New Westminster News Leader – Breathing life into New Westminster’s main streets.

Lots of places to eat and drink, few storefronts that aren’t retail oriented, and at least some representation of chain outlets are all signs of successful main streets, according to a university term paper written by a New Westminster councillor.

Along with sitting on council, Jonathan Coté is also an urban studies student at Simon Fraser University, and has written the paper “Reviving New Westminster’s Main Streets,” which looks at what makes a main street work and what New West’s streets need in order to improve.

“New Westminster has a tremendous advantage in that we have traditional main streets already in existence. For most municipalities in the Lower Mainland these don’t exist except in Vancouver. We have the bones in place. The challenge is how do we bring these to life and make sure these are neighbourhoods our residents want to shop in.”

Coté found the highest vacancy rates were on Twelfth Street (11.6 per cent) and East Columbia in Sapperton (11.4), while Columbia in the Downtown area was just 6.4 per cent and Sixth Street was 8.7. The latter two compared favourably to a pair of Vancouver’s most dynamic retail streets, Robson (6.9) and Denman (5.4).

Read more: http://www.newwestnewsleader.com/news/186342442.html

Richmond Review – Ball in Walmart’s court for Richmond development.

City hall’s planning and development department is beginning the new year with a fat file on its desk that won’t go away.

Plans for a Walmart-anchored shopping mall in West Cambie are back in planners’ hands, after city council’s planning committee late last month ordered staff to do more work on the file.

Proponents first pitched their plans 10 years ago, spawning dramatic change in a neighbourhood largely untouched by redevelopment.

Read more: http://www.richmondreview.com/news/185953841.html

From Bloomberg:

Loblaw Cos. (L)’s planned real-estate spinoff is giving Canada’s largest grocery chain leeway to do acquisitions.

Loblaw plans to put more than C$7 billion ($7.1 billion) of property into a real estate investment trust that will be sold through an initial public offering by mid-2013. While Loblaw will still own more than 80 percent of the REIT, it may receive C$670 million from the deal, according to Toronto-Dominion Bank.

Buying Safeway Inc.’s Canadian unit is logical as Loblaw faces more competition from Wal-Mart Stores Inc.  and Target Corp., said Veritas Investment Research Corp. Safeway, a grocer that got 15 percent of its $44 billion of sales in 2011 from Canada, is undervalued after falling 14 percent last year, Bank of Montreal said. Safeway trades at the cheapest price relative to revenue and earnings among North American food retailers larger than $1 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Edward Jones & Co. said closely held Overwaitea Food Group, the western Canadian chain, is another option for Loblaw.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-03/loblaw-buying-canada-safeway-no-pipe-dream-real-m-a.html

As 2012 wraps up, we’ve summarized the top deals of 2012 by total dollar value. While a number of $100M+ assets traded in 2011, 2012 has been a comparatively quieter year, with only one true core/trophy property sold – that being Bentall 5. The downtown Canada Post property, offered for sale in late 2012, will probably fetch over $100M when it closes sometime in 2013.

1. Bentall 5    Bentall Kennedy, acquired this premier ‘AAA’ class office building in May for a record $400 Million, representing $686 per sq ft, and a cap rate below 5%. The Vendor in the transaction, the German bank Deka Immobilien GmbH, had purchased the tower just three years ago for $297 Million. The acquisition by Bentall Kennedy re-affirms their confidence in the Downtown Vancouver office market.

2. Plaza 88 Retail    First Capital Realty acquired the retail component of the Plaza at New Westminster in May 2012 for $97,000,000, or $500 per SF.  The property consists of 194,000 square feet of gross leaseable area and a 422 stall paid parking garage.  The project is fully integrated with Skytrain and a bus terminal.  Tenants include Safeway, Landmark Theatres, Shoppers Drug Mart, Dollar Tree, CIBC, RBC, Starbucks and A&W.

3. Lougheed Village   The largest apartment deal done in 2012 was a large concrete highrise complex in Burnaby next to Lougheed Mall. The 548-unit complex sold in April for $90,000,000, or $165,000 per unit. Comprised of two 24-storey towers and two 8-storey lowrises, the sale is one of the largest apartment sales in Vancouver history, behind only that of Beach Towers and Langara Gardens in 2010. The buyer was Mayfair Properties.

4. Pacific Point  Bosa Development acquired this 227-unit strata building located in Downtown Vancouver in June 2012 for $79,000,000. The 20-year old project includes two phases over a common podium and is stratified but has been operated as a rental building since completion. It includes 11 commercial units on the ground floor. The building had been listed for sale by the Vendor, Concert Properties. The price per unit is approximately $350,000.

5. 401 West Georgia    Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a 50% stake in this A Class office building at West Georgia and Homer Street in March 2012 for $63,000,000, or $467 per SF for, representing a 5.1% cap rate.

The building occupied by Edmonds Appliance in Burnaby has been sold, for $2,650,000, or $250 /SF. The 10,687 SF building is located on a 20,000 SF site and had been listed for sale for $2,950,000. The property is zoned C-4. Edmonds Appliance will be relocating.