Commercial Real Estate Podcast
100% Canadian. 100% Commercial.
Jon Newton of KPMG calls the proposed Canadian tax changes the “most significant” he’s seen during his career. Hear his expert explanation of the proposed changes, how they apply to the real estate sector, and arguments for and against the tax-reform proposals.
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Growing a portfolio in a competitive market isn’t easy, even for the big players. Noah Gordon of Menkes Developments joins us to discuss managing and growing a 3 million square foot commercial portfolio in the GTA. Some of the topics covered include:
In the News…
Canada’s Biggest Cities Move to Regulate Airbnb, But it’s No Easy Task
A bit about our guest…..
Noah is the Director, Portfolio Management for Menkes Developments Ltd (website). He is responsible for managing assets in the company’s managed services portfolio as well as commercial acquisitions and development.
His background includes working in real estate asset management, private equity and investment banking. Previously, he has held positions with CIBC World Markets, Talon Asset Management and RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust.
Noah received a Bachelor of Arts (Business Administration) from York University and an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business. He is a LEED AP. Noah is a member of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR) and sits on the organization’s board. He is also a member of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP) and recipient of the organization’s Developing Leader Award for 2016.
Noah is also involved in the community and is a member of the Jewish National Fund Future Executive and is an external champion for the Toronto Pearson Airport Propeller Project.
Noah Gordon LinkedIn
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Technology is radically changing commercial real estate at a pace that is rapidly accelerating. We discuss what’s on the horizon with Amy Erixon of Avison Young:
In the news…
‘Banner year’ ahead for Ottawa CRE transactions: CBRE
A bit about our guest….
An industry expert in real estate technology, greening strategies and smart cities, Amy Erixon has advised public agencies, pensions and federal, state and local governments on issues ranging from affordable housing to ecological urbanism. She leads Avison Young’s Global Investment Management practice, which is active across all major and select specialty property types. Prior to joining Avison Young, she was CEO of IGRI, a full-service development and investment firm that built the first LEED-certified projects across Canada in the mid 2000s. With more than 35 years of industry experience, she has acquired, developed and repositioned portfolios valued in excess of $9 billion, and completed large-scale rezoning and development projects in numerous North American cities. Amy Erixon sits on the Ontario Board of the Nature Conservancy of Canada and Avison Young’s Executive Committee.
A graduate of MIT in city planning and real estate development, she is an active speaker, blogger and publisher of topical reports and white papers. Follow her on LinkedIn, Twitter @ErixonAmy, and YouTube. Her blog can be found at Blog.AvisonYoung.com
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Contamination can destroy a property’s value, delay development and kill a loan. Your best protection? An environmental consulting firm. We’ve invited Riyaz Punjani of S2S Environmental to discuss the finer points of:
In the news….
Wall Street Has Found Its Next Big Short in U.S, Credit Market.
For more information on CMBS in Canada, check out Episode #5
Adam ends his adventure in small market land investment.
A bit about our guest…
Riyaz Punjani is the Senior Consultant and founding partner of S2S Environmental Inc. During his career of more than 25 years in environmental consulting, Mr. Punjani provides strategic advice and due diligence services to stakeholders in the real estate markets including Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments and Property Condition Assessment. His passion in providing straight forward, practical and business-minded solutions to today’s environmental industry makes Mr. Punjani is a sought after speaker and consultant to both public and private organizations looking to minimize environmental risk. Riyaz and his team of environmental experts provide services across Canada and have been recognized as a leader in areas of environmental due diligence for acquisitions and financing of industrial, commercial and multi-residential properties. rpunjani@s2se.com www.s2se.com
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We also have a discussion about two markets covered by CoStar, Toronto and Vancouver. Topics include:
Foreign buyers tax good politics or good policy? Not increasing affordability but has rid perception of “foreign buyer boogeyman” #vref2017
— Louise Tagulao (@LouiseTagulao) April 11, 2017
#VREF2017 Vancouver Industrial Forum: PC Urban, others explore multi-storey (stacked) industrial in city cores. Response to land crunch #CRE
— RENX (@RENXca) April 11, 2017
John Stovell: we’re going to be shocked in 24 months when we see how much of what is under construction will be rental #vref2017
— James Speakman (@JamesASpeakman) April 11, 2017
Matt Popow is a Senior Account Executive at CoStar Group Canada, headquartered in downtown Toronto ,where he is responsible for sourcing and managing the sale of CoStar Group’s flagship products, CoStar Suite and CoStar Market Analytics. He works closely with Canada’s largest commercial brokerages, lenders and property owners to help them gain deep insights into the commercial real estate market. Understanding tenant movement, space absorption benchmarking to assess supply and demand, identifying market indicators and opportunities to develop new business are all in the scope of his focus. Prior to joining CoStar Group Canada in 2015, he was a Vice President and commercial real estate broker that managed investment sales transactions of retail, office and industrial assets while also completing land density and highest/best use studies for commercial developers in addition to securing facilities for corporate space users.
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Ontario apartment owners are facing a slew of changes from recent federal, provincial and municipal initiatives. At the federal level, CMHC has changed a number of their policies. Provincially we’ve been introduced to Ontario’s Fair Housing Plan. Toronto is examining a landlord licensing system. Are they positive or negative for apartment investors and builders? We asked Jim Murphy of the Federation of Rental-Housing Providers of Ontario (FRPO) to join us and try to answer that question. In this episode we discuss:
CMHC policy changes
Ontario’s Fair Housing Plan
We end off the show discussing the proposed Toronto landlord licensing system.
In the News we discuss the stabilization of the damage to the Calgary office market.
A bit about our guest…
Jim Murphy is the President and CEO of 3,200 member Federation of Rental-housing providers of Ontario (FRPO). FRPO’s members include owners, builders and mangers of over 350,000 rental homes in Ontario.
Prior to joining FRPO, Jim was CEO of the Insurance Brokers Association of Ontario (IBAO) and President and CEO of the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals (CAAMP) now Mortgage Professionals Canada.
Jim also served as Director of Government Relations for the greater Toronto Home Builders Association (GTHBA) now Building Industry Land Development (BILD). Jim also served at Queen’s Park serving the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing (Hon Al Leach) and the Minister of Economic Development Trade and Tourism (Hon Al Paladini)
Jim holds a Bachelor of Environmental Studies in Urban and Regional Planning form the University of Waterloo and a Masters of Arts in Public Policy and Public Administration from the University of Toronto.
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Real estate associations are an integral part of the commercial real estate world. They connect professionals to each other, provide advocacy and education, as well as acting as a hub between the different disciplines within the industry. Richard Joy joins us to discuss the role of the Urban Land Institute Toronto (ULI) but we couldn’t resist the opportunity to also dive deep into a variety of land development topics.
The first half of the episode we discuss the Urban Land Institute….
..and in the second half of the episode we explore Richard’s knowledge of…
In the news we discuss an article from the Real Estate News Exchange: Milborne Enjoys Record Year Amidst Toronto condo Boom
A bit about our guest…
Richard Joy joined ULI (Urban Land Institute) Toronto in June 2014 as the District Council’s first full time Executive Director.
Prior to joining ULI, Richard served as the Vice President Policy and Government Relations at the Toronto Board of Trade and he was the Director of Municipal Affairs and Ontario (Provincial Affairs) at Global Public Affairs, a leading Canadian Government Relations firm. His extensive public policy knowledge and experience comes from years of service at Queen’s Park and Toronto City Hall. Richard was the Senior Policy Advisor to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, responsible for the public policy development for the City of Toronto Act. He also served as executive assistant to MPPs George Smitherman and Michael Gravelle, as well as two City Councillors over a period that straddled the pre and post amalgamation of Metro Toronto. Richard received his BA from Carleton University, and was recently on the Board of Directors of Findhelp Information Services, a social services provider of 211 information services.
Richard Joy LinkedIn
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Mid-market transactions are a very large and highly active part of the commercial investment world in Canada. We are joined by Greg Peacock, Managing Director of the Private Capital Investment Group at Colliers International, to discuss. Here are the highlights;
In the news we discuss the de-stratification of condos for the purpose of conversion to apartments currently taking place in Vancouver (article).
A bit about our guest….
Greg Peacock heads up Colliers International’s Private Capital Real Estate Group where he provides full-service real estate advisory to a diverse group of clients. He is responsible for sourcing and managing the sale of income producing properties across the Greater Toronto Area. His team has a proven track record with office, retail, industrial, mixed use, land and multi residential assets. Greg’s long standing relationships and eye for growing business sectors have been instrumental in the value creation of many of his team’s transactions. By understanding other markets in North America and exploring areas that are underestimated in the real estate decision making process, Greg brings a unique approach to any transaction. Greg has received various awards of excellence within the firm.
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Where is commercial real estate headed in 2017? The Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2017 Report can tell you. Authored by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the Urban Land Institute (ULI), this report provides an in-depth look at the key trends and outlook in Canada and the USA real estate markets. We are joined by Chris Potter, a Senior Adviser of the report to discuss the findings:
Read the full report here.
Chris Potter is the keynote speaker at the upcoming PwC/ULI event in Ottawa on February 8th, where this report will be presented and discussed. More details and registration is available here.
We also discuss the Top 3 Tweets from the Toronto Real Estate Forum
The new normal is low interest rates, don’t expect that 2 change in ??. We are turning Japanese says Ben Tal of @cibc #interestwait #TREF16
— Big Ben Myers (@benmyers29) November 30, 2016
Mayor @JohnTory speaking at #TREF16 – Toronto Portlands are the ‘biggest development opportunity in North America’
— CBRE Canada (@cbreCanada) November 30, 2016
Michael Emory, Allied Property say there are two cap rates: existing buildings and development land – land cap rates dropping fast. #tref16
— RENX (@RENXca) November 30, 2016
A bit about our guest….
Chris Potter is a Partner at PwC where he serves as the National Leader Real Estate Tax Practice. Chris has more than 28 years of experience advising public and private real estate clients. He has extensive experience in effective tax planning for the acquisition, ownership, leasing and disposition of real estate, structuring and restructuring limited partnership and joint venture arrangements, tax-assisted financing arrangements, structuring tax effective non-resident real estate investment, and the creation and merging of real estate investment trusts (REITs).
Chris’ real estate clients are involved in residential, industrial and commercial development and the ownership of office, industrial and residential properties. Chris has authored numerous articles, has been published in the Canadian Tax Journal and has spoken at many conferences and seminars.
Chris’ notable clients include Allied Properties REIT, Agellan Commercial REIT, Canadian Apartment Properties REIT, Edgefront REIT, Empire Communities Group, Mattamy Homes Limited, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, R&R REIT, The Sorbara Group and CNL Lifestyles Properties, Inc.
Connect with Chris Potter on LinkedIn
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Aaron and Adam discuss the headlining making news from 2016 that had the biggest impact on Canadian commercial real estate.
January
Calgary Office Space hits 18% Vacancy.
Avison Young Acquires Appraisal firm Metrix Ontario.
Google unveils new 185K SF office space in Kitchener/Waterloo.
February
Lowe’s announces Rona acquisition for $3.2B.
Saskatoon Office space hits 16% Vacancy.
Dream Office REIT puts $1.2B of assets on the block.
$400M mixed use development in Winnipeg announced. 4 towers. True North Square.
Rexall Purchased by McKesson Corp from the US for $3.0B.
March
A number of brand new office towers in Vancouver remain nearly 100% vacant. For example, 32-storey Exchange tower to be completed in 2017 for $240M. Described as ‘white elephants’ – state of the art, near transit, well located, and to top environmental standards. Vancouver’s office vacancy remains at decade high levels just under 10%.
Edmonton City Council approves another 550 units downtown. Brings total to over $3.0B in downtown Edmonton developments in a provincial market still struggling heavily…… $45M Hyatt Place, $180M MacEwan University Centre for Arts and Culture, Stantec’s 60 Storey Office tower.
Starwood accepts higher offer from Marriott for $17.8B. Trumping a bid by Chinese Anbang Insurance Group.
April
Urbancorp files for bankruptcy.
Avison Young buys appraiser – Linnell Taylor Lipman and Associates in Calgary.
RioCan starts construction on 770,000SF mixed use (retail/residential) space in downtown Calgary. The Calgary market slowdown is exactly why RioCan is moving ahead with the project.
May
Urbancorp CEO Alan Saskin files for bankruptcy protection.
Allied acquires over 1M SF of retail and office space in Montreal for $218M.
Industry studies suggest $280M of office condo’s have sold in Vancouver in the last 24 months. A heating sector?
June
Calgary City Centre Tower celebrates phase one grand opening at 92 percent occupancy!
Edmonton city Councilors approve 45 story tower going against city planners who opposed the approval.
July
August
Vail Resorts Inc. buys Whistler Blackomb Holdings for $1.39B.
Calgary downtown core office vacancy tops 21.6%.
Dream Office REIT announces write down of $675M of its Alberta portfolio value.
Fortress announces Barrie Collier Centre making progress at 80% complete and 78 of 82 units sold.
September
Calgary’s office vacancy rate nears 25%.
October
November
RioCan announces a transition away from its acquisition strategy towards development.
December
Amazon unveils technology that eliminates checkout lines.
Lowes Canada to convert 40 Rona Big-box stores in 2017.
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