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Napoleon tanked at Waterloo, but not Concert Real Estate—it came out first in last week's purchase of Sun Life Financial's Canadian HQ. Concert COO Brian McCauley tells us how the acquisition of the office complex fits into the Vancouver firm's Ontario expansion plan.  Concert sees Kitchener-Waterloo as a growth market, Brian says, with a strong tenant base of tech firms and insurance companies. When the Sun Life property—a 745k SF, 18-storey, single-tenant complex commemorated in 2012 by the Ontario Heritage Trust—was put out to market months ago via an open tendering process, Concert seized the opportunity to grow its reasonably sized office building portfolio in Ontario. Brian calls the Sun Life property "a great long-term position to have there.”  The Sun Life HQ has multiple connected buildings, including a five-storey parking garage and a heritage section, designed by Frank Darling, that dates back more than a century. The complex will be leased back to Sun Life for a 20-year term, and the financial services company will manage the property. The deal includes extension rights as well, Brian notes: “If they wish to stay longer, we'd love to have them.”  These aren't the first dealings Concert has had with Sun Life. (Makes sense—nobody likes to go to a concert alone.) The two companies co-own three office buildings in Vancouver and are partners on several residential properties in Ontario, including Village Gate West, a rental apartment project in Etobicoke (above). |
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So Long, StollerysThe iconic menswear shop that has sat at the southwest corner of Yonge and Bloor for 114 years confirmed on its website that it will be closing. A developer has bought the property (no plans have yet been revealed). The landmark store—which started as a smaller shop at One Bloor Street West in 1901 and grew to four floors—is facing heated competition in high-end menswear along Bloor Street West from Harry Rosen and Holt Renfrew. In recent years, the Stollerys property was rumoured to be the location of a new Apple store. Across the road, construction is under way on One Bloor, a 75-storey tower that will have 100k SF of retail on three levels. |
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‘Half-Decent' Q3 For Office Leasing Toronto had 650k SF of downtown space come off the market in Q3, the most since Q4 '11. “It was time to have a half-decent quarter,” says CBRE research director Ross Moore. That said, there was an absence of large transactions. "It was more small- and medium-sized deals that added up." (Every lease trimmed down for bikini season.) The financial services and banking sectors are driving this uptick, says Ross, which will help to balance out the wave of supply coming to the downtown Toronto market over the next two years. |
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CBRE Golf Tourney Raises Big Bucks |
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 CBRE's Ottawa Charity Golf Classic—with dozens of Toronto CRE players taking part—generated $473k for University of Ottawa's Eye Institute at the Ottawa Hospital. Tournament founder Greg Moore, senior managing director of CBRE's Canadian project management group, says funds raised were matched by contributions from government, granting agencies, and corporate partners. Greg, left, is with University of Ottawa Opthalmology Department head Dr. Steven M. Gilberg, Ottawa Hospital philanthropy VP Jennifer Van Noort, and tournament chair Liz Smith. (In other news, Greg leased a 150k SF building just to store that giant cheque.) |
 Here's Greg with colleague James Trimm in the tournament's "Charity Rum Hummer." Over 10 years, the Ottawa event has raised $5.2M in support of research, treatment and prevention of visual disorders. Greg, whose father suffers from eye disease, also hosts an annual Toronto golf tournament, which has seen participation from Maple Leafs legends Johnny Bower and Darryl Sittler (Ottawa Senators alum Shaun Van Allen took part this year in Ottawa). “Visual research is one of most under-funded areas in healthcare,” Greg says. |
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