Here's another sign that the commercial real estate investment dam is about to burst.
RioCan REIT announced this week that it will spend $170 million on eight Canadian retail properties. The properties range from Ottawa to Winnipeg to Fort McMurray and offer a healthy 7.9 per cent cap rate.
The move comes after Toronto-based RioCan agreed to purchase seven grocery-anchored properties in the Northeastern U.S. as part a joint venture with U.S.-based Cedar Shopping Centers Inc. for $141 million. Two of those deals will close by the end of this year and the rest will be finalized in the first quarter of 2010.
RioCan, Canada's largest REIT, also expects to buy six more properties in Western Canada for $335 million by 2010. The properties, which comprise 1.4 million square feet, are under conditional contract and proceeding through various stages of due diligence.
"These acquisitions represent an excellent opportunity to put to work some of the capital raised over the course of this year in a manner that is accretive to our unitholders," said Edward Sonshine, president and CEO of RioCan, in a news release. "These largely grocery and drugstore anchored retail properties represent a continued execution of RioCan's growth strategy in Canada. They are primarily located in well established urban centres with strong national and anchor tenants that will provide a stable source of cash flow as well as the potential to enhance returns through the leasing of currently vacant space."
In other words, RioCan has committed to investing almost $1 billion in recent months.
But RioCan is just one of many REITs that have accumulated cash and cleaned up their balance sheets lately after muddling through the after-shocks of the U.S. financial meltdown and global recession. Some observers might have expected more investment to have occurred by now. but a lot of niggling points kept them at bay.
These RioCan deals offer more strong evidence that the once wide buyer and seller expectation gap is reaching the point where many deals can be done. Meanwhile, credit is more easily attainable, yields are at the point where REITs can justify the investments to their boards, and institutional investors are gaining more confidence in the Canadian commercial real estate market and economy as a whole.
In other words, the dam that has blocked many deals in 2009 is about to break.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Boardwalk REIT boss started from humble roots
Boardwalk REIT boss Sam Kolias shares the secrets of his commercial real estate success in an interview with Gordon Pitts of The Globe and Mail.
Kolias explains how his Calgary-based REIT, now the largest in the country after launching as a small private firm, helps the homeless, self-regulates its rental rates, and makes philanthropy a regular habit.
I met Kolias way back when through his father-in-law. Kolias struck me then as a very decent person. To get the approval of his no-nonsense father-in-law, he would have to be.
It also helps that he can play pool a little bit; however, that's another story.
Click on the link below to read the Globe yarn.
http://tinyurl.com/create.php
Kolias explains how his Calgary-based REIT, now the largest in the country after launching as a small private firm, helps the homeless, self-regulates its rental rates, and makes philanthropy a regular habit.
I met Kolias way back when through his father-in-law. Kolias struck me then as a very decent person. To get the approval of his no-nonsense father-in-law, he would have to be.
It also helps that he can play pool a little bit; however, that's another story.
Click on the link below to read the Globe yarn.
http://tinyurl.com/create.php
Monday, November 9, 2009
Avison Young opens new U.S. Capital-regional office
Avison Young took a major step in its U.S. expansion today, opening its new Capital-region office in Washington, D.C.
The office will serve as the headquarters for many new Avison Young locations in the Metro D.C. region, spanning Maryland and Northern Virginia. It becomes Toronto-based Avison Young’s second U.S. office, along with Chicago.
Keith Lipton, who has more than 20 years of commercial real estate industry experience in the D.C. region, has been recruited as regional managing director.
Lipton,also appointed an Avison Young principal, most recently served as executive vice-president and managing director of Washington, D.C., offices for Grubb & Ellis. He has also held executive posts with CB Richard Ellis, Insignia/ESG, and Jones Lang LaSalle.
Meanwhile, Margaret Donkerbrook joins Avison Young’s new D.C. office as vice-president of U.S. research, and Sarah Peyton has signed on as regional operations manager. Like Lipton, both were formerly with Grubb & Ellis in D.C.
Donkerbrook joined Grubb in 2006 as managing director after holding executive posts with CBRE, Jones Lang Wooton and Jones Lang LaSalle. Peyton has held management posts with Grubb and CBRE since 2003.
Over the past three years, says Avison Young chair and CEO Mark Rose, Lipton, Donkerbrook and Peyton led the turnaround of Grubb & Ellis in the DC Metro region, enabling it to become the firm’s top-performing office in 2008 and so far in 2009. During the turnaround, Lipton and his team recruited 60 per cent of the brokerage professionals and 80 per cent of the total staff in the D.C. Metro region, added multiple service lines and expanded into the Baltimore market.
Lipton, Donkerbrook and Peyton will also play a crucial role recruiting brokers and staff for the new D.C. office and the surrounding region. Rose, a former Grubb & Ellis CEO and Jones Lang LaSalle COO and CFO of the Americas who has not hesitated to recruit former colleagues, says Avison Young is already actively recruiting senior brokers and executives to fill its service needs in the D.C. region.
It’s all part of the company’s plans for further acquisitions in the U.S. and globally.
The office will serve as the headquarters for many new Avison Young locations in the Metro D.C. region, spanning Maryland and Northern Virginia. It becomes Toronto-based Avison Young’s second U.S. office, along with Chicago.
Keith Lipton, who has more than 20 years of commercial real estate industry experience in the D.C. region, has been recruited as regional managing director.
Lipton,also appointed an Avison Young principal, most recently served as executive vice-president and managing director of Washington, D.C., offices for Grubb & Ellis. He has also held executive posts with CB Richard Ellis, Insignia/ESG, and Jones Lang LaSalle.
Meanwhile, Margaret Donkerbrook joins Avison Young’s new D.C. office as vice-president of U.S. research, and Sarah Peyton has signed on as regional operations manager. Like Lipton, both were formerly with Grubb & Ellis in D.C.
Donkerbrook joined Grubb in 2006 as managing director after holding executive posts with CBRE, Jones Lang Wooton and Jones Lang LaSalle. Peyton has held management posts with Grubb and CBRE since 2003.
Over the past three years, says Avison Young chair and CEO Mark Rose, Lipton, Donkerbrook and Peyton led the turnaround of Grubb & Ellis in the DC Metro region, enabling it to become the firm’s top-performing office in 2008 and so far in 2009. During the turnaround, Lipton and his team recruited 60 per cent of the brokerage professionals and 80 per cent of the total staff in the D.C. Metro region, added multiple service lines and expanded into the Baltimore market.
Lipton, Donkerbrook and Peyton will also play a crucial role recruiting brokers and staff for the new D.C. office and the surrounding region. Rose, a former Grubb & Ellis CEO and Jones Lang LaSalle COO and CFO of the Americas who has not hesitated to recruit former colleagues, says Avison Young is already actively recruiting senior brokers and executives to fill its service needs in the D.C. region.
It’s all part of the company’s plans for further acquisitions in the U.S. and globally.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Segal explains how Fields started
Here's more from Joe Segal's session at the November NAIOP Vancouver breakfast. In this segment, the legendary commercial real estate investor, philanthropist and retailer recalls how the Fields department store chain, a predecessor of Zeller's, started up . . .
4. “I started in the war surplus business, and in that business I sold everything from medical equipment to lighter flints to pounding equipment . . . You name it. It was a great experience.
"I had five bargain-centre stores. I used to buy army trucks. They were four-by-fours or six-by-sixes. Big trucks . . . So what are you going to do with the trucks. These were brand new trucks. They had maybe 400 kilometres on them – 2,000 was a lot. I would buy these things 20 at a time, and I would take the four-by-fours and would put a tack on the map and sell them as firetrucks in every small (community) in the (Greater Vancouver Regional District), on (Vancouver) Island, next door, (across) British Columbia. The six-by-sixes became logging trucks . . . I would get maybe $5,000. They would cost me $400 anyway. I was in the surplus business and I had five bargain-centre stores. At that time, Sears had just opened. You know, I have to tell the story that Sears put me in the retail business. I had a person that walked in the door and said, ‘I’ve just bought a deal from Sears.’ I said, ‘What’s the deal?’ He said, ‘Twenty thousand dresses and skirts. Women’s clothing.’ This was the end of the season catalogue. Sears had a catalogue operation on Smithe (Street) . . . He said, ‘I haven’t got the money to pay for them. I paid $1 a piece for them – 20,000 units.’ I said, ‘Okay, I won’t lend you the money, but I’ll give you a profit . . .’ So I bought 20,000 skirts and dresses and, you name it, women’s clothing . . . I gave him a profit of 10 per cent . . .
"Now, what am I going to do in a war surplus store with ladies’ dresses and ladies’ blouses? So I went down Hastings Street and mid-block between Abbott and Carroll, there was a 15-foot, perfectly empty store, and I rented it. I opened up with these 20,000 units and I had two or three ladies to run it, and that’s how I got into the clothing business. And after that, I started developing a relationship with Sears. In Vancouver, it never snows, and I would buy snowsuits from right across Canada. From Halifax. Toronto. Regina. Operations of the end of the season . . . One thing led to another. In the old days, you didn’t operate by a computer. You operated by the sliding rule. You know what a slide rule is? . . . You determined how many you were going to sell based on the early calls. Your 10-day calls. Your 30-day calls . . . If the trend flattened, you had a lot of surplus inventory. I would buy the surplus inventory. In December or November, or whatever it was, it was getting toward the end of the season. I would buy tons of this stuff and, then in December, when the calls picked up, I would sell it back to them . . .
"That’s how Fields started. At that time, I had all my ads and everything set up to start my first Fields store. If it wasn’t (going to be called) Fields, it was Thrifty. I said to myself: This is Thrifty and it’s going to guide me, because Thrifty is a connotation that’s cheap. It’s price-sensitive, and I don’t know where this business can grow. It may go up quick . . . so I changed the name to Fields, which really meant that it wasn’t a high price. It wasn’t a low price. It was the right price.”
4. “I started in the war surplus business, and in that business I sold everything from medical equipment to lighter flints to pounding equipment . . . You name it. It was a great experience.
"I had five bargain-centre stores. I used to buy army trucks. They were four-by-fours or six-by-sixes. Big trucks . . . So what are you going to do with the trucks. These were brand new trucks. They had maybe 400 kilometres on them – 2,000 was a lot. I would buy these things 20 at a time, and I would take the four-by-fours and would put a tack on the map and sell them as firetrucks in every small (community) in the (Greater Vancouver Regional District), on (Vancouver) Island, next door, (across) British Columbia. The six-by-sixes became logging trucks . . . I would get maybe $5,000. They would cost me $400 anyway. I was in the surplus business and I had five bargain-centre stores. At that time, Sears had just opened. You know, I have to tell the story that Sears put me in the retail business. I had a person that walked in the door and said, ‘I’ve just bought a deal from Sears.’ I said, ‘What’s the deal?’ He said, ‘Twenty thousand dresses and skirts. Women’s clothing.’ This was the end of the season catalogue. Sears had a catalogue operation on Smithe (Street) . . . He said, ‘I haven’t got the money to pay for them. I paid $1 a piece for them – 20,000 units.’ I said, ‘Okay, I won’t lend you the money, but I’ll give you a profit . . .’ So I bought 20,000 skirts and dresses and, you name it, women’s clothing . . . I gave him a profit of 10 per cent . . .
"Now, what am I going to do in a war surplus store with ladies’ dresses and ladies’ blouses? So I went down Hastings Street and mid-block between Abbott and Carroll, there was a 15-foot, perfectly empty store, and I rented it. I opened up with these 20,000 units and I had two or three ladies to run it, and that’s how I got into the clothing business. And after that, I started developing a relationship with Sears. In Vancouver, it never snows, and I would buy snowsuits from right across Canada. From Halifax. Toronto. Regina. Operations of the end of the season . . . One thing led to another. In the old days, you didn’t operate by a computer. You operated by the sliding rule. You know what a slide rule is? . . . You determined how many you were going to sell based on the early calls. Your 10-day calls. Your 30-day calls . . . If the trend flattened, you had a lot of surplus inventory. I would buy the surplus inventory. In December or November, or whatever it was, it was getting toward the end of the season. I would buy tons of this stuff and, then in December, when the calls picked up, I would sell it back to them . . .
"That’s how Fields started. At that time, I had all my ads and everything set up to start my first Fields store. If it wasn’t (going to be called) Fields, it was Thrifty. I said to myself: This is Thrifty and it’s going to guide me, because Thrifty is a connotation that’s cheap. It’s price-sensitive, and I don’t know where this business can grow. It may go up quick . . . so I changed the name to Fields, which really meant that it wasn’t a high price. It wasn’t a low price. It was the right price.”
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Joe Segal recalls the early years
Time had run out, but nobody was in a hurry to leave.
Legendary retailer, real estate investor and philanthropist Joe Segal was told stories about his life in business during this month's NAIOP Vancouver breakfast, and many wished later that they could have stayed to hear more. (For proof, check out the tweets on Twitter).
It's not a well known fact, but Segal was once a commercial real estate broker.
I'll be blogging Segal's answers to questions in the Q and A session. Since we're in blog mode, I'll keep things in point form.
In this segment, he talks about his early years on business.
1. On starting out with $1,000.
“I had no money. Well, I had $1,000 . . . That was 21/2 years of deficit spending at $1.30 a day. That’s a buck nowadays . . . I always got, incidentally, what no one else wanted. So I had to become aware of what I was going to do with it before I bought it because I couldn’t make any mistakes. The medical supplies package was actually worth . . . a million dollars. I think I paid $7,000 for it, because nobody else knew what to do with it. When you buy these packages of medical equipment, if you have no idea what a cranium drill is . . . how do you sell it? . . . I put an ad in the paper and I said: Attention, hospitals, doctors. Wherever there’s medical equipment. New, a third off, and used 50 per cent off . . . So you had to know what you were going to do with the value . . . War surplus paint. Olive drab paint. I can remember buying 2,000 gallons for 25 cents a gallon . . . I rented a truck. I loaded the truck. I thought: What am I going to do with it. Nobody’s going to paint their house camouflage. Olive drab? So I loaded I loaded this all in a green . . . Ford truck. I’d load it in the morning and I would head for Ladner. The next day, I would load it again and I would go to Chilliwack, it all in it isn’t what it’s worth. It’s what you do with it that really counts. I had every barn in the Lower Mainland painted olive drab. So it isn’t what’s it’s worth. It’s what you do with it that really counts.”
2. On life as a commercial real estate broker.
“I was not kidding. I was a broker, but I couldn’t make a living at it, because I was selling coffee shops, corner grocery stores. In those days, the commission was 10 per cent, and I sold many coffee shops and many grocery stores. The average price was $50,000-$I00,000 and $60,000-$80,000 and I was doing pretty well and I had two partners . . . I would go out and I would (get) the profits, the commissions, and then I would come back and we would have a crap game at the back of the office, and I would lose all my money. They were getting the margin! So I didn’t stay in the brokerage business.”
3. On making his first major commercial real estate purchase for $100,000 after ending his career as a broker.
“That was at the time that the Vancouver Sun and the Vancouver Province had merged. They had built a new building, if you remember, on Granville and 7th. The building at the corner of Cambie and Hastings became available for sale. It seemed like a nice building. I had never owned a building that size. I made an offer on it, $100,000, and they countered back. Then the building behind, the one on Cambie and Pender, came on the market and I wanted that. So I had two great buildings opposite Victory Square. But the problem was that the area wasn’t the greatest. Victory Square, where they had all the big problems. It had led the East End. Homelessness. The drug addicts. They’ve moved now a couple of blocks east, but they’re still there. Anyway, I bought the building because nobody else liked the area. So what am I going to do with the building. So I had this (former newspaper building) for $100,000, but they didn’t even broom-sweep it. That’s something that goes into a contract . . . Newsprint everywhere. There’s dirt. (The former owner) said to me: ‘Well, you own it now. It’s yours.’ So I said okay. I went through it. They used to print the comics – colour comics – and these printing presses were up on big bunker. Concrete bunkers . . . I was curious as to what was under these big printing presses under the bunkers. I went in and I took a look and I saw (what looked like) a huge painting or portrait or something wrapped in this very fragile newsprint. I took it out and I opened it, and this was a very valuable painting of the founder of Southam Press. But I didn’t like the painting. He was no relative of mine, and I decided that maybe he (had) a relative or someone else. So I went through the phone book to find somebody by the name of Southam, because the Southams were the founders of the Province. I found a Southam entry . . . and I picked up the phone and I said: ‘Are you related to this guy, whatever the name was on the painting, and he said, ‘Yes, he’s my grandfather’ or something. ‘I said, well, I’ve got this painting here and it’s a Southam painting. Would you like it?’ He said, ‘Well, yeah, what it going to cost me?’ I said, ‘The price of a cab fare. Come on down and pick it up, and I became very good friends with Gordon Southam for many, many years until he died.”
Legendary retailer, real estate investor and philanthropist Joe Segal was told stories about his life in business during this month's NAIOP Vancouver breakfast, and many wished later that they could have stayed to hear more. (For proof, check out the tweets on Twitter).
It's not a well known fact, but Segal was once a commercial real estate broker.
I'll be blogging Segal's answers to questions in the Q and A session. Since we're in blog mode, I'll keep things in point form.
In this segment, he talks about his early years on business.
1. On starting out with $1,000.
“I had no money. Well, I had $1,000 . . . That was 21/2 years of deficit spending at $1.30 a day. That’s a buck nowadays . . . I always got, incidentally, what no one else wanted. So I had to become aware of what I was going to do with it before I bought it because I couldn’t make any mistakes. The medical supplies package was actually worth . . . a million dollars. I think I paid $7,000 for it, because nobody else knew what to do with it. When you buy these packages of medical equipment, if you have no idea what a cranium drill is . . . how do you sell it? . . . I put an ad in the paper and I said: Attention, hospitals, doctors. Wherever there’s medical equipment. New, a third off, and used 50 per cent off . . . So you had to know what you were going to do with the value . . . War surplus paint. Olive drab paint. I can remember buying 2,000 gallons for 25 cents a gallon . . . I rented a truck. I loaded the truck. I thought: What am I going to do with it. Nobody’s going to paint their house camouflage. Olive drab? So I loaded I loaded this all in a green . . . Ford truck. I’d load it in the morning and I would head for Ladner. The next day, I would load it again and I would go to Chilliwack, it all in it isn’t what it’s worth. It’s what you do with it that really counts. I had every barn in the Lower Mainland painted olive drab. So it isn’t what’s it’s worth. It’s what you do with it that really counts.”
2. On life as a commercial real estate broker.
“I was not kidding. I was a broker, but I couldn’t make a living at it, because I was selling coffee shops, corner grocery stores. In those days, the commission was 10 per cent, and I sold many coffee shops and many grocery stores. The average price was $50,000-$I00,000 and $60,000-$80,000 and I was doing pretty well and I had two partners . . . I would go out and I would (get) the profits, the commissions, and then I would come back and we would have a crap game at the back of the office, and I would lose all my money. They were getting the margin! So I didn’t stay in the brokerage business.”
3. On making his first major commercial real estate purchase for $100,000 after ending his career as a broker.
“That was at the time that the Vancouver Sun and the Vancouver Province had merged. They had built a new building, if you remember, on Granville and 7th. The building at the corner of Cambie and Hastings became available for sale. It seemed like a nice building. I had never owned a building that size. I made an offer on it, $100,000, and they countered back. Then the building behind, the one on Cambie and Pender, came on the market and I wanted that. So I had two great buildings opposite Victory Square. But the problem was that the area wasn’t the greatest. Victory Square, where they had all the big problems. It had led the East End. Homelessness. The drug addicts. They’ve moved now a couple of blocks east, but they’re still there. Anyway, I bought the building because nobody else liked the area. So what am I going to do with the building. So I had this (former newspaper building) for $100,000, but they didn’t even broom-sweep it. That’s something that goes into a contract . . . Newsprint everywhere. There’s dirt. (The former owner) said to me: ‘Well, you own it now. It’s yours.’ So I said okay. I went through it. They used to print the comics – colour comics – and these printing presses were up on big bunker. Concrete bunkers . . . I was curious as to what was under these big printing presses under the bunkers. I went in and I took a look and I saw (what looked like) a huge painting or portrait or something wrapped in this very fragile newsprint. I took it out and I opened it, and this was a very valuable painting of the founder of Southam Press. But I didn’t like the painting. He was no relative of mine, and I decided that maybe he (had) a relative or someone else. So I went through the phone book to find somebody by the name of Southam, because the Southams were the founders of the Province. I found a Southam entry . . . and I picked up the phone and I said: ‘Are you related to this guy, whatever the name was on the painting, and he said, ‘Yes, he’s my grandfather’ or something. ‘I said, well, I’ve got this painting here and it’s a Southam painting. Would you like it?’ He said, ‘Well, yeah, what it going to cost me?’ I said, ‘The price of a cab fare. Come on down and pick it up, and I became very good friends with Gordon Southam for many, many years until he died.”
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Dundee to invest $140 million in Ottawa and Toront
Dundee REIT has announced it will invest $140-million in office buildings in Toronto and Ottawa.
The trust made the announcement Wednesday while reporting third quarter funds from operation of $16.2 million, or 54 cents per unit, compared to $15.8 million, or 50 per cent per unit in the same quarter last year. Funds from operators measure profitability.
“We continue to work closely with existing and prospective tenants, and are pleased to see our efforts rewarded not only with an increase in occupancy levels in the third quarter but also increases in rent,” president Michael Knowlton was quoted in the Globe and Mail.
For more details, check out the Globe story via the link below.
The trust made the announcement Wednesday while reporting third quarter funds from operation of $16.2 million, or 54 cents per unit, compared to $15.8 million, or 50 per cent per unit in the same quarter last year. Funds from operators measure profitability.
“We continue to work closely with existing and prospective tenants, and are pleased to see our efforts rewarded not only with an increase in occupancy levels in the third quarter but also increases in rent,” president Michael Knowlton was quoted in the Globe and Mail.
For more details, check out the Globe story via the link below.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Segal to speak at NAIOP breakfast
Legendary philanthropist, entrepreneur and real estate investor Joe Segal will share his views on the commercial property market during this month's NAIOP breakfast in Vancouver.
Segal , founder of Vancouver-based venture capital and development company Kingswood Capital, will explain why he has been actively investing in commercial real estate this year despite the global economic downturn. Kingswood launched in 1979 after Segal built the Fields department store chain, turned it into Zeller's and then sold the operation to the Hudson's Bay Company.
Among his many other pursuits, he has also built a clothing-store business, expanded First National Properties, formerly Block Bros., into a land development and property-investment powerhouse, acquired several clothing manufacturing companies and spearheaded the creation of Simon Fraser University's downtown campus.
the company formerly known Block Bros. into a land developm
During these years the company acquired many other clothing manufacturing companies.
In 1985, Mr. Segal acquired national retailer Collegiate Sporting Goods from Imasco. In 1986, he merged Collegiate with Sports Experts and became Chairman of both.
In 1988, Mr. Segal was instrumental in the 150 million dollar acquisition of Block Bros., a Western Canadian company in the land development and property investment field which now operates as First National Properties.
Mr. Segal served on the board of Simon Fraser University for over 12 years & was Chancellor for 6 years. In 1989, Mr. Segal was one of the individuals instrumental in establishing the Simon Fraser University Harbour Center downtown campus. Meanwhile, he has worked with, and financially supported countless charities, and provided the building virtually free of charge that now serves as the home of Vancouver's Olympic organizing committee (VANOC).
The NAIOP breakfast will be held Wednesday (instead of its usual Thursday) at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, starting at 7:30 a.m.
Segal , founder of Vancouver-based venture capital and development company Kingswood Capital, will explain why he has been actively investing in commercial real estate this year despite the global economic downturn. Kingswood launched in 1979 after Segal built the Fields department store chain, turned it into Zeller's and then sold the operation to the Hudson's Bay Company.
Among his many other pursuits, he has also built a clothing-store business, expanded First National Properties, formerly Block Bros., into a land development and property-investment powerhouse, acquired several clothing manufacturing companies and spearheaded the creation of Simon Fraser University's downtown campus.
the company formerly known Block Bros. into a land developm
During these years the company acquired many other clothing manufacturing companies.
In 1985, Mr. Segal acquired national retailer Collegiate Sporting Goods from Imasco. In 1986, he merged Collegiate with Sports Experts and became Chairman of both.
In 1988, Mr. Segal was instrumental in the 150 million dollar acquisition of Block Bros., a Western Canadian company in the land development and property investment field which now operates as First National Properties.
Mr. Segal served on the board of Simon Fraser University for over 12 years & was Chancellor for 6 years. In 1989, Mr. Segal was one of the individuals instrumental in establishing the Simon Fraser University Harbour Center downtown campus. Meanwhile, he has worked with, and financially supported countless charities, and provided the building virtually free of charge that now serves as the home of Vancouver's Olympic organizing committee (VANOC).
The NAIOP breakfast will be held Wednesday (instead of its usual Thursday) at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, starting at 7:30 a.m.
Sears and Bay re-think department stores
Major department stores Sears and The Bay are trying for a new look as retailers re-think the conventional mall.
Check out this story in the Toronto Star for more details.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/baysears
Check out this story in the Toronto Star for more details.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/baysears
Data centre deal second largest in Canada this year
Canada's recovering commercial real estate market has planted another signpost along its road to redemption.
Allied Properties REIT closed its $192-million acquisition of a data centre at 151 Front Street West in Toronto on Monday. The sale of the class A office property was the second largest in Canada this year behind German institutional investor Deka Bank's unsolicited $297-million purchase of the Bentall V office building in the spring.
According to a Wall Street Journal article published last week, the deal says more about the strength of data centres than the market itself. Data-centre property values have displayed resilience during the downturn, due to the rapidly-increasing popularity of streaming video and other Internet-based services that require considerable bandwidth.
But the deal also continues REITs' recent trend of raising money on the capital markets for acquisitions.
Allied partially funded the purchase of the 325,000-square-foot property from Northam Realty Advisors Ltd., by issuing about C$125 million in new units. Allied will use about $96 million from that offering to finance part of the deal, while the British Columbia Investment Management Corp., an institutional investment manager whose clients include public pension funds, provides $96 million on a 10-year mortgage at 7.5%.
"Happily, and to my surprise, the equity capital markets came roaring back faster than we thought they would," Michael Emory, Allied's CEO, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal story. "It was a big change in the Canadian environment."
After struggling to find credit through most of 2008, other REIT CEOs and investors have been making similar comments lately. The question now is how long it will take them to close more large deals.
Allied Properties REIT closed its $192-million acquisition of a data centre at 151 Front Street West in Toronto on Monday. The sale of the class A office property was the second largest in Canada this year behind German institutional investor Deka Bank's unsolicited $297-million purchase of the Bentall V office building in the spring.
According to a Wall Street Journal article published last week, the deal says more about the strength of data centres than the market itself. Data-centre property values have displayed resilience during the downturn, due to the rapidly-increasing popularity of streaming video and other Internet-based services that require considerable bandwidth.
But the deal also continues REITs' recent trend of raising money on the capital markets for acquisitions.
Allied partially funded the purchase of the 325,000-square-foot property from Northam Realty Advisors Ltd., by issuing about C$125 million in new units. Allied will use about $96 million from that offering to finance part of the deal, while the British Columbia Investment Management Corp., an institutional investment manager whose clients include public pension funds, provides $96 million on a 10-year mortgage at 7.5%.
"Happily, and to my surprise, the equity capital markets came roaring back faster than we thought they would," Michael Emory, Allied's CEO, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal story. "It was a big change in the Canadian environment."
After struggling to find credit through most of 2008, other REIT CEOs and investors have been making similar comments lately. The question now is how long it will take them to close more large deals.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
