|
OfficeMax Grand & Toy is closing all of its remaining 19 retail stores, including a bunch in Ontario. Over 160 employees of the 1,300 staff will be impacted by the news.  OfficeMax Grand & Toy GM Simon Finch tells Bisnow the company is focusing on its growing online business and direct sales. "Only a small percentage of the company's sales come from walk-ins into the retail stores," he says. The company started in Toronto in 1882 as a stationery printing business. (All the way back when people wrote letters on paper with ink and sent them in the mail. What do any of those words even mean?) The first retail store opened on Bay Street in 1926. It was taken over by US-based OfficeMax Inc in 1996 and Office Depot bought OfficeMax last year for $1.2B.  CBRE SVP retail services group Tom Balkos tells us the news isn't a surprise—it's only 19 locations, and “they already culled through their suburban real estate many years ago.” It's a sign of the times—there are clearly many product categories that will continue to revert to either a sole e-commerce platform or one that is complemented by limited bricks and mortar (Best Buy/Future Shop, or other SKU-based retailers). “Goods that don't require an emotional or tactile connection,” Tom says. (Or goods that don't provide a nice excuse to get away from your family for two hours.)  There is also an interesting, related trend in retail, Tom adds—online retailers that have chosen to open physical stores (Bonobos, Frank & Oak). “But with the unrelentingly, rapidly expanding role of the Internet many retail sectors will experience an ongoing struggle to find and strike a balance between channels,” Tom says. |
|
 |
Green With Envy Toronto is among the leading cities in North America when it comes to embracing green roofs and expanding that market, says Green Roofs for Healthy Cities president Steven Peck. (You don't know fruit until it's been grown over your head.) His Washington-based organization—the green roof and wall industry association—released a survey announcing a 10% growth rate for green roofs in 2013 in major cities across North America. Snapped is Steven at the opening of a green roof in Nathan Phillips Square in 2010, with Flynn Canada's Terry McGlade and LiveRoof Ontario's Kees Govers.  Steven points to Toronto's Green Roof bylaw requiring that 20% to 60% of the roof is greened on most types of new buildings. “There are more than two million square feet that have been approved under the bylaw and we should start to see these being built in the near future,” he tells Bisnow. Green roofs can significantly enhance the property value of a building, he says. |
|
|
Office Market Waits On New Development“Anemic and sporadic demand” continues to characterize the GTA office market as it prepares for the onset of new development, according to an Avison Young report on Q1 2014. AY's Bill Argeropoulos says that's now five consecutive quarters of negative absorption. “Clearly, the rate at which the market has been expanding over the past 10 years—and especially during the development cycle of the past five years—indicates the need for a correction, and the present state of the market should be seen as such.” Despite the somewhat gloomy figures to date, numerous tenants of all sizes are poised to take advantage of the opportunity to secure premises in the more exposed assets, perhaps at more favourable rates—with the flight to quality becoming ever more apparent, Bill says. The demise of national law firm Heenan Blaikie—returning 137k SF of space in the West Tower of the Bay-Adelaide Centre—was one of the events that marked the quarter. |
 |
|
Tough Sell |
||
 Kevric Real Estate Corp rolled out a planning consultant and the architect of its proposed Liberty Village commercial development in a community meeting last night and, if community feedback was any indication, they face sizable challenges in getting their Official Plan and Zoning Bylaw amendment application approved by the city. (Also, according to community feedback, the people would like for kids to stop skateboarding in the street.) The company wants to build two new buildings within existing surface parking lot areas at 99 Atlantic Avenue and 40 Hanna Ave, with retail and service commercial uses at grade. There would also be a restaurant component on site. In the image is architect Nicola Casciato, consultant Mike Bissett, and Aviva Pelt, from the city's planning department. |
 They would also renovate the heritage buildings on the property for office and retail. At the core of their plan is the eight-storey office building off of Atlantic, plus mechanical on the roof. The area has a 28-metre height restriction—around six storeys. Aviva says the proposal is currently winding through the planning department, and she expects it to be put in front of council for a vote in August, if things go smoothly. Neighbourhood residents there last night expressed real opposition to the proposed eight-storey buildings height, a 15k SF restaurant, and plans for retail. “The city does say 'no' to a lot of projects,” Ward 19 councillor Mike Layton told the crowd. |
|
|
Calling All ReportersWe're looking for the Bisnow face of Canada (and it doesn't have to be as beautiful as Ryan Gosling's or Rachel McAdams'). We're in need of a Vancouver/Toronto commercial real estate reporter, with a strong journalism background and a passion for writing. You have the gift for delivering groundbreaking real estate news in our breezy but super-informative manner. You live to break stories, work a beat, travel, uncover market trends, and rub elbows with the most powerful people in the industry. Send your journalism-oriented resume to: matt.black@bisnow.com. |
 |
|