SmartCentres, Penguin, Revera form partnership

SmartCentres Real Estate Investment Trust, the Penguin Group of Properties, and Revera Inc. recently announced that they are entering into a joint venture to develop new retirement living residences throughout Canada.

Under the terms of their agreement, sites currently owned by both SmartCentres and Penguin have already been selected for development with future sites still to be identified. SmartCentres and Penguin will act as the developer for their own sites while Revera will operate the retirement residences upon completion. The properties will be
co-owned 50/50 by each partner in landlord/tenant structures and in operating structures.

The seniors housing sector is a fast-growing industry with demand forecast to rise significantly as the Baby Boomer generation ages, and as Canadians live longer. The initial joint venture will begin with three SmartCentre properties and one Penguin property, all situated within the GTA. Future developments will be announced in the coming months; however it is the partnership’s intent to develop and open at least five new retirement living residences per year.

“While our shopping centres have never been busier, especially with Walmart as our main anchor tenant, our strategy is now expanding to focus our development horsepower on residential, seniors, office and storage initiatives in order to extract deeply embedded value from each of our existing properties across Canada,” said Mitchell Goldhar, Chairman of the Board of SmartCentres and owner of Penguin.

“This deal will be an important accelerator to Revera’s growth strategy,” added Thomas Wellner, President and Chief Executive Officer of Revera. “SmartCentres’ national scope and unrivalled development expertise will help us to bring more diverse seniors housing options in desirable locations to Canadian seniors more quickly.”

Expansion planned for Scarborough and Rouge Hospital

The emergency department at Scarborough and Rouge Hospital’s Centenary site is set to be redeveloped and expanded. Last year, the Government of Ontario committed $5 million toward the planning of future construction projects at Scarborough and Rouge Hospital and Lakeridge Health, which led to the announcement that this expansion is moving forward.

The expansion project will replace aging infrastructure at the hospital’s Centenary site with the latest in emergency medicine design and technology, and address overcrowding in the emergency department by expanding the hospital’s capacity. This redevelopment is part of the ongoing integration of the Scarborough Hospital, Rouge Valley Health System and Lakeridge Health.

“The Centenary site is 50 years old. The people of Scarborough need faster access to the latest medical technology. That’s why this redevelopment of the emergency department is so essential,” said Premier Kathleen Wynne, in a press release. “The redevelopment of the Scarborough and Rouge Hospital’s Centenary site emergency department will give people in Scarborough peace of mind, knowing that critical life-saving services in their area are up to date and accessible for years to come.”

The expansion and redevelopment of the emergency department at Scarborough and Rouge Hospital’s Centenary site is part of Ontario’s plan to strengthen the province’s health care system. Ontario is investing an additional $9 billion to support health care construction projects across the province, bringing the total investment in hospital infrastructure to more than $20 billion over the next 10 years.

B.C. announces construction of new Pattullo Bridge

The B.C. government is moving forward with the construction of a $1.4-billion bridge to replace the aging Pattullo Bridge.

The Pattullo Bridge replacement project will be delivered solely by the province. The project includes a new Pattullo Bridge that will be located upstream of the existing one, network connections in Surrey and New Westminster, and the removal of the existing bridge. The new Pattullo Bridge will be owned, operated and maintained by the Government of British Columbia.

The province will proceed with the request for qualifications (RFQ) phase of a competitive procurement process later this spring, with start of construction in summer 2019. The bridge will be open to traffic in 2023.

“This is an essential transportation link that British Columbians rely on, and it’s our job to make sure it’s safe and gets people moving better,” said Premier John Horgan. “Replacing the Pattullo Bridge will help people get home to their families quickly and safely, while creating good jobs for local workers.”

The new bridge will be four lanes that will be built to modern safety standards, featuring a centre safety median barrier and wider lanes to accommodate both passenger and commercial vehicles. The bridge will also have walking and cycling lanes, separated from traffic, on both sides of the bridge.

There will also be smoother connections on and off the new Pattullo Bridge with new direct road connections between the bridge and East Columbia Street in New Westminster, and a new direct off-ramp from the bridge to westbound Highway 17 in Surrey.

Opened in 1937, the Pattullo Bridge is one of the oldest bridges in Metro Vancouver. The bridge was designed for a 50-year life, which has been exceeded by 30 years.

Neil Pegram to lead GRESB Canada

Neil Pegram is assuming the role of Director of Americas with GRESB, a global benchmark program tracking real estate portfolios’ environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. Previously, he was Head of Sustainability with Morguard Investments and was among the 2014 slate of honourees in Canada’s Clean50, which recognizes contributions to sustainable development and clean capitalism.

Neil is well grounded in ESG reporting, having developed Morguard’s program and overseen its GRESB submissions. Now, he will lead GRESB Canada and work with Dan Winters, GRESB Head of Americas, to expand outreach to survey participants in Canada and United States.

“He can help our members get investor buy-in on ESG, and he personally understands the challenges involved with preparing a GRESB submission,” a GRESB communiqué states. “With Neil onboard, GRESB in the Americas is well positioned to further develop the ESG benchmark for the industry and facilitate the spread of sustainable best practices across the real assets sector in 2018 and beyond.”

Last year, 18 Canadian portfolios collectively scored 70 out of a possible 100 points, while the 186 American participants attained an average score of 64.

Cut-off to apply for condo manager licence extended

The new body set up to oversee the condo management industry has extended to March 30 the now-expired Jan. 29 deadline to apply for the mandatory licences required to practice in the profession. The move comes after the Condominium Management Regulatory Authority of Ontario (CMRAO) found that more than 200 individuals had missed the original cut-off date based on information contained in applications from companies.

“Any individual or company that failed to submit a license application by the January 29 deadline, and continues to provide condo management services, has been doing so illegally,” Ali Arlani, CEO and registrar of the CMRAO, wrote in an emailed message.

This reality prompted Arlani to exercise his authority as registrar to extend the application deadline in cases where he believes entities or individuals would otherwise face undue hardship.

“To ensure transparency, objectivity, impartiality and fairness, there will be a single extension period for all potential applicants,” he said.

Arlani warned of “significant consequences” for those who miss the new March 30 deadline. Applicants who are eligible to apply for a general licence or transitional general licence and who fail to take advantage of the one-time grace period will have to start from scratch at the entry level of the two-stage licensing process. They will have to apply for a limited licence, which comes with conditions and supervision requirements, and fulfill education and experience pre-requisites before moving on to apply for a general licence.

He said that the CMRAO heard from individuals who couldn’t or didn’t submit their application online before Jan. 29 and that staff are available to help answer questions and troubleshoot technical difficulties.

“I want to acknowledge the efforts of individual applicants, condo management companies and industry associations in meeting this deadline,” Arlani added. “Our staff are diligently reviewing all applications and have begun issuing licences.”

Mandatory licensing for individuals and companies that provide condo management services comes from new legislation that is bringing the industry under regulation. On Nov. 1, when certain provisions of the Condominium Management Services Act started to come into force, individuals who had been actively practicing in the profession in the last year were deemed to hold a particular type of licence based on how much time they had clocked on the job in the previous five years.

Individuals with less than two years of experience were considered to hold a limited licence, and individuals with more than two years of experience were considered to hold either a general licence or transitional general licence, depending on whether they had satisfied certain educational requirements. But these deemed licences are only good until the CMRAO processes the licence applications of these individuals, which were originally due Jan. 29.

“Any individual or company that has not already applied is encouraged to do so immediately,” said Arlani.

Mixed-use developments may stifle diversity

Mixed-use developments in Toronto are transit-friendly, amenity-rich places to live, work and play, but the very factors that make them desirable are also creating neighbourhoods that are unaffordable for many people.

A new study from the University of Waterloo, published in the Journal of the American Planning Association, examined neighbourhoods in Toronto between 1991 and 2006. The research team found that housing in mixed-use zones remained less affordable than housing in the rest of the city, catering mostly to high-income earners working in white-collar professions and shutting out those with lower-wage jobs.

“In a moment where the economy has shifted so much to knowledge-based work, which is high wage and high skilled, we need to be thinking very carefully about the other parts of the economy—how all people live or can afford to live in those areas where this is happening,” says Tara Vinodrai, lead author and associate professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management.

As mixed-use developments reinforce a growing income inequality arising from this occupational transformation, governments continue to withdraw investments in affordable housing.

The study suggests planners consider a range of policy measures, such as inclusionary zoning, density bonuses and housing trusts—policies which haven’t seen much uptake in the city for various reasons.

“Housing affordability is something that used to be perceived as an issue for the more marginalized community—very low income,” says Markus Moos, lead author and associate professor in the School of Planning. “As more and more middle class struggle with affordability, the issue has made its way onto the political platform in recent years. On the upside, it suggests we may see more action on affordable housing policy.”

On the downside, he adds, with affordability becoming a middle class issue, there’s the question of whether policies will be implemented to help those who have always struggled within the low-income dimension. One affordability policy doesn’t work for everyone on the spectrum of homelessness to ownership.

While inclusionary zoning “isn’t a silver bullet,” according to Moos, Ontario will soon require developers to include a percentage of below-market units when planning mixed-use developments.

But according to the proposed Ontario legislation on affordable housing, which is still being clarified, this percentage would temporarily account for five to 10 per cent of building units that are only condos and not purpose-built rentals. And below-market rates don’t necessarily mean they are affordable for most or even larger families. The City of Toronto would also pay developers 40 per cent of the cost of units or exempt them from funding community necessities like child-care spaces.

“There’s also concern it may push up the market rate of housing if developers push up the cost, subsidizing the low-market unit with higher-market prices for the remaining units,” says Moos.

Such policy could also help address long-term issues like sustainability.

“It might start to address other challenges people in cities complain about, like congestion and traffic, because all of a sudden there are more people able to walk to their jobs or use transit, rather than people having to pour in from other places in the city,” says Vinodrai.

There are already measures that city planners can use to push developers to provide additional housing, Vinodrai points out. One such policy is density bonuses, where, for example, a developer can add extra storeys if they create on-the-ground amenities like parks.

“Municipalities could have stronger teeth on that,” she says. “Cities could say we want you to put in this development, but we would like you to include affordable housing.”

There is also need for more government investment. Co-op housing, another way to increase the availability of affordable housing as prices go up, often involves lengthy application processes and an average waitlist around four years. They offer a solution, but are not being expanded across Toronto.

Neglecting the affordability issue means the city itself suffers. Doing so strays far from Jane Jacobs’ mixed use ideal referenced in the study—the proximity of different social groups in established, walkable neighbourhoods having access to amenities and services.

“What Jane Jacobs had in mind when talking about the diversity of neighbourhoods is not what we created when it comes to some homogenous inner city neighbourhoods of high-rise coffee shops with yoga studios on the bottom,” says Moos.

Areas that get too expensive lose the diversity and vibrancy that made them initially attractive to city-dwellers.

“We should be concerned for the people who can’t afford it, but also for those who are able to afford it,” says Moos. “Over time, they won’t see the city that drew them there in the first place.”

The study by Moos, Vinodrai, Nick Revington, doctoral candidate in the School of Planning at the University of Waterloo and Michael Seasons, urban planner with Dillon Consulting Limited in Toronto, can be found in the Journal of the American Planning Association, in the first issue of 2018.

The Well to anchor thermal energy system expansion

The Well, a mixed-use development by RioCan REIT and Allied Properties REIT, will anchor the expansion of Enwave’s deep lake water cooling and hot water distribution networks to Toronto’s downtown west with the installation of a below-grade thermal energy storage facility.

“The development is a reflection of our joint commitment to build resilient, urban communities incorporating intelligent energy solutions and utilizing future-focused technologies,” Carlyle Coutinho, president and COO of Enwave Canada, said in a news release.

In addition to 1.1 million square feet of office space, 500,000 square feet of retail and food service space, and 1,800 residential units, The Well will house two below-grade tanks, each with a capacity of six million litres, which will hold temperature-controlled water. The thermal energy storage facility, which will equip Enwave’s system to serve a total of 20 million square feet of commercial, retail and residential space, will introduce a low-carbon, resilient cooling and heating option to buildings in the community, including The Well, which is currently under construction.

“This agreement enables the extension of Enwave’s system to The Well and allows our tenants as well as commercial, retail and residential sites in the downtown west and surrounding areas to conserve energy and reduce Toronto’s carbon emissions,” Ed Sonshine, CEO of RioCan, said in the news release.

Added Michael Emory, president and CEO of Allied: “As a mix of different occupancy types exerting their energy demands at different times of day, The Well is ideally suited to a system like Enwave.”

Condos look for energy reporting loopholes

Some condo boards in Ontario are looking for loopholes to the coming requirement to annually report the overall energy and water use of large buildings, but there are none to be found for those captured by the new regulation under the Green Energy Act.

Owners of multi-residential buildings that house more than 10 units and span more than 100,000 square feet will be obligated to file their first report by July 1, 2019, for the 2018 calendar year. Owners of multi-residential buildings that span more than 50,000 square feet will be obligated to file their first report by July 1, 2020, for the 2019 calendar year.

Nancy Houle, partner at Davidson Allen Houle, sympathized with condo boards and managers who have to add this to their to-do list, pointing out that they are wading through a sea of change ushered in by recent condo law reforms, which introduced some annual reporting requirements of their own.

“While it’s [the requirement to report energy and water use] good for the environment, it’s an additional burden on condo boards and managers who are just trying to get done everything that they have to,” she said. “The theme of the questions is really: Is there any way our condo doesn’t have to report?”

The short answer, from the Ottawa-based condo law firm, is no. The requirement for large building owners to annually report their overall energy and water use is just that — a requirement, said David Lu, an articling student at Davidson Allen Houle.

“Although the regulations don’t include enforcement mechanisms at this time, this does not mean that condominium corporations can pick and choose as to whether to comply,” he said.

Lu explained that ignoring legal obligations could constitute a breach of condo board directors’ duty to perform their role diligently, honestly and prudently. What’s more, he said, an owner could force them to comply by taking them to court — and it may be relatively easy to find out whether a particular condo corporation has been filing.

The Ministry of Energy said in an email that ‘non-filers’ could be named and prevented from accessing money set aside to offset the upfront costs faced by building owners who undertake utility bill-lowering projects.

“Buildings that fail to report may be listed publicly on Ontario’s Open Data catalogue as a non-filer,” said the ministry. “Non-filers may be ineligible for energy efficiency incentives in the future.”

Ontario’s Open Data catalogue will also house information about the buildings whose owners have fulfilled the requirement to report their energy and water use, including their address and measures of their energy performance. The data that building owners report in their first year of filing will remain private as they establish their baseline results.

Mandatory energy and water use reporting will give owners a sense of how their building is performing compared to other buildings of the same type as data is publicly shared. This visibility may also motivate poor performers in particular to take steps to improve their building’s operations.

“By identifying and benchmarking a condominium’s energy and water use, condominium corporations can identity cost effective opportunities to reduce energy costs which can benefit all condominium owners,” said the ministry.

Ontario is following the example set by jurisdictions including Chicago and New York. The provincial government introduced energy and water use reporting requirements to public sector buildings first and will now roll out the requirement to large commercial, industrial and residential buildings over the next three years. Owners of the largest commercial and industrial buildings will be the first private sector group to face the filing obligation this year, and the requirement will ultimately apply to around 18,000 buildings.

Rob Detta Colli, manager of energy and sustainability with Crossbridge Condominium Services, said the vast majority of the buildings in his employer’s portfolio, which are concentrated in the GTA, will likely face the filing obligation in 2019. He said condo corporations can get a rough idea of whether their buildings are considered large for the purposes of mandatory energy and water use reporting by using 50 units as a yardstick for the 50,000-square-foot threshold and 100 units for the 100,000-square-foot threshold.

Whether a quick way to calculate gross floor area will be made available to condo corporations is one of the logistical considerations that have yet to be worked out, as is the process for obtaining energy and water use data from utility companies, who will be legally obligated to supply this information. In the meantime, Detta Colli said he is advising condo corporations to wait for commercial and industrial building owners go through their first reporting period this year and details like these to get ironed out.

What does appear to be clear at this point is that, while condo corporations may instinctively look to their condo managers to fulfill this requirement on their behalf, managers likely lack the technical expertise to do so. Detta Colli explained that this is an area where, much like condo corporations engage lawyers in legal issues, they will likely need to engage consultants with the know-how to help them report the overall energy and water use of their buildings. He said it’s not as simple as looking at utility bills and using a tape measure — the data must be input using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, an industry standard software tool developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency specifically for benchmarking.

Ankush Randhawa, new product development manager at Enercare, said that whomever condo corporations work with, it’s important to leave time for building data to be collected and verified to avoid a last-minute scramble to meet the filing deadline.

“The opportunity here is not just to be compliant, but also to use this exercise for better understanding your building’s energy use,” Randhawa added. “Apart from the compliance and the environmental concerns, the financial benefits of energy management can be quite attractive.”

Energy and water use represent major costs for condo corporations, generally accounting for around half of maintenance fees, Detta Colli observed. It follows that the public sharing of consumption data could have a positive impact on property values in high-performing buildings, which are likely to be more attractive to prospective buyers not just from an environmental perspective but also from a financial perspective.

More broadly, he said mandatory energy and water use reporting could shift the focus of condo corporations from replacing equipment to running equipment more efficiently, noting that incentives that have long prioritized retrofits, leaving operations-oriented energy-saving opportunities untapped.

“The analogy is the efficient car,” Detta Colli explained. “If you’re not an efficient driver, then your car won’t be as efficient as it was designed to be.”

Michelle Ervin is the editor of CondoBusiness.

Little oversight of high-GWP anesthetic gases

Anesthetics commonly used in medical, dental and veterinary surgery have global warming potential (GWP) ranging from 130 to 2,540 times greater than carbon dioxide (CO₂), but are largely overlooked when greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are officially tallied. The gases — desflurane, isoflurane and sevoflurane — are not among the 31 listed in Ontario’s GHG emissions reporting regulation. Nor are health care facilities asked to account for anesthetics in the carbon emissions calculations that public sector entities must make as part of their mandated energy conservation and demand management plans.

“The optics aren’t good,” reflects Roger Holliss, director of engineering at St. Mary’s General Hospital in Kitchener, Ontario, and past president of the Ontario chapter of the Canadian Healthcare Engineering Society (CHES). “Emissions related to natural gas, regardless of the size of the hospital, have to be reported, but anesthetic gases are exempted. Others in Ontario who have an obligation to report look at health care and see that it’s granted this exemption.”

A study published in December 2017 in the international medical journal and news digest, The Lancet Planetary Health, highlights the kind of insight that reporting might reveal. Participating hospitals in Vancouver and Minnesota that relied predominantly on desflurane (GWP 2,540) recorded emissions from anesthetics of more than 2,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent annually. Their counterpart in the United Kingdom, which uses desflurane sparingly due to its higher cost, had anesthetic related emissions of 211 tonnes CO₂ equivalent even though it handled a larger volume of surgical cases over the course of the year.

“We have been working on a fact sheet on greening the anesthetic gas system,” advises Linda Varangu, executive director of the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care. “There is more than one option for facilities to take — reducing the use, substitutions of lower-GWP anesthetics, capture and recycling. It all takes time and education to get the word out.”

Health and safety priorities

Regulators have historically viewed anesthetic from an occupational health and safety perspective. Requirements for air filtration and containment are set out in widely referenced standards such as CAN/CSA Z5359 for anesthetic and respiratory equipment. And that’s with good reason.

“If it (anesthetic gas) was allowed to circulate in the air in the operating room, it would eventually put the surgical team to sleep,” explains Dusanka Filipovic, president and vice chair of Blue-Zone Technologies Ltd., which manufactures and distributes systems for capturing and recovering waste anesthetics. “It causes impairment that would be something like drinking and driving.”

The 2016 update of the CSA standard is the first version to include an informative appendix addressing measures to mitigate emissions to the environment. More illustrative of convention, instructions from the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration advise: “An effective anesthetic gas scavenging system traps waste gases at the site of overflow from the breathing circuit and disposes these gases to the outside atmosphere.”

That, too, could be problematic depending on where the vent to the outdoors is located. The gas is heavier than air and will drop to lower surfaces before it is dispersed. “If there are workers on the rooftop, they could be directly exposed to these gases,” Filipovic warns.

A call for incentives

The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, Dianne Saxe, has now turned her attention to the practice and is recommending that funds derived from the provincial cap-and-trade system be used to support more sustainable alternatives. “Unfortunately, Ontario has not been collecting any data on the amount of anesthetics used in the province, nor the rate of adoption of gas capture technologies. Perhaps more importantly, it does not provide any economic incentive for health care facilities to embrace these rather practical methods to reduce emissions,” she observed in her annual progress report, released in late January.

Thus far, the Ontario government has channelled funds earmarked for reducing GHG emissions into the Hospital Energy Efficiency Program (HEEP), which, as the name suggests, is solely focused on incentives to promote energy efficiency. Like Commissioner Saxe, CHES Ontario has asked for expanded criteria that would include systems to control and recover high-GWP anesthetic gases, and has received positive feedback from the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care.

“It has been on the radar and it’s actually moved up on the list of things that they talk about rolling into HEEP,” Holliss reports.

A sizable minority of Ontario hospitals, pegged at about 25 per cent, have already installed recovery systems. (Two Canadian companies, Blue-Zone and Class 1 Inc., are the predominant suppliers of the technology.) At Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, for example, internal estimates attribute approximately 780 tonnes of annual emission reductions to the recapture of anesthetic gas, representing 4 per cent of annual emissions at the vast campus.

“Sunnybrook is a Canadian leader in anesthetic gas capture, having partnered with Blue-Zone for the last 13 years,” says Michael Lithgow, the hospital’s manager of energy and climate change. “It is part of our Earth Matters Program to foster environmental awareness and provide leadership in energy efficiency, pollution prevention and waste management. That all supports our broader mandate to prevent future health risks.”

Sunnybrook is currently a voluntary participant in Ontario’s cap-and-trade market — an option open to entities with annual emissions of 10,000 to 25,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent — so there is also potential to claim or sell resulting GHG reductions as carbon offsets. In future, this possibility could help more health care operators with the business case for anesthetic gas recovery systems.

“Certainly, that would take the edge off the cost,” Holliss says. “It would also depend on where the hospital stands in the grand scheme of the 10,000-tonne threshold.”

Regardless, the investment could be a proactive strategy ahead of inevitable requirements to control emissions. “The day is coming soon when hospitals in Ontario are going to be asked to do this,” Holliss predicts.

Awareness supports sustainable choices

For smaller scale practitioners like dentists and veterinarians, less capital-intensive strategies will likely be the preferred option — and that aligns with the Canadian Green Health Care Coalition’s philosophy. “Reducing the use or substituting means we would have less to vent, or capture and treat,” Varangu reiterates.

The good news, perhaps, is that the most environmentally damaging anesthetic gas, desflurane, is also the costliest. In comparing the three participating hospitals, The Lancet study notes that “higher surgical case volumes can be done at a fraction of the cost” when isoflurane (GWP 510) or sevoflurane (GWP 130) are substituted.

“Preferential use of alternative anesthetic agents or strategies (e.g. regional techniques, total intravenous anesthesia) has the potential to dramatically reduce theatre greenhouse gas emissions,” it states. “A lack of awareness regarding the environmental impacts of anesthetic choices is believed to be the greatest barrier to widespread implementation of low-carbon practices.”

Accordingly, the Environmental Commissioner has raised the issue with good timing for the professional standards body for Ontario dentists. It is in the process of a regular review of its standard of practice for sedation and general anesthesia.

“Although we have guidelines dealing with anesthesia and guidelines regarding environmental hazards in amalgam waste, we were not previously aware of concerns being raised about the environmental impact of anesthetic gases,” says Kevin Marsh, director of communications with the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario. “This will be brought to the attention of our working group.”

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

Choice Properties buying CREIT for $3.9 billion

Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (Choice Properties), the real estate arm of Loblaw, is acquiring Canadian Real Estate Investment Trust (CREIT) for $3.9 billion in cash and stock.

The deal will form Canada’s largest REIT, with an enterprise value of approximately $16 billion, 752 properties and 69 million square feet of gross leasable area. Choice Properties will acquire all of CREIT’s assets and assume all of its liabilities, and will pay about 42 per cent of the purchase price in cash—to a maximum of $1.65 billion—and 58 per cent in Choice Properties units.

“Choice Properties’ expanded diversified real estate portfolio, anchored by Canada’s largest retailer, will provide unitholders of both Choice Properties and CREIT the opportunity to capitalize on the future growth and value creation opportunities of this strategic transaction,” said John Morrison, president and CEO of Choice Properties. “Relying on the depth of tenant relationships of both organizations, the combined real estate will provide tenants with best-in-class real estate solutions across an extensive national portfolio.”

This expanded pipeline includes potential to capitalize on an established retail development and intensification program and to leverage joint venture partnerships to access attractive sites to fuel additional development. The combined REIT will have 60 sites prime for creating exciting residential-focused mixed-use communities, many of which are in close proximity to public transportation.

“This transformational combination creates immediate value for CREIT and provides tremendous opportunity for Choice Properties to capitalize on Canada’s leading development pipeline and create long term value,” added Stephen Johnson, CEO of CREIT. “Together, the combined REIT is uniquely positioned to deliver results for unitholders as the owner, manager and developer of a high quality portfolio of diversified assets.”

Hong Kong developer announces largest mixed-use project in Canada

Aoyuan Property Group, a pioneer of mixed-use community developments in China and a proponent of healthy living, is redeveloping the 8.6 acre Newtonbrook Plaza site at Yonge and Finch in Toronto.

Founded in 1996, Aoyuan was the first developer in China to integrate residential real estate with sport and recreation amenities. Their first sports-themed development, named Olympic Garden or Aoyuan, was based on the idea that exercise and being healthy started at home.

Aoyuan has expanded to six different business arms ranging from e-commerce to hospitality. Innovative projects include a mobile app that integrates e-commerce with property management and a large-scale chocolate theme park.

“Aoyuan brings a unique approach to the way we think about the built environment and real estate. Building healthy lifestyle communities was part of their DNA from the beginning,” says Vince Santino, senior vice-president of development (Eastern Canada), Aoyuan Property Holdings (Canada) Ltd. “Aoyuan knows real estate is not only about giving people a two or three-bedroom unit. They have a corporate intelligence about the way people live which gets baked into their master-plans.”

This will be Aoyuan’s largest master-planned community in Canada. Plans include five residential towers, 180,000 square feet of office and retail, a daycare and community centre. The new community will be 100 metres from the Yonge and Finch subway and Finch Go Station. A portion of the lands, which is currently a parking lot, will be transformed into a new park and playground. Aoyuan has also embraced the City’s desire to encourage larger suites for families of all shapes and sizes.

“Aoyuan takes into consideration exactly how purchasers will be affected by every decision they make,” says Josie Arcella, senior sales and marketing manager (Eastern Canada), Aoyuan Property Holdings. “Can they move around freely in their bedroom, can they fit a Queen bed? Is a walk-in closet most functional? Aoyuan’s designs are not based solely on global trends, but on the functionality of the entire community and what buyers really need.”

Aoyuan’s current land bank totals more than 200 million square feet and 100 major residential and commercial properties in over 30 cities across China, Australia and Canada.

Cadillac Fairview welcomes Olympic lounges to 23 properties

As the official home of Team Canada, Cadillac Fairview (CF) welcomed the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang into its CF Brighter Lounges last week.

Located at all 19 CF shopping centres and four office towers nationwide, the lounges will help Canadians stay connected to the action and accomplishments of the Canadian Olympic Team.

“There is no shortage of pessimism in today’s world and we want the passion, perseverance and optimism of our Canadian athletes to remind us that young or old, we can all aspire to make positive change and create a bright future for Canada,” said Jason Anderson, senior vice-president, marketing, Cadillac Fairview. This is the spirit behind CF Brighter.”

The multi-year, six Olympic Game partnership between CF and the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) was previously announced in Septmeber 2017.

Eighteen of the 19 lounges at CF shopping centres feature immersive screens broadcasting CBC Olympics coverage and owned content, with all lounges offering dynamic backdrops for engaging, shareable moments. The additional four CF Brighter Lounges are located in office tower properties. The lounges will welcome the public from February 9 to 25 and will operate during regular property hours.

“We are excited to share the thrill of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games with Canadians through our partnership with CF, in their properties and online.” said Chris Overholt, CEO, Canadian Olympic Committee. “The CF Brighter Lounges are an exciting start to this partnership that will inspire Canadians to go out and cheer together for Team Canada.”

In addition to the shareable experiences offered in each CF Brighter Lounge, Canadians will have the opportunity to participate in CF’s Brighter platform.

Every time the hashtags #CFBrighter or #CFBriller are used on social media throughout the 2018 Olympic Winter Games (Feb. 9 – 25), CF will commit $1 to the Canadian Olympic Foundation and WE, CF’s major philanthropic partner, who is focused on youth empowerment. CF will donate up to $250,000.

Photo courtesy of Cadillac Fairview

How IoT is making waste management smarter

The decreasing costs of sensors means the Internet of Things (IoT) is rapidly moving into new areas of commercial and residential properties. While smart thermostats, intelligent lighting controls and digital water meters are nothing new, the number of connected devices in an average property is projected to increase exponentially in the next five years, bringing smarter innovations in all kinds of areas, such as recycling and waste management.

This year, there will be 31 billion connected IoT devices globally, according to new research from business information provider HIS Markit, and it’s expected the commercial and industrial sector will account for close to half of all new connected devices between 2018 and 2030.

For some time, owners and managers have been automating building maintenance activities with the primary goal to achieve cost savings and operational efficiency through improved energy management and reduced personnel costs, but there are other far-reaching benefits from using these devices and data. Observing an IoT-connected waste or recycling bin offers a clue.

A smart bin is a waste or recycling bin outfitted with a sensor that can detect bin fill level, collection events, fire, tilt and temperature. There are a variety of sensors on the market that use ultrasonic sensors, laser measurement and image recognition to collect data.

All this data from smart bins offers some immediate and obvious benefits; however, when examining the data generated through a multi-dimensional lens, there is much more value than a trip saved walking around a property looking to see if waste has been collected.

Easy Pickings

Fill level measurement: With insight into which bins are not full on pick-up day, managers can pose the question of whether these bins be picked up less often and therefore reduce costs. On the flip side, identifying which bins are full before pick-up days and are likely to overflow can help managers prevent associated clean-up costs and cleanliness issues.
Collection events: The data gathered allows managers to determine if the bin is being collected as per the agreed-upon schedule with their waste/recycling vendors. It also provides a quick overview of how often pickups are missed as well as the time of the day pickups are typically being completed.
Fire alerts: Real-time and accurate alerts in cases where a container catches fire.
Tilt alert: Instant notification of when a bin gets tipped over.

Beyond Basics

Patterns and trends on how bins fill up: At some properties, in certain jurisdictions, bins can fill up on Fridays as workers complete end-of-week cleaning and often remain empty from Monday to Thursday. Bins may be more or less full in the winter or summer. For properties with weather dependent activities, such as patio dining areas, there may be a clear link between sunny days and more waste volume.
Comparing similar buildings: Some buildings generate more or less waste/recycling. Tenants in these buildings have different services based on waste output; for example, a restaurant tenant requires more frequent collection than an office tenant. Understanding these trends allows managers to properly forecast and plan waste services when new tenants move into a property.
Illegal dumping: Through image-based camera systems that can visually assess waste types managers are able to identify the bins where illegal dumping occurs and can take appropriate actions, such as locking bins and installing video surveillance if required.

Surpassing What’s Expected

Drive accurate sustainability reporting by using the actual volume measurement instead of estimates or inaccurate weights.
Charge tenants by the verified amount of waste or recycling that is generated instead of an estimate or inaccurate cost sharing of predicted volumes.
Reduce traffic, noise and congestion on a property with less truck visits due to reduced pickups.
Reduce wear and tear of parking lots, doors and enclosures with less truck visits.
On demand pickup of waste and recycling eliminates unnecessary truck trips with no overflow.

Capturing the Full Value

Even a basic smart bin can generate a large amount of data, which can be overwhelming for property managers who must manage and analyze it.

Specialized IoT service providers with industry and/or sector-specific experience can help managers facing hardware troubleshooting and data analysis issues to access and use the relevant information to make good decisions.

For property managers who want to capture full value from their IoT investment, it pays to consider fully integrated providers that offer IoT hardware and software platforms along with vendor management capabilities.

Examples of specialized IoT service providers would be energy management IOT management firms that provide both the IOT hardware (smart meters and sensors), the analysis of the data using software and procurement expertise to provide the full value circle of IoT.

This approach to IoT is now moving into waste and recycling management with smart waste management companies providing IoT in the form of smart bins, software to analyze the data and vendor management expertise to deliver the full circle of IoT value to real estate managers.

Colin Bell is a Managing Partner with RecycleSmart Solutions. He leads the IoT program with over 3000 IoT enabled smart bins installed across Canada. He can be reached at [email protected], www.recycle-smart.com

Far-UVC light can stop flu from spreading: study

Continuous low doses of far ultraviolet C (far-UVC) light can stop the flu and other airborne viruses from spreading in indoor public locations, according to a new study published in Scientific Reports.

Researchers at the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) found that overhead far-UVC light in hospitals, doctors’ offices, schools, airports, airplanes, and other public spaces is a low-cost solution that could ease influenza pandemics.

Scientists have known for decades that broad-spectrum UVC light, which has a wavelength of between 200 to 400 nanometers, or nm), is highly effective at killing bacteria and viruses by destroying the molecular bonds that hold their DNA together. This conventional UV light is routinely used to decontaminate surgical equipment.

“Unfortunately, conventional germicidal UV light is also a human health hazard and can lead to skin cancer and cataracts, which prevents its use in public spaces,” said study leader David J. Brenner, PhD, the Higgins Professor of Radiation Biophysics at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia.

Several years ago, Brenner and his colleagues hypothesized that a narrow spectrum of ultraviolet light called far-UVC could kill microbes without damaging healthy tissue.

“Far-UVC light has a very limited range and cannot penetrate through the outer dead-cell layer of human skin or the tear layer in the eye, so it’s not a human health hazard,” he said. “But because viruses and bacteria are much smaller than human cells, far-UVC light can reach their DNA and kill them,”

Influenza virus spreads from person to person mainly through fine liquid droplets, or aerosols, that become airborne when people with flu cough, sneeze, or talk. The new study was designed to test if far-UVC light could efficiently kill aerosolized influenza virus in the air, in a setting similar to a public space.

In their earlier studies, Brenner’s team demonstrated that far-UVC light was effective at killing MRSA (methicillin-resistant S. aureus) bacteria, a common cause of surgical wound infections but not harm human or mouse skin.

At a price of less than $1,000 US per lamp—a cost expected to decrease if the lamps were mass produced—far-UVC lights are relatively inexpensive. “

And unlike flu vaccines, far-UVC is likely to be effective against all airborne microbes, even newly emerging strains,” Brenner added.

New condo apartment sales red hot in 2017: Altus Group

Altus Group recently released data on new condominium apartment sales in key Canadian markets, including the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH), Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver, for 2017.

Last year, the GTA was by far the hottest housing market in the country for new condominium apartments with a record 36,429 units sold. The GTA saw the largest increase in buying activity across Canada with sales climbing 25 per cent year-over-year, a difference of 7,297 units. Despite an increase in the number of new units brought to market by developers last year, the pace of sales exceeded new supply. As a result, available inventory fell to its lowest level since Altus Group began tracking the market, which prompted rapidly increasing prices.

The GGH also saw strong sales in 2017 with a combined 3,467 new condominium units sold last year, although the total fell eight per cent compared to 2016 levels. Hamilton and Kitchener-Waterloo remain the two largest new condo apartment markets in the GGH regions surrounding the GTA with 783 and 1,257 units sold, respectively.

New condominium apartment sales in Edmonton soared over 60 per cent higher in 2017, the largest percentage growth of the markets tracked, with 1,289 units sold. This significant jump largely took place in the downtown core, where the new Rogers Centre attracted home buyers to the city and helped increase sales by 160 per cent year-over-year. Edmonton’s suburban areas were still dealing with a large supply of inventory and sales remained relatively flat compared to 2016.

In Calgary, there were 2,083 new condominium units sold last year, an increase of 42 per cent compared to 2016 levels. After two years of declines, buyers are returning to the Calgary market but unlike in Edmonton, it was the suburban regions of the city that saw stronger increases.

While other key markets in the Altus Group data saw sales in the new condo market either exceed or fall only slightly below 2016 levels, Vancouver was an outlier last year with a significant decline in overall unit sales, impacted by the sharp fall in new condominium supply coming onto the market. However, the 10,939 condominium apartment units sold in Vancouver last year represent a 90 per cent sales rate of all new inventory introduced into the market in 2017. Vancouver is the tightest new condominium apartment market in Canada and sales levels are not reflective of underlying demand, which remains strong.

“The sales activity across the country indicates that demand for new condominium apartment product was very strong in 2017, but particularly in the GTA,” said Matthew Boukall, senior director at Altus Group, in a press release. “While we expect to see some moderation in the GTA sales volumes in 2018 given price escalation in recent years, rising interest rates, tighter lending criteria and additional mortgage stress testing, strong demand in Vancouver and Calgary is expected to push new condominium apartment sales higher, provided a broader range of affordable product can be brought to market.”

Altus Group also studied 2017 figures to compare what home buyers with a budget of $500,000 could afford in the downtown areas of various housing markets across Canada. Their results found that consumers have considerably more buying power in smaller housing markets such as Calgary, Edmonton and Kitchener, versus the larger markets in Vancouver and Toronto.

For example, potential buyers looking to purchase a home in Kitchener would be able to find a two-bedroom unit over 1,000 square feet. In Calgary and Edmonton, two-bedroom units ranging from 850 to 1,000 square feet in desirable neighbourhoods could also be purchased for that amount. In the Toronto market, however, buyers would be able to use that money towards a one-bedroom unit sized at only 430 square feet, but in Vancouver, nothing was available at all at this price point in the downtown core. Home buyers in this region would have to visit nearby markets, such as Burnaby, to find a one-bedroom condo unit at this price.

Carbon market funding to upgrade Ontario schools

Ontario is investing in energy improvements at college and university campuses across the province.

This investment is part of Ontario’s Climate Change Action Plan and is funded by proceeds from the province’s cap on pollution and carbon market.

Plans are to install energy-efficient windows and high-efficiency boiler replacements, larger retrofits, upgrades and new construction for projects that achieve significant emissions reductions and/or demonstrate innovative approaches to increase campus sustainability and reduce greenhouse gas pollution.

Funds will also go to projects that reduce energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and operating costs through interest-free loans
Ontario’s carbon market proceeds are required by law to be invested in programs that help households, businesses and public institutions reduce greenhouse gas pollution.

In 2017-18, Ontario is investing more than $214 million in grants and making available up to $300 million in interest-free loans to retrofit college and university facilities through the Greenhouse Gas Campus Retrofit Program.

In November 2017, Ontario issued a call for proposals from publicly-assisted colleges and universities for innovative approaches to increase campus sustainability.

“By investing in repairs and retrofits on campuses across the province that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy efficiency, we can extend the life of valuable infrastructure and provide students with the best possible learning environment to pursue their goals and achieve their potential,” said Mitzie Hunter, minister of advanced education and skills development.

Michael Cox becomes new 2018 RAIC president

Michael J. Cox, FRAIC, is the 79th president of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC). The Manitoba architect has led numerous organizations and is passionate about the contribution architects can make in their communities.

Born in Fort Frances, Ontario, Cox received his B.Arch. from the University of Manitoba in 1971. He has been the principal of Michael J. Cox, Architect, a one-person practice in Brandon Manitoba, since 1979. The firm has completed hundreds of projects, ranging from small-scale residential renovations to significant commercial projects.

Cox received the President’s Medal of office from the 2017 President Ewa Bieniecka, FRAIC, at a change-of-office ceremony on February 2 in Ottawa. About 40 guests attended, including past presidents and the RAIC board of directors, who were in the national capital region for a board meeting. The one-year term began January 1. Cox has been serving as president since September 2017 when Bieniecka shortened her term for personal reasons.

“The RAIC needs to focus on the immediate needs of its members at all stages of their careers and in all sizes of practice,” said Cox, who has been a sole practitioner for nearly 40 years. “This includes delivering relevant and accessible continuing-education programs, helping emerging practitioners, and advocating for architects on practice issues such as procurement reform.”

Cox, a past president of the Manitoba Association of Architects, said he will encourage significant membership growth among licensed architects as well as graduate architects, academics and emerging practitioners. “Greater numbers are essential for the RAIC to strengthen its advocacy on behalf of the profession and the built environment. I will be speaking with groups and individuals to come to a better understanding of ways in which the RAIC can be of increased assistance as part of a continuous effort to be valuable, relevant and forward-thinking.”

He added, “I will work to position the RAIC for growth, and to foster positive working relationships with provincial and territorial regulators as well as the Canadian academic institutions that teach architecture.”