An artist’s rendering of the proposed Union Park development in Toronto by Oxford Properties. (Courtesy Oxford)

The kids have headed back to school, the days are getting shorter and it’s cooler in the mornings and evenings. Summer vacation is over – so RENX wants to help you catch up on major commercial real estate stories you might have missed.

We’ve compiled our (now annual) review of the most-viewed, and most significant Canadian CRE stories we’ve published during the past couple of months.

If you’ve been away, this should give you an overview of many of the most important happenings.

Oxford unveils Toronto’s largest mixed-use development

Oxford Properties unveiled plans for the largest mixed-use development in Toronto, a four-tower, $3.5-billion, 4.3-million-square-foot project called Union Park. It would include 3.3 million square feet of office space, approximately 800 residential rental units and a park built over the Union Station rail corridor.  Read the full story

Kingsett to acquire Dream Industrial’s E. Canada portfolio

KingSett Capital will purchase the entire portfolio of Dream Industrial REIT’s (DIR-UN-T) Eastern Canadian properties, comprising 38 assets and about 2.8 million square feet of gross leasable area. The purchase price is $271 million on behalf of KingSett Real Estate Growth LP No. 7 fund.  Read the full story

3Bridges plans hotel, condos in $1B Niagara Falls development

3Bridges Properties will tap into its “unique background” to draw Asian visitors to a new, three-tower development in Niagara Falls which will include a luxury hotel and condominium residences. The Great Falls project at the historic Loretto Academy site will be the second Canadian development for 3Bridges.  Read the full story

Royop launches 60-acre Calgary Township development

The first phase of the massive Township mixed-used development in south Calgary will include 300,000 square feet of retail space in a regional mall. Royop Development Corporation’s project spans 60 acres. It will eventually include retail, office, residential, hospitality, entertainment and food and beverage spaces.  Read the full story

Purolator to build $330M “national super hub” in Toronto

Purolator will construct a state-of-the-art, 430,000-square-foot, $330-million “national super hub” on a 60-acre site in Toronto which will triple its capacity. It’s part of a $1-billion investment due to record volume and the growth of e-commerce. Read the full story

Oshawa’s unique Rossland Park property sells for $220M

One of the most distinctive multi-residential rental properties in the GTA has been sold. H. Kassinger Construction, a family-run company which founded Rossland Park more than 50 years ago, sold it to Q Management LP for $220 million.  Read the full story

Crown Realty, Plaza JV to buy Mississauga redevelopment site

Crown Realty Partners and Plaza Partners have partnered to acquire an office and retail property in Mississauga with potential for 1.5 million square feet of redevelopment. 30 Eglinton Ave. W. is currently comprised of 165,000 square feet of office and retail space, on a 6.4-acre site.  Read the full story

RioCan buys KingSett’s stake in Yonge Sheppard Centre for $331M

The Yonge Sheppard Centre in Toronto. (Courtesy RioCan)

RioCan REIT (REI.UN-T) has paid KingSett Capital $331 million to buy out its non-managing, 50 per cent interest in the Yonge Sheppard Centre in Toronto. As part of the transaction, KingSett is investing $100 million in RioCan shares with a one-year lock-up agreement. Read the full story

Oxford Properties has “insatiable appetite” for Toronto/GTA

During the past decade, Oxford Properties’ portfolio in the GTA has grown by 110 per cent and by a value of nearly $11 billion. It also has a construction and pre-development pipeline of 27 GTA projects that would add another $10 billion in value. Read the full story

Killam plans 5 apartment towers at Waterloo’s Westmount Place

A major mixed-use project in Waterloo could bring up to 1,100 new apartments to the Southwestern Ontario city. Westmount Place will be the latest in a series of urban, downtown developments planned or under construction by Killam Apartment REIT (KMP-UN-T), says president and CEO Philip Fraser.  Read the full story

Allied to buy 700 de la Gauchetière in Montreal

Allied Properties REIT (AP.UN-T) will spend $400 million to purchase two Montreal office properties, the almost million-square-foot 700 de la Gauchetière Street West from Dream Office REIT (D.UN-T), and the 343,579-square-foot RCA Building.  Read the full story

Beedie expands industrial developments to GTA

Beedie, the largest private land owner, developer and manager of industrial property in Western Canada, is making a push into the Greater Toronto Area. The Vancouver-based developer hired Michael Duff to be the GTA director of industrial. Beedie is working on four separate industrial projects in Southern Ontario. Read the full story

Kevric JV to acquire Montreal’s 600 de la Gauchetière

Kevric Real Estate Corporation and a Canadian institutional partner will purchase one of Montreal’s most iconic office towers, the 28-storey National Bank building at 600 de la Gauchetière West. The 710,000-square-foot building was constructed as the National Bank’s headquarters in 1983. Read the full story

 Pure Multi-Family accepts $1.2B offer from Cortland Partners

Pure Multi-Family REIT (RUF-UN-T) has agreed to be acquired and taken private by Atlanta-based Cortland Partners, LLC in an all-cash transaction valued at about US$1.2 billion. If approved, Cortland will acquire all of Pure’s outstanding class-A units for US$7.61 per share (Cdn$9.96). Read the full story

Fournier to retire, Palladitcheff named new Ivanhoé Cambridge CEO

Nathalie Palladitcheff will become CEO of Ivanhoé Cambridge. (Courtesy Ivanhoé Cambridge)

Daniel Fournier will retire this fall as CEO of Ivanhoé Cambridge, ending a decade-long relationship with the company and its parent Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. President Nathalie Palladitcheff will be the new CEO.  Read the full story

KingSett selling Valhalla Village redevelopment site in Toronto

KingSett Capital is selling its 4.5-acre Valhalla Village along Toronto’s Highway 427, which is slated for almost a million square feet of redevelopment. The site holds three office buildings, but is slated for mixed-use redevelopment. Read the full story

Development in Kelowna setting all-time records

Kelowna has set a record for building permits for a single quarter. In Q1 2019, the city issued $333 million in building permits, continuing four straight years of Kelowna’s strongest-ever building cycle.  Read the full story

Brookfield to acquire 57% of Genworth Canada for $2.4B

Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (BBU-UN-T) plans to buy a 57 per cent interest in residential mortgage insurer Genworth MI Canada Inc. for about $2.4 billion. Genworth Canada, through Genworth Financial Mortgage Insurance Company Canada, is the country’s largest private sector residential mortgage insurer. Read the full story

Canada has 4 of North America’s Top-20 tech markets

Major Canadian cities continue to grow in importance as tech hubs and a few smaller markets are joining them, according to CBRE’s 2019 Scoring Tech Talent report. “It’s a combination of factors, including high educational attainment, overall size of the tech markets and tech labour concentration,” Paul Morassutti said. Read the full story

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Our columnists were also prolific through the summer months and we are offering you several of their most provocative submissions here.

What will Toronto’s condo market look like in the next 5 years?

If you’ve followed Toronto’s new condominium market over the past 10 years, it’s been quite a ride. At the start of 2009, it was all doom and gloom as the U.S. housing market crash and global contagion had the Toronto development industry players holding their breath. No more . . . Read the full Ben Myers column

The battle between wood and concrete construction

New construction techniques promise changes to the development industry, but materials interests should not be afraid. When building mid-rise, multi-family residential buildings, there’s a new kid in town. Wood-frame construction is shaking up the industry. Read the full Derek Lobo column

Boomers will continue to define housing market for decades

More people are working past 65. Gen Xers complain of being sandwiched between them and the millennials, which has stalled career advancement. Boomers generally have more disposable income and longer average lifespans. The question is what impact will the silver-haired cohort continue to have on real estate. Read the full John Clark column

Could a long-term national lease devalue your property?

We were recently called in to value and market a single-tenant property with an existing lease. I informed the owner we would have achieved a higher price had we gone to market as a vacant property. But isn’t a long-term lease with a national tenant a good thing? Read Barry Stuart’s full Saskatchewan Edge column