life science campus in Boston. The LEED Gold project will be built on an air rights deck.

Silicon Valley has lowest office vacancy rate in U.S.

Commercial  •  Wealth Management

Silicon Valley has the lowest office vacancy rate in the U.S., even as technology companies embrace remote work. Vacancies in the region south of San Francisco hit 11% in Q1, including space available for sublease, according to Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.

Ex-Knotel CEO blames ‘nepotistic’ deal with Newmark

Commercial  •  Bisnow

Amol Sarva lost control of Knotel, the flexible workplace company once valued at more than $1 billion and he is laying the blame at his own feet because he regrets his dealings with the chairman of Newmark and Cantor Fitzgerald.

WSP acquires Swiss firm b+p baurealisation

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire

WSP Global Inc. (WSP-T) announced it has acquired b+p baurealisation, a 100-employee engineering and consulting firm. Zurich-based b+p offers primarily project & construction management and cost management services to both public and private sector clients.

Smaller boards want TRREB to share data

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

A group of 22 Ontario real estate boards have banded together to make a pitch to the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board to share its rich trove of data in a bid to break down digital barriers in the industry.

Tribe acquires KEY Property Management’s rental portfolio

Residential  •  Canada Newswire

Tribe Property Technologies Inc. (TRBE-X) has completed the purchase of KEY Property Management‘s rental portfolio, comprising of approximately 75 service contracts, further adding to the expansion of Tribe’s rental services in British Columbia.

Halifax’s housing market heats up

Residential  •  CTV  •  CBC

After losing multiple bidding wars, Sarah and Nick Moriarty offered $50,000 over the list price on a Halifax house – and included a handwritten letter by their seven-year-old daughter who was excited to plant vegetables in the garden – before sealing a deal.

Alberta’s rec property forecast to remain in high demand

Residential  •  Calgary Herald

Alberta’s recreational real estate market is expected to have another banner year, further adding to the value of the province’s already pricey vacation home market, according to the Royal LePage 2021 Spring Recreational Property Price Forecast.