RioCan and Killam form joint venture in Ottawa

RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust and Killam Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust announced the formation of a joint venture to develop a rental residential community at Gloucester City Centre in Ottawa, Ontario.

On April 21, 2017, Killam acquired a 50 per cent interest in a 7.1 acre development site located adjacent to RioCan’s Gloucester Silver City Shopping Centre, in the east end of Ottawa. The purchase price for Killam’s 50 per cent interest is $8 million ($16 million at 100 per cent). RioCan and Killam each own a 50 per cent interest in the land and will participate on the same basis in the costs to develop the project. RioCan will act as the development manager, and upon completion, Killam will act as the residential property manager.

The site has zoning approval for a total of four residential towers containing up to an aggregate of 840 units. The first phase of the development will include a 217,000 square foot, 23-storey tower containing approximately 222 units. This leading edge development will maximize efficiency with the incorporation of a geothermal energy system for the building’s heating and cooling. Site work has commenced and occupancy is anticipated in mid-2019. Located adjacent to RioCan’s Silver City Gloucester retail centre and Ottawa’s Light Rail Transit (LRT) Blair Station on the Confederation Line East, the development is easily accessible to many retail, entertainment and transit options.

“We are very pleased to partner with Killam on our first rental residential development in Ottawa. Killam’s experience and management expertise in the rental residential segment will ensure the success of this development project,” said Edward Sonshine, Chief Executive Officer of RioCan. “This rental residential development along the expanding Confederation LRT line is a prime example of the opportunities that RioCan has to extract additional value and cultivate new sources of cash flow from our portfolio of transit oriented urban locations.”

“This joint venture is an exciting opportunity for Killam,” noted Philip Fraser, Killam’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “It aligns with Killam’s growth strategy of developing high-quality properties and diversifying geographically, with an emphasis on next generation operating systems and building features. Partnering with RioCan provides Killam the opportunity to participate in a four-phase apartment complex located next to both modern transit and amenities, and to grow our Ontario portfolio.”

“Despite recently announced expanded rent control guidelines in Ontario to include apartments built after 1991, new apartment development continues to be a sound strategy,” continued Mr. Fraser. “The all-cash yield on this project is expected to be well above the return achievable in today’s acquisition market. This is expected to translate into net asset value creation for Killam’s unitholders upon completion of the project. In addition, with an expected net operating margin of approximately 70 per cent, compared to 55 per cent to 60 per cent for many older assets, the property’s exposure to increased operating costs is limited, and its long-term net operating income growth potential is enhanced. Finally, with no deferred capital, the net cash flow from the project is expected to be stable and predictable.”

Optional property tax class set to be mandatory

Ontario municipalities appear to be losing an optional property tax class and gaining a mandatory one. Though expressed somewhat vaguely, the provincial government’s newly announced plan to boost housing supply and affordability forewarns that all municipalities will be required to adopt the new multi-residential property class and align it with the tax rate applied to residential properties.

An April 20 release from the Ministry of Finance affirms the Ontario government’s legislative and regulatory agenda will include: “Ensuring that property tax for new multi-residential apartment buildings is charged at a similar rate as other residential properties. This will encourage developers to build more new purpose-built rental and will apply to the entire province.”

Currently under Ontario’s Assessment Act, municipalities can voluntarily pass an enabling by-law to establish the property class. Qualifying properties — whether newly constructed or created from the conversion of non-residential buildings — would then be taxed at a distinct rate, set at the municipal council’s discretion, for a maximum of 35 years. Participating municipalities can also pass a by-law at any time to discontinue use of the property class.

This flexibility has created a patchwork of scenarios across the province. Toronto was among the first municipalities to take advantage of the new multi-residential class when the provincial government of the day open up the possibility. At the time, a handful of discretionary property classes — including options for distinct classes for office buildings, shopping centres and parking lots/vacant land — were introduced largely to deal with the fallout from the 1998 province-wide reassessment and associated assessment reforms, but the new multi-residential class was also envisioned as a mechanism municipalities could use to support the development of purpose-built rental housing.

In Toronto, the new multi-residential tax rate mirrors the residential rate, while older rental apartment buildings, built prior to the city’s 2002 formal adoption of the class, are taxed at a rate approximately 2.5 times greater. Some other municipalities peg the new multi-residential tax rate somewhere between the residential and multi-residential rates, and some municipalities offer no property tax breaks for new rental apartment development.

“For example, Brantford has a program, but it’s not aligned with the single-family tax rate in that municipality. Oakville just doesn’t have a property class for new multi-res,” explains David Gibson, a property tax consultant with Yeoman & Company Paralegal Professional Corporation. “Now municipalities will be forced to adopt the class, which they should be.”

He also advocates a broader definition of “new” to cover significant capital upgrades to the vast share of Ontario’s existing rental housing stock that’s now in the range of 50 years old. With a coalition of industry and municipal support, and drawing on his own experience proposing and steering regulatory tweaks through Ministerial processes, Gibson foresees the provincial government could be convinced to allow substantially renovated existing rental apartment buildings to qualify for the preferable property tax rate — perhaps by making the new property class status conditional on achieving LEED or some other comparable certification.

“Right now, there’s no incentive for landlords to inject the amount of cash that’s often needed into these buildings,” Gibson maintains. Beyond improving the quality of their living conditions, he suggests rewarding renovated properties with a lower property tax rate could also benefit tenants by mitigating above-guideline rent increases for capital improvements.

Minimizing Liability Risk

What is professional liability insurance and what it covers are common questions by many within the construction, design and engineering communities.

Construction professionals such as architects, engineers, land surveyors and quantity surveyors typically carry professional liability insurance (also known as errors and omissions liability insurance). These policies insure the professional from their liability arising out of actual or alleged errors or negligence in the performance of their services to others. This policy is often referred to as the professional’s ‘practice policy’ and is normally renewed annually.

A notable fact about these policies is that it must be in place at the time a claim is made in order for it to respond and pay the claim. This is important when hiring an architect or engineer who does not normally carry professional liability insurance and agrees to obtain it while working on a project really does not provide owners or their projects with much protection if they decide to not maintain the policy after the first year. Policies also normally have an aggregate limit that caps the amount available in any one policy period.

How do owners address this potentially major exposure to their project’s profitability?

The most robust and efficient option is to arrange a project specific professional liability policy which insures all professionals for the work on a specific project during and after it’s completed for a given time period. These are not commonplace and the details are outside the scope of this article.

So that leaves us with addressing the expectations of the owner and professionals in the early stages of the project.

Properly drafted insurance provisions in an RFP or contract make everyone’s life easier. While the owner has the right to require whatever types of insurance of the consultants, it should be noted that requiring higher than normal limits that don’t make sense for the project may limit the number of firms interested in the project or in turn may increase their fees as they are looking to recover the additional cost of the insurance requirements.

Another area that causes a lot of concern is omnibus language in the indemnity agreement that makes reference to “any and all claims or demands” that is not tied to an error, omission or negligent act in the rendering of professional services and goes beyond the legal liability that is covered under the professional liability insurance. Such broadly worded indemnity clauses may create uninsured business risks for the consultant. All of these items can negatively impact the project and in turn the owner’s reputation, resulting in consultants pricing this unknown risk into their proposals.

Examples of specific provisions include a requirement in the contract with professionals outlining the insurance the owner requires them to carry and how long the owner requires it to be maintained. This can be worded in various ways but owners need to consult an insurance broker who has specific knowledge of professional liability so they can have confidence that they are asking their consultants to provide what makes sense. We often see requests for what is known as Additional Insured status, however most professional liability insurers will not grant this type of coverage. Notice to the project owner of the cancellation of the professional’s policy (from their insurer) is a suitable option but not totally reliable depending on the insurer. Another option is asking for notice of material change, which we often see but most insurance companies are not prepared to provide this because the term “material change” is too nebulous and vague.

Not all provinces require architects or engineers to obtain professional liability insurance. For example in the province of B.C. there is currently no requirement for architects or engineers to maintain professional liability insurance, only a requirement for them to advise clients if they have insurance or not. This comes as a surprise to many people and is one of the main reasons owners need to ask the question to their consultants.

Jeff McLellan is vice president, professional services, architects & engineers practice leader – Western Region at BFL Canada Insurance Services Inc.

Douglas Spratt joins Prism Engineering in B.C.

Douglas Spratt has joined Prism Engineering’s mechanical team as a senior mechanical engineer.

Spratt has been providing consulting engineering services to clients in Western Canada for more than 30 years. As head of Douglas Spratt & Associates (DSA), his clients include building owners, managers and architects and his projects have ranged from small mechanical engineering studies to managing multidiscipline engineering projects of over $70 million.

Spratt will be complimenting Prism’s engineering team, offering Prism clients an additional range of expertise and resources in mechanical and energy management services.

“We’re thrilled that Douglas has decided to join our team. His expertise in mechanical system design and excellent leadership style will undoubtedly be great assets to our mechanical engineering team. Both Prism’s current clients and clients of Douglas Spratt & Associates stand to benefit from our partnership moving forward,” said Robert Greenwald, president, Prism Engineering Ltd.

Spratt’s primary areas of expertise include HVAC upgrade design, energy studies and indoor air quality improvements. Drawing on his Executive MBA, he has worked with clients developing financial plans related to energy and HVAC systems. He has also written technical articles for publication both locally and internationally and has been retained for expert witness work.

While Douglas Spratt & Associates will continue to offer expert witness services, all other future services provided by Spratt will be delivered through Prism Engineering.

Ontario’s Fair Housing Plan aims to stabilize market

Ontario is introducing a Fair Housing Plan, comprised of 16 measures, in an effort to make housing more affordable for homebuyers and renters and bring stability to the province’s real estate market.

These measures include introducing legislation that, if passed, would apply a 15 per cent Non-Resident Speculation Tax (NRST) on non-Canadian citizens, non-permanent residents and non-Canadian corporations buying residential properties containing one to six units in the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH). This measure aims to address unsustainable housing demand in the region, which has experienced dramatic price increases over recent months.

Refugees and nominees under the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program would not be subject to the NRST. Depending on their eligibility, a rebate would be available for those who have attained citizenship or permanent resident status as well as foreign nationals working in Ontario and international students.

In an effort to increase housing supply in a province where the average vacancy rate dropped to 2.1 per cent last fall, its lowest figure since October 2003, Ontario plans to establish a program to leverage the value of surplus provincial land assets to develop a mix of market housing and new, permanent, sustainable and affordable housing supply. The plan also proposes introducing legislation that would empower the City of Toronto and potentially other interested municipalities to introduce a vacant homes property tax to encourage property owners to sell or rent unoccupied units.

Other measures included in the Fair Housing Plan include:

Expanding rent control to all private rental units in Ontario, ensuring rent increases can only rise at the rate indicated in the annual provincial rent increase guideline;
Updating the Residential Tenancies Act to include a standard lease agreement, tighten provisions for “landlord’s own use” evictions, and make the process fairer and easier for tenants and landlords;
Ensuring property tax for new multi-residential apartment buildings across the province is charged at a similar rate to other residential properties, encouraging developers to build more purpose-built rental housing;
Introducing a $125-million, five-year program to encourage the construction of rental apartment buildings by rebating a portion of development charges;
Providing municipalities with the flexibility to use property tax tools to help create development opportunities;
Creating a Housing Supply Team with dedicated provincial employees to identify barriers to specific housing development projects and work with developers to find solutions;
Understanding and dismantling practices that may contribute to tax avoidance and excessive speculation in the housing market, such as “paper flipping”;
Reviewing the rules real estate agents must follow to ensure that consumers are fairly represented in real estate transactions;
Establishing a housing advisory group to provide the government with ongoing advice about the state of the housing market, discuss the impact of the Fair Housing Plan and any additional steps that may be needed;
Educating consumers on their rights;
Partnering with the Canada Revenue Agency to explore more comprehensive reporting requirements to ensure correct federal and provincial taxes are paid on purchases and sales of real estate in Ontario;
Making elevators in buildings more reliable by establishing timelines for elevator repair in consultation with the sector and the Technical Standards & Safety Authority (TSSA); and
Working with municipalities to better reflect the needs of the growing GGH region through an updated Growth Plan, including requiring municipalities to consider the appropriate range of unit sizes to accommodate a variety of household sizes and incomes.

In recent months, Ontario has introduced other measures to help moderate housing affordability, including doubling the maximum Land Transfer Tax refund to $4,000 for qualifying first-time homebuyers and freezing the municipal property tax burden for multi-residential buildings in regions where these taxes are high.

“People work hard to provide for their families. They should be able to rent or enter the real estate market without making great sacrifices or taking on a huge amount of risk,” said Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne in a statement. “At the same time, we recognize the need to protect the significant investment homeowners have made. This plan balances those needs to stabilize the market and prevent a sharp correction that would be harmful to everyone.”

2017 Homeowners’ Choice Award winners revealed

Tarion has announced the recipients of the 2017 Homeowners’ Choice Awards, honouring Ontario home builders with the best customer service. Tarion also introduced a new award in 2017 – the Ernest Assaly Award – honouring an Ontario builder who demonstrates a commitment to building quality and innovation, customer service and community involvement.

The 2017 Homeowners’ Choice Award winners are:

High-Rise Category: The Daniels Corporation
Large Volume Category: Arista Homes Ltd.
Medium Volume Category: Talos Custom Homes Ltd.
Small Volume Category: Davenport Homes

The recipient of the Ernest Assaly Award, selected by Tarion’s Board of Directors, is Lockwood Brothers Construction. Tarion describes this award as similar to a lifetime achievement award. It celebrates the highest level of excellence in home building while honouring the legacy of Ernest Assaly, a highly-respected leader in the industry.

“Both of these awards celebrate excellence in the industry and raise the bar for all builders,” said Howard Bogach, Tarion president and CEO, in a press release. “They showcase industry leaders who pour their heart and soul into the customer experience and the communities in which they build and live.”

The Homeowners’ Choice Awards are the result of thousands of Ontario’s new home buyers being polled across the province annually. In 2016, over 52,500 new home buyers were given the opportunity to rate their builder on their performance before, during and after they moved into their new home. More than 8,500 homeowners’ responses were recorded.

“For more than 40 years, Tarion has been working with builders and homeowners to build confidence in the home building industry,” added Bogach. “Our experience is that builders who go the extra mile create a positive home-buying experience that leads to happy, satisfied home owners, and we’re thrilled to recognize the recipients of this year’s awards.”

Deconstructing Ontario’s Fair Housing Plan

In an effort to help increase the province’s supply of affordable housing and protect renters from what many are calling exorbitant rent hikes, the Ontario Government has announced a comprehensive package of measures, including: bringing in a 15 per cent foreign buyer tax; expanding rent control to include post-1991 buildings; allowing Toronto to impose a tax on vacant homes; and using surplus lands for affordable housing.

While cash-strapped tenants and home-seekers are fundamentally in favour of these new measures, the question remains, what will it all mean for Ontario’s purpose-build rental industry?

The Federation of Rental Providers of Ontario (FRPO) has been vocally opposed to the removal of the 1991 Exemption since talks of this possibility abounded several months ago. To highlight its concerns, the association recently conducted a survey of its membership detailing the extent of damage the change could have on the province’s new rental supply.

While FRPO shares the government’s interest in protecting Ontario’s renters, Jim Murphy, FRPO President and CEO, objected to its decision to change rent control legislation without any formal consultation with the very industry it implicates.

“Today’s announcement by the Wynne government will put thousands of units, and millions of dollars in provincial revenues at risk,” he said. “It is a rash, politically motivated decision, which will hurt, not help, generations of Ontario renters.”

Defending the new measures, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynn stated at a press conference today: “When young people can’t afford their own apartment or can’t imagine ever owning their own home, we know we have a problem. And when the rising cost of housing is making more and more people insecure about their future, and about their quality of life in Ontario, we know we have to act.”

Expanding rent control

According to the Fair Housing Plan, expanding rent control to all private rental units in Ontario—including those built after 1991—will ensure increases in rental costs can only rise at the rate posted in the annual provincial rent increase guideline. Over the past ten years, the annual rent increase guideline has averaged two per cent. The increase is capped at a maximum of 2.5 per cent. Under these changes, landlords would still be able to apply vacancy decontrol and seek above guideline increases where permitted.

The government will also introduce legislation that would, if passed, add new measures to the Residential Tenancies Act. This will include: developing a standard lease with explanatory information available in multiple languages; tightening provisions for “landlord’s own use” evictions; and ensuring that tenants are adequately compensated if asked to vacate under this rule.

The plan states it will prohibit above-guideline increases where elevator work orders have not been completed and make technical changes at the Landlord-Tenant Board to make the process fairer and easier for renters and landlords.

Joe Hoffer of Cohen Highley LLP has his doubts that the outlined measures will add up to much in the way of boosting our much-needed rental supply. “If the new construction (post-1991) exemption is completely eliminated, the other announced incentives to encourage new apartment construction will ‎be of limited value, particularly if interest rates move upward,” he said. “While Toronto may not feel too much pain given the demand, the proposal will have adverse impacts across most of the rest of the province.”

Furthermore, Hoffer voiced concerns that the mandatory lease proposals will require most operators to revise their administrative processes and current leasing documents, which for many will be a costly exercise.

“This proposal seems to have come out of left field and there is no policy context or rationale advanced by the Province to justify ‎this significant intrusion into what is, for the most part, a highly professionally run industry,” he said.

Canada’s annual green bond issues could top $50-bil

Canada’s capacity for green bond issues will be at minimum $56.3 billion in fiscal 2017/18, according to a recent report by Corporate Knights released at the RBC Capital Markets Green Bond Conference in Toronto on April 10. This figure is based on an analysis of the capital requirements, debt-raising capacity and intended uses of proceeds of 21 of the country’s largest public and private bond issuers.

“There’s clear momentum in green bond markets, but it’s still seen as a niche and perhaps even challenging financial tool,” said Toby Heaps, CEO of Corporate Knights, in a press release. “A billion dollars’ worth of bonds formally labelled as green are currently being issued in Canada annually. This analysis shows there’s potential for exponential growth.”

The analysis involved identifying the largest potential issuers with specific financing needs in the relevant timeframe, amenable to bond financing, and which would or could qualify as green. These findings were then cross-referenced with data on debt-raising capacity provided by RBC Capital Markets.

In 2017/18, the 21 potential bond issuers have the need and ability to fund $23.6 billion worth of “explicitly green projects,” such as public transit, renewable energy, and loans for electric vehicle purchases and green power projects. They have the further need and ability to fund $32.7 billion worth of “potentially green projects,” including energy-efficient construction or retrofitting of public buildings and installation of broadband.

Canada has seen a total of $4.5 billion in total green bond issues to date, including from the Ontario government in 2014 and 2017, and one this past February from the Quebec government, while the federal government has yet to make an issue. In a separate report released in early April, RBC Capital Markets found that a sufficiently liquid and effectively functioning domestic green bond market would need to increase up to $10 to $20 billion in size.

“Our assessment demonstrates that there’s more than enough potential for Canada to host a robust green bond market, to the benefit of both issuers and investors,” added Heaps. He went on to say that there are multiple sources of momentum at the moment, including the large infrastructure investments being made by many governments and the renewed commitment to climate action.

As part of the report, Corporate Knights also found that of the top 100 current infrastructure projects in Canada, identified as such by ReNew Canada, 56 of them would be green bond eligible.

Although green bonds can be widely applicable in private sector financing, Heaps says the government role will remain crucial in the early days of market development, through both continued public green bond issues and other support. “For a nominal investment, government could offset the additional transaction costs that green bond issuers incur,” he said. “And this would likely significantly lower the barrier to early adoption for some issuers.”

London, England-based Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) recently calculated US$694 billion in outstanding bonds globally which are specifically being used to finance low-carbon and climate-resilient infrastructure. This figure is up US$96 billion compared to the year before.

“Green bonds are clearly on a strong global growth trajectory,” said Sean Kidney, CBI CEO and co-founder. “It remains to be seen which financial centres will emerge as the definitive centres of excellence in this area. But the research released today clearly shows that green bonds have the potential to become a much bigger part of Canadian capital markets.”

Issuer (figures in $billions)	Explicitly Green Projects/Financing	Potentially Green Projects/Financing	Total Green Bond Capacity
Federal Government	$3.40	$3.10	$6.50
Crown Corporations	$0.36		$0.36
9 Largest Provinces	$11.9	$22.63	$34.53
Telecom – Bell		$3.88	$3.88
Telecom – Telus		$2.90	$2.90
Utilities – Hydro One	$1.52		$1.52
Utilities – Hydro-Québec	$3.90		$3.90
Pension Plans – PSP Investments	$0.98	$0.19	$1.17
Automotive – Toyota Credit Canada	$0.13		$0.13
Banks – RBC	$0.38		$0.38
Banks – CIBC	$0.18		$0.18
Banks – Scotiabank	$0.28		$0.28
Banks – National Bank of Canada	$0.22		$0.22
Banks – BMO	$0.35		$0.35
TOTALS	$23.60	$32.70	$56.30

Bank figures are based on 2016 Bloomberg New Energy power asset financing data. Chart courtesy of Corporate Knights. Access the full report here.

GTA home sales climb 17.7 per cent in March

According to the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB), there were 12,077 home sales through the TREB’s MLS System in March 2017, an increase of 17.7 per cent compared to the 10,260 sales in March 2016. For the TREB market area as a whole, year-over-year sales growth was strongest in condominium apartments and detached houses.

The number of new listings also increased year-over-year, reaching 17,051, a 15.2 per cent increase compared to March 2016. The detached home market segment experienced the strongest growth in new listings. While new listings were up significantly compared to last year, the rate of new listings growth remained below the rate of sales growth, resulting in GTA market conditions continuing to tighten.

“It has been encouraging to see that policy-makers have not implemented any knee-jerk policies regarding the GTA housing market,” said Larry Cerqua, TREB president, in a press release. “Different levels of government are holding consultations with market stakeholders and TREB has participated and will continue to participate in these discussions. Policy-makers must remember that it is the interplay between the demand for and supply of listings that influences price growth.”

Strong competition between potential buyers continued to cause high levels of price growth across all major market segments. The MLS Home Price Index Composite Benchmark Price increased by 28.6 per cent year-over-year. For the TREB market area as a whole, the average selling price of a home climbed 33.2 per cent, with similar annual rates of growth in the low-rise and condominium apartment segments.

“Annual rates of price growth continued to accelerate in March as growth in sales outstripped growth in listings,” added Jason Mercer, TREB’s director of market analysis. “A substantial period of months in which listings growth is greater than sales growth will be required to bring the GTA housing market back into balance. As policy-makers seek to achieve this balance, it is important that an evidence-based approach is followed.”

Net positive energy office set to rise in Waterloo

In Waterloo, Ontario, workers are installing wells for a geo-exchange system that will heat and cool a new office development aiming to be one of the most energy efficient in Canada. What will be a LEED Platinum, net-positive office building that produces more energy than it consumes every year, is also known as Evolv1, a name that serves as a metaphor to its surroundings.

Situated within the David Johnston Research + Technology Park (R+T Park) in the Idea Quarter, near a 270-acre environmental reserve, the construction site neighbours forward-thinking tenants involved in everything from bio-technology and solar-power to the automotive industry and agri-food. The R+T Park is also home to the largest privately-owned green roof in southwestern Ontario, which, at the time it was built ten years ago, was the largest in Canada.

Companies there, along with a green team, are involved in ongoing strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This new building will follow suit, while also evolving old industry norms, showing that Class A office space can be developed in a highly sustainable, but commercially viable way.

“What we’re demonstrating with Evolv1 is that we’re able to develop it at market prices,” says Adrian Conrad, chief operating officer of The Cora Group, the project developer. “We’re hoping that it’s a catalyst for change in the industry, locally and beyond. With this new office space I want to change what employees and companies demand in their buildings, to show this can be done, and done cost effectively.”

Partners collaborating on the three-floor, 110,000 square-foot building include Sustainable Waterloo Region (SWR), anchor tenant EY Canada and The Cora Group who invested $35 million into the project. Another tenant has also committed to the space, which will open its doors in 2018 and is currently being preleased alongside Evolv2, a similar office building that will one day rise across the street.

Two years ago, project architect Stantec conducted a feasibility study to investigate what was possible in creating the building. The team then decided to target LEED Platinum design principles.

Aiming to go well beyond current green building practices and integrate systems that give back to the environment, a geothermal exchange system will extract heat from the ground to warm the building on cold days and send excess heat into the ground to cool the building on hot days.

Smart, dimmable 1-10V LED lighting will be installed throughout the building, along with a variable refrigerant flow HVAC system. And about 1.5 acres of 700 kilowatt photovoltaic solar panels will blanket the roof and carport, generating clean electricity in the face of rising energy costs. They are projected to generate about 106 to 110 per cent of the building’s energy requirements.

Triple-glazed windows will salvage insulation concerns, while also adding an abundance of natural light.

“What occupants will find is they are, at most, 40 feet away from a window anywhere in the building,” adds Conrad. “So, we’ll end up building what is highly sustainable, but also really great office space. With our mechanical system, we’re also designing for higher air changes than normal – the more fresh air, the more comfortable the office.”

Another way the design targets good air quality is with the addition of a solar wall on the south elevation. An aluminum perforated wall will be installed with an air cavity behind it so the building passively preheats air without using energy, before the mechanical system carries it into the space.

Two years ago, SWR, EY, The Cora Group and the R+T Park came together with a collective vision of what they wanted to achieve. The team is also working with a community development psychologist from Wilfred Laurier University on how best to engage tenants in the building.

“Four organizations have been jointly undergoing this vision as a whole, knowing the needs of the tenants is part of the success of the building,” says Tova Davidson, executive director of SWR. “There is someone sitting in on meetings every three weeks to help guide decisions as the voice of the tenant, which creates an integrated design process.”

When SWR wrote their strategic plan in 2013, a home for sustainability was on the list, where interested parties would come together to work on running more sustainable businesses. For SWR and its partners, they aim to transform Evolv1 into a highly sustainable workplace, but also add a cleantech innovation hub on the main floor.

“The building is the foundational piece,” adds Davidson. “Without the building, none of this could be possible, and we’re looking to do additional things to be even more innovative and create a clean economy cluster in the region, growing the network we already have.”

Through the City of Waterloo, Evolv1 received funds from the Green Municipal Fund to help with the feasibility study. The City will soon share those findings as a way to “disrupt the development industry” and make such green buildings less of an apprehensive process.

As for The Cora Group, it has been undertaking sustainable developments for a while now, with three of its office buildings earning LEED Gold, including the R+T Park’s innoTECH Building — the first LEED multi-tenant office building in Southwestern Ontario. Each building is more sustainable than the next, and Conrad is often asked why he cares and why he “does what he does.”

“It’s all about passion,” he says. “When I sit down with Tova at Sustainable Waterloo Region, Carol Stewart at the University of Waterloo (R+T Park) or a partner at EY, it’s a group of people who are passionate about seeing change. You invest so much time into doing something like this; it’s the passion of trying to create, change the industry and do what’s right for the community.”

Morguard’s Geoff Nagle has optimistic outlook

Geoff Nagle is an optimist and life is definitely positive for the 55-year-old director of development, Western Canada at Morguard Investments.

The B.C. real estate market is busy and in fact, a number of exciting projects are keeping Nagle very busy these days. The most notable is the mixed-use neighbourhood known as Uptown in Saanich, the company’s largest single project to date at more than $300 million.

Construction on phase 1 began in 2008, taking a 226,000 square foot 1960s strip centre and transforming it into a state-of-the-art sustainable urban mixed-use neighbourhood comprised of Class-A office, retail and multi-family residential space.

“One of our most exciting projects in the past few years is Uptown, a LEED-ND gold project that has completed three phases with the fourth phase underway with construction start expected in 2017,” says Nagle. “Uptown is at the centre of an evolving urban core in Saanich – it’s been a game changer.”

The final phase of the award winning development will feature a 14-storey building that includes 134 rental units and townhomes along with 55,000 square feet of retail space. Phase 4 will be the first apartment building on the island for Morguard and the tallest rental building in Saanich.

“As the saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither was downtown Saanich,” says Nagle with a laugh. “Building a project like this that is welcomed by everyone involved has been a rewarding process.”

Nagle, with more than 25 years of design and development experience, enjoys community building.

“I’m interested in what it takes to get community change underway. It’s vastly complicated with many stakeholders,” he says. “We are in the business of change and I decided a long time ago if I’m going to be in the business of change, my full intent is to make it change for the better.”

Real estate development, however, was not his first career choice. Born in Vancouver, Nagle grew up in different countries such as Pakistan, Italy and the U.S. before returning to his hometown.

“I had the good fortune of living in Rome in my teenage years and decided I had to become an architect,” says Nagle, explaining his father, as an economist for the World Bank and the United Nations, worked all around the world.

After graduating with his Bachelors of Architecture from Montana State University in 1986, he returned to Vancouver, became licensed with the AIBC and practiced as a commercial architect for five years. Nagle recalls how he worked early mornings (5am-8am) for a developer doing proforma work before heading to his architectural job. “Those were long days,” he says.

With a passion for all aspects of development, he went on to obtain his Master’s degree in Real Estate Development from MIT in 1992. “I was really interested in a driving role in the actual overall concepts and the projects created – interested in what it takes to get community change underway.”

He joined Morguard Investments in December 1992 as manager of new business in B.C., which eventually evolved to include Western Canada before he assumed his current role in 1999.

With regional offices in most major markets across Canada, Morguard is one of the largest fully integrated real estate companies in the country with a portfolio of more than 40 million square feet. In North America, the company’s owned and managed portfolio of assets is valued at almost $20 billion. Morguard’s portfolio is well-diversified with real estate properties across multiple asset classes including office, retail, industrial, mixed use and residential properties.

“My first major project was the expansion of the Coquitlam Centre, which opened in 2001,” says Nagle. “It was the biggest private sector project in Western Canada at the time.”

Nagle doesn’t practice as an architect in his current role, but is rather a “good client” that enjoys the rewards of “having been able to be part of some significant improvements to the communities that we’re working in.”

At any given time, he oversees six or seven significant projects across Western Canada from Saskatoon to Victoria with a focus on office, industrial and retail. His responsibilities include identifying and proposing concepts of a project, obtaining approvals from authorities, assembling the team of consultants and engaging with the public.

One of those projects includes 601 West Hastings in downtown Vancouver, which is waiting for final approvals. The 225,000 square foot office tower, at the corner of Hastings and Seymour, is targeting LEED Gold and will feature a revitalized plaza. It will offer 8,500 square feet of leasable space per floor near one of the city’s busiest transit hubs at Waterfront Station.

“This is the first project we’ve developed in the downtown core in a few years. We’ve been acquirers and owners but not developers,” says Nagle, adding construction start will hopefully be spring 2017. “The concept of the building is single tenant office space. We have a small site but it’s the right size for the Vancouver office market where we don’t typically have large anchor tenants like Toronto or New York.”

Another area of business that Morguard is pursuing is rental residential.

“Morguard has a significant portfolio of rental residential across North America, but not in B.C. Uptown would be the first, so we’re actively looking for opportunities,” says Nagle.

With the high housing prices in the Metro Vancouver region, the demand for rental housing and more affordable alternatives is strong. The majority of the existing stock is old, but new purpose-built rental housing is gaining traction among developers.

“We can make inroads in our affordability crisis through allowing supply to happen,” comments Nagle. “A big part of it is municipal approvals – if we can roll through the process more efficiently and bring product on stream, it will help with affordability.”

With significant retail holdings in B.C., Nagle is also focused on master planning and planning densification of several retail properties into urban mixed use including Coquitlam Centre.

“When we acquired it, the centre was sitting in a forest and now it’s in a transit hub in an emerging downtown core of an active community,” says Nagle. “Coquitlam Centre is on 59 acres and we need to be consciously looking at how that will evolve into the next step.”

Other retail properties in B.C. include Sevenoaks Shopping Centre in Abbotsford, Cottonwood Mall in Chilliwack, Burquitlam Plaza in Coquitlam and Shelbourne Plaza in Saanich.

Like many commercial owners across Canada, Morguard is dealing with Target’s exit from Canada which put some significant retail space on the market.

“We got 15 Target stores returned to us across Canada so that is generating reconfiguration work and redevelopment opportunity,” he notes.

Nagle expects the market to remain extremely busy in the immediate future, especially in Vancouver where residential development has been booming.

“We’ve lived through several cycles of extreme construction cost inflation followed by periods of relative stability. Access to construction resources at an economically viable rate is always a concern,” he says. “There has been a lot of pressure on costs in the Vancouver market due to all the activity in residential taking up available capacity. We’re watching it carefully and we will have to see what happens.”

Cheryl Mah is managing editor of Canadian Property Management B.C./Alberta.

Disaster Planning: Before, During, and After

If you’ve read the headlines, you know the risks are real. From wildfires to raging floods, and corporate fraud to cyber attacks, there any number of ways disasters can take an organization offline. Recognizing these risks is important, but for companies to be truly prepared, they need to have plans in place to protect them before, during, and after an event.

The Three Essential Plans

Planning an emergency response is critical, but it’s not the only step. Organizations must have a Business Continuity Plan in place well before its needed so the company has clear directions on how to continue operations during and after an event; as well as an Emergency Response Plan to help them respond effectively to that specific emergency; and a Disaster Recovery Plan to help the company return to operations as quickly as possible after the dust has settled.

Having these three plans at the ready is not only the smart thing to do; these days, it’s almost expected.

“There’s been a major shift in the private sector in that we’re seeing service providers now being required to show clients proof that they have these plans in place,” says John Stephenson, a senior vice president with FirstOnSite Restoration, adding, “We’re even seeing the requirement for these plans show up in requests for proposals for everything from electrical work to cleaning contracts.”

Traditionally, disaster plans were only mandatory among government agencies, but now both clients and insurers alike are demanding them more and more in the private sector. Of course, says Stephenson, the real motivation for investing in such plans goes beyond compliance: “The risk of not having these plans is you can literally go out of business, because if you can no longer function internally after a disaster, how can you provide your services externally?”

Drafting the Plan

There are subtle yet important differences between each type of disaster plan. Business Continuity Plans, for example, serve the function of providing clear directions on how a company will operate during a major event. They originated in the 1980s when the rise of IT technology such as computer networks, communications systems, and digital infrastructure made it necessary for companies to determine how these increasingly important business components would be protected and re-established during an emergency. Today’s Business Continuity Plans still cover these elements, but also take into consideration leadership structures, staff roles, recovery strategies, and physical assets.

“They’re really designed to keep your essential business running,” explains Stephenson. “They can entail everything from how you’ll keep your communications going to how you’ll pay your staff and continue to serve clients. There are so many different things that can impact a company’s ability to operate going forward during and after a disaster.”

Drafting a Business Continuity Plan requires input from all levels and departments (e.g., human resources and IT) to ensure all staff core business competencies are being taken into account.

Equal considerations are made when creating an Emergency Response Plan. These plans exist to provide the company with instructions for handling an event or specific emergency when it’s happening, and include directions for staff, guidance for crisis teams, and vital contact information.

“Emergency Response Plans are just that – plans that focus on what to do while an emergency or crisis is occurring. They’re all about the tactics in the field, where people need to go, and how staff deal with emergency responders,” says Stephenson.

Disaster Recovery Plans are also self-explanatory and no less critical. After all, the actions a company takes after a disaster will determine how fast it gets back on its feet. These plans will often include instructions on who call for recovery efforts, how a company will function in the interim, and other steps and partnerships needed to continue servicing clients.

Living Documents

Disaster planning never ends. The aforementioned tools are all living documents which must be reviewed and tested on a regular basis to make sure they are still efficient and relevant to the company’s current state.

“Things change. Companies evolve. People come and go. You need to take that plan out once every year or so and go through a live exercise or table top exercise with your team to make sure it still fits,” says Stephenson, “At the end of the day, you want the peace of mind knowing there’s a plan in place if something happens and your clients want to know they’re dealing with a company that will continue to function if disaster strikes.”

John Stephenson is a senior vice president with FirstOnSite Restoration, a leading Canadian disaster restoration company, providing remediation, restoration, and reconstruction services nationwide, as well as for the US large loss and commercial market. For more information, please visit http://www.firstonsite.ca/.

Crown acquires office building in dynamic Toronto node

Crown Realty Partners (Crown) has acquired a 252,000 square-foot office building in Toronto’s vibrant Downtown West neighbourhood on behalf of its third fund, Crown Realty 111 LP, and other co-investors.

Located near the financial core and south of Richmond Street, 111 Peter Street rises to nine storeys and houses tenants like Influitive, Varage Sale, Leonardo Worldwide Corp. and Breather.

Crown is currently on the search for a ground floor retail tenant for 10,505 square feet of space, next to Independent City Market, a Loblaws franchise chain that currently feeds many local condo dwellers in an area that has seen rapid residential development in need of amenities. The area is also a hub for technology, advertising, and media and information companies.

Constructed in 1972 to house manufacturing and warehouse activities for the garment industry, the renovated building has loft-style floor plates (29,000 square feet), high ceilings, spacious corridors and underground parking. For flexibility there are also superior loading facilities and a freight elevator for tenants of all sizes,

“We are excited to complete this acquisition as it appeals to a broad range of tenants within a dynamic office node,” said Emily Hanna, partner, investments, Crown. “This asset also contributes to the geographic diversity of CR III LP, which has, to this point, acquired over 1.4 million square feet of space within Markham, Mississauga and North York.”

This acquisition signals the end of Crown’s third fund. The company has, however, announced the initial closing of it fourth value-add fund, Crown Realty IV Limited Partnership, closing this year with capital excess of $200 million. The fourth fund will build upon the accomplishments of the previous value-add funds focused on the office market in the Greater Toronto Area.

Scotiabank shifts gears with new Digital Factory

The half-pixelated gear that hangs above the entryway symbolizes the output of Scotiabank’s new Digital Factory in Toronto, opened last fall. There, 200 team members and growing develop digital products rapidly with input from customers.

The facilities are designed to support the institution’s transition from a financial services company to a technology company that offers financial services, or fintech company, as these entities have come to be known.

In the current landscape of disruption, companies of various kinds have been forced to adapt or risk becoming extinct. The half-pixelated gear conjures the past of the industrial revolution and the present of the digital revolution. The Digital Factory similarly incorporates nods to the foundation on which Scotiabank’s success was built while embracing the future.

Plans for the new facility and team date back to 2015, when the financial institution made the strategic decision to amalgamate its disparate agile groups under one roof, to fully capture the benefits of rapid product development, said Kevin Stewart, vice president of digital enablement at Scotiabank.

“We thought of it as a lighthouse for the rest of the bank — on emerging technologies, the way we work, different types of technologies and different types of configurations of real estate, on how we would organize our people to accomplish tasks,” he said.

The interiors of the low-rise red-brick building at 333 King St. East showed signs of its 1970s-era origins, but it was the only space of its size that delivered the must-haves on Scotiabank’s list. It was in close proximity to the institution’s downtown Toronto headquarters, it had an open floorplate and soaring ceilings, and it was priced right because the financial institution was taking over the previous tenant’s lease, said Stewart.

The imagery of the factory gear figured in the layout of the 70,000-square-foot space as parti diagrams were drawn, said John Capobianco, design director, IA Interior Architects.

“In addition to that was this idea of flow — flow of information, flow of communications, flow of technology, flow forward,” he explained. “And that’s the inspiration behind all of these rounded corners and all the very sort of dramatic circulation through the space.”

A tour path takes visitors upstairs from street level, into a central rotunda and through six different neighbourhoods, which each have their own colour and theme. The colours, which facilitate wayfinding, are inspired by Scotiabank’s ‘Smartie’ palette and are matched to neighbourhoods according to Feng Shui principles.

“It (the Chinese system of organizing spaces for harmony) was actually culturally relevant to a lot of the people who are here and might be an attraction tool,” observed Beverly Horii, managing director, IA Interior Architects.

Around the central rotunda, glass-walled meeting rooms act as ‘portals’ into neighbourhoods, said Horii, with monikers for innovators and innovations based on theme. As examples, the architecture neighbourhood features a Zaha Hadid room and the film neighbourhood a Netflix room.

The layout intentionally places sit-to-stand workstations on the two-thirds of the floorplan with windows and the distributed amenities on the one-third of the floorplan without windows. The workstations are configured to support collaboration among members of agile teams of up to 14 people, which form around projects.

Rows of workstations position people face to face, with minimal barriers between them. Sweeping whiteboard walls frame team spaces on either side, accounting for a portion of the approximately 18,000 square feet of writeable surfaces in the Digital Factory.

Drop-down collaborative tables, which act as end caps to the rows of workstations, provide a different setting for activities such as coding and programming, pointed out Edmund Chang, senior project manager, Scotiabank. A customer usability lab offers a place to gather feedback during the rapid product development process.

The Plant room provides an escape, with its lush greenery and bay windows overlooking King Street East and a street-level retail branch of Scotiabank. In addition to foosball and ping-pong tables, which are becoming staples of the modern workplace, the Digital Factory has at least one other novel amenity. Steps up from the team-building zone is a bowling alley.

The long and narrow ‘concrete bunker’ was a relic of the former tenant, the Toronto Sun newspaper. It served as the fire-proof archive room, which rose four feet off the floorplate to accommodate the printing press that used to occupy the space below. The realization that the space was the right dimensions for a regulation-sized bowling alley presented a viable alternative to an expensive redo, explained Chang.

Nearby, a speakeasy-style bar provides a venue for celebrations when teams complete projects, which is an important part of the culture at the Digital Factory, said Chang. Here, the retro interiors, complete with vintage Gramophone, recall the financial institution’s roots with penny replica-lined walls and a 700-pound vault door worthy of a bank heist movie.

One of the causes for team celebrations has been Blockchain, the first prototype to come out of the Digital Factory. Users can load the mobile wallet like a Presto card and use it to make direct transactions (read: peer to peer, without an intermediary).

Scotiabank is rolling out one of Blockchain’s first applications at South Side Betty’s, the Digital Factory’s full-service kitchen. There, employees will be able to pay for food and drinks with the swipe of their hand. The application combines the mobile wallet with a biometic security system called MorphoWave.

The biometric solution, which comes from the French company Safran, was also deployed as the security system for the Digital Factory. MorphoWave reads fingerprints with high-speed infrared cameras and lasers posted at Plexiglas turnstiles. Scotiabank looked at a number of biometric security systems before landing on MorphoWave, which was selected for its ability to efficiently handle high volumes of traffic, said Stewart.

Other state-of-the-art technology includes access point systems from Cisco that allow most employees to work wirelessly. Developers initially expressed reservations about being able to code away from their workstations, recalled Chang, but their fears were assuaged when they learned the technology would enable them to upload and download at 400 megabytes per second.

“A functional aspect was: Great space, but if I can’t do the work that I need to do, then it’s just a great space,” he said of this project consideration. “At the end of the day, we’re building great products for our customers.”

Digital Factory teams have also developed a product for their colleagues. Trifecta is a digital app that equips new hires with information on everything from cultural norms, such as leaving work areas to socialize with colleagues over lunch, to wayfinding. Currently at around 200 team members, the Digital Factory group is expected to expand up to around 350 team members.

The new space was built out over the span of roughly 16 weeks following the August civic holiday, with existing employees relocating before the end of last fall.

As it adapts to a technology-driven future, Scotiabank hasn’t forgotten its history. In the Digital Factory, mounted against brick and sculpted from metal, the financial institution’s circa 1921 coat of arms forges a link to the company’s East Coast heritage in Nova Scotia.

Michelle Ervin is the editor of Canadian Facility Management & Design.

Can a condo owners’ meeting be discriminatory?

Condominium corporations are a microcosm of society, made up of individuals with divergent beliefs, practices and needs. What if boards of directors were required to select dates for annual general meetings (AGMs) or special owners’ meetings that all unit owners could attend based on their religious beliefs, family obligations, or other personal needs? This was precisely the issue that the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario recently considered in the case of Kamal v. Peel Condominium Corporation No. 51.

The case

In the Kamal case, the board of PCC 51 obtained a condition survey from its consulting engineer indicating that major exterior repairs were urgently needed at a cost of $2 million. PCC 51 only had $200,000 in its reserve fund account. PCC 51 had previously levied a special assessment to raise funds to cover a budget shortfall, which was financially difficult for many owners. The board of PCC 51 was concerned about the financial impact of levying a further special assessment, and opted instead to look into borrowing the $2 million for repair work. In the end, PCC 51 was able to secure financing on favourable terms so long as the approval, including passing a borrowing bylaw, was completed by the end of the year.

A special owners’ meeting was called for the unit owners to discuss and vote on a borrowing bylaw. The board of PCC 51 made a point of trying to choose a date which would allow owners to attend as the borrowing bylaw would not pass unless a majority of all units voted in favour. In selecting the date for the meeting, the board specifically sought to avoid scheduling it on Eid-ul-Ahza, an important religious holiday for persons of the Muslim faith within the condominium community.

At the time the meeting packages were mailed out, Eid-ul-Ahza had not yet been declared for those Muslims who celebrate this day based on the moon sighting, as opposed to a fixed calendar date. In the end, for some Muslims, Eid-ul-Azha fell on the same day as the special owners’ meeting. Given the limitations associated with the financing, the board decided to proceed with the meeting on the scheduled date. Three unit owners subsequently filed an application with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal against PCC 51 (who the writer of this article represented) and its property management company. The application alleged discrimination based on the unit owners’ creed due to the holding of the special owners’ meeting on Eid-ul-Azha.

The decision

In a decision released late last September, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal found that holding the meeting on Eid-ul-Azha did not discriminate against the applicants and dismissed all three applications against both PCC 51 and its property management company.

The tribunal rejected the applicants’ contention that the corporation’s decision to hold the special owners’ meeting on Eid-ul-Azha deliberately targeted owners who were Muslim by excluding them from attending the meeting. Further, the tribunal found that there was evidence of past owners meetings held on other religious days, including Hindu holidays. The tribunal also found that PCC 51 had in good faith tried to avoid calling the meeting on Eid-ul-Azha, and that the fact that this religious day fell on the date of the meeting was unforeseen and unintentional.

No disadvantageous impact

The tribunal also found that the meeting did not have any disadvantageous impact on any of the applicants because it did not interfere with their ability to observe the tenets of their faith. Based on evidence concerning the religious obligations of each of the applicants on Eid-ul-Azha, the tribunal held that it was instead other factors within the applicants’ control that interfered with these religious observances.

Even if there was a disadvantageous impact on these three owners because of their creed, there may not have been a finding of discrimination. That’s because the tribunal found that the ability to participate in the special owners’ meeting by way of proxy, as opposed to in person, represented reasonable accommodation by PCC 51 under of section 11 of the code. Accordingly, the tribunal found that there was no infringement of any of the applicants’ rights under the code.

Proxy as reasonable accommodation

Importantly, the tribunal’s decision in Kamal v. PCC 51 recognizes that the ability of owners to participate in a condominium meeting by proxy constitutes reasonable accommodation for owners who may be unable to attend the meeting in person for code-related reasons. In addition to religious holidays, there may be many other scenarios where a condominium owner is unable to attend a meeting for reasons protected by the code, such as child care obligations, or even disability or health-related reasons.

In its reasons, the tribunal left open the possibility that a finding could be made that a religious group (or other recognized group protected under the code) had experienced distinct and disadvantageous treatment because of their creed by the holding of an owners’ meeting. For example, if a corporation made a practice of calling owners’ meetings on the religious holidays of a specific creed, then it is conceivable that there could be a finding that the owners of that creed have experienced discrimination because of their religious beliefs.

However, again, there may not be a finding of discrimination even if holding an owners’ meeting disadvantageously affected some owners because of creed (or other code-related grounds). The Kamal decision suggests there would be no violation under the code as long as these owners were allowed to participate in the meeting and vote by way of proxy.

Notwithstanding the decision of the tribunal in the Kamal case, condominium corporations should strive to respect the individual beliefs and needs of the owners who make up its community. More specifically, corporations should not consciously seek to hold owners’ meetings on dates and times that may unfairly limit the ability of some of its members to participate.

There may be circumstances when the corporation should reschedule an owners’ meeting, or at least consider the impact on a particular owner or group of owners. For example, the board of PCC 51 did make an effort to contact other members of the Muslim community after it became aware that the special owners’ meeting was to be on Eid-ul-Ahza. PCC 51 tried to determine whether the meeting would interfere with any religious rites before the corporation decided to proceed with the meeting as scheduled. The tribunal noted this effort and consideration by the board members of PCC 51, as well as others, in its decision.

“Occupancy” or “service”?

The original applications regarding the holding of the owners’ meeting on Eid-ul-Ahza alleged discrimination with respect to “occupancy of accommodation,” contrary to section 2 of the code. Whether a unit owner is able to attend a condominium meeting really has no impact on that individual’s ability to use and occupy his or her residential unit. Rather, the ability to attend an owners’ meeting, and to exercise a right to vote, is “political” in nature and forms part of the ownership rights as a shareholder of the corporation. The tribunal indicated that if the applications were improperly brought under section 2 of the code, they could be amended to be brought under section 1 of the code, which deals with equal treatment with respect to “services, goods and facilities.”

In the end, because the tribunal found that there was no discrimination, the tribunal did not have to decide whether a condominium owners’ meeting is considered either a “service” or “occupancy of accommodation” under the code. Accordingly, while it appears evident that an owners’ meeting does not fall within section 2 (occupancy), whether an owners’ meeting would qualify as a “service” under the code remains unresolved.

Two of the applicants filed a request for reconsideration of the decision by the tribunal in October 2016. The requests have not been granted as of date.

Carol Dirks is a partner at Fogler, Rubinoff LLP. Since her call to the bar in 1996, Carol’s practice has been focused in the area of condominium law and condominium-related litigation. She regularly advises boards of directors on the requirements of the Condominium Act, as well as enforcement of the declaration, bylaws and rules.

Teknion opens Los Angeles showroom

Teknion Corporation has opened the doors to its new Los Angeles showroom. Designed by Vanderbyl Design with NXT Design Studio named as Architect of Record, the showroom, located on the 41st floor of the Ernst & Young Plaza, provides clients with an accessible location in the city’s flourishing downtown.

“Our Los Angeles showroom is designed to reflect our latest vision of the workplace,” said Maxine Mann, president of Teknion’s U.S. operations, in a press release. “The space is also designed to reflect the changing character of the workplace and to reinforce the Teknion brand – a design-focused company that brings bold creative thinking and intelligent innovation to the international contract furniture market.”

The showroom features expansive windows on three sides of the space, providing plenty of natural light in a space that is free of columns. The 8,650-square-foot space provides panoramic views of the Los Angeles skyline and the Pacific Ocean.

The showroom’s entrance features a spacious lounge bisected by the Teknion Community Table, creating a central gathering space that is enhanced by natural wood flooring and millwork. On either side of the central table are different ideas of office space.

On the south side of the showroom is a more casual, modern office layout featuring a playful colour palette and a variety of Teknion products in an open, fluid landscape. On the north side of the showroom, a more formal office space can be found, plus a lounge area with built-in video display. Teknion’s architectural glass wall systems separate offices and conference rooms but maintain a sense of transparency and accessibility.

“Our warm, welcoming showroom effectively showcases Teknion’s diverse product offering in ways that clients can easily translate into creative and viable solutions for their own interior design projects,” said Mann. “At the same time, the space is a three-dimensional representation of the Teknion brand and the company’s mission – to provide tools, systems and space that empower people through design.”

Teknion has registered its new Los Angeles showroom with the U.S. Green Building Council with the goal of achieving LEED-CI Platinum certification. The Ernst & Young Plaza has already been certified LEED Platinum.

CREC Commercial Fund buys green warehouse

CREC Commercial Fund LP has added a landmark asset to its commercial real estate portfolio, with the $158.25 million acquisition of an 895,038-square-foot warehousing and distribution facility at 8875 Torbram Road in Brampton, Ontario.

Situated on 37.4 acres in Bramalea Business Park, the recently completed, state-of-the-art, 38-foot clear height, LEED Gold Certified industrial warehouse is located near major highways, two intermodal terminals, transit and Toronto Pearson International Airport. The building is the largest LEED Gold Certified building in Canada, and is fully leased to leading retail and logistics companies.

It is the first acquisition made by CREC Commercial Fund, the new commercial real estate fund for Vancouver-based Concert Properties Ltd.

“Our new asset is perfectly suited to serve the needs of modern supply chain management systems, which are driving the demand for warehouse distribution facilities close to urban areas with access to both labour and transit, in addition to the scale and functionality of the buildings themselves,” said David Podmore, Concert’s Chairman and CEO. “Demand for high quality warehouse space in close proximity to Toronto’s growing business and residential communities will only continue to grow.”

The Fund holds a diversified Canadian portfolio with assets valued at more than $1 billion. With this new acquisition, CREC Commercial Fund LP has grown to 61 office and industrial properties totaling nearly 8.5 million square feet. Concert maintains a 60 per cent interest in the Fund and serves as the Fund Manager.