Bremner's Big-Time Evolution

Fifth Avenue, the Champs Elysée, the Yellowbrick Road: big international cities are known for their major avenues and there's a major one growing in Toronto's downtown south core.

Been down Bremner Boulevard lately? Ripley's Aquarium of Canada just opened to the public, slotted at the base of the CN Tower. (No longer will you have to live in a world where you can't go see a red lionfish.) The new Ripley space is over 134k SF, and houses more than 16,000 marine animals. The new 567-room Delta Hotel is scheduled to open in late 2014. Tourism Toronto VP Andrew Weir calls the area a "tourism campus," all connected by a central transit hub. "This is particularly important when we bid on major conventions," Anthony says, with the Convention Centre at Front Street and John Street.

Colliers VP Hotels Robin McLuskie points to the strong confluence of "demand generators" including the ACC, CN Tower, Ripley's as well as the East Bayfront, all bringing in more leisure demand. "The mixed-use developments, which include hotel components, like Le Germain at Maple Leaf Square as well as the Delta, are well programmed given the inclusion of food and beverage retail, office space and other amenities, which is helping the area become more populated and active for both business and leisure demand," Robin says.

We Are The Champions

While it's a little cool outside to be booking Cup parade routes, Avison Young's hockey team is celebrating this week, after capturing the Division A title in the 29th Annual Oxford Cup. AY defeated Colliers and Cushman Wakefield in the opening round, then finished off CBRE 5-2 in the final. Fun and professionalism displayed by all in the end. Hoisting the Cup are principal and captain Andy Boyd, principal and head coach Craig Tresham, and sales rep and power forward Greg Lever.

Deep Ball

Big story in today's newspapers about rocker Jon Bon Jovi's interest in buying the Buffalo Bills and moving them to Toronto, with the help of companies like MLSE. (It would be nice if the francise wasn't terrible, but we can try to rebuild.) We've been down this NFL road before, as most of you know, but Jon does circulate at the higher levels of the entertainment and business world, and is well regarded in NFL circles. So who knows, maybe this story has some traction. Is the Rogers Centre NFL-worthy? What do you think? What are your thoughts on the stadium, particularly from a football perspective. Should owner Rogers spend millions to upgrade it, or do we need a new $1B stadium if Bon Jovi's reported efforts work out? Email your thoughts to mark.keast@bisnow.com.

Ivanhoe Shakes Up Senior Management Team

Ivanhoe Cambridge has announced two changes to their senior management team. Mario Morroni (pictured) is the company's new EVP, strategy and capital allocation, effective Jan. 13. That's a new position for the company. Rita-Rose Gagne has been appointed EVP, growth markets. That appointment takes effect immediately. Both will report to Daniel Fournier, chairman and CEO of Ivanhoe Cambridge. In a statement, Daniel says both appointments reflect the company's focus on the growth markets sector. Ivanhoe manages $35B in real estate assets in more than 20 countries.

Heads in Beds

We reached out for a comment from CBRE's EVP, CBRE Hotels Bill Stone on the state of the GTA's hotel market currently. Smith Travel Research shows that as of this October, hotel occupancy and the average daily rate in the region have improved 2% and 2.5%, respectively, year-to-date. Improved convention activity, business travel and airline traffic have helped boost those numbers, Bill says. "Full planes mean heads in beds and the downtown office construction boom bodes well for future business travel," he adds. (It also bodes well for companies who make little soaps.) On the investment side, there is an ample number of hotel buyers in the market. Some owners are paring down their portfolios, especially non-core and non-strategic hotels, many of which are in need of capital injections. However, Bill adds pricing often sits "well below" replacement costs.