Canadian Office Space Market

[Ramako]

I keep hearing about all the demand for office space in Calgary, but I haven't seen any recent activity aside from finishing off the Bow. Is anything breaking ground soon?

[caltrane74]

There is that Tower from a couple pages back, Centinnial Place 3, looks like a clone of the new Royal Bank Global Headquaters which starts in Toronto next month. Seems like all new office towers will now be 30 storey fat boxes.

[LeftCoaster]

Calgary City Centre, EAP 2 and Herald Square all have some traction as well.

One or two of the aforementioned projects will be starting within 12 months. Almost for sure EAP and likely City Centre although Herald Square has a decent shot too.

And I don't think the Calgary office market is news to anyone but the most uninformed anymore. Even your regular joe on the street in Toronto knows what's going on out west.

[Doug]

Perhaps some insight into the demand in Calgary...

Is Calgary stealing Bay Street's thunder in mergers?
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe...rticle2220747/


Ontario, Quebec losing market share in mergers
boyd erman
Globe and Mail Blog
Posted on Tuesday, November 1, 2011 7:12AM EDT

Investment banking was once largely the preserve of folks in shiny towers in Toronto and Montreal.

Now, Calgary is probably the most heavily bankered city in the country, and firms are branching out and bankers are showing up in smaller centres across Canada. There are offices in towns like Saskatoon (MGI Securities) and Winnipeg (CIBC World Markets.) A report looking at merger activity by province helps to explain why.

The PricewaterhouseCoopers report shows that while companies in Ontario and Quebec once represented two-thirds of the merger and acquisitions activity in Canada, when looking at where the target is based, the two provinces are now down to about half. Ontario dropped from 47 per cent to 31 per cent in the past decade, and Quebec slipped from 29 per cent to 22 per cent.

Much of that market share went to Alberta. But most areas of Canada gained.

While M&A share in Manitoba is down, Winnipeg is once again seen as a "gateway to the west," for large financial firms looking for business. Saskatchewan is busier because it has uranium, potash and farm land that are coveted, the report says. The Atlantic provinces are also increasingly popular.

However, nobody will be abandoning Toronto any time soon. While Ontario has lost some market share on the sell side, it has boomed on the buy side. Buyers from Ontario make up 70 per cent of acquisitions with a Canadian buyer this year, according to PWC.

Here's a look M&A at market share by province of the company being sold, comparing 2011 and 2000. The analysis is by dollar value of deals.
•Alberta: Up from 17.1 per cent to 25.7 per cent.
•British Columbia: up from 5 per cent to 16 per cent.
•Manitoba: Down from 1.5 per cent to 1.1 per cent
•Ontario: Down from 47 per cent to 31.4 per cent
•Quebec: Down from 29.1 per cent to 22 per cent
•Saskatchewan: up from 0.1 per cent to 2 per cent
•Atlantic provinces: up from 0.1 per cent to 1.2 per cent

[LeftCoaster]

Despite where the M&A companies are HQed, nearly every M&A transaction in Canada worth caring about still occurs in Toronto boardrooms.

[caltrane74]

Originally Posted by Doug

However, nobody will be abandoning Toronto any time soon. While Ontario has lost some market share on the sell side, it has boomed on the buy side. Buyers from Ontario make up 70 per cent of acquisitions with a Canadian buyer this year, according to PWC.

Finally a category where Ontario punches above our weightclass!!!

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by Ramako

I keep hearing about all the demand for office space in Calgary, but I haven't seen any recent activity aside from finishing off the Bow. Is anything breaking ground soon?

Yes and no, as others have mentioned. Calgary's real estate market is insanely boom-or-bust - we saw this last time too. We dropped to pretty much a zero vacancy rate, then suddenly everyone was out building for a few years. Then pretty much nothing, and I suspect we'll be close to bottoming out again on the vacancy rate before we see much activity. Then BAM! 5-10 new towers all underway at once.

It's a very strange way of capacity planning, but it's just what we're used to.

[Calgarian]

I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few large towers already in the works...

[craneSpotter]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Despite where the M&A companies are HQed, nearly every M&A transaction in Canada worth caring about still occurs in Toronto boardrooms.

Very true.

[Coldrsx]

Originally Posted by freeweed

Yes and no, as others have mentioned. Calgary's real estate market is insanely boom-or-bust - we saw this last time too. We dropped to pretty much a zero vacancy rate, then suddenly everyone was out building for a few years. Then pretty much nothing, and I suspect we'll be close to bottoming out again on the vacancy rate before we see much activity. Then BAM! 5-10 new towers all underway at once.

It's a very strange way of capacity planning, but it's just what we're used to.

And a terrible way to do things, let along what it does to the rest of the Province in terms of capacity, labour, pricing, and material availability... but it is forever tied to the O&G industry and that's how they roll.

[davidivivid]

Originally Posted by davidivivid

Between 2009 and 2012, 1.85 million sq ft of office space was built in Quebec City, the same amount as in Montreal, even though the Quebec market is about 5 time smaller than Montreal's. Despite this surge in construction, Quebec's vacancy rate remains low, at 4,8%. Hence, it is estimated that during the next two years, 1.1 million sq ft of additional office space will be made available in Quebec City (investments worth about $370M).

source: Altus InSite

http://www.lesaffaires.com/archives/...ontreal/536798

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

That's cool, but the problem for building nuts like us is that none of that translated into any significant towers in either Quebec or Montreal!

I don't really agree with that Rico...at least about Quebec City!!! The Jules Dallaire towers might not be the most beautiful things but they still will be the second and forth tallest in the city. Also, even though they aren't very high, some rather interesting office buildings are either U/C or already built, for example:

Beenox HQ


http://blogue.ztele.com/jouer-a-spid...s-dirait-4818/

La Capitale Insurance future HQ


http://www.ecochantier.lacapitale.com/



http://blog.monlimoilou.com/index.ph...-estimauville/

[Doug]

Originally Posted by caltrane74

Finally a category where Ontario punches above our weightclass!!!

Except most of the buyers aren't Canadian.

[caltrane74]

Originally Posted by Doug

Except most of the buyers aren't Canadian.

Well even within Canada, Ontario is taking a serious beating, at least lately. This is at least something Ontario can be proud of, especially when we are competing against the likes of Alberta, Newfoundland, Saskachewen and British Columbia. In this case I'll take that 70% any day of the week, when in theory we should only be purchasing about 45% of the shares/stocks of companies.

[Denscity]

Originally Posted by Doug

Perhaps some insight into the demand in Calgary...

Is Calgary stealing Bay Street's thunder in mergers?
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe...rticle2220747/


Ontario, Quebec losing market share in mergers
boyd erman
Globe and Mail Blog
Posted on Tuesday, November 1, 2011 7:12AM EDT

Investment banking was once largely the preserve of folks in shiny towers in Toronto and Montreal.

Now, Calgary is probably the most heavily bankered city in the country, and firms are branching out and bankers are showing up in smaller centres across Canada. There are offices in towns like Saskatoon (MGI Securities) and Winnipeg (CIBC World Markets.) A report looking at merger activity by province helps to explain why.

The PricewaterhouseCoopers report shows that while companies in Ontario and Quebec once represented two-thirds of the merger and acquisitions activity in Canada, when looking at where the target is based, the two provinces are now down to about half. Ontario dropped from 47 per cent to 31 per cent in the past decade, and Quebec slipped from 29 per cent to 22 per cent.

Much of that market share went to Alberta. But most areas of Canada gained.

While M&A share in Manitoba is down, Winnipeg is once again seen as a "gateway to the west," for large financial firms looking for business. Saskatchewan is busier because it has uranium, potash and farm land that are coveted, the report says. The Atlantic provinces are also increasingly popular.

However, nobody will be abandoning Toronto any time soon. While Ontario has lost some market share on the sell side, it has boomed on the buy side. Buyers from Ontario make up 70 per cent of acquisitions with a Canadian buyer this year, according to PWC.

Here's a look M&A at market share by province of the company being sold, comparing 2011 and 2000. The analysis is by dollar value of deals.
•Alberta: Up from 17.1 per cent to 25.7 per cent.
•British Columbia: up from 5 per cent to 16 per cent.
•Manitoba: Down from 1.5 per cent to 1.1 per cent
•Ontario: Down from 47 per cent to 31.4 per cent
•Quebec: Down from 29.1 per cent to 22 per cent
•Saskatchewan: up from 0.1 per cent to 2 per cent
•Atlantic provinces: up from 0.1 per cent to 1.2 per cent

BC (Vancouver) more than tripled their M&A, by far a greater increase than anyone else, but not even mentioned above?

[Denscity]

Vancouver's triple A office space dropped to 1.2%. All time low. Luckily there's over 4 million sq feet of office space on the way.

[caltrane74]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Vancouver's triple A office space dropped to 1.2%. All time low. Luckily there's over 4 million sq feet of office space on the way.

Now imagine if those 4 million square feet were to be housed in JUST 4 towers?

[Metro-One]

Trust me, many here in Vancouver (myself included) would love to see a new tallest office tower being built in Vancouver (and to be the tallest in the city).

But, that being said, I do believe we are getting some pretty decent stock out of this mini office boom:

1021 W hastings - which just had its ground breaking ceremony!





http://www.1021westhastings.com/

this tower IMO is one of the nicest office towers to be built in our country, love its design and the intense density it brings to this city block. The small floor plates will be attractive to the countless mining firms in Vancouver.

The there is the Credit Suisse Tower being built around the Old Stock Exchange building.



Another gem if you ask me. While the thread says it is 115.7 meters tall, I personally think it should be listed as 132.3 meters (the height of the screen). If you include the top of the mast it becomes 136 meters.


And then there is the Telus tower, which I like, the LED screens will be my favorite part of this tower, and it has a very prominent location.



http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/britis...vancouver.html

And the Bental 6 tower, which is now 50% pre leased.



http://745thurlow.com/

So, not bad for sleepy little Vancouver! 4 20+ office tower u/c at the same time, and soon!

[caltrane74]

The trend has been pudgy 20 to 30 storey office towers....

it sux!

Waiting for word on some of the bigger office towers, like Bay Adelaide 2(East) and 45 Bay Street. Then we can get excited about real office towers again. - Otherwise, we're gonna end up looking like Tokyo.

hmmmmm.... on second thoughts????

[Vaillant]

is there a high restriction in vancouver? it seems they will never get something at 200m and more!

[Coldrsx]

Welcome to the term 'view cone'