TORONTO, Dec. 23, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust (“RioCan” or the “Trust”) (TSX: REI.UN) today announced the completion of the sales of a portion of the air rights at The Well™ in Toronto and 5th & THIRD™ in Calgary. Combined, RioCan realized density value totalling approximately $45.4 million at RioCan’s interest for the development of multi-residential condominium and rental buildings that will provide complimentary residential to the commercial components of RioCan’s mixed-used developments.
“Completion of these transactions is a positive indication of RioCan’s ongoing development progress and business activity despite current global challenges and circumstances,” said Edward Sonshine, Chief Executive Officer of RioCan. “Closing these transactions clearly points to the strong positioning of our assets, particularly for 5th & THIRD, our property in Calgary. The strength of our portfolio and development pipeline continue to allow us to complete deals that provide cash flow to strengthen our balance sheet and support our development program.”
Air Right Sales at The Well in Toronto As planned, RioCan and its partners at The Well, Allied Properties REIT and Diamond Corp, completed the sale of residential air rights and podium space at Building A and B of The Well to Woodbourne Capital Management (“Woodbourne”). At RioCan’s 40% interest, sales proceeds total approximately $25.0 million including cost recoveries.
The Well is a new vibrant mixed-use community in Toronto’s downtown West that spans over seven and half acres and will comprise over 3.1 million square feet of office, retail and residential space. Construction at The Well continues to progress with the office component having reached 35 of 36 storeys with 84% of the office space pre-leased and on track for initial office tenants to take possession in 2021. Retail leasing at the site is ongoing as advanced discussions continue to progress with a number of retail tenants that would add to the overall character of The Well as envisioned. In addition, remaining air rights pertaining to four other residential buildings at The Well will be conveyed in 2021.
Woodbourne Capital Management is a Canadian private real estate fund with capital commitments from a high-quality base of institutional partners in Canada and the United States. It has already partnered with RioCan on a number of urban mixed-use developments including the residential tower FourFifty, The Well, Litho™ and 3180 Dufferin Street as well as in the near future, eCentral™, ePlace™ and Rhythm™ pending closing of these 50% co-ownership agreements in Q1 2021.
Air Right Sales at 5th &THIRD East Village in Calgary RioCan has closed the sale of the remaining two-thirds of the residential air rights strata parcel at its 5th & THIRD property to Bosa Development (“Bosa”) for approximately $20.4 million. Bosa acquired the first one-third strata parcel in March of 2020. The combined sale proceeds for air rights to Bosa at 5th & THIRD totals approximately $32.1 million and will serve to reduce RioCan’s development costs and enhance development yield. These air rights enable Bosa to construct two towers providing residential space above RioCan’s 5th & THIRD retail space creating a mixed-use environment in downtown Calgary. Both residential towers, consisting of approximately 500 units in total, are currently under construction.
Wholly owned by RioCan, 5th & THIRD retail space includes tenants such as Olympia Liquor, TD Bank, Scotiabank and an urban format Real Canadian Superstore, which brings a one-stop shop supermarket to all East Village residents.
Bosa is a Vancouver, British Columbia based real estate development company with more than 50 years of history building commercial and residential real estate. The company has delivered over 20,000 homes and diverse commercial properties including industrial warehouses, office towers and hotels.
About RioCan RioCan is one of Canada’s largest real estate investment trusts. RioCan owns, manages and develops retail-focused, increasingly mixed-use properties located in prime, high-density transit-oriented areas where Canadians want to shop, live and work. As at September 30, 2020, our portfolio is comprised of 221 properties with an aggregate net leasable area of approximately 38.4 million square feet (at RioCan’s interest) including office, residential rental and 16 development properties. To learn more about us, please visit www.riocan.com.
Forward Looking Information This News Release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. This information reflects RioCan’s objectives, our strategies to achieve those objectives, as well as statements with respect to management’s beliefs, estimates and intentions concerning anticipated future events or expectations that are not historical facts. Forward-looking information generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “outlook”, “objective”, “may”, “will”, “would”, “expect”, “intend”, “estimate”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “should”, “plan”, “continue”, or similar expressions suggesting future outcomes or events.
Such forward-looking information reflects management’s current beliefs and is based on information currently available to management. All forward-looking information in this News Release is qualified by these cautionary statements.
Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future events or performance and, by its nature, is based on RioCan’s current estimates and assumptions, which are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including those described in the “Risks and Uncertainties” section in RioCan’s MD&A for the period ended September 30, 2020 and in our most recent Annual Information Form, which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the forward-looking information contained in this News Release.
Although the forward-looking information contained in this News Release is based upon what management believes are reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that actual results will be consistent with this forward-looking information.
The forward-looking statements contained in this News Release are made as of the date hereof, and should not be relied upon as representing RioCan’s views as of any date subsequent to the date of this News Release. Management undertakes no obligation, except as required by applicable law, to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Contact Information
RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust Qi Tang Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer 416-866-3033 | www.riocan.com
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.