Michael Brooks

Taxing debate awaits Toronto commercial parking

Canadian Property Management

Taxing debate awaits Toronto commercial parking

Debate about a proposed surcharge on commercial parking spaces in Toronto has been deferred until City Council begins to consider 2025 budget measures.
ESG metrics inform range of CRE stakeholders

Canadian Property Management

Range of CRE stakeholders demand ESG metrics

Canada’s leading commercial real estate players are increasingly turning to ESG metrics to track responsiveness to a range of emerging risks and business imperatives.
Built Green

Canadian Property Management

CAGBC commends 2023 roster of green influencers

The Canada Green Building Council has bestowed 2023 leadership awards to four individuals and a company at the forefront of adopting and driving sustainable policies, practices and products.
REITs unexpectedly tapped for new tax measure

Canadian Property Management

REITs unexpectedly tapped for new tax measure

Advocates for the Canadian commercial real estate industry are asking the federal finance department to clarify why real estate investment trusts have been included in a pending new tax measure.
Ukrainian evacuees arrive to housing scarcity

Canadian Apartment Magazine

Ukrainian evacuees arrive to housing scarcity

Newcomers will be confronting Canada’s affordable housing shortage, while also dealing with potential trauma, language barriers and the general culture shock of unfamiliar surroundings.
Business case assumptions evolve alongside ESG

Canadian Property Management

Business case assumptions evolve alongside ESG

Investors and lenders are expected to increasingly focus on the physical and transitional risks of climate change, in turn upending some conventional views of costs and value.
emissions

Canadian Property Management

Rare decisions have acute carbon consequences

Daily vigilance is central to achieving operational energy savings, but rare decisions typically have the most acute carbon consequences in buildings.
GRESB validates real estate's ESG credentials

Canadian Property Management

GRESB validates real estate’s ESG credentials

Canadian participants accounted for less than 3 per cent of the entire GRESB database in 2021, but make up nearly 5 per cent of the 5-star cohort, which achieved the top 20 per cent of scores through the assessment.
Toronto strip plazas considered for tax discount

Canadian Property Management

COVID impacts linger for commercial ratepayers

Assessed values in Ottawa and Toronto will be at least seven years out of date and Winnipeg’s will be nearly five years behind before new assessment cycles begin in those cities.
Pandemic paperwork piles up with new vaccination attestation protocols

Canadian Property Management

Pandemic paperwork piles up with new protocols

Pandemic paperwork is becoming more voluminous for commercial landlords as a growing list of influential tenants ask for proof that building personnel have two valid COVID-19 vaccinations.
Sustainable finance quest spurs global alliance

Construction Business

Michael Brooks joins WGBC board of directors

Michael Brooks, chief executive officer of REALPAC, has been named to the board of directors of the World Green Building Council and will also serve as treasurer for 2021-22.
COVID-19 clips 2020 investment performance

Canadian Property Management

COVID-19 clips 2020 investment performance

A ten-year run of capital growth abruptly reversed, resulting in a 7.8 per cent loss of value across the 2,356 assets that the 44 portfolios represented in the Canada Annual Property Index hold.
Commercial landlords pledge free space to accommodate COVID-19 vaccination clinics

Canadian Facility Management & Design

Landlords would welcome vaccination clinics

Prominent commercial landlords are offering free space to accommodate COVID-19 vaccination clinics and related support services in malls, conference centres, office buildings and other well-located sites throughout Canada.
GRESB separates from GBCI and seeks B-Corp status

Canadian Property Management

GRESB swaps GBCI umbrella for B-Corp status

The global benchmark for ESG performance of commercial real estate portfolios and infrastructure investments has reacquired its independence and established a non-profit foundation to oversee standards development.
property tax ratios lopsided against commercial ratepayers

Canadian Property Management

Property tax ratios epitomize commercial burden

The commercial property tax rate is at least double the residential rate in eight of the 11 surveyed cities, with commercial ratepayers in Montreal, Toronto and Quebec City shouldering the most disproportionate shares.
direct subsidies to help tenants and business owners cover fixed property expenses

Canadian Property Management

New subsidy tagged for fixed property expenses

Qualifying commercial tenants and businesses operating in owned premises will be eligible for direct subsidies of up to 65 per cent of their fixed property expenses through the new Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy.
Ontario capital markets set for modernization effort

Canadian Property Management

Ontario capital markets set for rule revamp

Proposals address a range of issues that are likely to be of interest to listed real estate entities and their investors, as well as start-up ventures and other publicly traded service providers to the industry.