Altus Group Announces Acquisition of US-Based Property Tax Company
Altus Group Income Fund (Altus) announced that it has completed the acquisition of Brazos Tax Group LLP (Brazos). This acquisition provides Altus with an increased presence in the United States through the extension of property tax services and a significant operations beachhead for future growth. Altus financed this acquisition through a combination of cash, bank financing and equity.
Acquisition Highlights
With a well-established national client roster that spans a number of sectors, Brazos is a full service tax provider that offers a wealth of experience in the US marketplace. Specific services include business and personal property compliance and appeals, real estate valuation appeals and property tax payment administration and due diligence.
"A shared corporate culture and demonstrated mutual commitment to growing market share make this a natural and exciting extension of our relationship," said Jim Derbyshire, Global President, Tax, Altus Group. "We know Brazos' business success, years of expertise and local insight will provide a solid foundation to enhance Altus' expanding scope."
"Altus offers us the ability to provide our clients with more comprehensive coverage while maintaining our commitment to delivering accurate and timely advice," said Steve Mills, CMI, President, Brazos Tax Group. "We look forward to nurturing these relationships as we leverage our combined abilities."
Cavendish Mall to be Redeveloped
After years of back and forth negotiations, it finally appears as if the Cavendish Mall redevelopment plans are ready to proceed.
Plans made available this week by the city of Cote Saint-Luc call for the demolition of the entire south side of the mall (the old Eatons) and surrounding areas to make way for a residential development. It is expected that 40% of the mall will be torn down to make room for new housing. The south portion of the mall has been largely vacant since 1998.
Cote Saint-Luc was not interested in a proposal that was made some time ago that called for several high-rise buildings that would have included more than one thousand housing units comprised of apartments and condos. The proposal that is currently being presented to residents calls for 111 low-rise single-family homes.
"We want affordable housing for young families, which is really what we're lacking," Côte St. Luc Mayor Anthony Housefather said.
"The townhouses in particular will be attractive to young families," Housefather said. "They'd be affordable and they'll be new properties and within walking distance of many city services," including a new indoor swimming pool the city is building.
The development would also include a six-storey mixed-use building that would be erected next to the mall. The plan calls for some commercial space at the ground level, with the rest of the building to be comprised of residential and office units. In addition, Cavendish Mall is also expected to request permission to construct an eight-storey seniors' residence above the mall.
Pending approval, construction is slated to begin in about two years, according to the city.
Cote Saint-Luc will be holding a public consultation meeting on Monday, June 14 at 7:00 PM at City Hall, located at 5801 Cavendish Boulevard.
St. Catherine street in Montreal and Bloor street in Toronto most expensive real estate in Canada
According to report released this week by Colliers International, Toronto's Bloor Street and Montreal's Ste-Catherine Street are the most expensive spots in Canada to lease retail space, both averaging about $300 U.S. per square foot annually.
It should be noted however that those rates are nowhere close to the most expensive retail spots in the world. Trendy retail locations in places such as Paris and New York City, where leases top $1,000 per square foot, led the way in the survey. The Champs Elysées in Paris led the way at $1,255.90, New York's Fifth Avenue averaged $1,250, Hong Kong's Russell Street was $1,205.46 and London's Bond Street rounded out the top four at $1,174.24 per square foot.
Toronto and Montreal actually finished tied for 32nd overall in the survey, both with average lease rates of $294.12. The next most expensive Canadian spot was Robson Street in Vancouver with a lease rate of $196.08, placing it 51st overall.
"Regardless of what is happening in suburban shopping malls and on secondary streets, there'll be strong demand for the No. 1 retail street in most markets," said Jim Smerdon, Collier's director of retail and strategic planning. "When you look at who the retailers are on these streets in Canada, for the most part, they're many of the same stores we see in regional shopping centres, but with a higher volume of sales ... they are willing to pay significantly more rent to be (in prime locations)." In Canada, the prime shopping district in Toronto was about seven per cent more expensive than last year, Montreal's top rates were even, while Vancouver's highest prices were down about 17 per cent.
Work Begins This Week on Le Seville
Développement Immobilier Seville Inc., a partnership between Claridge Inc. and Prével, announced this week that site preparation work for residential and commercial complex LE SEVILLE was officially launched today in the presence of Montreal Mayor, Mr. Gérald Tremblay.
Mr. Tremblay said he was pleased to see a major project being realized in the neighbourhood. "This important revitalization project is excellent news in terms of the impact it will have on urban, social and economic development. The revitalization of the Îlot Seville as well as the western part of Ste. Catherine Street will contribute to the economic dynamism of downtown Montreal while simultaneously offering a better quality of life to the thousands of people who live, work and study in the immediate area," said Gérald Tremblay, Mayor of Montreal and Mayor of the Ville Marie borough.
More than 100 million dollars will be invested in downtown Montréal by Développement Immobilier Seville. LE SEVILLE will be a first step in the transformation of Shaughnessy Village. Prével's ability to revive entire neighbourhoods through its building projects has already been demonstrated with the Quai de la Commune, Lowney and Impérial. LE SEVILLE will offer a quality, mixed-use development composed of affordably priced apartments, accessible to a diverse market. Commercial spaces are also planned at the street level of this residential complex, which will be located on the northern side of Ste. Catherine Street West, between Chomedey and Lambert-Closse, near the old Forum.
"LE SEVILLE is a large-scale project of which we are particularly proud. In the coming months, our efforts will mainly be focused on demolition work and to get the site ready for construction. We therefore plan to begin the construction work of LE SEVILLE during the fall of 2010 to allow for a first delivery in the spring of 2012. We are really happy to finally be able to start working on the site," said Jacques Vincent, from Prével.
Stephen Bronfman, Chairman of Claridge, added: "We made sure to develop a project well adapted to the specific needs of a sector that is clearly strategic for Montreal. We also took the time to select dependable partners who shared our preoccupation for sustainable development. This partnership with Prével allows us to finally materialize our will to offer a project that is both accessible and affordable for the sector."
Développement Immobilier Seville plans to open a sales office this coming August. Details on the evolution of the project will be available at the following address: www.leseville.ca
Quebec Housing Starts Up in May
According to the results of the latest monthly survey conducted by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), residential construction increased this past month in Quebec's centres with 10,000 or more inhabitants. In all, 4,052 dwellings were started in May 2010, compared to 3,699 a year earlier. The seasonally adjusted annual rate of starts for this same month (40,800) was down, however, from the pace recorded in April (46,900). "This slowdown in housing starts was in line with our forecasts. In fact, we were expecting that the end of earlier-than-planned house purchases would be felt on the new home market," said Kevin Hughes, Senior Economist at CMHC for Quebec.
The increase in starts noted in Quebec in May reflected the overall conditions observed in the census metropolitan areas (CMAs) across the province. That being said, more marked gains were noted in Saguenay (+28 per cent) and Trois-Rivières (hike of over 100 per cent), while the Québec CMA registered a decrease of 8 per cent from the same period last year.
Single-detached home building increased in all of Quebec's CMAs, except Sherbrooke, with the strongest growth having been recorded in Gatineau. Overall, foundations were laid for 1,160 single-detached homes in centres with 100,000 or more inhabitants, for a gain of 10 per cent.
In the multiple-unit housing segment, residential construction was up in five of Quebec's six CMAs. In this regard, the Saguenay, Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivières CMAs stood out with much higher starts volumes than a year earlier
As for the larger census agglomerations (CAs), the survey results revealed that starts in these centres posted a notable year-over-year increase in May (from 209 units in 2009 to 360 in 2010). This was another month where both single-detached home building (+40 per cent) and multi-family housing construction (gain of more than 100 per cent) accounted for the growth.
The results by tenure type also illustrated the slowdown. It can be noted, as well, that the increases in starts were much less significant this past May in the case of units intended for the freehold market (+18 per cent) and the condominium segment (+7 per cent). The construction of dwellings intended for the rental market even decreased during this period (-13 per cent).
From January to May 2010, housing starts in Quebec's centres with 10,000 or more inhabitants were up by 31 per cent over the same period last year (rising to 16,800 units in 2010, from 12,847 in 2009). This result reflected the increases in both multiple-family housing construction (+33 per cent) and single-detached home building (+27 per cent).
Former Nortel Complex Located in Technoparc up for Sale
Four buildings built by Nortel Networks Corp. are up for sale in the Technoparc Montreal, The Montreal Gazette has learned.
The buildings, which total about 800,000 square feet, were placed up for sale at the beginning of the year by owners Belmont Equity Partners Group Inc. and Brookfield Real Estate Opportunity Fund, sources close to the transaction said. A change in ownership of the buildings, called Place Innovation, wouldn't effect their vocation as a research-oriented, high-tech centre with tenants like Bombardier Inc. and CAE Inc.
However, the sale of Place Innovation -to an undisclosed buyer -is not complete.
"Right now, we're considering our strategic alternatives," said Belmont president David Kemper, when asked about the buildings the partnership acquired in June 2007.
In the St. Laurent park, Place Innovation stands on a site that also includes 2.4 million square feet of land.
Nortel built the buildings in the 1990s to be used for research, development, assembly and the testing of wireless communications gear.
Leasing agents in the West Island have estimated the buildings cost at about $300 million.
While the sale price in 2007 wasn't disclosed, two sources knowledgeable about the property said Belmont purchased the buildings and land from Nortel for about $60 million.
One of the sources, an office leasing specialist who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he believes Belmont
and Brookfield are asking for more than double that amount today.
Belmont and Brookfield are largely credited for turning around the property, which had hundreds of thousands of square feet sitting empty at the time of the sale.
When Nortel crashed with the high-tech boom in 2001, the company went through massive layoffs. It decided to keep about one-quarter of the space and tried to rent out the rest.
"The vacancy rate at the Technoparc was much higher then than now," said technoparc president and CEO Mario Monette, who wouldn't comment on the sale. "At the time, it was primarily the Place Innovation (Nortel) that was affected."
But attracting tenants proved difficult for Nortel.
Part of the problem was that the Technoparc has a specific mandate to attract companies with high-tech, or research-intensive vocations. Plus, the Technoparc, located off Highway 13, was not accessible by public transit outside of rush hour.
"When they bought it, they were buying the problems," the office leasing specialist said.
A year after buying the buildings, Belmont and Brookfield succeeded in leasing most of the space, scoring new tenants like Bombardier, which needed a research site to develop its new CSeries family of jets.
While there is still some empty space, Kemper said the majority of the building has been leased.
Articles by: William Jegher
wjegher@wikaconsulting.com