Lifetime Achievement for three women architects

For the first time in the history of the Green Building Festival, all three 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award winners are women and leading architects from Canada.

The winners, Teresa Coady, Janna Levitt and Birgit Siber, will receive their awards in front of hundreds of colleagues on October 8th in Toronto.

The Lifetime Achievement Awards acknowledge green building initiatives through advocacy, research, innovation and design excellence across a range of building types.

“The awards signal exemplary devotion to the cause of greater sustainability in the built environment,” says Mike Singleton, executive director of Sustainable Buildings Canada, the non-profit that bestows the awards each year.

Teresa Coady

Teresa Coady is internationally recognized for her innovative thinking and her leadership in sustainability and works closely with various agencies to create new policies and practices to benefit society. Coady was formerly the chief operating officer, COO, of Kasian, an international design firm, and president and CEO of Bunting Coady B+H. Her first book, ‘Rebuilding the Planet, The 12 Principles of Conscious Construction’ will be distributed Spring 2020 by Random House.

Janna Levitt

Janna Levitt co-founded LGA Architectural Partners (formerly Levitt Goodman Architects). She believes buildings can serve as a connector between culture and people. Her projects often involve implementing transformative cultural and environmental agendas, developed with diverse group of collaborators and communities.

Birgit Siber

Principal at Diamond Schmitt Architects, Birgit Siber led the design installation of the first large-scale living wall biofilter in Canada more than a decade ago at the University of Guelph Humber campus. Its success spawned dozens more in Diamond Schmitt projects in Canada and the U.S. She also spearheaded ecoMetrics, an energy-use benchmarking databank and analysis tool to highlight and inform strategies for energy-use reduction.

Six trends to impact retail multi-site FM industry

Connex, previously the Professional Retail Store Maintenance Association – the authority on retailers, multi-site healthcare facilities, entertainment facilities, banks and suppliers – provides a breakdown of the major trends projected to drive the retail FM industry in 2020.

The most powerful trends converging on the industry include:

Changing demographics and labour
Attracting and building a diverse workforce with widely varied perspectives and skillsets is crucial.

“Skilled labour and blue-collar jobs are going unfilled, making the role of facilities manager more difficult as they feel the consequences of a shrinking labour pool,” said Cara Finnegan, an author in the report.

Changing demographics also impact the labour supply for skilled trades.

Entertainment facilities
Adapting to this market trend, multi-site entertainment venues are expanding at a rapid rate. They provide customers with the opportunity to create memories, as opposed to simply exchanging money for goods.

Financial services industry
In recent years, digital technology has heavily impacted banking and other financial service industries.

Despite a number of large regional and national banks closing branches one fast-growing segment of money service businesses, or MSBs, is the check-cashing service. These retail operations provide an array of services for a fee, including check cashing, bill payment, prepaid debit cards, credit cards, money orders, currency exchange, payday loans and more.

FMs for check-cashing services, in addition to supervising regular property maintenance, may be asked to oversee certain equipment, such as cash-counting machines, ATMs and lockboxes to address security concerns.

Energy resilience
To avert power loss, businesses are investing in technology that promises energy resilience and sustainability – the ability to keep the lights on or recover quickly, while maximizing renewable energy. Among these technologies, microgrids can keep the power on the longest and boost sustainability.

New technology
New tech, like 5G, AI, apps, enhanced Internet-of-Things devices, networks, cloud computing, microgrids, falling tech prices and more are and will continue to impact FM.

Technology can be used to communicate faster and better, reduce costs, validate performance and measure success or failure.

Small Stores, Big Concepts
A growing number of retail giants, including Target, Nordstrom and IKEA, are launching small-concept stores to appeal to new markets. Connex predicts these new formats may create unique challenges for FMs.

To read the full Connex 2020 Trends Report to report visit http://connexus.connexfm.com/.

Tennant launches custodian recognition program in the U.S.

Tennant Company is seeking nominations for a new custodian recognition program –Custodians Are Key – an eight-month recognition program that rewards the great work K-12 custodians are doing in schools around the United States. The program launched at the beginning of September and concludes on May 6, 2020.

The recognized custodians and their school will be honoured with a $15,000 prize package – the winner receives a prize valued at $5,000 while his or her school receives $10,000.

“We all know the important role school custodians play in the cleanliness of their schools, but day-to-day, they each make a difference in the lives of students, staff and teachers through personal connections or even a simple friendly smile,” said Lisa Kingsley, channel marketing manager at Tennant. “We wanted to recognize these custodians who make schools a happier, healthier and safer place to learn and work. That’s why we created the Custodians Are Key program.”

Three finalists will be chosen from all qualified submissions each quarter. Those finalists will be considered for the single grand prize to be awarded by May 20 next year.

Visit tennantco.com/custodian to submit your nomination and learn more about the custodial program.

Preventing mismanaged finances on condo boards

With more people than ever living in condominiums, mismanaged condo boards are becoming ever more prevalent. Is this a symbiotic relationship?

Whether by corruption or incompetence, condo boards that mismanage their multi-million dollar budgets and reserve funds are a recurring problem. Legislation has now been enacted in an effort to rectify some of the problems which, at their core, were permitted by a failure to properly regulate the management and operation of condominium corporations’ board of directors.

The Condominium Act stipulates that the role of the board of directors is to manage the affairs of the condo corporation. In practice, most condo boards delegate the day-to-day management to an independent property manager and focus instead on the governance of the corporation. As a result, boards typically oversee the management process, approve major projects and expenditures, and ensure that the collective and individual interests of the unit owners are being addressed.

In recent years, the industry has seen a lack of transparency regarding the appointment and operations of condo boards, giving rise to financial issues. Money has been stolen by dishonest boards and has been spent recklessly by inept boards. In some of these cases, the directors responsible did not even own or live in one of the condominium’s units.

Corrupt, incompetent, or uncooperative boards.

There have been highly publicized situations where directors have diverted funds from the condo budget to themselves, or received kickbacks where the condo corporation entered into contracts with its various service providers. One such scheme concerned a small group of people who took control of multiple condo boards in Greater Toronto and were accused of orchestrating the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars from the condos’ operating budgets.

In a separate incident, the unit owners of condo buildings in Thornhill were subjected to a special assessment of $1 million to cover shortfalls in the condo’s budget and reserve fund. The owners said that they had no idea how or where the board is spending their money.

There have also been instances where condo budgets have been depleted as a result of the irresponsible spending of incompetent condo boards. Sitting on a condo board is usually a volunteer job, with the only requirements under the Condominium Act being that the individuals must be over the age of 17, not bankrupt, and mentally competent.

As a result of these minimum qualifications, condo board directors often lack the appropriate knowledge, training, and financial experience to manage the corporation properly.

Amendments to the condominium act

Allegations of corruption and mismanagement can only be resolved by either a police investigation or a lawsuit, both of which are reactive solutions.

In order to proactively address these issues, amendments to the Condominium Act came into effect on November 2017 and January 2018. The amendments were geared towards encouraging increased communication between condo boards and unit owners and enforcing training and disclosure requirements for directors. Four improvements created by the legislative amendments are as follows:

1. One category of amendments is designed to educate both the unit owners and the directors in relation to the role and responsibilities of the condo board. Condo board directors now must undergo mandatory training to assist them in understanding their obligations and to provide them with tools for effective governance. In addition, the Province of Ontario published a condo guide to explain to unit owners how condominiums are governed. These changes help directors become more aware of their duties and increase owners’ awareness of their rights. In turn, this should create
more responsible boards.

2. There are also rules in place to enhance communication between the condo board and the unit owners, and to increase unit owners’ access to condo corporations’ records. Condo boards now must issue information certificates containing information about the condo corporation’s finances, reserve fund, legal proceedings, and other matters. Directors now must make disclosures including whether they own a unit in the building, have a material interest in a contract, own a company that is a supplier to the condo (conflict of interest), or have been convicted of an offense under the Condominium Act. These changes will allow unit owners to monitor the board’s activities and the directors’ motives for sitting on the board. It should also become more difficult for non-owners to sit on the board, which is a desirable result.

3. Other amendments are directed at increasing the financial transparency of the board. These amendments include requirements for the board to pass a by-law in order to borrow money, to prepare an annual budget, and to seek a written opinion from a reserve fund study provider where the amount of money in the corporation’s reserve fund falls below a prescribed level. These changes will allow unit owners to know what the board is actually doing with their money.

4. An online “Condo Authority Tribunal” has been established to settle and decide record-related condominium disputes in a more timely and cost-effective manner. Any condo owner can file a case online for a $25 filing fee. To date, there have been 37 decisions released by the Tribunal, the majority of which have granted record requests from unit owners.

Under the old regime, a unit owner’s only recourse would have been a lawsuit. Lawsuits are slow and expensive. The Tribunal is helping to increase the access of unit owners to information about their condo board’s activities without the expense and delay of a lawsuit.

These amendments are all positive because they increase the overall transparency of condo boards in order to hold them more accountable for their actions, and to expose board members who are abusing or misusing their power. Additionally, they educate directors and unit owners about their roles and responsibilities, which should create more competent boards.

David Taub is a litigator with Toronto business law firm Robins Appleby LLP. This article originally appeared in CondoBusiness Magazine August 2019.

Special assessments in condos: a legal perspective

At a recent annual general meeting, the owners were advised that their reserve fund was not properly funded over the years and repairs needed to be done to the roofs and parking garage in the very near future. There was discussion around special assessments and how owners would be paying those amounts. There was also mention of owners getting “special assessment insurance” and owners were left with the impression that this type of insurance would cover any special assessments needed to carry out repairs. This is not the case.

As we all know if the amounts in a reserve fund are inadequate to meet the expenditures required, or if unforeseen circumstances bring forth an unexpected increase in the Corporation’s operating expenses, then the board of directors may need to levy a special assessment. Unfortunately, unit owners are stuck with this cost; however, there are instances where unit owners may have recourse to insurance to cover their share of the special assessment. A couple examples are discussed below.

Title insurance

Most real estate lawyers will recommend that purchasers buy title insurance when purchasing a condominium unit. Title insurance is intended to offer purchasers protection against a number of factors, including special assessments that may not have been disclosed in the Status Certificate.

We have all heard the horror stories of purchasers being stuck with special assessments after the completion of their purchases. Even though the corporation was aware that a special assessment might be levied or was aware of circumstances that might result in the need for a special assessment in the near future, this information was not disclosed in the Status Certificate. In these circumstances, title insurance may compensate purchasers for their portion of any special assessment.

Special assessment insurance

A unit owner can also obtain insurance coverage specifically for special assessments. This coverage will benefit a unit owner in circumstances where a condominium corporation suffers an insured loss, the insurance proceeds are inadequate to cover the costs, and the corporation levies a special assessment for the difference. This would only occur in very unusual circumstances.

A real life example involves a condominium corporation that incurred environmental clean-up costs because of a heating oil leak into the common elements. The town home units in this condominium had oil tanks that were buried in the common elements, which serviced each individual unit’s furnace. Pipes ran through the concrete basement floors of the units from the heaters to the oil tanks. As a result of a pipe break, oil seeped into the ground and the resulting environmental clean-up cost was over $300,000.

Over the years, several of these pipes had broken and the corporation had taken out the maximum available environmental coverage, at that time, in the amount of $10,000.00. The remainder of the clean-up cost was paid for by way of a special assessment. Unfortunately, when this happened, no one considered whether the unit owners’ insurance policies included special assessment coverage. When this inquiry was finally recommended, the deadline for making a claim had long passed. As it turned out, all but one of the unit owners had special assessment coverage. Had the right advice been given, the unit owners’ insurers would have paid their proportionate shares of the special assessment and the owners would not have been out of pocket. Needless to say, it’s important to not only obtain the coverage, but remember that there may already be coverage under an existing policy.

Denise Lash is founder of Lash Condo Law. This article originally appeared in the Lash Condo Law Blog.

GRESB gets lift from ESG tailwind

Increasing allocations of capital to the real estate and infrastructure asset classes and intensifying climate-related threats to those assets have been hallmarks of the ten years since GRESB, the global benchmark for the environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance of portfolios, was launched. Robust growth in participation — from the initial three European-based pension funds to today’s 1,005 real estate entities, including funds, private companies and REITs, collectively holding more than 100,000 assets in 64 countries — similarly coincides with emerging priorities for risk management and burgeoning capacity to collect and interpret data.

“I’m certainly seeing an ESG tailwind in the industry now,” Michael Brooks, chief executive officer of REALPAC and a member of the GRESB board of directors, told attendees at the 2019 GRESB real estate results presentation in Toronto last week.

Sustainability and resilience practitioners, on hand to provide some context alongside the number-crunching, linked the uplift to business imperatives and inherent vulnerabilities. Portfolio managers can prepare for extreme and volatile weather, but they can’t evade many of its resulting hazards.

“We know physical risk is a key risk to our real assets,” said Derek Billsman, director of real estate management and sustainability with the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP). “You can’t move that building.”

“When you look at the money at risk there, that’s a big issue,” concurred Darryl Neate, director of sustainability with Oxford Properties Group.

Others noted the challenge of discerning a path forward through a dense maze of analytics.

“Over the past 10 years, the ability to acquire data has improved vastly. People’s capacity to absorb data has sort of shot down,” mused Hugh Molyneux, president of Refined Data Solutions, a GRESB partner firm providing professional services to the real estate sector. “It’s really about getting the right data to the right people at the right time. GRESB has been instrumental in marshalling us and guiding us to prepare that data.”

This year’s results, released earlier this month, continue to find Canada near the front of an increasingly competitive pack. Together, 26 real estate portfolios achieved an average score of 76.6, surpassing both the Americas average of 72.1 and global average of 72, but off the pace of Australia/New Zealand’s chart-topping 80.9 average score. Europe, home to the largest number of participating portfolios, trailed the field with an average score of 70.7 — a tally that still exceeds last year’s global average of 68.4.

Major Canadian players figure among both GRESB investor members with full access to the data — including Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), HOOPP, Ivanhoé Cambridge, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Oxford Properties Group and Presima — and the larger complement of management members that report and are benchmarked through the real estate assessment. For the latter group, the acknowledged arduous task informs their own decision-making and positions them to meet investors’ expectations.

“The investor community is asking us for our GRESB scores now,” reported Regan Smith, director of sustainability with Manulife Investment Management. “Whereas, I don’t think they were asking at all about ESG ten years ago.”

Alignments and aspirations chart a course to the mainstream

GRESB is also aligned with other obligations that companies and their investors may face, such as tracking commitment to the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals or reporting under the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). The 96 per cent jump in voluntary participation in the pilot resilience module suggests that investors are paying attention to and grappling with TCFD’s nascent framework for assessing potential impacts of climate change on business stability and value. In this second of a three-year development period, 316 entities opted to report, as GRESB administrators tweaked the module to glean focused responses about transition, social and physical risks.

“There were 150 distinct things in the module you can measure, and they were categorized by TCFD criteria,” explained Chris Pyke, a senior vice president with the GRESB and USGBC affiliated firm, ArcSkoru. As of 2021, the most pertinent indicators will be identified and integrated into the core GRESB assessment.

“If you do GRESB, you have all the data you need to navigate these other acronyms,” said Dan Winters, GRESB’s head for the Americas. “We have institutional investors that rely on us to get that data.”

For now, the alignments are perhaps more aspirational than tangible. For example, 80 per cent of GRESB participants have set targets for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) deemed most applicable to real estate, but efforts have been modest in the face of the actual objectives.

“Even if everyone in the ESG universe met their targets, we still wouldn’t meet the SDGs,” advised Neil Pegram, GRESB director for the Americas.

Pyke likewise affirmed there is much room for improvement on the TCFD front, which is seen in the significant divergence in responses to the pilot resilience module.

“The top 10 per cent of respondents have a very comprehensive program. The bottom 10 to 20 per cent is really just starting out. In between, there is a lot of variance,” he said. “You can’t assume that people are managing climate risk and resilience successfully. You might call it random acts of resilience.”

Nevertheless, the green building movement has not been slow to adopt new concepts and approaches. GRESB, itself, embodies a fairly recent evolution to big-picture, portfolio-wide thinking. Smith pointed to her own earlier career role in consulting as an illustration.

“A lot of the work we were doing was really helping owners with individual assets. Certifications were just identified (as something to pursue) on a market-by-market needs basis,” she recounted.

Similarly, Darryl Neate was one the first real estate executives with the job title of sustainability manager when Oxford Properties hired him in the same era. His task began with a GRESB-attuned exercise to compile data and identify baseline starting points.

“Many of our organizations have full departments that are managing financial data and they’ve been doing that for a hundred years. We were at very, very early stages,” he recalled. “Even now, data is fragmented. It’s difficult to obtain. It’s hard to patch together across portfolios.”

Guidance to make buildings better

Again this year, GRESB participants reported in seven variously weighted ESG aspects — management; policy and disclosure; risk and opportunity assessment; environmental monitoring/management; performance indicators, including energy and water consumption and waste diversion; building certifications; and stakeholder engagement — that create a picture of their strategy-level environmental commitment and oversight, implementation rigour and measurable outcomes.

While some scores, particularly for the management and policy aspects of ESG, are extrapolated over a portfolio, performance indicators are drawn from asset-level reporting. Notably, energy intensity is plotted from a pool of nearly 23,000 assets with 100 per cent data coverage. “That is really high-calibre data,” Pegram observed.

This year, performance data revealed a slight 0.2 per cent increase in energy consumption globally, counterbalanced with a 2.6 per cent drop in greenhouse gas emissions and a 0.1 per cent decline in water consumption. Looking at another asset-level measurement, the global average score for building certifications continues to be the lowest of the seven aspects, but is steadily improving.

“LEED, Energy Star, BOMA BEST — they are certifications that really give guidance on how to make buildings better, and I think that’s showing up in the (overall) numbers,” Winters maintained.

Fewer assets contribute to Australia/New Zealand’s leading score — 2,107 valued at USD $242 billion — than in the Americas, where 38,274 assets valued at USD $1.75 trillion, or Europe, where 53,015 assets valued at USD $1.19 trillion, underpin the averages. Canadian GRESB participants skew heavily to private real estate — 21 of 26 entities — and reflect pension fund clout in the market. As in the U.S., Pegram noted that their portfolios tend to be larger than those in other global regions.

Among noteworthy 2019 results, first-time participants attained the highest ever entry-level average score, at 58. (By comparison, the global average score was 47 just five years ago.) Meanwhile the 42 entities that have been reporting since 2011 pushed their average score to 84, up from 80 in 2018.

Canadian organizations figure in both groups: Concert Properties as a newbie; and BentallGreenOak (formerly Bentall Kennedy) and Oxford Properties Group anchoring the old-hands. Another six are in their newly exposed sophomore year when investor members gain access to their results. All five listed companies — Artis, Choice Properties, First Capital, Killam and RioCan — have joined since 2017.

Barbara Carss is editor-in-chief of Canadian Property Management.

Molson Coors opens new brewery in Chilliwack

Molson Coors Canada has officially opened its newest modern brewery in Chilliwack, B.C. The $300 million facility will be home to approximately 100 employees and begins a new chapter in the company’s 230 plus years of brewing in Canada. This is the newest and most modern brewery in Molson Coors Brewing Company’s world-wide network of 29 breweries.

“This brewery will primarily serve our western Canadian markets positioned strategically in British Columbia to offer an efficient and effective modern brewery to compete in this important market”, said Frederic Landtmeters, president and CEO of Molson Coors Canada.

The 400,000 square foot brewery project was announced in August 2016 and has been under construction the past three years creating more than 1,000 construction related jobs in the area. General contractors were Smith Brothers and Wilson of Vancouver.

Designed by Omicron, the brewery will set a new standard for sustainability. Compared to the recently closed Vancouver brewery, the new modern Fraser Valley Brewery at Chilliwack will reduce energy use by 20 per cent and water by 40 per cent.

The Chilliwack brewery will be equipped with improved technologies that will deliver on reduced energy consumption, CO2 emissions and carbon footprint, such as optimized equipment layouts to reduce beer loss and waste, and a state-of-the-art CO2 recovery system.

Canadian architects commit to combat climate crisis

The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s (RAIC) Committee on Regenerative Environments is calling on Canadian architectural and design firms to commit to combating the climate crisis by signing a new Canadian Architects Declare pledge.

“Climate change is a reality and how we design our buildings has a huge impact on that,” says Mona Lemoine, MRAIC, chair of the committee and an architect based in Vancouver. “We do have the capability to make changes with the knowledge, research, and technology that exists today. It’s an exciting time because we can make a difference.”

Architects around the world are supporting students in a Global Climate Strike, part of a week of events surrounding the UN Climate Action Summit in New York. The week of global action includes strikes on September 20 and September 27 in Canada and around the world, where students and adults will take to the streets to demand climate action. The international climate strike movement began in 2018 with Swedish teenage activist Greta Thunberg.

The declaration, titled Canadian Architectural Professionals Declare Climate and Biodiversity Emergency and Commit to Urgent and Sustained Action, is a grassroots effort developed by architects across the country and members of the RAIC Committee on Regenerative Environments. It is based on the UK’s Architects Declare initiative, which has about 630 signatories.

The declaration urges architects and designers to raise awareness of the impact of the built environment on climate change and take immediate action through their projects and roles as advisors, advocates, educators, and enablers.

The call to action includes:

Design for holistic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Advocate for investments in a rapid transition to resilient climate-positive alternatives.
Eliminate waste and harm and support a quick transition to circular economies.
Design for holistic health, resilience, and regeneration; respecting the rights and wisdom of Indigenous Peoples.
Adopt regenerative design principles and practices to design and develop projects and environments that go beyond the standard of net zero in use.
Advocate for the rapid systemic changes required to address the climate and ecological health crises, as well as the policies, funding priorities, and implementation frameworks that support them.

A companion document, Designing for the Future, , expands upon actions that architects and designers can take.

With a federal election coming up on October 21, the committee calls on Canadian architects to demand commitments from political parties to keep global warming below 1.5ºC by implementing the changes outlined in the declaration. It recommends voting accordingly.

Crestpoint purchases stake in Calgary industrial portfolio

Crestpoint Real Estate Investments Ltd. (Crestpoint) today announced the completion of its acquisition of a 50 per cent interest in a 4.4 million square foot industrial portfolio in Calgary, Alberta.

Located in close proximity to the Calgary International Airport, 13 of the 14 Class “A” industrial properties are located within two industrial parks, Stoney Industrial Centre and StoneGate Landing. The fourteenth building is located in the CN Calgary Logistics Park, in Rocky View County.

“We are thrilled to be further diversifying our portfolio through the acquisition of 14 best-in-class industrial buildings as well as future development land in the Greater Calgary area. Calgary’s industrial market remains strong as the City continues to establish itself as the major distribution hub for Western Canada,” said Kevin Leon, President of Crestpoint in the company’s press release.

The portfolio is currently leased to a diverse roster of national and international tenants including Walmart, Whirlpool Canada and Kuehne + Nagel. The portfolio is comprised of all-new generation distribution facilities built between 2008 and 2019.

Following this acquisition, Crestpoint’s total assets under management for its growing commercial real estate portfolio are over $4.5 billion.

Financial statements 101

Directors receive their corporation’s financial statements for review every month or quarter, depending on the frequency of financial reporting. It can be overwhelming to determine how to best decipher the numbers, but reviewing the financial statements is a major part of any board meeting and requires participation from all directors and the condominium manager.

Breaking it down
Knowing where to look – and what to look for – makes reviewing your financial statements easier. It will also bring to light any areas that require a deeper dive to ensure the corporation stays in a favourable financial position.

Let’s review the main report sections of each statement along with areas of note that can impact your condominium corporation.

Accounts: The Corporation has two bank accounts: an Operating account that deals with the day-to-day operations of the corporation and a Reserve Fund Account that funds major repairs and replacement of existing common element components. The available balances in these bank accounts are shown in the Balance Sheet.

Balance Sheet: This is a report of the corporation’s assets, liabilities, and equity. This part of financial statements gives you a snapshot of the current financial position at the end of a month.

Assets: Any Investments the corporation has along with interest earned, and any accounts receivable that is owed to the corporation (basically, any money owed to the corporation or any asset that has value is listed in this section).

Liabilities: Any funds the corporation owes, including accounts payable, prepaid fees, accrued liabilities, and accrued audit fees.

Equity: Is the term used to describe the combination of the Operating and Reserve Fund account. Each fund’s Opening surplus/deficit, plus the current surplus/deficit and any interested earned, equals the equity in that fund.

Operating deficits: If your balance sheet is showing a deficit, getting to the root cause will be critical in addressing the deficit. Deficits occur for a few reasons: either a one time event occurred that had to be paid from the operating account (and was, therefore, was not considered when the budget was prepared) or the budget did not anticipate or foresee increases in certain categories. The condominium’s budget is set as a zero-based budget, meaning that the corporation intends to spend every cent it collects from the owners.

Budget comparison: This statement identifies both monthly and yearly budgeted amounts for each category, along with expenses incurred and income billed for each category. This budget comparison also has a section that outlines any variances for each category.

A review of the general ledger for that category can confirm why there is a variance. Sometimes, the variance can be explained due to an incorrect allocation or coding error, or it could be caused by a category that was under-budgeted, causing a variance in a category that was not known at the time the budget was prepared. The standard practice is to review each category, verify any increases for the fiscal year, and ensure any mid-year changes are pro-rated so the budget considers known increases and what they may be. This works well until unusual un-budgeted expenses hit and throw your carefully budgeted financial plan a curveball. Having some built-in budgetary contingencies will help soften these events, if and when they occur.

Aged receivables: This statement covers the balance of monies owed to the corporation from unit owners. If an owner is not up to date with their fees, this statement will show the amount they owe, the timeframe, as well as any late fees related to the collection of these fees. Remember to lien before the 90-day deadline to ensure collection.

Bank statement: In the financial statement package, there will be two bank statements: one for the operating account and the other for the reserve fund account. These bank statements will detail every deposit and cheque in that month, debit, credit, and balances, along with amounts for each transaction similar to your own personal bank account.

Investment: If the corporation has investments with a financial institution, there will be a statement outlining the amount invested and date of purchase, along with interest being accrued and the interest rate being earned, maturity date, and the current total value of the investment.

Aged payable summary: All the funds the corporation owes to vendors. It will contain a list of each amount owed along with who it is owed to, and how long it has been owed (0 – 30 days and upwards to over 90 days).

Accrued liabilities: Any funds that are known but no invoice has been received. The corporation will accrue the funds expected to be paid for the expected invoice when it is received. Examples include utilities and insurance payments.

Payment summary: A summary of all payments issued in the current month. Details include the cheque number, the vendor who was paid, the date the cheque was issued, and the amount of the cheque. Some payment summaries will also include a column indicating the month the cheque cleared the bank, which is indicated by the title “Date Reconciled.”

General ledger (monthly): Generally located at the end of the monthly statements, this provides limited details of each expense that occurred that month from each category in the budget. As such, if you see a variance in the budget comparison sheet, you can review the details of those expenses in the general ledger (e.g., the vendor, cost,
and any notes).

This article provides a guide to reading and better understanding your corporation’s monthly financial statements. The financial health of the corporation is of ongoing importance and understanding the corporation’s financial position helps to guide the board and provides greater confidence when making key decisions.

Craig McMillan president of Maple Ridge Community Management and a member of the Association of Condominium Managers of Ontario (ACMO) Communications Committee.

Summit buys two industrial properties in Guelph

Summit Industrial Income REIT (Summit) will acquire two light industrial properties in Guelph, Ontario for $57-million.

The first property is a brand new single-tenant light industrial property and the second is a recently constructed multi-tenant light industrial property totalling 431,930 square feet in a newly-created industrial park with frontage on The Hanlon Expressway near Highway 40. Both properties are 100 per cent occupied.

According to the press release, Summit is also acquiring a 50 per cent interest in 49 acres of development land in the same industrial park for $13.8 million and entering into a 50/50 joint venture partnership with Cooper Construction Limited to fully develop the property adding an estimated 774,000 square feet of Class A light industrial space over the next few years. There are currently two buildings under construction in the park which, when completed, will total 386,929 square feet. Summit will acquire the remaining 50 per cent interest in these two buildings and own 100 per cent once completed and leased.

“We are very pleased to be expanding our presence in the Greater Toronto Area region with these well-located properties,” said Paul Dykeman, Summit’s chief executive officer in the REIT’s press release.

“At Summit we have significant and proven expertise in developing light industrial properties. These investments can generate much stronger capitalization rates and returns for our Unitholders in comparison to acquiring properties,” Dykeman continued.

Closing is anticipated on or before the end of September 2019.

ISSA Charities presents 2019-20 scholarship winners

ISSA Charities has awarded 47 scholarships, totalling over US$130,000.

“We are fortunate to be affiliated with so many generous companies and individuals,” said Tracy Weber, ISSA Charities manager in ISSA’s press release. “The donations we receive from our members help further ISSA’s mission of advancing the cleaning industry by enriching the lives of the industry’s workforce.”
The winners of ISSA Charities 2019–2020 Scholarship Awards include:

GREAT LAKES DISTRICT AWARDS
Samantha T. Greenfield – Family – State Industrial Products
Rebekah G. Moore – Sponsor – Impact Products

MIDDLE ATLANTIC DISTRICT AWARDS
Kayla J. Hutton – Family – ACME Paper Co.
Kyle C. Krueger – No affiliation

NORTH CENTRAL DISTRICT AWARDS
Greta M. Garcia – Family – Kleen Test Products
Jelena Pejovic – Family – ABM

NORTHEAST DISTRICT AWARDS
Kristen N. Gambardella – Family – Building Maintenance Service LLC
Matthew J. Soffer – Family – TRI-K Industries Inc.

SOUTH CENTRAL DISTRICT AWARDS
Asia C. Harden – Family – United Laboratories Inc.
Ashley M. Robinson – Family – Windsor Building Services Inc.

GEORGIA-PACIFIC SOUTHEAST DISTRICT AWARD
Abigail M. Cox – Family – Amano Pioneer Eclipse Corp.

SOUTHEAST DISTRICT AWARD
Meghan M. Hines – Family – Atlanta MRO Supply

PACIFIC NORTHWEST DISTRICT AWARDS
Tanner S. Pemberton – Family – United Laboratories Inc.
Emily E. Yusen – Family – Zep Inc.

PACIFIC SOUTHWEST DISTRICT AWARDS
Ryann E. Woodson – Family – Waxie Sanitary Supply
Kayla E. Widjaja – Family – Maintex Inc.

EDWARD LANE NATIONAL SANITARY SUPPLY CO. AWARD
Kristen N. Gambardella – Family – Building Maintenance Service LLC

FRANCIS T. CALLAHAN AWARD
Michael T. Fairley – Family – LCS Facility Group

GOJO INDUSTRIES’ JEROME LIPPMAN AWARD
Kyra Behnfeldt – No Affiliation

GOLDEN STAR INC.’S LELAND GRADINGER AND EARL C. JULO AWARD
Anna F. Darchini – Sponsor – BCB Janitorial Supply

HEEREN FAMILY SCHOLARSHIP AWARD
Remy M. Mathenia – Family – Golden Star Inc.

HYGIEIA NETWORK AWARD
Sydney M. McDaniel – Sponsor – Diversey

ISSA CANADA AWARDS
Emma M. Armstrong – Family – Armstrong Manufacturing
Gabrielle B. Funk-Dorodoz – Family – Sani Marc/Wood Wyant

JACK D. RAMALEY AWARD
Kristina G. Gorel – Family – C.C. Cleaning

JEROME E. RAU AWARD
Emily M. Roder – No Affiliation

MAINTEX/SILVERMAN AWARD
Josue A. Baez – Family – Maintex Inc.

MANUFACTURER REP AWARD
Matthew J. Korodi – Family – Mack Sales & Marketing

NCL ALFRED POLLACK MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP AWARD
Andrew Gambardella – Family – Building Maintenance Service, LLC

NEW ENGLAND SANITARY SUPPLY ASSOCIATION AWARDS
Sydney N. Herzog – Family – Imperial Dade
Daniel J. Ventura – Family – Simplex Janitorial Supplies

NYCO/ROBERT J. AND MARY ANN STAHURSKI AWARD
Chris D. Capalbo – Family – C’s Home & Office Management Inc.
Haley R. Capalbo – Family – C’s Home & Office Management Inc.

RICHARDS H. JARDEN SCHOLARSHIP AWARD
Evan M. Penrod – Family – Spartan Chemical Co.

ROGER & VICTORIA PARROTT AWARD
Connor A. Settem – Family – Global Building Services Inc.
Brooke A. Settem – Family – Global Building Services Inc.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SANITARY SUPPLY ASSOCIATION AWARD
Aidan P. Leahy – Family – Kimberly-Clark Corp.

SPARTAN CHEMICA CO.’S E.T. SWIGART AWARD
Krista G. Lopez – Family – SupplyWorks

SPARTAN CHEMICAL IEHA AWARD
Gregory Gardner – Employee – Duke University

SSWA SCHOLARSHIP AWARD
Allison L. Siekierski – Family – RJ Schinner

TEC PRODUCTS SSWA JACOB & BOB HOLTZMAN AWARD
Lydia M. Rose – Family – Cascades Tissue Group

WAXIE ENTERPRISES INC.’S MORRIS & JEANNETTE WAX AWARD
Savanah M. Sparley – Family – Waxie Sanitary Supply

WAXIE SANITARY SUPPLY’S LYDIA WORK AWARD
Charlene K. Raspur – Family – Waxie Sanitary Supply

ZUCKER/UHRMAN AWARDS
Morgan R. Brown – Family – State Industrial Products
Cole T. Caleo – Family – State Industrial Products
Kyle O. Dorr –Family– State Industrial Products
Ella V. Strickradt – Family – State Industrial Products

“All of us at ISSA commend the recipients and wish them the best in their scholastic endeavors,” Weber concluded.
The ISSA Charities Scholarship Program has helped individuals fulfill their dreams of higher education since 1988. The scholarships are open to all employees of ISSA member companies, and their immediate family members as well. Eligible candidates are those entering or continuing studies at a fully accredited four-year college or university, majoring in whatever they desire. Scholarships are awarded based on merit, individual accomplishments, and evidence of leadership.

Choice Properties selling $426M portfolio

Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (Choice Properties) announced that it has entered into an agreement to sell a 30 property portfolio for an aggregate sale price of approximately $426 million to a third-party purchaser. The portfolio includes 27 stand-alone retail properties and three distribution centres across Canada.

“We are pleased to execute on this opportunity to recycle capital,” said Rael Diamond, President and Chief Executive Officer, Choice Properties in the press release. “Along with the recent issuance of equity, this transaction further strengthens our balance sheet by reducing leverage and providing additional capacity to fund our significant development program.”

The buyer, who was not immediately identified, also has an option to acquire two additional stand-alone retail properties for $29 million. BMO Capital Markets Real Estate Inc. is acting as an advisor on this transaction.

The transaction is scheduled to close on September 30, 2019.

Supply Chain Management Association renamed

The Supply Chain Management Association has changed its name to Supply Chain Canada. The association also launched a new website as part of an overall rebranding initiative.

“The new name and look are part of a transformation that we have undertaken as the association enters its second century,” said Christian Buhagiar, President & CEO of Supply Chain Canada in the association’s press release. “Today’s supply chains are dynamic and fast-paced. The association for Canada’s supply chain professionals must reflect that.”

Through the rebranding process, the association has also acquired a new logo and tagline, “Professionals advancing the future.”

It is intended to:

Elevate the perception of supply chain practitioners as professionals, acknowledging the value they bring to their organizations and to the Canadian economy.
Encompass the several ways that the association and its members “advance” – in their personal careers and knowledge, and for the profession, the country and the economy.
Express the future focus of the association – with its emphasis on the development of skills and policies – and of the supply chain itself, now so focused on AI, blockchain, robotics, automation and so on.

“The unity that this will ensure will help us improve recognition in the sector, and thereby provide stronger leadership to the Canadian supply chain community,” Buhagiar added.

According to the press release, the association’s transformation began in 2018 with a new vision and mission, as well as an ambitious three-year strategic plan. The new name and rebranding announced are part of a larger evolution that will continue over the next two years with the introduction of new and revised educational offerings, new initiatives to engage with industry, more value-added membership benefits and more.

REIC names Stephen Ashworth CEO

The Real Estate Institute of Canada (REIC) has appointed Stephen Ashworth as its new chief executive officer (CEO). Ashworth replaces Sandra De Medeiros, CAE who served as interim executive director & CEO.

“After a rigorous search process, the REIC National Board is pleased to have selected the strongest individual to lead the Institute,” said Ken Loeppky, CPM, REIC National President in the organization’s press release. “Stephen brings a breadth of experience in education, association leadership, professional designation management, and marketing. This makes him uniquely qualified to lead REIC successfully into the future.”

According to the press release, Ashworth holds a master’s degree in education and has led other organizations such as Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council, International Institute of Business Analysis, and Junior Achievement Canada, strengthening education and reach for these organizations. He has also served in management roles with the Halton District Catholic School Board.

Ashworth will work with staff, members, partners, and professionals he will help the board plan for a future where REIC is at the helm of high ethical standards, professionalism and integrity in real estate.

Starlight acquires Toronto portfolio of 628 rental units

Starlight Investments announced it has completed the purchase of a Toronto portfolio comprised of 628 rental units spread across 12 properties and 19 buildings. Each building was constructed between 1925 to 1972, offering a variety of suite sizes with spacious layouts, modern kitchens and on-site laundry facilities.

Located close to public transit and major highways, the properties are all walking distance to shops, malls, parks, and several primary and secondary schools. Other nearby amenities include public libraries and community centres.

The properties will be managed by either Sterling Karamar or Greenwin Inc.

The portfolio includes: 74 Curlew Drive, 260 Gamble Avenue, 310 & 312 Lonsdale Road, 2040 Eglinton Avenue West, 5, 7 & 9 Stag Hill Drive, 327 Chisholm Avenue, 338, 340 & 342 Donlands Avenue, 580 The East Mall, 778 Broadview Avenue, 2029, 2035, 2041, 2049 & 2055 Victoria Park Avenue, 2367 Queen Street East and 2701 Eglinton Avenue West.

“We are extremely proud of the acquisition of this portfolio,” said Daniel Drimmer, Starlight’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “The Properties represent Starlight’s commitment to offering rental living in the most sought-after neighbourhoods of Toronto. The acquisition of these nineteen buildings further enhances our presence throughout the city.”

Starlight Investments is a privately held Toronto-based, full service, multifamily and commercial real estate investment and asset management company that currently manages over $11.0 billion of direct real estate as well as real estate investment securities.

Investment vehicles include institutional joint ventures, True North Commercial REIT, Starlight U.S. Multi-Family Funds and Starlight Capital Funds. Starlight Investment’s portfolio consists of approximately 36,000 multi-residential units across Canada and the U.S. and over 6.2 million square feet of commercial properties.

Sun Life Building receives LEED Platinum

The Canada Green Building Council has awarded LEED Platinum certification (Existing Building) to the Sun Life Building, the highest level of recognition for LEED Green Buildings, and is a mark of excellence that is known around the world.

Located in the heart of Montréal’s business district, the Sun Life Building becomes the first century-old building in North America to obtain triple Platinum certification for excellence in environmental performance and digital connectivity, having already earned BOMA BEST Platinum certification from BOMA Canada and WIRED Platinum certification from WiredScore. The building is owned by Sun Life and a consortium led by Groupe Petra.

According to Robert Dumas, President and CEO of Sun Life in Québec “We are extremely proud of this exceptional result, which can be attributed to the remarkable work done by the Property Management team at BentallGreenOak, the willingness of the tenants to adhere to our environmental programs and the commitment of all of the owners to improve environmental performance. This certification is in keeping with the values adopted by Sun Life, which has prioritized sustainable development in its efforts to build healthy and sustainable communities for more than 150 years.”

BentallGreenOak’s tenant accountability program focuses on energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions, waste diversion, water conservation and maintaining a healthy working environment in the properties that it manages.

Alignments and aspirations chart a course to the mainstream

Guidance to make buildings better

Canadian Asset & Facility Conference

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