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Artis Real Estate Investment Trust announced today that it has entered into unconditional agreements to acquire 1045 Howe Street in Vancouver, British Columbia
The Census Bureau today released the Report on Residential Vacancies and Homeownership. This data covered fourth quarter 2009.
From the release…
via Census Bureau: 130.6 Million Housing Units in the US; 18.9 Million are Vacant.
An 8-foot flat ceiling can make a home feel cramped and uniform these days, as higher ceilings, both flat and vaulted, take over the housing market. Forty-two percent of builders responding to a 2002 NAHB survey said their homes had 9-foot first-floor ceilings, and 15 percent claimed ceilings of more than 9 feet. In a June 2005 AIA survey, 51 percent of residential architects said they use increased ceiling heights, two-story entries and vaulted ceilings to add volume to their homes.
Creating a cathedral ceiling in a ranch or split level home is one of the easiest ways to break out of the box, architecturally speaking. Cathedral ceilings can open up a house, adding a more spacious feeling to just about any room.
On the other hand, rooms with cathedral ceilings can be difficult to heat and cool. Homeowners may love the appearance of their newly remodeled room, but find that it is uncomfortable to live in.
via Raising Ceilings Without Raising the Roof – 8/1/2005 – Professional Remodeler.
His decision was upheld by the Ontario Court of Appeal when the landlords challenged it eight months later. Undeterred, the landlords made an application to the Supreme Court for leave to appeal, at which point the Ontario Human Rights Commission became involved in the case, along with an affidavit from Ms. Hall outlining the arguments the Commission would make if allowed to intervene.
In its submission to the Court, the Commission said that the effect of the zoning bylaw was to restrict students' access to rental housing because of the nature of the students' relationships to one another. It argued such a restriction is inconsistent with the Ontario Planning Act, which states that a municipality does not have the authority to pass a bylaw that distinguishes between people who are related or unrelated with respect to the occupancy or use of a building, including the occupancy or use as a single housekeeping unit.
The new congress center for the 4th World Solar Cities Conference, which takes place in September 2010, is now complete. Located in Dezhou of the Shandong Province, the 75,000 square meter (807,293 square feet) center includes exhibition centers, scientific research facilities, meeting and training facilities, and a hotel. It'll be a showcase of solar design, solar desalination, and, of course, about 50,000 square-feet of solar panels on the exterior.
With advanced roof and wall insulation, the conference center is supposed to be about 30% more efficient than China's national standard. And, notwithstanding its size, renewable energy will power 95% of the center's energy needs.
via Massive Solar Powered Sundial Building Now Complete in Dezhou, China.
A surge in office construction in Toronto’s downtown may push the city’s vacancy rate higher than New York and Boston after developers added space during the first recession in 17 years.
The proportion of empty space in Toronto’s office market, lower than the 12 largest U.S. business districts last year, will more than triple by 2011 to 13.6 percent, according to Cushman & Wakefield Inc. Brookfield Properties Corp., Cadillac Fairview Corp. and Menkes Developments Ltd. each added a glass skyscraper to the downtown of Canada’s most populous city in the last five months.
via Toronto Office Vacancies May Top Boston, Manhattan (Update1) – Bloomberg.com.
Workers on the twin tunnel component of a water treatment facility in North Vancouver have voted to certify a new union, after construction on the stalled project restarted this fall.
“It’s the first time in North America where there were two different general contractors on the same project whose workers voted to displace the same incumbent union,” said Mark Olsen, Business Manager for the Construction and Specialized Workers’ Union Local 1611.
“There were issues such as shifting, the ratification of an extension of the existing agreement and in general members realized they would be better represented by three traditional unions.”
About 130 union members who are working on the Seymour-Capilano Filtration Plant twin tunnel project recently participated in a Labour Relations Board-supervised vote.
via North Vancouver twin tunnel workers vote to certify new union – Journal of Commerce.
Canadian commercial real estate may be a profitable investment in coming years, Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Prem Watsa said.
“Commercial real estate is interesting, because of course it’s got the refinancing risk that’s coming in, particularly in the United States,” Watsa said today at a private-equity conference sponsored by ACG Toronto. “In the next few years, we think that might be an area that you might want to invest in.
”Watsa, 59, said there are fewer investment opportunities now than there were a year ago, when stock markets had dropped by about 50 percent and there were “many, many opportunities.” The head of Toronto-based Fairfax since 1985, Watsa has patterned his company after Warren Buffett’s model of value investing.
“Value investing means trying to figure out what a company’s worth, and buying it significantly at a discount,” Watsa said.
via Canada Real Estate May Be Good Investment, Watsa Says Update2 – Bloomberg.com.
The city has tried again and again — and again and again and again — to sell a pair of surplus properties nobody seems to want.
For the sixth straight time, city council has agreed to lower the price on two municipally owned buildings that have been vacant since Windsor consolidated its social services department and moved its operations into the new government building at 400 City Hall Square.
The city had originally hoped to pocket almost $1.3 million from the sale of the two buildings, which were put on the market in 2007, but now it would be satisfied to get half that.
A building at 3905-3911 Tecumseh Rd. E., originally listed at $749,000, can now be had for $399,000.
Another building at 755 Louis Ave. was originally listed for $529,000 but is now being offered at less than half that price — $229,000.
The city’s bed bug infestation has grown so quickly and drastically that the blood-sucking crawlers have spread outside homes and are latching on to Torontonians at work — and could soon spread on public transit and even in movie theatres, researchers say.
“There isn’t a place in Toronto that is exempt, everyone is susceptible. Bed bugs will find their way to you, eventually, and it’s in everybody’s interest to address this now,” said Sean Meagher, a coauthor of a new report.
“It’s not about cleanliness or income or what neighbourhood you live in. You will see them in five-star hotels, condos, and even multi-million dollar condos. As long as you have blood, they don’t discriminate.”
