Avison Young releases 2012 commercial real estate forecast

Avison Young – full report

CANADA
Office

Leasing activity was strong across Canada’s office markets in 2011, with vacancy rates decreasing and rental rates trending upward in most markets nationwide. Canada’s overall office vacancy rate has declined steadily from 9.2% at the depths of the recession in 2009, to 8.3% in 2010, to 7.6% in the closing months of 2011 – solidifying the recovery.

Six of the 12 Canadian markets surveyed experienced a decrease in vacancy rates of varying degrees in 2011. Surprising many market observers, Calgary posted the most impressive improvement over 2010 with vacancy plummeting 340 bps to 7.2% as 2011 drew to a close. From West to East, vacancy rates also fell in Vancouver (-80 bps to 7.6%), Lethbridge (-50 bps to 9.4%), Mississauga/GTA West (-40 bps to 11.6%), Toronto (-70 bps to 7.9%) and Montreal (-60 bps to 8.6%). From West to East, those markets that witnessed a rise in office vacancy included Edmonton (+90 bps to 10%), Winnipeg (+40 bps to 6.9%), Ottawa (+40 bps to 5.6%) and Quebec City (+20 bps to 4.7%). Regina remained unchanged at 1% – the tightest office market in the country once again.

Looking ahead, the national office vacancy rate is forecast to decline an additional 60 bps to end 2012 in the 7% range. While vacancy rates are expected to hold steady in Montreal (8.6%) and Ottawa (5.6%), rates are expected to trend lower in Vancouver (-120 bps to 6.4%), Calgary (-200 bps to 5.2%), Edmonton (-140 bps to 8.6%), Lethbridge (-20 bps to 9.2%), Mississauga/GTA West (-100 bps to 10.6%) and Toronto (-70 bps to 7.2%). Conversely, due to some much needed supply, Regina will see its vacancy rate climb 320 bps to 4.1% by the end of 2012. Other markets that are expected to see an uptick in vacancy include: Winnipeg (+10 bps to 7%), Quebec City (+60 bps to 5.3%) and Halifax (+130 to 10.3%).

Waterfront Toronto releases 2015 Pan Am Games plans

Written by Derek Flack

In a press release issued earlier today, Waterfront Toronto released some of its plans for the Athletes’ Village at the 2015 Pan Am Games, including renderings of what the site is supposed to look like when it’s all said and done. To be built on the West Don Lands — the area nestled between the Port Lands, Corktown and the southern terminus of the Don Valley Parkway — the project will provide temporary housing for 10,000 participants in the Games before eventually taking shape as mixed-used community.

Included in the renderings below is a peek at some of the amenities that will become part of what some day might become a neighbourhood. There will be a massive, 82,000 square-foot YMCA (which will be used as a training facility throughout the Games), a George Brown student residence, 787 units of what’s termed market housing (5 per cent of which will be reserved for affordable ownership), and 253 units of affordable rental housing.

Full article via BlogTO

Queen Street Market still awaits renewal as the Grove

The beautiful but mostly empty Queen West Market, across from the MuchMusic building will soon be transformed into a healthy food court, but not as soon as originally planned. The Grove, as it will be called, was initially scheduled to open by the end of 2011. But delays in design and planning have set the grand opening back until April of this year, says Lisa Borden, a founding partner of establishment.

The historic market space will be filled with a variety of food alternatives in a neighbourhood that is currently mainly populated by either sit-down restaurants or junky fast food like Pizza Pizza and Subway. “I want a group of ten coworkers to be able to walk in to The Grove and realize they never have to fight about where to eat lunch again because it has something for everyone,” says Borden.

Full article

Avison Young Commercial Real Estate Newsletter – Fall / Winter 2011

The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) I will benefit tremendously from hosting the 2015 Pan/Parapan American (Pan Am) Games. The event will bring more than 10,000 members of the international athletic community and 250000 tourists to the city for the duration of the Games, while generating more than 15,000 Jobs. Events will be held across and beyond the GTA, in an area ranging from Niagara Falls to Barrie, resulting in more than 25 regional infrastructure, construction and renovation projects. In Toronto, development has begun in earnest.  In the former industrial area known as the West Don Lands, the future site of the Athletes Village. By integrating the Athletes Village into the existing plan for the district, revitalization will begin in the West Don Lands wars ahead of schedule.

The West Don Lands area is just east of downtown, on the west bank of the Don River along the shore of Lake Ontario. First developed as a residential area in the 1830s, the district was soon overtaken by Industry, which predominated until many companies closed or relocated to the suburbs, beginning in the 1970s.The land was expropriated by the province in 1987, with a plan to rehabilitate the area with the construction of a community called Ataratiri, but redevelopment was abandoned in 1992 due to the high cost of addressing site remediation issues. Since the n, the West Don Lands have sat vacant.

Over the past decade, a new vision for these old industrial lands has been created. The plan calls for nearly 6,030 residential u nits, employment and commercial space,23 acres of parks and green space, schools, and integration with existing public-transit routes. Simply overcoming environmental hurdles, including a century worth of soil contamination and the site’s location on the flood plain of the Don River, has been an enormous achievement.

The integration of the 2015 Pan Am Games Athletes Village has shifted the West Don Lands redevelopment into high gear, bringing forward the previously-announced completion date of 2019 by four years. The Athletes Village portion of the development— consisting of varying high-rise and low-rise structures on pedestrian-friendly streets —will comprise more than half of the total construction planned for the West Don Lands, and will be converted after the Games into housing and commercial space, forming a major part of the originally envisioned mixed-use neighbourhood.

At the end of September, it was announced that a consortium of builders and architects known as Dundee Kilmer Development Ltd. has been selected to design, build and finance construction of the Athletes Village.

Driven by the preparations for the Games, the West Don Lands area will come full circle, once again becoming a bustling residential and commercial neighbourhood on the doorstep of downtown.

Market Conditions in Canada – a CBRE perspective October 2011

I was unable to embed the audio on my site but here’s a link to the presentation.

John O’Bryan, Vice Chairman of CBRE Limited and Asieh Mansour, Head of Americas Research, discuss market conditions in Canada in light of recent weakening economic growth and market volatility in hte U.S. and the Eurozone.  The stability of Canada’s economy and commercial real estate sectors relative to other regions, and how it could benefit investors and occupiers.

VIDEO – Commercial Real Estate Market – 2012 Predictions by Sherry Cooper

Sherry S. Cooper is a Canadian-American economist. She is currently Chief Economist of BMO Capital Markets, with responsibilities for economic forecasting and risk assessment. She comments regularly in the press on financial issues. Here are her thoughts on the real estate market in North America.

Toronto’s iconic Flatiron Building is up for sale!

Original Article

The triangular five-storey red-brick building, with a trompe l’oeil mural on the side, went on the market Tuesday, with formal bids due on Oct. 27 to Brookfield Financial Real Estate Group, which is overseeing the sale.

“It’s the ideal time,” said Eve Lewis, president and CEO of Woodcliffe Landmark Properties, noting that for the first time in almost a century, no ongoing leases mean a single owner or tenant could occupy the entire office space, close to 20,000 square feet.

Only the bar Flatiron & Firkin remains with a lease until the end of 2015.

Sitting at an unusual corner where Front, Wellington and Church Sts. meet, the building has often been photographed with Toronto’s bank towers in the background.

Lewis recently took over the helm of Woodcliffe after her husband Paul Oberman, a heritage developer, died in a small plane crash in March in Maine. He was flying with another man in a four-seater plane when they ran into an ice storm.

Lewis is also president of MarketVision, a condo marketing firm.

Oberman specialized in developing heritage properties including renovating the old North Toronto train station, which now houses the Summerhill LCBO. He painstakingly worked on the Flatiron building, also known as the Gooderham building, which dates back to 1892.

“I think it has always had an incredible appeal because of its iconic nature, because of the history of the building, because of the uniqueness of it,” Lewis said. “The market is very good for real estate in Toronto, period. But for commercial, it’s really exceptional.”

But Lewis isn’t saying what the property is worth, arguing that traditional formulas calculating square footage don’t necessarily apply, given the uniqueness of the building, especially now that it’s been renovated.

“To tell you the truth, I guess we’ll find out on the 27th what its value is,” she said, adding it’s always gone for a premium. She said commercial lease rates are comparable to the “triple A” rates of the bank towers.

“I think it’s because people can create an identity in that building that you can’t if you’re just on one of the floors of one of the bank towers,” she said, adding companies want something that’s different.

According to property records, the building sold in 1999 for $2.2 million and again in 2005, when Woodcliffe purchased it for $10.1 million.

Built for George Gooderham, then president of the Bank of Toronto and owner of Gooderham and Worts distillery, it even included an underground tunnel to the bank.

It also houses a manually operated Otis elevator that is still staffed to this day, to move passengers up and down the floors.

The original staircase wraps around the elevator, with large windows offering unique views. Many heritage buildings in Toronto were knocked down in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, but though the Flatiron fell into disrepair over the years, it was also preserved and renovated, most recently by Oberman.

“Paul always wanted to preserve historic buildings. He found a way of making those buildings in itself profitable instead of ripping them down,” she said, citing an ongoing project on Market St., where four buildings are being saved, instead of a new condo building going up.

In August, architect Michael Taylor argued for Market St., on the west side of the St. Lawrence Market, to be renamed Oberman Way. An online petition was set up.

Lewis has taken the Woodcliffe job in part to continue Oberman’s legacy with the help of their six children, who range in age from 20 to 26. They are committed to finding beautiful buildings to restore.

“Life is busy. It’s challenging, but it’s also distracting, and that’s probably good,” she said. “Life is different, very different without Paul.”

Putting the Flatiron up for sale was a tough.

“Of course, it’s a difficult decision to make,” she said. “But I think it’s the right one.”

Toronto Commercial Real Estate News – October 2011

Key findings of our most recent GTA Office Market Statistics:

• Net Absorption of office space amounts to 6.6 M Sf. Ft. for the recent 12 month period, the most significant expansion of Occupied Space experienced in the last decade during a 12 months period. With this, approximately 171 M SF or 91.4 percent of the current inventory is occupied by office space users. Most of the growth occurred in Downtown and GTA West.

• Office Vacancy continuously decreased from its recent peak in Q2 2010 of 6.6 percent to 10.4 M SF or 5.6 percent of the current inventory by the end of Q3 2011, but still remaining above pre-recession levels of 4.6 percent observed in summer 2008.

• A similar trend has been observed for GTA’s Office Availability totaling 16.9 M SF or 9 % of the inventory at the end of Q3 2011. Availability has steadily decreased since its recent peak in Q3 2010 of 10.6 percent. Sublease availability has ebbed off from its 10 year peak in Q3 2010 of 23 percent of the available space. Since then 1.6 M Sf. Ft. of available sublease space were absorbed, now amounting to 3.1 M SF or 19 percent of the available space.

• Asking Net Rent averages out to $15.77 per SF, remaining below pre-recession levels of $17.22 per Sf. Ft. reported in Spring 2008. The highest average asking net rent is continuously quoted in the Downtown market.

News:

Office vacancy rates drop in Canada: Cushman, Wakefield LePage executive – Cushman & Wakefield

Canada is seen as a safe haven, a place to be investing and there is a demand for office and family buildings across the country, says a leading commercial property expert. Paul Morse, Sr. Vice-President and General Manager and National Practice Director at Cushman & Wakefield LePage, spoke about A Cross-Country Look at Upcoming Commercial Construction in Canada at the 26th annual CanaData Construction Industry Forecasts Conference.

Daily Commercial News Fri Oct 07 2011

Investment Group Led By Crestpoint Acquires GTA Office Building – Crestpoint Real Estate Investments Ltd

Crestpoint Real Estate Investments Ltd., a business dedicated to providing institutional and high net-worth investors with direct access to commercial real estate assets in Canada, announced the acquisition of a building located at 111 Peter Street. The purchase of this highly regarded, 250,000 square foot property is being made on behalf of an investment group led by Crestpoint.

Canada News Wire Thu Oct 06 2011

TREB Commercial REALTORS Report Quarterly Commercial Market Figures – Toronto Real Estate Board

Toronto Real Estate Board Commercial Division Members leased almost 3.6 million square feet of commercial space through the TorontoMLS system in the third quarter of 2011, representing a decline of almost 50 per cent in comparison to almost 6.6 million square feet leased during the same period in 2010.

Marketwire Fri Oct 07 2011

Building the case for working from home

There’s plenty of evidence that the idea of working from home is gaining traction among many employers – albeit slowly. In this series, we’re looking at the reasons for and against allowing your employees to work from home – also called teleworking or telecommuting. We’re also looking at what tools exist to help businesses make sure they’re setting up the most efficient telework environment possible.

Globe and Mail Fri Oct 07 2011

Toronto building more highrises than anywhere else in North America – Emporis

There are currently 132 highrise buildings under construction in Toronto, according to the figures. Mexico City ranks a distant second with 88 and New York City is in third with 86. The field drops off dramatically after that: fourth-ranking Chicago is building 17 highrises, while Miami rounds out the top five with 16. Emporis defines a highrise building as between 35 and 100 metres high, or 12 to 40 floors.

Toronto Star Wed Oct 05 2011 – Metro News

[Read more]

Great Companies Need Great Spaces. Trendhunter.com

Video is finally cheap enough to produce to go mainstream Internet. I’ve always thought video, not pictures, best show off a vacancy or clients office space. That got me to thinking, why not use video to help a client leverage their brand by showing off their office space and corporate culture at the same time. One of my clients thought it was a great idea too.

This video was produced by myself (@ChrisFyvie), Colliers Canada and Crucial Films for TrendHunter.com. Great companies, need great spaces.

Below is what I consider a relatively easy, cool and engaging way to deliver your brand identity to thousands of potential clients and staff.

Would you like to be featured on OfficeSearchToronto.com and ColliersCanada.com? Would you like a video like this produced featuring your companies culture and corporate brand? Do you have the coolest office space in Toronto and want to show it off!? Reach out and let’s discuss next steps.

Chris@officesearchtoronto.com
416-643-3713

Colliers Canada Thoughts:
Say goodbye to the corner office. Employers are shaking up office traditions, putting employees first as they consider where they’ll move next. Welcome your new neighbour – your boss, who is giving up their office, opting for collaboration over closed doors. More business leaders are considering the implications of where they’ll move next, understanding its impact on company culture and brand image.

Great companies need great spaces and tech brands aren’t the only companies wanting open-plan work environments. Stuffy workplaces are a thing of the past and companies are seeing the value in choosing office space that reflects their brand personality. Whether it’s a slide, a beer fridge, an abundance of white boards for brainstorming or foosball tables, brands are creating a second home for their staff, who often spend more time there than anywhere else.

Check out Trendhunter, a Toronto-based company and client of Colliers International and Toronto broker Chris Fyvie’s featuring founder and Chief Trend Hunter Jeremy Gutsche.

The Top Five Most Expensive Streets for Office Space in Canada

Original Article – Jones Lang LaSalle

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