By Paul Brent

Considering Manulife Financial Corp.owns more than 38 million square feet of real estate worth valued at about $11 billion, it is easy to overlook component parts such as its relatively new Manulife Canadian Property Portfolio.

Established in 2011 as a co-mingled fund to hold diversified real estate for Canadian institutional investors it has grown to an impressive $600 million in assets in the four main property types.

A broad and balanced investment approach is at the heart of the fund’s offering, explained the executive in charge of the fund, Timothy Blair, Manulife Real Estate’s managing director and senior portfolio manager.

“We are really looking to grow that Canadian fund by investing in Canadian assets, we are looking to be geographically diversified across Canada and we invest in the four major asset classes: office, industrial, retail and multi-family – and we are also looking at some development deals.

“. . . a good and growing portfolio,” he added. “We really focus on what I would call quality assets.”

What it owns

Notable holdings of the Manulife fund include the 22-storey 736 – 6th Avenue SW in Calgary “a great little office building,” …read more

Source:: RENX

By ChangingCity

Here’s an office development on the 500 block of West Broadway that started construction just over 2 years ago. Designed by Studio One Architecture for Orca West (up to now a mainly residential developer) the project, initially known as the Neelu Barchra Centre, sits in the ‘Uptown’ commercial-only stretch of Broadway, close to the City Hall Canada Line station.

Initially marketed for lease, the scheme was switched to 127 strata office units and seems to have had far greater success as a result. The final building seems somehow more grey than the render suggested – although once the lights are on inside and the planting gets established it may be a closer match.

…read more

Source:: Changing City Updates

Here is an update of 980 Howe Street; an office building being built by Manulife at the corner of Howe and Nelson:

Allied REIT isn’t quite as active in Vancouver as out East, but a notable buyer nonetheless…

By Paul Brent

For many real estate companies, it has been a tough year to complete acquisitions.

That has definitely not been the case for Allied Properties REIT (AP.UN-T), which last month announced two more deals to increase its 2014 tally to $225 million.

While the frenetic deal-making activity may have taken many observers by surprise, Allied anticipated the dam would break this year, according to Michael Emory, the REIT’s president and chief executive. “We got a sense late last year and early this year that the pace of acquisitions was going to pick up. It was more a function of availability than anything else.”

The REIT, known for acquiring older, trendy office space in the downtown cores of major Canadian cities, has racked up seven purchases so far this year, the latest two in Toronto: 555 Richmond Street West and 460 King St. W.

That’s a change for Allied Properties REIT.

Stabilized rental property

“I don’t think that we acquired anything much in Toronto, especially in terms of the stabilized rental property portfolio, last year or the year before that,” said Emory. “We did, of course, acquire The Well with RioCan and Diamond …read more

Source:: RENX