Commercial Real Estate News

[kevinbottawa]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

It's amazing that even with the uptick of tech vacancy rates are still that high. This is a double edged sword; it means that office rent prices, especially the critical downtown ones, will remain affordable as companies compete for tenants. But it also means that there won't be as much potential for new office development, which could handicap efforts to redevelop Lebreton, as residential likely isn't enough to generate the profits needed to build it out.

I would love to see more of these urban tech campuses that are happening in the U.S. https://www.citylab.com/life/2018/02...campus/553379/

I guess Shopify would have one once they occupy their second building, but it would be great to see some of the more mature Kanata companies embrace downtown. Doesn't look like it'll ever happen.

[1overcosc]

The Kanata companies are going to stay where they are--in this tight labour market we have right now for tech workers, any office move is inevitably going to scare some employees away--but most of the up and coming small-to-mid size tech companies are actually in the downtown area. If I had to guess, I'd actually say that in the current wave of tech expansion, the urban core and Kanata North are actually about tied for total number of new tech jobs being created.

[J.OT13]

In 10 years, Shopify will have taken over close to 500,000 squre feet in the CBD between 150 Elgin and the old EDC. I could see them request a new million square foot building at LeBreton Flats within 5-10 years.

[1overcosc]

Shopify heavily invested in their 150 Elgin space though... Including numerous customizations, so they aren't going to want to relocate their HQ. And Lebreton is a little far to be a secondary office.

I can easily see Klipfolio wanting a 1 million square foot building in Lebreton in the next 5-10 years though Their new space in the WEP is still not big enough for their needs and the WEP is so big that Klipfolio doesn't stand out. They'll want to be an anchor of their own building.

Klipfolio may very well end up being the anchor office tenant for RVL.

[kevinbottawa]

It has begun.

Ottawa satellite firm Telesat moving downtown with new Place Bell lease

BY: Craig Lord
PUBLISHED: Mar 12, 2018 3:30pm EDT

As Telesat prepares to turn 50 next year, the satellite technologies firm is preparing to move from its east-end campus to two floors inside the office tower at 160 Elgin St. as part of a bid to attract new talent.

Within the next 18 months, Telesat will move into the 20th and 21st floors of H&R REIT’s Place Bell building in a multi-year lease amounting to roughly 76,000 square feet of space. The firm has rights to most of the space today, but CEO Dan Goldberg tells OBJ they’ll take their time making the move.

The shift downtown will take Telesat out of Telesat Court, the eponymous Gloucester street that the firm has called home for nearly three decades.

The iconic fields of satellite dishes there aren’t all Telesat’s, Goldberg says, but some of the firm’s tech will move to the roof of the new building while others will spread out to Telesat locations across Ontario and Quebec.

“It’s been a long time, it’s been a great space for the company,” Goldberg says. “We thought this would be a good opportunity to relocate our headquarters downtown … The downtown area is very vibrant right now.”

Telesat is not the only tech firm feeling that way. Discussions at last year’s Ottawa Real Estate Forum, usually focused on the needs of government, were dominated by tech talk, according to local participants. Veteran broker Bruce Wolfgram says there’s been a “sea change” as firms such as Shopify make downtown the place to be for Ottawa tech.

At the Ottawa Real Estate Forum, Morguard’s Bernie Myers – the firm’s vice-president for Eastern Canada of office and industrial properties, and Telesat’s current landlord – told OBJ that Telesat’s intention to move stemmed from its desire to attract younger employees.

“They could have stayed (on Telesat Court) and saved rent. (But) that’s not the only driver,” Myers said. “They want the younger workforce and the downtown experience.”

Talent turnover

With Telesat’s age comes an impending wave of retirements. Goldberg says many of the company’s long-standing employees are reaching the end of their careers, and the firm must attract young talent to fill those roles and more as the 240-person firm continues to grow.

“A lot of the prospective hires would prefer to be downtown,” he says.

Proximity to government is the other factor at play. Being close to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, Telesat’s federal regulator, is one benefit.

The feds have also indicated an interest in Telesat’s low-earth orbit satellites as a way of providing reliable internet coverage to rural areas of the country. In its most recent budget, the federal government allotted $100 million to its Strategic Innovation Fund “with a particular focus on supporting projects that relate to LEO satellites and next-generation rural broadband.”

“Having more connectivity with government folks will be a great thing for Telesat. Being downtown will facilitate that,” Goldberg says.

The firm isn’t slowing down as it prepares for the second half of a century in business. Revenues for its most recent quarter were $252 million, an increase of five per cent year-over-year, and its contracted backlog stood at $3.8 billion at the start of 2018. Two of its satellites will also get a lift into orbit from Elon Musk’s SpaceX later this year.

Goldberg says the move is an “exciting chapter” in Telesat’s “already very long history.”

“I think this will be a great place for Telesat to be for the coming decades.”

- With files from Peter Kovessy

http://obj.ca/article/ottawa-satelli...ace-bell-lease

[kevinbottawa]

Canopy Growth raises the sign on Kanata Tweed office

OBJ staff
PUBLISHED: Mar 16, 2018 8:31am EDT

Cannabis isn’t the only thing growing at Canopy Growth.

The firm raised the sign on its Kanata location this week as the country’s largest pot producer prepares for a wave of new hires.

Tweed, Canopy’s wholly-owned subsidiary, will take up the ninth floor at 555 Legget Dr. in the Kanata Research Park.

Roughly 60 administrative employees will make the move there from Canopy’s Smith Falls headquarters over the coming weeks and months.

The firm says hiring is ramping up at Smith Falls as the pot firm continues to build and develop facilities there.

A spokesperson says there are “hundreds” of open opportunities available.

http://obj.ca/article/canopy-growth-...a-tweed-office

[rocketphish]

From theatres to dashboards: Klipfolio offers first public look at new World Exchange space

By: Craig Lord, OBJ
Published: Mar 23, 2018 1:45pm EDT

Klipfolio, the Ottawa-based developer of business analytics dashboards, debuted its new 17,000-square-foot space in the World Exchange Plaza to guests at a Techopia VIP event on Thursday night.

CEO Allan Wille told the assembled Ottawa tech crowd that this wasn’t the official premiere, but rather more of a sneak peek at the coming attraction, a fitting preview of the redesigned space that formerly housed a multi-screen movie theatre.

Signs of the space’s former identity remained: there were vaulted ceilings as high as the silver screen and a mezzanine space where the projector once sat, now overlooking desks rather than rows of velvet-lined seats.





Wille says that when it came time for the growing firm to move, he was expecting to find space in a B-class building. When he got an offer to tour the World Exchange Plaza’s vacant space, which the building owners applied to have converted to office space when former tenant Empire Theatres left in 2013, he was simply curious.

“Let’s just have a peek. We’re not even going to consider this,” he said. “A-class buildings were certainly not what we were expecting to move into.”
While he was blown away by the space’s potential, Wille said it was a generous offer from the landlord that sealed the deal.



To redesign the space, Klipfolio turned to the architectural studio Linebox, the same firm that did Shopify’s current digs. While Wille says he was confident in Linebox’s work, he was a bit hesitant at first – it was important to him that his company not get a “Shopify clone.”

“We’ve got our own culture; can we work with this team to emphasize that? It totally worked,” he told the crowd.



The Klipfolio team moved in six weeks ago. Wille told OBJ last year that the space would have room for 120 employees “and beyond,” with an option to lease an additional 7,000 square feet in the building.

You can watch the video above to hear Wille’s thoughts on maintaining his growing company’s culture and recruiting in the midst of the city’s “talent crunch” in a Techopia Q&A.

• Video Link

http://www.obj.ca/index.php/article/...exchange-space

[Vixx]

Cool space. Nice to see Klipfolio move in downtown and get the space and design they wanted and for the World Exchange Plaza to land a large tenant. Stuff like this is what will keep the vacancy rate downtown low.

[J.OT13]

This is pretty huge.

Trinity, Timbercreek buy central Ottawa properties in Main and Main portfolio purchase

OBJ
Peter Kovessy
April 16, 2018

The company leading the charge to redevelop LeBreton Flats and Bayview Station is adding an additional half-dozen central Ottawa properties, primed for greater density, to its portfolio.

Trinity Development Group has teamed up with Timbercreek – an investment firm with $7.5 billion in assets under management – to purchase the Main and Main Urban Realty portfolio, a joint venture led by First Capital. In a statement, First Capital said it closed the sale of 18 properties for aggregate gross proceeds of $298 million.

It includes six Ottawa properties, primarily in Centretown and Westboro, located at:

Richmond Road and Churchill Avenue;

Richmond Road and Island Park Drive;

381 Kent St., at James Street;

216 Elgin St., at Lisgar Street;

Preston and Pamilla streets; and

236 Richmond Rd., just west of the LCBO and Real Canadian Superstore.

“They were all very choice locations and choice sites,” said Nico Zentil, a senior vice-president at CBRE’s national investment team, who represented the vendors in the transaction.

Some of the properties have existing structures on site but will likely be redeveloped eventually. For example, 381 Kent St. has a medical building surrounded by 114 surface parking spaces.

“The intent was to take advantage of the existing (income-generating buildings) and position the properties for higher and better use down the road,” Zentil said.

Trinity, along with the Ottawa Senators, is a partner in the Rendez-Vous LeBreton Group that’s negotiating with the National Capital Commission to construct a new NHL arena, residential units and commercial spaces just west of downtown.

And, just to the southwest, Trinity is also one of the proponents behind a planned $400-million mixed-use development consisting of three towers of between 50 and 59 storeys adjacent to the Bayview light-rail station.

Investors Group portfolio

In a separate transaction, Desjardins recently purchased an Ottawa industrial portfolio consisting of five properties totalling some 550,000 square feet from Investors Group.

The properties are:

1225 Leeds Ave.;

2070-2092 Walkley Rd.;

3234-3270 Hawthorne Rd.;

2405 St Laurent Blvd.; and

1151-1181 Parsien St.

The buildings are multi-tenanted, with occupancy of more than 90 per cent, said Zentil. He represented Investors Group, which had owned the properties for several decades.

The $68.15-million acquisition marked Desjardins’ first significant foray into Ottawa’s industrial market, Zentil added.

The two deals come on the heels of a banner year for the city’s commercial real estate market.

Some $2 billion worth of assets traded in 2017, a five-year high. While a significant portion of last year’s sum was driven by the $480-million sale of Constitution Square, Zentil said 2018 is shaping up to be another busy year for the sector.

“We’ve got a number of deals on the horizon. And that’s indicative of what is going to be another strong year, certainly on the real estate front,” he said.

http://obj.ca/index.php/article/trin...folio-purchase

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

381 Kent St., at James Street;

Yes please! Getting something taller and larger here and getting rid of the surface parking on this corner will be so nice.

[kevinbottawa]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

This is pretty huge.


http://obj.ca/index.php/article/trin...folio-purchase

I like the direction Trinity is going in. They went from big box developments to high rise buildings, and now mains streets.

For the the Richmond and Churchill property, I guess that means a big chain retailer will be coming to the area since that's what Trinity specializes in. That wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. There was talk years ago of Westboro becoming like Queen Street West in Toronto.

[rocketphish]

Brookfield expected to list Jean Edmonds Tower for sale: Colliers

By: OBJ staff
Published: Apr 24, 2018 7:38am EDT

A 550,000-square-foot office tower occupied by the federal government is expected to hit the market in the coming months, according to Colliers International.

The real estate services firm said in its first quarter Ottawa office report that the Jean Edmonds Towers, two buildings occupying half a city block bounded by Kent Street, Laurier Avenue and Slater Street, will be listed in the second quarter.

The property was built in 1974 by Robert Compeau and is the former home of the Ottawa Journal newspaper, according to Brookfield, which owns and manages the buildings.

The property was renamed the Jean Edmonds Towers in honour of the first female executive in the Canadian Public Service and is currently home to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency.

Colliers says the Jean Edmonds Towers property is likely to be joined by Scotiabank’s office and main branch at 118 Spark St. as well as a pair of RioCan retail plazas in coming to market later this year.

The listings will add further momentum to Ottawa’s hot investment market, which reached a five-year high in 2017 with some $2 billion in assets trading hands, led by the record-breaking $480-million sale of Constitution Square.

This year has already seen several notable sales, including Fiera’s $78.1-million purchase of several Kanata North office properties, Desjardins’ $68.15-million acquisition of the Investors’ Group Ottawa industrial portfolio as well as Trinity and Timbercreek’s pickup of the Main and Main portfolio that included a half-dozen central Ottawa properties.

http://www.obj.ca/article/brookfield...-sale-colliers

[J.OT13]

They just finished re-cladding the north tower. Wonder if the south tower will get done.

I'm hoping that Brookfield invests the money they make selling Jean Edmonds into Place de Ville. Fix up the underground concourse and do something with the Podium Building. If not demolish, re-open the theater and convert the rest into an entertainment destination.

[Vixx]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

They just finished re-cladding the north tower. Wonder if the south tower will get done.

I'm hoping that Brookfield invests the money they make selling Jean Edmonds into Place de Ville. Fix up the underground concourse and do something with the Podium Building. If not demolish, re-open the theater and convert the rest into an entertainment destination.

Are there any pics of the recladded north tower?

Both towers have been an eyesore for a long time. They fit the description of the typical stuffy government office complex

[J.OT13]

I took a few, but I would need to upload them to my computer. I'll try and do that this week.

Basically, they installed chocolate brown medal panels over the expired chocolate brown pre-cast panels.

Quick unrelated question; back when the World Exchange Plaza had the Theater, could people walk all the way from O'Connor to Metcalfe through the building? Looks cut off since Klipfolio moved in.

[J.OT13]

Feds signal potential interest in resuming growth in downtown Ottawa office market

OBJ
Peter Kovessy
April 26, 2018

After spending several years working to reduce the federal government’s presence in downtown Ottawa, Public Services and Procurement Canada is hinting it may be open to resuming its growth in the city’s central business district.

In the first quarter, the federal government published a request for landlords to express their interest in leasing out 58,125 square feet of downtown space between Albert, Elgin and Bank streets.

The lease would commence in February 2020 and run for a decade.

While the federal government may ultimately choose not to follow through on leasing the space, the notice caught the eye of some brokers in Ottawa’s commercial real estate industry.

In its first-quarter office market report, real estate services firm CBRE said the notices could possibly signal “a return to a growing federal government presence within the core.”

For much of the 2000s, the city’s central business district had one of the tightest vacancy rates in the country in large part due to the federal government’s demand for space.

However, the market began to loosen up several years ago as the Conservatives cut spending and federal officials reduced the public sector’s downtown footprint by moving civil servants into buildings elsewhere in the National Capital Region, such as the Ottawa Train Yards.

CBRE reported that the downtown office market ended the first quarter with a vacancy rate of eight per cent, down from 8.75 per cent at the start of the year.

The tightening was driven by tech-sector leasing, namely Telesat taking 75,000 square feet of space at 160 Elgin St. and SurveyMonkey leasing 50,000 square feet at 200 Laurier Ave. W.

Overall, the downtown market recorded positive net absorption – the amount of space leased by tenants minus the space vacated – of 299,485 square feet, the highest level recorded since the fourth quarter of 2011, according to CBRE.

http://obj.ca/index.php/article/feds...-office-market

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

http://obj.ca/index.php/article/feds...-office-market

Any idea where SurveyMonkey was located before their move to 200 Laurier W?

[J.OT13]

I had no idea they had an office in Ottawa before reading the article. According to their website, Ottawa is their only Canadian location;

Ottawa, Canada Office
SurveyMonkey Canada Inc.
12 York Street, 2nd Floor
Ottawa, ON K1N 5S6, Canada

https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/abou..._source=footer

I feel like 50,000 square feet is probably a much bigger space than their current office.

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I had no idea they had an office in Ottawa before reading the article. According to their website, Ottawa is their only Canadian location;

Ottawa, Canada Office
SurveyMonkey Canada Inc.
12 York Street, 2nd Floor
Ottawa, ON K1N 5S6, Canada

https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/abou..._source=footer

I feel like 50,000 square feet is probably a much bigger space than their current office.

Ah cool, thanks for sharing that!

I also had no idea they were located here. I went on their wikipedia and it also listed Ottawa as their only Canadian location.

I wonder how many people are employed at their Ottawa office.

[Vixx]

I also had no clue SurveyMonkey had a presence in Ottawa, that's pretty cool.

I went on their website just for shits and see they have some positions they are looking to fill in Ottawa. Looks like they are doing well here and are growing, just as the article suggests with them moving into a bigger space.