RoseFellow to build 3 Montreal, Ottawa industrial sites

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial  •  Greater Montreal, Ottawa

Montreal developer RoseFellow and its financial partners will invest about $160 million to acquire and develop three industrial sites in Pointe-Claire in Montreal’s West Island, Montréal-Est in the city’s east end and Casselman, Ont., near Ottawa.

Brookfield, creditors reach deal on $6.4B credit facility

Commercial  •  The Real Deal

Brookfield Asset Management (BAM-A-T) has renegotiated a $6.4 billion credit facility for retail-heavy Brookfield Property REIT. The deal imposes restrictions on dividends and requires other Brookfield Asset Management-owned entities to lend at least $250 million to the REIT, the Financial Times reported.

Juniper Square surpasses $1T in managed assets

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire

Juniper Square, provider of the market-leading investment management software for commercial real estate, announced it has surpassed $1 trillion in managed assets spanning more than 21,000 investments and 800 General Partner (GP) clients, and appointed three new executive leaders to support its growth.

Dream launches $2.5B Alpine Park in Calgary

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Office, Land, Homes, Retail  •  Calgary

Calgary’s ongoing economic challenges haven’t deterred plans for the $2.5B Alpine Park development by Dream Unlimited. “We started assembling this development in 1997 and today, 23 years later, we are proud to commence development of this exceptional project,” said Dream’s Michael Cooper.

RENX summer vacation week Aug. 3-7

RENX  Residential, Commercial

TO OUR READERS: The staff at RENX is taking a one-week holiday from August 3 to 7 so we can have a well-deserved break and recharge our batteries for what promises to be a busy, and interesting conclusion to 2020.

‘Work from home theme is overblown’: Allied CEO

Commercial  •  Bloomberg  •  RENX

VIDEO: Allied Properties REIT (AP-UN-T) CEO Michael Emory said “Every data point we’ve seen suggests the work from home theme is overblown” in a wide-reaching interview with BNN Bloomberg. Emory specifically referenced Ottawa-based Shopify Inc.

Value: Weighed and Measured › Can this many transit-oriented developers be wrong?

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

Ottawa poised to extend CRE rent relief

Commercial  •  CBC

The federal government will extend the Canadian Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program through August. Under CECRA, small businesses that have lost 70 per cent or more of their revenue due to COVID-19 only have to pay 25 per cent of their rent.

Starlight sells Houston property to BSR

Residential  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

BSR REIT (HOM-U-T) announced it has acquired Broadstone Park West, a 370-suite, garden-style residential community in Houston for US$51 million from Starlight Investments. The property includes a clubhouse, fitness centre, resort-style swimming pool  garages and a dog park.

Developer seeks exemption from REM fee

Residential  •  La Presse

Developer Quartier One West is going to court to render inoperative the bylaw on the royalty of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) against the land it owns in Pointe-Claire and on which it plans to erect townhouses.

Developer sues over failed Vernon housing project

Residential  •  Castanet

Vernon Reservoir Developments is suing the City of Vernon over what it claims are multiple agreement breaches that caused the 20-acre, 173-unit Highlands of East Hill development to fail. The company said in 2019 it already had 46 pre-sale deals worth $24 million.

REIT second-quarter financial results

Commercial  • 

Allied Properties REIT, (AP-UN-T), Globe Newswire

Morguard REIT, (MRT-UN-T), Canada Newswire

Slate Office REIT, (SOT-UN-T), Business Wire

Reitmans’ survival in serious doubt

Commercial  •  Victoria Times Colonist  •  Canada Newswire  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Reitmans Canada Ltd. says its future remains uncertain as the insolvent women’s apparel retailer negotiates for interim financing. The Montreal-based company had $206.6 million in liabilities and $42.7 million of assets as of May 2, the end of its first quarter.

Instacart, Costco launch same-day delivery across Canada

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire

Instacart, the North American leader in online grocery, and Costco (COST-Q) announced the companies have partnered to launch same-day delivery from 76 Costco warehouses across Canada. The launch follows a successful two-month pilot in select Ontario warehouses.

Amazon posts largest profit ever

Commercial  •  Reuters

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN-Q) posted the largest profit in its 26-year history as online sales and its lucrative business supporting third-party merchants surged during the pandemic. Shares of Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, rose five per cent in after-hours trade.

Dunkin’ to close about 1,150 stores this year

Commercial  •  National Real Estate Investor

Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc. (DNKN-Q) said it expects to close about 800 stores in the U.S. permanently this year, as well as about 350 internationally. The closures are part of a “real estate portfolio rationalization,” and will mostly involve low-volume sales locations.

GTA apartment rentals down 24.8% YOY: TRREB

Residential  •  Globe Newswire  •  Globe Newswire  •  Winnipeg Free Press

Toronto Regional Real Estate Board president Lisa Patel announced Greater Toronto Area realtors reported 7,320 condominium apartment rentals through TRREB’s MLS System in the second quarter of 2020. This result was down by 24.8 per cent compared to the second quarter of 2019.

A parkland fee cap could help new home buyers: BILD

Residential  •  Toronto Star

The Ontario government recently chose to leave the way municipalities fund new parks essentially unchanged. Yet the Building Industry and Land Development Association will continue to advocate at the municipal level for caps on parkland fees.

Sarnia ponders urban boundary extension

Residential  •  Sarnia Observer

The City of Sarnia is starting a deep-dive look at future urban growth. That investigation includes updating the official plan, making its zoning bylaw more focused and user-friendly, and looking at potentially expanding urban boundaries to allow more residential development.

45% of U.S. homebuyers made offer sight unseen

Residential  •  PR Newswire  •  PR Newswire

Forty-five per cent of Americans who bought a home in the past year made an offer on a property that they hadn’t seen in person, the highest share since at least 2015, according to a new report from Redfin.