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CONTENTS
what’s on BUILDING.ca
FEATURES
16 > Voices Raze Mistakes / The story of Regent Park’s billiondollar revitalization and the public consultation strategy that made it work. By Andrew Sobchak
21 > Don’t Get Too Specific /
How recent landmark court decisions are changing available recourses to collapsing commercial real estate deals that could have wide-ranging implications for developers, especially those using single-purpose corporations. By Michael B. Morgan
Green Leasing B. Alan Whitson, Chair of the Model, Green Lease Taskforce, suggests how to deal with green leases.
16
24 > When the “Check Engine” Light Comes On/
City renewal activities are increasingly driving the market toward the retrofit of existing buildings, and retrocommissioning provides an enhanced framework of delivery for the retrofit steps. By William J. Stangeland
Implementing a Smart Society How Almere, NL, is capitalizing on intelligent technology to solve similar urban challenges other cities face.
26 > Playing Hard to Get /
Calgary and Toronto are not the only beneficiaries of exploding demand for office space. Many Canadian cities are enjoying the low vacancies that come with robust downtown development. Even the suburbs are getting in on the solid performance story. By Peter Sobchak
EXPLORE > Centennial Place WZMH’s new ideal in tower design for Calgary.
IN EVERY ISSUE
5 > Editor’s Notes 8 > Developments 12 > Market Watch 14 > Legal
ss D
30 > Viewpoint
ABOVE IMAGE:
The northeast corner of Dundas and Parliament Streets, the western “gateway” to Regent Park. Courtesy of The Daniels Corporation. COVER IMAGE:
Part of Regent Park’s multi-phased revitalization plan includes a full retrofit and modernization of the existing Nelson Mandela Park Public School. Image courtesy of Toronto Community Housing.
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Volume 63
02 Number
Editor / Peter Sobchak Art Director / Roy Gaiot Legal Editor / Jeffrey W. Lem Contributors / William J. Ferguson, Michael B. Morgan, Odysseas Papadimitriou, Andrew Sobchak, William J. Stangeland
Circulation Manager / Beata Olechnowicz (416) 442-5600 ext 3543 Reader Services / Liz Callaghan
Welcome Back, Oak Street
“No one wanted to live there...the dirt always won...[and] almost anything was better than home, or Oak Street.” Those words from the 1953 film A Farewell to Oak Street, now archived with the National Film Board of Canada, give us a sense of the condition and attitudes in Cabbagetown South before the arrival of Regent Park. When constructed in the post-war era of the late 1940s and early 1950s, its design was cutting edge. Borrowing elements from Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City Movement and Le Corbusier’s ‘Towers in the Park’, it promoted the attitudes that were prevalent among urban planners at the time, and was hailed as a cure to the physical and socioeconomic depravity of the Cabbagetown slums that had been plaguing the community for the better part of a half-century. I disagree with those who argue that the film continued in the tradition of war-time NFB founder, John Grierson, in crafting a “propaganda statement” about the value of public housing projects. It instead captured the belief in the modern promise of public housing as it was viewed in the 1950s. At that time it was seen by everybody as a form of salvation, but within a decade the shine of rebuilt Regent Park wore off and problems for the community continued. What happened? Were the architects and builders at the time somehow negligent or less-qualified to solve the problems of the day? No. They were experts of the time, just as their kin are today. What Regent Park reflected was a philosophy, one where the city builders of the day believed the introduction of the new physical form alone could be the antidote to a developing slum. Today we realize that they ignored the public realm, and unfortunately by extension, the people. The public realm approach to city building is, as Alexander Garvin says in his new book The Planning Game, an approach that emphasizes the importance of public investments in determining the future of what we own and control: our streets, squares, parks, infrastructure, and public buildings. “This is our common property. It is the fundamental element in any community—the framework around which everything else grows.” Cities that adopt the public realm approach to planning and building invariably succeed in the long run, and there are plenty of examples to prove this. Simple, right? Then why don’t we see it more? Traditionally, architects, developers, municipal planners, lawyers and politicians, segregated into their silos, were rarely interested in or reached beyond the client’s property lines or beyond dry statistical analysis. But as the current Regent Park revitalization illustrates, it is exciting not because of the buildings but because of the community. I want A Farewell to Oak Street to be seen today as a cautionary tale. Because just as the cities of today are living with choices made long ago, so should people be aware that today’s decisions and technologies will shape the urban spaces that serve future generations. “Cities are crucibles of innovation, but are prone to infrastructure lock-in and path dependency,” says Steve Rayner, a professor at Oxford University and codirector of the Oxford Programme for the Future of Cities. “The city [building] decisions we make today tie us into development routines we only become aware of centuries later.” There is no fancy, buy-off-the-shelf solution to public consultation, but the cost of not doing it can be enormous. Which means dialogue matters – and those uniquely qualified to do so should not shy away from the challenge but should instead lead the discourse about the future development of our communities.
Advertising Sales / Greg Paliouras (416) 510-6808 / gpaliouras@Building.ca Senior Publisher / Tom Arkell Vice President, Publishing Business Information Group / Alex Papanou President, Business Information Group / Bruce Creighton Building magazine is published by BIG Magazines LP, a division of Glacier BIG Holdings Company Ltd. 80 Valleybrook Dr. Toronto, ON M3B 2S9 Tel: (416) 510-6845 / Fax: (416) 510-5140 E-mail: info@building.ca Website: www.building.ca SUBSCRIPTION RATE: Canada: 1 year, $30.95; 2 years, $52.95; 3 years, $64.95 (plus H.S.T.) U.S.: 1 year, $38.95 US, Elsewhere: 1 year, $45.95 US. BACK ISSUES: Back copies are available for $8 for delivery in Canada, $10 US for delivery in U.S.A. and $15 US overseas. Please send prepayment to Building, 80 Valleybrook Dr. Toronto, ON M3B 2S9 or order online at www.building.ca Subscription and back issues inquiries please call 416-442-5600, ext. 3543, e-mail: circulation@building.ca or go to www.building.ca Please send changes of address to Circulation Department, Building magazine or e-mail to addresses@building.ca NEWSSTAND: Information on Building on newsstands in Canada, call 905-619-6565 Building is indexed in the Canadian Magazine Index by Micromedia ProQuest Company, Toronto (www.micromedia.com) and National Archive Publishing Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan (www.napubco.com). Member of
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DEVELOP-
MENTS New Projects Menkes and HOOPP break ground on downtown Toronto office tower
News
TORONTO | Menkes Developments Ltd. and Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP) broke ground on a new office tower in downtown Toronto called One York Street. Designed by Sweeny Sterling Finlayson & Co. Architects, the 35-storey office tower will feature approximately 800,000 square feet of MONTRÉAL | After more than Class “AAA” office space. 40 years of practice, DCYSA has Located at the northeast corner of York and Harbour become NEUF architect(e)s. Streets in the Southcore Financial District, it will provide Founded in 1971, this architecan enclosed pedestrian link to the Air Canada Centre, acture and design firm has concessing Union Station and the PATH network. The tower sistently renewed and diversiis pursuing LEED Platinum certificafied itself. In recent years, a tion through several design features, new generation of partners had including being connected to the Enjoined the founders, and in orwave deep lake water cooling system der to reflect this evolution, which uses water from Lake Ontario DCYSA has decided to refresh Le Peterson, NEUF architect(e)s for air-conditioning. its image and unveiled its new “By closing this “Over the past five years, the area identity. With over 100 employees in Montréal and Ottawa, loophole, the south of Union Station has become the NEUF architect(e)s is behind several recognized landmarks, government has most desirable node for new office desuch as Mont-Tremblant, the CBC Headquarters in Ottawa, taken an important velopment in Toronto,” said Peter Menand the Bombardier facilities in Dorval and Mirabel. Active in step in prohibiting kes, president of the Commercial/Inall sectors — strategic planning, urban design, resorts and hothe underground dustrial Division of Menkes. tels, residential, commercial, industrial, and office buildings — economy in Ontario With an estimated construction cost its expertise and adaptability has allowed it to export its serconstruction.” of $375 million, One York Street is bevices to the U.S., Europe, and Asia. –Sean Strickland, ing developed by Menkes and HOOPP CEO of the OCS Realty Inc. HOOPP will also be a tenant Mandatory WSIB coverage combats of the building, leasing approximatethe underground economy ly 132,000 square feet or 17 per cent of the total rentable area. The lead tenant TORONTO | Ontario’s recent change to make Workplace Safety opportunity, which includes prominent and Insurance Board (WSIB) coverage mandatory in the conbuilding signage, is available. struction industry is being done to, among other reasons, combat the pervasive unHOOPP’s president and CEO, Jim derground economy, says the Ontario Construction Secretariat (OCS). As of January Keohane, said real estate is an import1, 2013, almost every construction worker in the province of Ontario is required to ant asset class for the $40.3 billion be covered by the WSIB, a move that closes a loophole that allowed many contracpension plan. “Real estate investments tors to style their employees as independent contractors. “Before mandatory WSIB provide growth, and steady, regular incoverage, many Ontario construction workers were able to not only evade their taxes come, which is ideal for providing penwhich fund important public services, but to also avoid making contributions to the sion income to our members.” funds that compensate injured workers,” says Sean Strickland, CEO of the OCS. StudOne York Street will be part of a laries done by OCS, in response to concerns expressed by contractors and construcger mixed-use development encompasstion unions, provided evidence that: underground construction activity amounts to ing approximately two million square between $1.4 billion to $2.4 billion in evaded taxes and WSIB fees, funds that are feet of density occupying a two-acre site. being siphoned away from public services at hospitals, schools, and injured workThe office tower will sit atop a four-storers’ medical expenses; classing employees as ‘independent operators’ provides ey podium containing approximatecontractors with an unfair and illegitimate competitive advantage ranging from 20 ly 200,000 square feet of retail space. per cent to 50 per cent of labour costs; and the underground economy undermines Two residential condominium towers the coverage of benefit plans and weakens support for apprenticeship and training. of 62 and 66 storeys will also sit on the By shifting costs onto others, the underground economy increases the operating podium and contain approximately one costs of workers and contractors who follow the rules.
DCYSA becomes NEUF architect(e)s
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Ivanhoé Cambridge starts construction on new tower project in Chicago
— Stuart Shield, president, International Property Awards
million square feet of density that will be accessed from Harbour Street. Details regarding the retail and residential components of the mixed-use development will be announced later this spring. Expected occupancy for One York Street is slated for summer 2016.
“Attention to the finest detail, first rate green credentials and a willingness to succeed against a hugely competitive field resulted in the very best property companies being rewarded with the recognition they deserve.”
One York Street
CHICAGO | Ivanhoé Cambridge, one of the 10 largest real estate companies in the world, and co-investor and developer Hines, announced the start of construction of River Point, a development including a 45-story office tower and a 1.5-acre public park in downtown Chicago’s West Loop. The project is being developed with land partner Larry Levy. Designed by architectural firm Pickard Chilton, River Point will contain roughly 900,000 square feet of leasable space, is pre-certified LEED Gold, and will be ready for initial occupancy in 2016. “This is a momentous day for the City of Chicago, as this is the first office building to come out of the ground in Chicago in years,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel at the groundbreaking.
Brookfield begins construction of new Manhattan West development NEW YORK, NY | Brookfield Office Properties Inc. has begun construction of the platform for the Manhattan West development site on Ninth Avenue between West 31st and West 33rd Streets and Dyer Avenue, in what is currently an underutilized rail yard. Construction is expected to be completed in 2014, positioning the project to receive tenants in 2016. Financing for the platform project has been secured with a five-year, $340 million construction loan from a bank group that includes HSBC Bank, The Bank of New York Mellon, The Toronto-Dominion Bank, U.S. Bank, The Bank of Nova Scotia, and Wells Fargo Bank. The land and platform construction represent a projected initial investment of $680 million,
of which Brookfield will invest approximately $340 million of its own capital with no public subsidies. The total Manhattan West project cost is estimated at $4.5 billion. The platform, a series of 16 bridges, completes the surface upon which the entirety of the 5-million-square-foot development will rise, envisioned as two two-million-square-foot Class A office towers, a residential tower, a 1.5 acre open public space, and retail throughout. The cores of the towers will be constructed on bedrock to the north and south of the platform. The total site comprises five acres, of which the platform will occupy 60 per cent. The Manhattan West deck is being constructed utilizing post-tension pre-cast segmental bridge technology which minimizes disturbance to train operations below. Turner Construction, a New York-based firm, is managing the platform installation. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill is the master plan architect, working in partnership with SLCE Architects on the residential portion.
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Brookfield’s Manhattan West development project.
Awards Colliers International claims three top honours at the International Property Awards TORONTO | Colliers International was awarded the top spot for the second consecutive year in three categories at the 2012 International Property Awards. The Canadian operation of Colliers International once again swept the awards for the regional categories of Best Property Consultancy, Best Property Consultancy Marketing and Best Property Consultancy Website. For the past 18 years, the International Property Awards has been celebrating the high-level achievements of residential and commercial real estate organizations from around the globe. building.ca
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DEVELOP10
“Attention to the finest detail, first rate green credentials and a willingness to succeed against a hugely competitive field resulted in the very best property companies being rewarded with the recognition they deserve,” said Stuart Shield, president of the International Property Awards.
Order of Canada welcomes Brigitte Shim, Howard Sutcliffe and Marianne McKenna TORONTO | Brigitte Shim and partner Howard Sutcliffe of Shim-Sutcliffe Architects were recently named Members of the Order of Canada. They received the award “for their contributions as architects designing sophisticated structures that represent the best in Canadian design to the world.” The husband-wife team are one of just over a half-dozen couples to simultaneously receive the Order of Canada in the history of its existence. Over the years, the partners have also received recognition from the American Institute of Architects and the American and Canadian Wood Council’s Awards. Both Shim and Sutcliffe are International Honorary Fellows of the American Institute of Architects and Fellows of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. Shim serves as a board member for Build Toronto, Waterfront Toronto’s Design Review Committee, and the University of Toronto’s Design Review Committee. Founded in 1994, Shim-Sutcliffe Architects’ public and private commissions include projects for sacred spaces, public parks and landscapes, and a range of institutional and residential projects, and the firm’s work has been honoured with 12 Governor General’s Medals and Awards for Architecture. The Canadian architecture profession was further honoured recently when His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, invested Marianne McKenna as an Officer of the Order of Canada. A founding partner of Kuwabara Payne APRIL MAY 2013
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Established in 1967, Canada’s centennial year, the Order of Canada is one of the country’s highest honours, recognizing “a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to community and service to the nation.”
McKenna Blumberg Architects (KPMB), Marianne McKenna, O.C., has designed and directed a diverse range of projects in the spheres of culture, business, education and science. In 2010, McKenna was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women by The Financial Post. She has lectured and acted as a guest critic at McGill University, L’Universite de Montréal, Laval University, the University of Toronto and Yale University. Marianne currently sits on the Board of Directors of Metrolinx as well as the Institute of Contemporary Culture (ICC) at the Royal Ontario Museum, and in 2011, McKenna was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Conservatory. Since the founding of KPMB Architects in 1987, the firm has won 11 Governor General’s Medal as well as numerous awards for architectural excellence.
REIT Round-Up Partners REIT acquires five new Montréal retail properties VICTORIA, B.C. | Partners REIT has acquired four newly-constructed, necessitybased, open-air retail centres and one stabilized retail centre from separate vendors in the Greater Montréal region totaling approximately 286,500 square feet of gross leasable area for approximately $78.5 million. The tenant roster of the properties includes three grocery stores, two drug stores, two SAQ stores and three Tim Hortons stores, all on long-term leases. “These combined transactions mark one of our larger aggregate acquisitions to date with the properties providing extremely strong tenancies and stable long-term cash flow,” commented Patrick Miniutti, president. “Importantly, these properties consist predominantly of brand-new retail formats that will attract both tenants and consumers to the properties.”
Pure Industrial closes several deals VANCOUVER | Pure Industrial Real Estate Trust (PIRET) has acquired three fully leased single-tenant, and one fully leased multi-tenant, income producing industrial properties representing an aggregate of 979,782 square feet of gross leasable area. The properties are located in British Columbia, Ontario and Alberta, and were acquired for $108.9 million. The acquisitions consist of: a portfolio in Richmond, B.C. of two multi-tenant properties comprising an aggregate GLA of 927,351 square feet for $102.4 million; and a portfolio of two single-tenant properties located in Edmonton and Toronto consisting of two single-tenant properties with an aggregate GLA of 52,782 square feet for $6.5 million. These acquisitions grow PIRET’s portfolio to 6.9 million square feet over 87 properties. b
Hopewell Distribution Centre (Building I), Richmond, B.C. building.ca
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“Amid uncertainty and risk lies opportunity. This is not to say that we should write off 2013, or sit on the sidelines. Quite the opposite: there is much to be transacted in 2013 while strengthening positions for the future, as the ongoing issues domestically and abroad see some form of resolution..”
2013 will offer a healthy balance of risk and opportunity
WATCH
APRIL MAY 2013
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— Mark E. Rose, Chair and CEO of Avison Young.
TORONTO | Stability and opportunity will drive Canada’s commercial real estate markets in 2013, while select U.S. markets and sectors are poised for growth, even while caution persists. Against a global backdrop of financial uncertainty stemming from continuing issues with stability in Europe, a potential slowdown in China, the debt ceiling and new “fiscal cliffs” in the U.S. and potential plateauing in Canada, North American real estate markets still appear to be the most stable, with a healthy balance of risk and opportunity. These are some of the key trends noted in Avison Young’s 2013 Canada, U.S. Forecast. The annual report covers the office, retail, industrial and investment markets in 29 Canadian and U.S. metropolitan regions. “With all the headwinds that continue to plague our industry, what we at Avison Young have been advising for the last three years will continue to be our mantra: stay patient, risk-manage your strategy on the buy-side, and take advantage of off-market and distressed opportunities when they present themselves,” comments Mark E. Rose, Chair and CEO of Avison Young. “As a seller, do not be afraid to take some profits. Core assets in the major markets are highly sought-after and, therefore, aggressively priced when up for competitive bid. Plenty of opportunities can still be found in off-market transactions, if one knows where to look.” According to the report, in Canada, the shortage of product (evidenced by REITs buying portfolios and private funds buying REITs) and very low current vacancy rates suggest more demand-side price upside, even though the large development pipeline may temper rent growth. The strong Canadian dollar is a problem for the domestic economy, though positive for Canadian institutions going global. These factors, combined with pervasive condo overbuilding, are resulting in “Are we at the top?” questions in Canada. On the other hand, in the U.S., the early signs of a housing recovery are triggering the question: “Is the U.S. at the bottom?” The lack of development is providing confidence for investors making value-add acquisitions,
and core class A product is expensive everywhere. Thus, as Canada appears to have reached a short-term top in pricing, the U.S. is just beginning to get its sea legs. “What we are recommending to clients is clear and consistent. Focus on building capital positions in 2013, perhaps selling non-strategic assets to fund a war chest; and arrange for access to additional debt and equity, as 2014 appears bright. Continue to execute on current plans in 2013 as the environment is likely to remain stable. Re-balance investment portfolios according to a five-year strategy horizon and adjust your corporate real estate occupancy. If you are financing or re-financing, seek longer-term maturities at today’s unprecedented low rates.” Across the 12 Canadian office markets tracked by Avison Young, vacancy sat at 7.1 per cent as 2012 drew to a close. By comparison, the 17 U.S. office markets collectively displayed a vacancy of 15.1 per cent. A distinct gap also exists in the industrial markets, with Canada posting a vacancy rate of 4.7 per cent, compared with 8.8 per cent in the U.S.
Retail Canada’s retail landscape remains a popular destination for many foreign retailers, especially those south of the border in the U.S. (Nordstrom and Microsoft Store), lured by the resilience of the Canadian economy and continuing low interest rates, which allow consumers to spend more. The strong activity is taking place despite warnings about Canadian household debt levels rising to the point where the ratio of household debt to disposable income is now higher than U.S. consumer indebtedness prior to the crash. Two important metrics driving retailers to Canada from the U.S. may well be the sizeable difference in retail sales per square foot, and the large spread in retail space per capita between the two countries. Steadily rising retail sales growth in most Canadian markets, coupled with aggressive U.S. expansion into Canada, has kept the Canadian retail stock almost fully occupied and the development pipeline active. For example, in Calgary, up to one million square feet (msf ) of retail space will be completed this year at projects such as Sierra Springs. While Canadian retailers are bracing for store openings from U.S. discount giant Target in 2013, landlords are continually reinvesting in and repositioning retail centres to retain tenants and attract the many new brands entering the country. Significant expenditures and redevelopment have been completed or are underway, including: Bayshore and St. Laurent Centre in Ottawa; Yorkdale and Sherway Gardens in Toronto; Southland Mall in Regina and Mic Mac and West End Malls in Halifax, to name a few. Live-work-play downtown lifestyles are increasingly popular, and urban retail intensification is increasing, transforming urban centres as suburban retail players join forces with office and residential experts to acquire sites for mixeduse developments. Going forward, retailers will continue
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Source: Avison Young
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MARKE T
Canada Overal Industrial Vacancy Rate Comparison 2011
2012
2013F
their balancing act between “bricks and clicks”, responding to evolving consumer habits with small-format stores, virtual stores, electronic coupons and mobile apps as emerging trends that will redefine the retail landscape of the future.
Calgary
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Industrial Canada’s 1.8-billion-square-foot (bsf) industrial market has seen vacancy decline steadily from a recession high of 6.3 per Halifax cent in 2009 to 4.7 per cent in late 2012. Space shortages Lethbridge are evident in the Western markets, which posted a combined vacancy rate of 3.7 per cent in 2012, 100-basis-point Mississauga (bps) below the national average. In the West, industrial vacancy rates ranged from a low of 2 per cent in Winnipeg Montreal (-10 bps) – edging out Lethbridge (-70 bps to 2.2 per cent) Ottawa and Regina (+20 bps to 2.3 per cent) – to a high of 4.8 per cent in Calgary (-10 bps). The West’s largest industrial market, Vancouver, finished Regina 2012 at 3.6 per cent, plunging 100 bps during the last year, making it the most Toronto improved of any of the industrial markets. Rounding off the West was Edmonton (+40 bps to 4.4 per cent). This year, with the exception of Edmonton which Vancouver will remain unchanged, vacancy is expected to climb in the remaining Western markets by between 10 and 170 bps with the biggest jump coming in Calgary, Winnipag owing largely to the delivery of new supply. Canada In contrast, the Eastern industrial markets were higher but respectable at 5.1 per cent, or 40 bps above the national average. The country’s largest market, Toronto, saw its vacancy rate inch up 20 bps to 5.1 per cent toU.S. Overal Industrial wards the end of 2012, while Halifax recorded the biggest Vacancy Rate Comparison annual jump of 100 bps to 6.6 per cent. Elsewhere in the East, vacancy rates trended downwards, led by the tightest Atlanta market, Ottawa (-90 bps to 2.5 per cent), Montréal (-30 bps to 5.4 per cent) and Mississauga/Toronto West (-10 bps to Boston 5.7 per cent). By the end of 2013, industrial vacancy rates Charleston are expected to fall in Halifax (-60 bps to 6 per cent), hold firm in Mississauga/Toronto West (5.7 per cent) and rise in Chicago Toronto (+40 bps to 5.5 per cent), Ottawa (+50 bps to 3 per Dallas cent) and Montréal (+10 bps to 5.5 per cent). Developers in most cities have responded to tight marDetroit ket conditions with build-to-suit and speculative construction, with increased demand, especially from U.S.-based Houston corporations, for facilities offering higher clear heights and Las Vegas multiple large bays. This year will be similar to 2012, with new supply Los Angeles prompting a moderate rise in vacancy, slightly above the New Jersey 5 per cent range. Look for older, dysfunctional stock to be demolished, while manufacturing facilities are repurposed Pittsburgh for distribution uses. “Those of us who follow the markets closely are beginning Raleigh-Durham to sound a bit like a broken record when it comes to praising Reno Canada’s well-being. Relative to the rest of the world, Canada is seen as a picture of economic health, and nowhere is South Florida this more evident than in the performance of the commerWashington DC cial real estate market, which continues to display sound and improving market fundamentals across most sectors AY U.S. Markets and asset classes,” says Bill Argeropoulos, vice president and Director of Research (Canada) for Avison Young. b VACANCY RATE % 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 Edmonton
Source: Avison Young
“The positive signals out of the U.S. – be it the housing market with rising starts, sales and pricing, or improving employment levels – can only benefit Canada in the long run.” – Bill Argeropoulos, VP, Director of Research (Canada), Avison Young
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LEGAL Social Utility at a Cost The end may justify the means, but it does not justify disproportionate harm, nor is public interest an excuse to avoid compensation. By Jeffrey W. Lem and Odysseas Papadimitriou
In a March 7, 2013 decision, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) granted compensation to an Ontario truck stop operator who suffered damages as a result of the government’s relocation of a highway that cost the truck stop much of its business. For many years, the Antrim Truck Stop was a successful commercial operation alongside Highway 17 near Ottawa, with annual revenues of over $15 million and more than 100 employees. Unfortunately, that particular stretch of Highway 17 was also a veritable death trap (cited by the Supreme Court of Canada as the “Killer Highway”). In 2004, to address these safety concerns, the Ministry of Transportation built a new four-lane extension of Highway 417. The new highway alleviated some of the safety concerns for traffic coming into Ottawa, but it essentially turned Highway 17 into a “dirt road” and, for all practical purposes, devastated the Antrim Truck Stop, as motorists no longer had direct access to the Truck Stop. To be clear, there was no expropriation of any part of the Antrim Truck Stop. The owner of the Truck Stop argued, however, that it suffered “injurious affection,” which is a type of compensable damage that occurs where there is loss suffered even though no part of the owner’s land has been expropriated. Injurious affection is expressly contemplated under Section 1(1)(b) of the Expropriations Act: (b) w here the statutory authority does not acquire part of the land of an owner, i. such reduction in the market value of the land of the owner, and ii. such personal and business damages, resulting from the construction and not the use of the works by the statutory authority, as the statutory authority would be liable for if the construction were not under the authority of a statute... Initially, the Truck Stop owner won an award for injurious affection at the Ontario Municipal Board and the Ontario Divisional Court. The Court of Appeal however, reversed the decision based on a pure “public utility” type of argument. Greatly summarized, the Court of Appeal concluded that, if there is a significant public benefit, the government can perform whatever works it deems reasonably necessary and anyone negatively impacted by such work is expected to tolerate it without compensation. A very utilitarian approach to say the least. APRIL MAY 2013
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At the SCC, counsel for the Truck Stop argued that if the Court of Appeal test stood, then almost any legitimate public purpose will almost always trump the concerns of a few injured property owners. In effect, the Court of Appeal’s position rendered injurious affection claims available only in those (hopefully very few) cases where the public purpose was not particularly serious. The MTO’s lawyers argued that the impact of Highway 417 did not affect the Antrim Truck Stop that badly, since truckers would be used to being diverted off the main highway (even though the MTO’s own experts acknowledged that the value of the Antrim Truck Stop fell by almost a third). Counsel for the MTO also argued that, in fact, the Antrim Truck Stop, even after the construction of Highway 417, continued to operate fairly successfully, and that the owners of the Antrim Truck Stop had known about the proposed construction of Highway 417 as a controlled-access highway even before they invested in the Truck Stop. Although the MTO was supported by the government of British Columbia, The City of Toronto, and Metrolinx, as interveners, the SCC allowed the appeal, and accepted the concept of a “balance test” discussed at the Court of Appeal, but clarified that this balance test related to whether the interference suffered by the affected owner is unreasonable, not on whether the nature of the public authority’s conduct was or was not reasonable (since, almost by definition, the public authority should almost always be reasonable and have a public utility that would always outweigh the cost to individual owners). In short, the SCC concluded that injurious affection can be determined by answering the question of whether, taking into account all of the contextual circumstances, the individual claimant has shouldered a greater share of the burden of construction than it would be reasonable to expect individuals to bear without compensation. In the case of the Antrim Truck Stop, the SCC concluded that the business diversion suf-
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fered by the Truck Stop was a significant and permanent loss that was greater a share of the burden of construction than one business owner should suffer, even though the ultimate purpose of the construction (saving lives along the Killer Highway) was a noble, virtuous and important social purpose. Even if the end justifies the means, disproportionate harm to an individual or a minority will give rise to a claim for compensation. Of course, we are living in a time of huge public, private and P3 infrastructure investment. Some observers fear that the Antrim case opens the floodgates to injurious affection cases leaving infrastructure spending at risk. While this is certainly a risk, for a number of reasons, these authors do not see the Antrim case as serious sea change in the world of public infrastructure spending. Although the owners of the Antrim Truck Stop ultimately won the case at the SCC, the owners had originally claimed $8 million in overall injurious affection claims, but the OMB had only awarded the owners less than $400,000, or approximately 10 days pre-2004 income from the operation of the Truck Stop. The relatively paltry award in the Antrim case ameliorates against a flood of new injurious affection claims. The Truck Stop was also fairly unique in that the construction of Highway 417 actually altered the access routes available to and from the Truck Stop. Had Highway 417 been built as a parallel road (i.e. that did not affect access to
Distinction begins here.
Jeffrey W. Lem is a partner in the Toronto/ Markham offices of Miller Thomson LLP. Jeffrey is Certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as a Specialist in Real Estate and can be reached at jlem@ millerthomson.com.
Odysseas Papadimitriou is an Associate at Miller Thomson LLP, specializing in all aspects of condominium law.
Highway 17) or as an alternative access route altogether, perhaps kilometres away, such alternative works would have also effectively sucked the life blood out of the Antrim Truck Stop, but would not have been a valid injurious affection claims since Section 1(1)(b) of the Expropriations Act expressly includes only losses resulting from the construction of the works, and expressly excludes losses arising from the use of the works. Furthermore, as noted environmental lawyer Dianne Sax posits, the Antrim case does not “change the ruling in [Susan Heyes v South Coast BC], that everyone must put up with disruption due to temporary construction.� It is only permanent, material, and substantial interference with his or her property that gives rise to an injurious affection claim. Time will tell. For the time being, the owners of the Antrim Truck Stop can savour the moment and uncork the Crystal. b
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Vo R M
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P
icture this: it’s 8am on a Wednesday and there is a line waiting for their morning caffeine fix; a man reads the newspaper at a window table; and a trio converse in the corner through the rising steam of their brews. This ordinary scene is duplicated every day all across Canada in thousands of joints famous for their Double-Doubles. Except, that is, for Regent Park, which until very recently had no such community mainstay. And while the new $1 billion vision for Canada’s oldest and largest public housing project in Toronto’s near-east is drawing lots of justified attention for its glittering new condominium towers, school, aquatic and community centres, it was the arrival of a coffee shop named after an NHL enforcer which received the loudest applause from existing residents. There is nothing remarkable about Regent Park’s Tim Hortons, overlooking the corner of Cole and Parliament
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Streets. But that’s the point. Until doors first opened in 2010, it was being replicated everywhere but here. “It’s important to remember, Regent Park has always been amenity-free except for a restaurant frequently closed by police and a laundromat that was nothing to write home about,” says Sean Meagher, president of Toronto-based Public Interest, a consultancy specializing in community outreach engagement and the firm tasked with cracking the code of Regent Park’s community DNA. It’s hard to imagine a neighbourhood in the downtown of Canada’s largest city being as isolated as Meagher describes, but Regent Park was, with its seclusion contributing to high crime, diminished access to education and scarce local employment. 65 per cent of Regent Park’s residents have been in Canada less than 10 years; an
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13-05-07 11:17 AM
Voices Raze Mistakes
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By Andrew Sobchak
The story of Regent Park’s billion-dollar revitalization and the public consultation strategy that made it work.
estimated 70 languages can be heard; and according to Statistics Canada, almost all of the residents within its borders live below the poverty line. Regent Park was an outpost to the very people Toronto needed to be the most welcoming and, paradoxically by design, turned in on itself, becoming a compound, not a campus. Ironically, the current revitalization attempt is not Regent Park’s first, and the most dramatic of these — a post-war combination of Garden City and Towers in the Park models that resulted in low-slung, red-brick barracks scattered amongst a maze of dead-end streets and crumbling parking lots — is what the modern condos are gradually replacing. What distinguishes this contemporary attempt from a history of failures is Meagher’s understanding of the community DNA and the development team’s ability to build-to-suit. A public-private partnership is what made this revitalization happen, but public consultation is what makes it work. Residents here weren’t seeking fancy architecture. They simply desired the amenities, connections and opportunities that would help build the foundations of their lives, those things that every other neighbourhood in Canada enjoys.
(Re)Building Relationships
At the Innovations in Public Consultation and Engagement Summit, hosted in Toronto last November, Meagher described Regent Park as “a fishbowl of urban planning.” Botched redevelopment attempts (many aborted before shovels even hit the ground) meant the Garden City experiment endured for over 50 years, leav-
ing residents fatigued with public consultations that never lead to results. Toronto Community Housing ( TCH) recognized faith needed to be restored in the process and in themselves as Canada’s largest public landlord. In 2002, TCH retained Public Interest to design and execute an engagement strategy for the 7,500 existing residents and the 5,000 more they were hoping to attract to the neighbourhood through the revitalization. The mandate they laid out for Meagher included helping amplify and organize the community’s distinct voice in the planning process and also to assist staff in rebuilding long-term relationships with the residents. The hope was Regent Park could be the impetus for improved relations in all of the public housing communities across the city and into the future. The first and most significant step for Meagher was to design an engagement strategy with an ability to simultaneously dissolve the lingual divisions yet celebrate the cultural differences of Canada’s most ethnically diverse community. “A New England-style town hall is great if you are from Boston,” notes Meagher. Instead, his team’s strategy
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included a preliminary environmental scan and three rounds of consultation. Initial meetings in each round were broad-minded, providing an opportunity for the development team to casually introduce complex topics and for residents to voice related top-of-mind concerns. Subsequent meetings were concentrically focused allowing the team to harvest the feedback they needed and for residents to see their feedback fueling the process. 28 “Animators” were also hired from the community to serve as translators and cultural liaisons, spreading the discussions pervasively throughout the audience. “Eight languages including English were represented, which allowed us to reach 85 per cent of the community in their native tongue,” says Meagher. Trained and supported by Public Interest, the Animators built personal skills, leadership qualities and, in turn, the capacity of the community. The Animators’ input influenced Meagher’s decisions regarding how best to reach representative groups, understanding that not all respond or feel comfortable contributing in the same format. These consultation sessions included workshops; informal surveys in print, online or in person; small group and face-to-face meetings; and collage building using imagery clipped from magazines that allowed residents to visually present how they wanted their neighbour to look, feel and operate. Despite the open door and open mind approach, Meagher and his team were clear with residents they would not get everything they wished for but urged them to wish anyway. “By doing this, plans are much more creative and inventive instead of forcing planners to rely on old bags of tricks,” he says. “It actually feels like collaboration.” Meagher points to one consultation session as an example, where residents did not pick the fanciest alternatives, but rather ones that were reliable. “That’s what people do when they are in real dialogue with real partners. Partners on both sides of the table are valued. When not, [residents] will ask for the moon because it is an adversarial relationship.”
A Mixed Future
Regent Park’s new vision leaves behind the homogeny of the Garden City and mixes building use, attracts residents with varied incomes and better integrates the neighbourhood into the city beyond its boundaries. Although TCH’s first obligation is to the existing residents, they realized success of the vision relied on the influx of a future resident population to inject new energy and money into the neighbourhood. But consulting with a population that doesn’t yet exist poses functional challenges. Meagher and his team set out to understand this group by analyzing settlement patterns in the eastern area of downtown Toronto, projecting population growth and interviewing 200 individuals who fit into target demographic categories. Welcoming new residents was also a high priority for the existing residents. For them, the razing of the Garden City and improving connections with surrounding neighbourhoods was less about them trying to leave and more about inviting others in. If the new development included features and amenities to make this happen, they were all in favour.
Regent Park gets...a park
Feedback from the public consultation informed at least seven reports, plans and studies, including the 2007 Regent Park Social Development Plan, the first neighbourhood-based plan of its kind in the City of Toronto, which details a community organization and institution strategy to help move Regent Park toward the deAPRIL MAY 2013
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sired mixed community. From a planning perspective, six months of intensive engagement in 2002 culminated in the creation of 12 community principles centring on sustainability, quality architecture, economic and cultural development, affordability and sound financial planning and the creation of the draft plan in December 2002. “I lived near Regent Park for years and regularly walked through the neighbourhood,” remembers John Gladki. In September 2002, he was hired to lead the planning team and implement the master plan for the project. “I had an impression of what it was like, but even since I’ve lived there the community has changed significantly. I didn’t know how layered and complex it was. How many different kinds of groups shared the space and learned to co-exist in various ways and had to make compromises to their lifestyles or beliefs in order to do so.” The input received from residents via Meagher and the public consultation process had a profound impact on Gladki’s master plan, adjusted to suit on both large and small scale items. The resident’s fingerprints are most noticeable on the neighbourhood’s public spaces where, in an early iteration of the plan, small parkettes were sprinkled throughout. But residents asked if it would be possible to amalgamate some into one larger park, creating a more useable space for community gatherings and events. Gladki and his team were able to make modifications to balance the desires of the community with the functionality of the design, and Regent Park finally had a ‘Regent Park’. For Ken Greenberg, a key consultant on the planning team, the public consultation played another vital role. “To my mind, the most significant change was around the idea of integration with the surrounding neighbourhoods,” he suggests. “Specifically, continuing the grid of city streets through the ‘Park’.” Gone were the walkways and parking lots of the Garden City, replaced by tertiary roads designed small and one-way to control traffic speed, and
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13-05-07 11:25 AM
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The Daniels Spectrum more trees and improved lighting to enhance walkability. community centre The final version of the physical development plan was (Diamond Schmitt presented to residents and met with mixed reactions. The exArchitects) isting residents liked the collaborative process of design but maintained a healthy skepticism about the future. They’d been promised things before and would keep a “watchful eye” on the proceedings moving forward.
Incentives and Costs
“’Incentive’ is a difficult term,” says Martin Blake, vice president of The Daniels Corporation. In 2005, Daniels was selected by TCH as the private development partner for the project and has since become a driving force in the neighbourhood’s physical and cultural resurrection. Blake doesn’t believe there is a direct correlation between effective public consultation and financial reward, but rather prefers to consider the benefits of creating a solid product. “Regent Park reinforced that projects are always stronger with the input of the community,” he notes. “When you lose sight of that you miss out on opportunities.” The scale of the physical development plan is eye-catching, but what has the attention of many in the industry, both domestically and abroad, is this public-private partnership formed to execute it. To pay for the cost of redeveloping TCH’s 2,083 existing rent-geared-to-income units and constructing 700 new ones, The Daniels Corporation will build and sell 3,000 market condominiums. As each phase of the project is developed over a 15 year timeline, the public and market units are built in relative balance so that one residence type doesn’t overwhelm the other. Blake suggests that with the help of public consultation, communities work better, improving their resale value and the reputation of the development team. “The success of Regent Park has manifested itself in awareness,” he says. “In the past seven years, delegations from north of 100 countries – Russia, Germany, in
South America – have toured Regent Park, kicking the tires, so to speak. They are coming with interest, but also a bit of disbelief that a project like this could be pulled off.” The popularity of the revitalization has also impacted market unit sales. “In 2013,” notes Blake, “we’re well into the second condo launch of Phase 2.83 per cent of the units sold out in 25 days. That’s an unheralded rate for the industry.” At City Hall, this awareness and familiarity is not lost. Various members of the development team all noted how the Regent Park development application “sailed through” Council and staff review at an unexpected rate, receiving approval in March, 2004. “The City was a great cheerleader,” says six-term City Councillor Pam McConnell, who has represented Regent Park residents since 1994. “I believe all motions were passed unanimously because it was the right thing to do. The way people from inside the City have worked together has been amazing. Everyone from Roads and Transportation to Children’s Services to Parks and Recreation have all scraped their budgets to get the right infrastructure in place to make this project thrive and flourish.” This support is likely a partial byproduct of the City trying to right the
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Oak Street
Dog off leash area
Dundas Street East
wrongs of Regent Park’s hard history, but it is also about confidence. Councillor McConnell puts it this way: “With all development applications, healthy and productive public consultations always lead to better staff reviews and wise decisions by Council. In the case of the Regent Park revitalization, demonstrated strong community involvement in all aspects of the planning process contributed to Council’s high level of confidence in the project.” Although the value and impact of Regent Park’s public consultation process is clearly demonstrable, it is hard to ledgerize and because of this many developers still wince at its mention. Municipalities like the City of Toronto mandate a low water mark of public consultation for most land development applications, but as Gladki suggests, the quantity and quality pursued above this level varies greatly. “It depends on who the proponents are; there really isn’t one rule,” he notes. “Many developers these days understand they need to go a bit beyond the requirements in order to get acceptance for change, while public sector organizations feel they have an obligation to do public consultation and can sometimes go overboard with it.” In the case of Regent Park, TCH spent significant (but undisclosed) sums of money on the public consultation process since 2002, including ongoing tenant update meetings. Certain APRIL MAY 2013
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Regent Pool
costs since 2005, which included revitalization public consultations, have been split by TCH and Daniels. Gladki feels the development team was able to balance the drive to understand the community DNA with the cost, and advocates to all developers to invest in the public consultation process up front. “The cost benefit analysis is pretty clear,” he suggests. “Whatever the cost may be, it is a fraction of the cost of fullscale opposition and making mistakes.”
How Much Is Enough?
Many developers prefer to confront opposition to their development plans at review tribunals like the Ontario The plan for Regent Municipal Board because the costs of these fights are more Park’s first actual park, quantifiable. Indeed, despite Regent Park’s comprehensive designed by The Planning Partnership. engagement strategy the project did end up at the OMB at the behest of one individual, but the case was essentially settled before the hearing began. “It took an hour and a half to wrap up,” notes Gladki. “Not a huge cost when those hearings can sometimes cost millions of dollars.” Resistance to a development plan during the public consultation process or municipal review cycle is an easy signal that the public consultation process hasn’t gone far enough or wasn’t initiated with the right motivations. Greenberg suggests public consultation shouldn’t stop until “a clear consensus around goals emerges, and a sense of being willing to take the risk that they will be achieved.” Getting all the stakeholders in Regent Park – residents, community organizations, partners and regulators – to the same table and on the same page gave the revitalization team the confidence to spend $1 billion and once again put the lives of Canada’s most at-risk community at stake. Ten years after the creation of the draft plan, and well on toward project completion, what has the Canadian development industry learned from Regent Park? The revitalization team’s efforts with public consultation set the bar high, implicitly challenging other development teams to discover and better understand the DNA of the communities in which they are building. If the caseload at the Ontario Municipal Board, which has decline 35 per cent in the past five years, is any indication, it signals the perception of public consultation is changing to one of instigator over salve. When used effectively, authentically and early in the development process, it can propel a project to new and profitable heights. But when applied to help soothe wounds of dysfunctional relationships, projects lose power. The story of Regent Park as Canada’s best public consultation case study illustrates a cross-section of outcomes: what happens when there is political will but no community input; community input but lacking planning or financial resources; and, finally, the fruits of having all of these. With an innovative partnership able to execute the combined vision of the community and development team, the social consequences of redevelopment were put at the centre of the design. “Nothing happened that didn’t involve getting the stars aligned,” Councillor McConnell smiles, “but the process got turned on its head. Usually what happens is professionals do all the work and then tell residents why they should like it. In this case, residents gave the marching orders and the professionals made it happen.” And bringing with them Double-Doubles for everyone in the process. b
All Images courtesy of The Daniels Corporation
Green open space
Sumach Street
Sackville Street
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The ability for an aggrieved real estate purchaser to pursue specific performance has evolved dramatically over the last two decades. Specific performance has typically been sought by the purchaser of the property when a contract did not complete because of an alleged breach by the seller. Whether specific performance was awarded was often judged on whether the asset had certain ‘unique’ qualities. Previously, it was taken for granted that all real property is ‘unique’ and therefore specific performance was often awarded for breaches of contracts for the sale of property by sellers. However, this changed in 1996 with the landmark SCC case of Semelhago v. Paramadevan (Semelhago). The facts in that case were fairly straightforward. An individual agreed to buy a house in Toronto for $205,000, with a closing date of October 31, 1986. The seller refused to close and therefore the purchaser sued the seller and sought specific performance or damages in lieu thereof. At the time of trial, the market value of the property to be purchased had increased to $325,000 and therefore the purchaser decided to pursue damages. Nevertheless, specific performance was still an issue because the court had to decide the date for the assessment of damages, which was either the closing date of the deal or the date of trial or judgment. The SCC held that specific performance is not to be automatically granted in all real estate cases. To succeed in a claim for specific performance involving real estate the party has to prove to the court that the property is so unique that a substitute is not readily available or, in other words, that damages would be an unfair remedy. If a substitute property is available then the aggrieved party may have to seek damages rather than specific performance. In this case, the court noted the following facts: 20…While at one time the common law regarded every piece of real estate to be unique, with the progress of modern real estate development this is no longer the case. Residential, business and industrial properties are all mass produced much in the same way as other consumer products. If a deal falls through for one property, another is frequently, though not always, readily available. 21…It is no longer appropriate, therefore, to maintain a distinction in the approach to specific performance as between realty and personalty. It cannot be assumed that damages APRIL MAY 2013
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for breach of contract for the purchase and sale of real estate will be an inadequate remedy in all cases. The common law recognized that the distinction might not be valid when the land had no peculiar or special value. Following the Semelhago decision, it was often interpreted by many to mean that to succeed in a claim for specific performance the plaintiff must prove the property to be ‘unique’, either subjectively or objectively. This was not technically correct as the real question was whether damages would provide an unfair remedy to an aggrieved purchaser. If damages are inadequate, then specific performance ought to be available as an alternative remedy. Merely showing how the property was ‘unique’ may help prove that damages are indeed inadequate. This distinction was noted in the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal in the Raymond v Anderson case in 2011: Semelhago does not, however, stand for the proposition that the presumption of uniqueness has been supplanted by a presumption of replaceability. [case citations omitted]. The only change wrought by Semelhago is in the approach of the courts to determining the appropriate remedy; judges must no longer presume the inadequacy of damages as a remedy whenever real property is involved. But, this assessment is not a search for uniqueness. Rather, it is appropriate to characterize a judge’s assessment in cases of this nature as an inquiry into whether, in the circumstances, damages would be an inadequate remedy.
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The Southcott Estates Decision
his sets the stage for the most recent case on this topic being the SCC’s decision in 2012 in Southcott Estates Inc v Toronto Catholic District School Board. Southcott Estates was a single purpose corporation which is part of the Ballantry Group, a developer that acquires and develops land in the Greater Toronto Area. The Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) entered into an agreement with Southcott Estates for the sale of 4.78 acres of surplus land for the price of approximately $3.4 million. As part of the agreement, Southcott Estates paid a 10 per cent deposit but it owned no other assets as it was incorporated by Ballantry Homes Inc. to purchase the land owned by TCDSB. Southcott Estates intended to use the land for a residential development project. The agreement was conditional upon TCDSB obtaining a severance from a certain committee on or before the closing date. The original closing date was extended by the parties as there was insufficient time to obtain the severance. Eventually, TCDSB could not satisfy the required condition by the extended closing date. TCDSB also refused to extend the closing any further and the contract was brought to an end. Southcott Estates commenced a court action and sought specific performance of the contract.
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A
The Issues
s a result of Southcott Estates’ claim for specific performance of the contract, it did not take any steps to attempt to mitigate any losses it may have suffered due to the breach of contract by TCDSB. It took the position it did not have to mitigate its damages as it wanted the property as that was why it had been created. The trial court had determined that specific performance was not available to Southcott Estates because the property was not sufficiently unique. However, damages were awarded because of the lost opportunity to make a profit on the development. The Court of Appeal reversed that decision and held that Southcott Estates had not mitigated its damages and therefore was only entitled to nominal damages. The Ballantry Group had made other purchases in the relevant time period and therefore there were opportunities to mitigate which Southcott Estates itself had not followed. The matter then proceeded to the SCC which was asked to consider three issues: whether a single purpose company should be required to mitigate its losses; to what extent must a purchaser mitigate where it has made a claim for specific performance of a real estate contract; and did the trial judge err in concluding there was no evidence of comparable properties available for mitigation?
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The Decision
n a six to one decision, the SCC dismissed the appeal. The court considered the nature of single-purpose corporations created within a larger group of companies, which is a common practice with commercial real estate developers. The court commented that these single-purpose corporations cannot avoid mitigating their damages simply because they have no assets, as that would be an unfair advantage over those conducting businesses without the use of single-purpose corporations. In this case the court said Southcott Estates must have had access to additional funds from its parent if it planned to complete the transaction. This part of the decision is significant in that many commercial real estate developers utilize single-purpose corporations for various legitimate reasons while developing properties. However, the use of these single-purpose corporations may have an impact upon a claim for specific performance or damages, as well as a duty to mitigate should the transaction fail to complete due to a breach of contract by a seller. Further, the SCC also confirmed that Southcott Estates could not claim damages as a result of the failed contract as it didn’t try to find a substitute property which could have reduced the damages alleged to have been incurred. The court recognized that where a plaintiff has a “fair, real and substantial justification” or a “substantial and legitimate
interest” in specific performance, its inaction to purchase other property may be found to be reasonable. However, in this case the court said that “a plaintiff deprived of an investment property” does not have such an interest “unless he can show that money is not a complete remedy because the land has ‘a peculiar and special value’ to him.” Southcott Estates could not make this claim and therefore damages were an adequate remedy. In this regard, the court stated: “It was engaged in a commercial transaction for the purpose of making a profit. The property’s particular qualities were only of value due to their ability to further profitability.” If a plaintiff’s aim is to make a profit from the purchase, then the decision suggests that a plaintiff may have a difficult time convincing a court to grant the remedy of specific performance. Finally, on the issue of available substitute properties, the court agreed with the Court of Appeal in that the evidence of Ballantry’s other purchases of development properties during the relevant time period was sufficient to show that substitute properties were readily available. Once again Southcott Estates could not reasonably refuse to mitigate its damages.
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Implications
he SCC, starting with Semelhago and continuing with Southcott, has changed the way specific performance can be claimed. Given that the common law prior to these decisions often routinely granted specific performance, these decisions mark a significant departure from past cases, especially as they apply to commercial real estate developers. As a result, and given the number of collapsing real estate transactions that have occurred over the last several years, commercial real estate developers need to carefully consider the impact of Southcott including steps they ought to take if a real estate deal does not close. For example, developers ought to assess whether there is a fair, real and substantial justification for claiming specific performance. If not, what steps ought to be taken to find a suitable alternative development site, and whether a court action against a defaulting vendor ought to be pursued if damages are the only realistic remedy available. A commercial developer aiming to acquire land will need to consider steps to mitigate its losses in the event of a vendor failing to close on a purchase agreement even if specific performance is the primary preferred remedy. This will be true even if the purchaser is a single-purpose corporation and even if that purchaser does not have the resources to pursue mitigation of its damages. b Michael B. Morgan is a partner in the Vancouver office of Lawson Lundell LLP, whose practice includes commercial and real estate litigation. Among his areas of focus are builder’s liens, commercial landlord and tenant disputes and other construction disputes. www.lawsonlundell.com building.ca
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WHEN THE
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By William J. Stangeland
City renewal activities are increasingly driving the market toward the retrofit of existing buildings, and retrocommissioning provides an enhanced framework of delivery for the retrofit steps.
T here are millions of commercial buildings in the U.S. and Canada that are wasting energy, directly resulting in higher energy bills, increased occupant complaints and, as a result, increased maintenance costs. Saving energy is becoming a priority for both countries. For savvy building owners and facility managers across North America, saving energy is top of mind as a result of continuous increasing APRIL MAY 2013
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energy costs and the unknown future of their sources. One solution for increased energy efficiency and reduced operating costs is retro-commissioning. Retro-Commissioning, RCx for short, is a type of Existing Building Commissioning and a systematic, documented process for existing buildings that identifies no- and low-cost improvements that can boost the performance of a building. RCx seeks to improve how building equipment and systems function together by investigating, analyzing, and optimizing building performance through various operational and maintenance improvement measures. The RCx process is essentially the same as the commissioning process for new buildings. This includes inspection and testing HVAC, plumbing, electrical, lighting, life-safety systems, and the building envelope. The process also includes checking for complete documentation as well as ensuring that building operators are trained to maintain the building’s long-term performance. The groups involved in the RCx process include: the building owner’s maintenance and operations staff, building automation system contractor, the testing, adjusting and balancing contractor, various service personnel and the Commissioning Authority. For existing buildings, RCx often solves problems that have occurred during the design process or during construction. In addition, it pinpoints and addresses issues and problems that have developed throughout the building’s life. Therefore, it helps to improve the operations and maintenance procedures to enhance overall building performance. WHY DO BUILDINGS NEED RETRO-COMMISSIONING?
Buildings age and change with usage, the efficiency of the building’s operational systems degrade and operational requirements also change. Due to these factors, most buildings are underperforming and are using more energy than necessary, which results in increased costs to operate. By retro-commissioning a building, the focus is on using operational and maintenance upgrades or ‘tune-up’ activities and diagnostic testing to optimize the building systems. Buildings that can benefit from RCx include those that are as new as two to three years old, and many times building owners and facilities managers are not even aware of their excessive energy use. An element of considering building retro-commissioning includes examining the building envelope. For instance, if the building envelope has openings to the outside, they may not be sealed tightly which means the HVAC system works much harder to heat, cool and pressurize the building, resulting in energy waste. Other items targeted for retro-commissioning include: energy management systems that were not installed or programmed or that may have degraded throughout time; operational controls that are out of calibration or are not properly sequencing; equipment that is running more than needed or running inefficiently; or time clocks or schedules that have been set up improperly. WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF RETRO-COMMISSIONING?
There are numerous reasons why building owners and managers choose to retro-commission their existing buildings. One reason is to qualify for local rebates or incentives, often offered by local gas and electric utility companies. Another is in response to local code requirements, or due to a change in building use from the original design. Another common reason is to obtain green building certifications, such as LEED or Energy Star certification. For example, in the case of the latter, Energy Star’s Portfolio Manager is an online energy management and tracking/benchmarking tool developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that allows buildings to be monitored and their energy performance to be tracked and rated on a scale of 1 to 100, relative to similar buildings across the U.S. In late 2011, building.ca
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the U.S. EPA and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) signed a formal agreement to expand Portfolio Manager to Canadian buildings. The Canadian version of the free online energy measurement and tracking tool is scheduled to be launched in June of 2013 and will include Canadian weather data, metric units and a bilingual interface. As of March 2012, over 4,000 Canadian buildings were using Portfolio Manager, initially being compared to similar buildings in the U.S. but, in the meantime, building a Canadian database that will be automatically transferred to the Canadian system when it is finally implemented. These buildings will then be compared to other Canadian buildings. Although Energy Star Certification will not be offered for Canadian buildings, benchmarking is a very useful tool for retro-commissioning, since it allows measurement and tracking of energy use and enables building owners and managers to see the results of their retro-commissioning efforts. However, the benefits of RCx on its own can be reason enough for most buildings to implement the process, as many RCx opportunities are low-cost or no-cost items that have attractive payback periods. These benefits include reduced energy use and lower utility bills, improved indoor air quality and comfort levels (which then tends to lead to reduced occupant complaints), and reduced operational and maintenance costs. PHASES OF RETRO-COMMISSIONING
There are currently five distinct phases ascribed to the retrocommissioning process: 1. The Planning Phase includes meeting with the building owner, documenting the owner’s current facility requirements and developing a RCx plan for the facility by identifying the building systems to be analyzed by performing an initial site walk-through. A RCx contract with a services provider is prepared, negotiated, and finalized before any next steps. 2. After the RCx team has been assembled and initial kick-off meeting has taken place, you enter the Investigation Phase to conduct site investigation, review facility documentation, perform diagnostic monitoring, and perform functional tests and simple repairs. This aids in determining how the systems are supposed to operate and enables the team to create a prioritized list of operating deficiencies. 3. During the Implementation Phase, the highest priority deficiencies are corrected and proper operation is verified. Implementation of facility improvement measures to improve building and system performance to reduce energy as well as operational and maintenance costs. 4. The Turnover Phase is meant to establish a smooth transition to provide the building’s operations and maintenance staff the necessary tools and knowledge to ensure the savings and operational improvements are maintained for the future. 5. The last phase, or Persistence Phase, ensures continuous system performance improvement through persistent strategies.
A typical way to start RCx services is with an energy audit of the building and/or setting a baseline for future compari-
Reasons for RCx include: I mprove building performance by making it more energy efficient, therefore, reducing operational costs; Identify and fix any building system control and maintenance issues; Minimize operational risks; Increase asset value of buildings; Improve comfort, indoor air quality and environment, therefore, reducing liability; Improved occupant comfort and satisfaction, reducing complaints which reduces the work load on building staff and helps retain tenants in multi-tenant buildings; Identify operational and maintenance staff training needs and improve training and performance; Update operational and maintenance manuals and procedures to reflect building’s current actual use; Extend equipment life; Ensure improvements over the building’s lifespan; Important prerequisite if pursuing LEED for Existing Buildings
sons. Then a building-operation plan must be developed, defining the present-day requirements of the building and its systems, along with identifying any operational problems affecting occupant comfort and any additional low cost/no cost items that can be implemented. After that, prepare a plan for carrying out the testing of all building systems to confirm correct operation and/or define required remedial work, then implement and document the tasks in the above plan. Then repair and/or upgrade all systems and components found to be deficient during the commissioning process and retest all building components after changes are made to ensure optimal operation. The benefits of commissioning and retro-commissioning are becoming recognized more than ever. Even codes are being changed to require these services. The 2012 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), widely used throughout the U.S., requires system commissioning in buildings where mechanical equipment capacity is equal to or greater than 480,000 BTU/H of cooling and 600,000 BTU/H of heating. NRCan indicates “...commissioning supports the energy-efficient goals of the National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings and emerging provincial and municipal energy codes.” Most buildings are not performing to their potential. Therefore, it is important to consider RCx as the majority of existing buildings have not undergone any type of commissioning or quality assurance testing process. Since buildings have such a wide variety of conditions (age, size, construction type, systems, etc.) it is impossible to put an exact number on potential savings, but energy savings can range from $0.11 per square foot up to $0.72 per square foot. b
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William J. Stangeland is president of McGuire Engineers and has more than 30 years of experience in HVAC and plumbing systems design, encompassing commercial projects, churches, auditoriums, medical office buildings, out-patient surgical suites, and branch banks. He can be reached through www.mepcinc.com
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Caption Ilibus. Cesti in re ditatemqui tempore sed undentia 25saperum et explicias andus
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A Image courtesy of NEUF architect(e)s
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The Tour Aimia mixed-use complex facing Victoria Square, Montréal, by NEUF architect(e)s. APRIL MAY 2013
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building.ca
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P
L A YI
hen it comes to a conversation about the state of Canada’s office building and leasing activity, Toronto and Calgary are like those annoying hipsters who just want to talk about W themselves. Deservedly so, one could argue: the total inventory of built space across the country, which increased by nearly two million square feet in 2012, was due in large part to new office towers in Calgary and Toronto, which are both experiencing a development boom. In fact, nearly 80 per cent of the increase in occupied office space in downtown markets in 2012 was recorded in the first quarter when The Bow’s 1.9 million square feet was delivered in Calgary. When taken as a whole, the numbers across Canada show that the combined Class “A” and Class “B” vacancy rate fell from 6.8 per cent to 4.7 per cent over 2012, while total vacant space in the country’s major cities fell from 11.2 million square feet to 9.8 million square feet, according to data from Newmark Knight Frank Devencore. And while the leasing activity that did occur in downtown office markets was not always widespread — thanks to Toronto and Calgary hogging the spotlight with the lion’s share of new supply — other cities would like you to know they are also doing quite well, thank you very much. For example, in its Real Estate Market Study, Newmark Knight Frank Devencore reported that vacancy rates in downtown Montréal’s Class “A” and “B” office buildings have fallen to 5.8 per cent. Over the course of 2012, just under 585,000 square feet was absorbed, and there is approximately 2.7 million square feet currently available for lease and sublet. As has been the case for over a year, contiguous spaces greater than 25,000 square feet are increasingly difficult to find in Québec’s Metropolis. “Over the past 24 months approximately one million square feet of Class “A” and Class “B” office space has been absorbed, so in this post-recession period there has been considerable leasing activity,” said Jean Laurin, president and CEO of Newmark Knight Frank Devencore. As a result, the dynamic of downtown Montréal’s office market is about to undergo a significant shift.
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N G HARD
By Peter Sobchak
Calgary and Toronto are not the only beneficiaries of exploding demand for office space. Many Canadian cities are enjoying the low vacancies that come with robust downtown development. Even the suburbs are getting in on the solid performance story.
TO GET
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Two new tower projects have secured anchor tenants: Deloitte LLP has signed on to the 514,000-sq.-ft. Cadillac Fairview development that will be built between Windsor Station and the Bell Centre; and Aimia, which owns and operates Aeroplan, is the lead tenant in the Tour Aimia, which is part of an office tower and condominium complex under construction in the heart of the Quartier International. Other predevelopment activity continues as well, with as many as three or four additional projects seeking anchor tenants before proceeding. “The demand for top-tier space in Montréal has begun to severely limit tenant opportunities, and the two major tenancies we have seen with Aimia and Deloitte speak to the need for new LEED-certified office space,” said Laurin. “These new projects will begin to change the face of downtown Montréal and will certainly generate new leasing opportunities. However, because these projects are two-to-three years from delivery, tenants who have leases coming up for renewal over the next year or so should be strategizing now with their real estate advisors in order to take advantage of current and emerging opportunities. “ City of Glass is Getting Cramped On the other side of the country, Jones Lang LaSalle’s second annual Blue Chip Building Index (BCBI), a barometer of the leasing environment in Vancouver’s Central Business District (CBD), reveals that the combined average va-
2012 City Rank
2011 City Rank
City
Street
cancy rate of the city’s 20 most prestigious office towers has dropped to 1.1 per cent, an almost 50 per cent decline from the inaugural BCBI in 2011. According to the proprietary index, low vacancy combined with ongoing strong demand (1.6 million square feet of tenants currently represented in the market) may push the city’s trophy towers closer to full occupancy before new supply provides new options for tenants. “The scarcity of space options in the city’s top 20 office buildings, and across the CBD as a whole, presents an even bigger challenge for tenants than a year ago,” said Gavin Reynolds, senior vice president in JLL’s Vancouver office. The 20 premier office buildings featured in the BCBI were selected based on criteria such as location, amenities, green standards, floor plate size, access to public transportation and building age. According to the Index, eight of the city’s BCBI buildings are currently 100 per cent occupied, compared to six fully occupied buildings a year ago. In addition, Vancouver’s BCBI vacancy level is lower than the vacancy rate of BCBI buildings in Canada’s two largest office markets: Toronto at 4.9 per cent and Montréal at 5.5 per cent (Calgary, with a BCBI vacancy rate of 0.4 per cent, is the only major city in Canada with a lower BCBI vacancy rate than Vancouver). Given these numbers, an oft-asked question is “When will market conditions begin shifting in tenants’ favour?” With Vancouver is in the midst of the BAY STREET IN TORONTO NAMED THE MOST EXPENSIVE STREET FOR OFFICE SPACE IN CANADA TORONTO – Jones Lang LaSalle has identified the top seven most expensive streets for office space in Canada, and – surprise, surprise – Toronto’s Bay Street comes in at number one with average rents running at around $68.91 per square foot (psf) and the top rent on the street comes in at $82.28 psf, a significant 178 per cent higher than the average office rents in the rest of the city. Eighth Avenue SW in Calgary follows with average office rents of $55.33 psf, more than 62 per cent higher than average rents across the city. Burrard Street in Vancouver lands in third place where average rents are $54.75 psf and the top rent on the street is $65.41 psf. “It is clear from our ranking that companies are keen to pay a premium to be in the most prestigious locations,” said Brett Miller, president, Jones Lang LaSalle Canada. According to Jones Lang LaSalle’s second annual ranking, Bay Street retained its poll position while Ottawa’s Albert Street took second place in 2011, but this year fell to fourth place. Calgary’s 8th Avenue SW made its debut this year to reach second on the list. Last year, Calgary’s 3rd Avenue took fourth place. Réne-Lévesque Boulevard West in Montréal came in sixth position falling from last year’s fifth place which featured the city’s McGill College Street. “While some of these streets command high-end rents, compared to our global counterparts, we look reasonable,” said Miller. “For example, 23 Saville Row in London commands an eyewatering $220 psf while in New York, 667 Madison Ave. asks $144.50 psf. Singapore follows suit with Ocean Financial Center in Raffles Place offering a full service rent of $105.00 psf.” Avg. Street Rent
Top Street Rent
Avg. Market Rent
Difference Between Market Avg. and Street Avg.
2011 Avg. Most Expensive Street Rent
2011 Top Street Rent
1
1
Toronto
Bay Street
$68.91
$82.28
$29.56
133%
$52.09
$78.19
2
4
Calgary
8th Avenue SW
$55.33
$76.50
$34.00
63%
$49.94
$54.19
3
3
Vancouver
Burrard Street
$54.75
$65.41
$32.29
70%
$48.88
$61.80
4
2
Ottawa
Albert Street
$53.18
$53.18
$30.26
76%
$47.51
$52.97
5
6
Edmonton
101st Street NW
$49.40
$55.25
$29.99
65%
$41.05
$53.39
6
5
Montréal
Réne-Lévesque Boulevard West
$46.46
$56.19
$26.84
73%
$38.82
$44.95
7
7
Halifax
Upper Water Street
$35.57
$35.78
$25.87
38%
$33.65
$34.31
APRIL MAY 2013
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building.ca
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Signs of Life in Canada’s Suburban Office Market Canada’s major downtown office markets have attracted a lot of attention in recent months, which has eclipsed yet another solid year for the suburban office market. Hard hit during the recession, the suburbs have recorded steady demand for office space and fundamentals have improved consistently over the past two years according to CBRE
Image courtesy of Cadillac Fairview Corporation
largest downtown office-building construction cycle it has ever experienced, the Index suggests that the leasing environment will improve leading up to 2015, when several companies with leases of 50,000 square feet and higher will move into newly completed towers such as TELUS Garden, MNP Tower and 745 Thurlow. The confirmed projects are approximately 43 per cent preleased, and large users are already beginning to take advantage of the opportunity to lease space that will be vacated by tenants scheduled to move into the new crop of buildings. “In addition to the availability of space in the city’s new developments, backfill opportunities will open up for tenants seeking space downtown,” said Reynolds. “With the strong pre-leasing activity at downtown projects currently under construction, we expect space in the new towers to be absorbed in a timely manner. With this activity, we are already seeing a movement away from the current landlord-favourable environment as options begin to expand for tenants.”
Limited’s National Office and Industrial Fourth Quarter 2012 Statistical Summary. Urbanization will continue to drive office demand in downtown cores; however, a large suburban population still needs to be serviced, and the 43.7 per cent of existing office stock which is located in the suburbs will prove to be more than viable. “While frequently overshadowed by our thriving downtown markets, the suburban office market should not be written off,” said John O’Bryan, chairman of CBRE Limited. “Vacancy remains The Deloitte Tower, Montréal being higher in the suburbs, but demand has been consistent and designed by Kohn the suburban market has been resilient despite two chalPederson Fox Associates, B+H lenging years for the economy.” Architects and Lemay In the fourth quarter, the suburbs recorded 200,284 Associés. square feet of positive absorption nationally compared to 221,680 square feet of positive absorption in downtown markets. In relative terms, activity in the suburbs actually outpaced leasing activity downtown when one considers the fact that the downtown inventory is 53.9 million square feet larger than the suburban universe. The resilience of the suburban office market in 2012 was not all that surprising. Suburban demand has been consistent for the past two years with total annual absorption reaching 2.2 million square feet in 2011 and 1.9 million square feet in 2012. In comparison, downtown office absorption was cut in half from 5.7 million square feet in 2011 to 2.4 million square feet in 2012. The smaller 312,000 square feet decrease in suburban office absorption between 2011 and 2012 is quite impressive given that the economy was growing more slowly in 2012. “In many markets, the suburbs present the only options for tenants looking to expand or sign new leases in the near-term,” noted Ross Moore, Director of Research for CBRE Limited. For example, the lack of vacant downtown large-block options in Calgary forced Imperial Oil to make an unprecedented decision to move to Quarry Park in the suburban south. “With a construction cycle underway and additional towers likely to be announced, downtown markets will stay in the spotlight. But make no mistake, suburban office space remains desirable and has a viable future, especially where public transportation is available,” says O’Bryan.
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Tenants Should Consider Their Options This plethora of figures proves what we already know: that demand is not abating in the Canadian office market. As such, rents have and will move up year-overyear in every city as downtown markets are settling into a holding pattern that is expected to continue until new supply is delivered over the next three to four years across the country. And while global economic volatility and the increasing number of mergers and acquisitions have led to an growth of grey market opportunities for downtown Class ‘A’ tenants, current conditions are also triggering early renewals and amplifying pressure for companies to do more with less square feet. “Due to tight supply in office buildings, the larger tenants need to begin evaluating their options several years in advance of their lease expirations,” said Reynolds. “With the shortage of available space downtown, renewing current leases or relocating outside the CBD is among the most viable, although not necessarily ideal options for tenants.” b building.ca
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Scott Hutcheson: Excellence Requires Dealing with Reality By William J. Ferguson
No matter how lofty or inspiring one’s values may be, one of the primary tenets must be to maintain a sense of reality — knowing that what is, is. In other words, a successful leader must understand what the facts are before making a decision. At age 17, Scott Hutcheson pursued a career as a ski racer in the World Cup. He was good, too. From 1978 to 1982, he represented Canada as a member of the Canadian National Alpine Ski Team and competed in the World Cup and the World Championships. In 1982, he was one of Canada’s best, and was ranked in the Top 50 of the world. By age 23, he had to face the reality that he was not going to be a world champion, and began planning for a life after competitive skiing. Business journals had always caught his eye. Whatever business literature he could find, he consumed it. Accepted to the University of Utah, where he skied and coached, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in finance. After graduation, he persisted until he landed a job as a junior investment banker at Goldman Sachs and earned his master’s degree from Columbia University, and won an award for the best thesis in his year. 15 years later, he returned to Canada and, in 1998, started Aspen Properties with a cell phone and very little money while working out of a friend’s boardroom. It was not unlike screaming down the mountain, racing against the clock, defying the experts, and ignoring the critics. And, it was not without some serious reality checks. When Aspen did a hostile takeover of a public company in 2001, it overestimated the value of the company and ended up overpaying in the short term. On two occasions in the first 36 months, Hutcheson thought his firm would have to seek protection from the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), which allows financially troubled corporations the opportunity to restructure their affairs. The difficult reality he faced was whether he had enough operating capital to pay employees. One Board member was convinced that Aspen should claim CCAA protection, but management convinced the Board to give them a 30-day reprieve in order to correct its cash flow problems, which allowed the team enough time to narrowly escape bankruptcy. Through sheer determination and youthful exuberance, APRIL MAY 2013
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Hutcheson was able to fix the immediate crisis. After four years of mostly seven-day workweeks and 15-hour workdays, he was able to privatize both the parent and its subsidiaries in one transaction. Since 2005, Aspen has been a private company that attracts institutional investors looking for an accomplished operator. For Hutcheson and his two partners, it was a wild ride. They made a commitment to get through each day, believing that tomorrow would lead to something bigger and better. Through those experiences they learned the differences between how things are supposed to be and how things really are, what they would never allow to happen again and what they would never do again. They established their operating principles by going through tough lessons and staying focused on the objectives. They enhanced shareholder value by taking a company that was financially unsuccessful and saving it; not by downsizing it and breaking it up, but by replacing the management and creating value. Hutcheson concedes that he was probably a bit naïve when he went through his trial by fire. He concedes that these experiences, which he likened to drinking out of a fire hose, probably would William J. Ferguson is not have been undertaken by someone chairman and CEO of older and more seasoned. If the same Ferguson Partners Ltd. business deal would present itself toand co-chairman and day, he doubts he would take the same co-CEO of FPL Advisory path; experience would most likely Group. The preceding was prompt him to view the risk as higher an excerpt from his new and the reward lower. In hindsight, he book Market Discipline, was right on the principles under which The Competitive he launched the hostile takeover, but Advantage: Lessons from concedes that he didn’t know all of the Canada's Real Estate risks. While the rewards turned out to Leaders, published by the be better than he initially estimated, REALpac. www.realpac.ca he is the first to admit that experience tempers one’s willingness to take undue risk, and teaches the reality that every business has problems. Life does not quite resemble the case studies taught in business school. b
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“Incentives for new construction helped us design and build new facilities that use less electricity and lower our operating costs.” Darryl K. Boyce, P. Eng. Assistant Vice President Facility Management and Planning, Waterfront Project, Carleton University
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Subject to additional terms and conditions found at saveonenergy.ca. Subject to change without notice. A mark of the Province of Ontario protected under Canadian trade-mark law. Used under licence. OM Official Marks of the Ontario Power Authority.
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“With these tax incentives, it’s like we already filled 10 units.” People who know Real Estate, know BDO.
The Real Estate Practice at BDO Real estate markets globally are undergoing a period of virtually unprecedented turmoil. Now more than ever, it is crucial to have proactive financial guidance to help you address these issues. BDO’s Real Estate practice combines in-depth knowledge of the industry with a truly global network of support. All through a single point of contact. Assurance | Accounting | Tax | Advisory www.bdo.ca/real-estate BDO Canada LLP, a Canadian limited liability partnership, is a member of BDO International Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, and forms part of the international BDO network of independent member firms. BDO is the brand name for the BDO network and for each of the BDO Member Firms.
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Seiter&Miller 001004 Pub. Building Size. 8 x 10.75 Issue April/May 2013
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