GWL Realty Advisors (GWLRA) is submitting a rezoning application to the City of Toronto for the Canada Life campus of buildings in the city’s downtown core to allow for potential future intensification with new residential and commercial uses.

Peakhill Capital’s Peakhill Opportunity REIT (P-REIT), which launched in January to acquire and manage income-generating apartment assets across the Greater Toronto Area and surrounding regions, has closed on its first property purchases.

Montoni has launched a line of industrial condos — commercial buildings typically between 60,000 to 100,000 square feet that can be laid out like a townhome community — with small- and medium-sized businesses in search of flexibility as the target audience.

As Canada's climate changes, CRE owners are beginning to rethink the assumptions behind their buildings. The summer air is alive with the sound of cicadas. The sun hangs high, relentless and unfiltered, warming rooftops, pavements and everything in between. 

Property technology firm Altrio — which provides software and data solutions to the global real estate investment, lending and brokerage industries — is launching a new artificial intelligence-driven product called Altrio Pro to improve the efficiency of deal sourcing and screening.

Elysium Investments has received Toronto city council approval for two highrise purpose-built rental developments. The 70-storey project on Isabella Street and the 36-storey building on Glenavy Avenue will offer a combined 928 units.

Toronto-based H&R REIT is to be acquired in a $6.7B deal which will see its portfolio divided amongst a group of buyers in Canada and the U.S. The transaction will create Canada's second largest publicly traded residential REIT.

McGill doesn't offer a dedicated CRE program, so its students built one themselves. The McGill Real Estate Club's inaugural Junior Analyst Program put 16 students through a real deal-analysis gauntlet, ending with a live pitch inside Scotiabank's Montreal CRE office.

GUEST SUBMISSION: Canada’s foreign buyers ban was sold as a protection for Canadian buyers, and while the rationale was valid at the time, it’s done little to correct the market’s larger structural problems.

Grosvenor Property Canada has signed a 10-year lease with construction company Doka for a 15-acre industrial site on Annacis Island, the latest in a pair of major transactions that underscore continued demand for industrial space in Metro Vancouver.

Two new seniors VPs for Leyad and the CEO of Teranet will step down after 13 years at the top. Other appointments include a new CFO for Altus, new Toronto VP for Prologis; new executives at Partner and Fiera. 

Forum Student Living Fund I, along with sponsor Forum Asset Management, have closed its inaugural capital raise after securing $46.7 million in total gross equity proceeds in about two months.

GUEST SUBMISSION: Ontario’s housing debate rightly focuses on supply. Zoning, approvals, construction costs, interest rates and development charges all matter. But a less visible constraint matters just as much: how we pay for the infrastructure that makes new communities possible.

BST Canada has acquired three Toronto purpose-built rental apartment buildings comprising almost 500 units for $143.8 million from LASH Group of Companies. The company launched a multifamily acquistion platform with two institutional investors earlier this year.

GWL Realty Advisors recently completed two large acquisitions pertaining to two landmark office buildings, joining a growing list of institutional investors that have shown a strong conviction in high-quality office assets.

Sienna Senior Living and Fiera Infrastructure have formed a joint venture with the objective of expediting $625 million in long-term care redevelopment projects in Ontario.

Ontario’s housing market went from one of the hottest development booms in history to a landscape of stalled projects, cancelled developments and deepening affordability challenges. Host Adam Jacobs and RESCON president and CEO Richard Lyall unpack how we got here.

TELUS Living, a development branch of the telecom company aimed at converting many of its unneeded network sites into housing, has opened its second purpose-built rental community in British Columbia. 

Dream announced that it has agreed to buy U.K. industrial developer and asset manager Chancerygate for $147M. The joint acquisition by Dream Unlimited Corp. and Dream Industrial REIT commits an additional $47M to complete ongoing Chancerygate developments. 

Prima Living has completed its $117.91-million acquisition of nine senior living communities in Ontario from Chartwell Retirement Residences, adding 689 units and bringing its total portfolio to 1,187 suites across Canada.

Firm Capital Property Trust continues to add to its manufactured housing community portfolio after closing a deal to acquire a 50-per cent interest in 10 Alberta and Saskatchewan properties with a combined 1,649 residential lots for $218 million.

OpenForm Properties and Epta Development Corporation (EDC) have broken ground on the 339-unit Easthill rental residential community at the northeast corner of Renfrew Street and East Broadway in Vancouver.

Boardwalk REIT (BEI-UN-T) and DGAM Canadian Private Real Estate Fund have entered into a 50-50 co-ownership venture focused on multifamily communities in Western Canada. The partnership will launch with an initial portfolio valued at roughly $292 million.

StorageVault (SVI-T) has announced the acquisition of four self storage properties in Ontario for a combined $81.6 million. Three of the acquisitions, all located in the GTA, will be purchased through a new partnership between StorageVault and Woodbourne.

Lankin Investments’ Lankin Real Estate Growth LP has acquired an 80-unit purpose-built rental apartment at 33 Dawson Rd. in Guelph, Ont. for an undisclosed price.