J pold’s Commercial Real Estate Thread

[J pold]

Hey CP I’m excited to be teaming up with Travis in providing the CalgaryPuck community with real estate information and services. I’m a commercial real estate broker, so I service a totally separate market from Travis. Put simply I work with companies to help them find office space.

What this thread offers to your average CP user:

• Detailed information and updates on a number of new developments around the city as listed in this thread
• What major tenants may be planning big moves as discussed in this and this thread
• Market information (i.e. what does it actually cost to move into a fancy new building downtown)
• Vacancy rates and overall trends in Calgary’s commercial real estate market

Generally solid market information is hoarded by landlords and brokers with tenants left in the dark and paying higher rents then they should. The residential real estate market has become more open with the advent of the internet but commercial is still mostly closed and controlled. I believe that information should be open and accessible to everyone and so I’m here to answer any questions you might have.

Obviously a part of this thread is me promoting my business and I would be thrilled to work with anyone who is part of the CP community. So if your company or anyone you know is in the market for new office space, has a lease coming up for renewal, need advice on lease documents, or are just looking for market information feel free to contact me and I’d be happy to help.

More about me, my team, and what we do can be found here and here.

Cody Watson
Associate | Office Leasing
Dir +1 403 571 8760
Main +1 403 266 5544
Cody.Watson@collierscalgary.com

[J pold]

I thought I’d start by sharing some material that our clients generally find interesting.

The Skyline Review is an analysis of Calgary’s downtown office towers visually representing all current headlease and sublease space available.

Class "AA" Buildings

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Class "A" Buildings

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Class "B" Buildings

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[J pold]

I’ll go over some of are higher profile listing:

20/20 4th Street

Development Highlights
> Landlord: Strategic Group
> “AA” class mixed-use development located on 4th Street and 20th Avenue SW
> 1.4 kms driving distance to the downtown core; 1.3 kms to the Victoria Park Stampede LRT Station
> 15 minute walk to the downtown core (+15 connection) and the LRT line
> Main floor retail will feature boutique shops, services and high-end restaurants
> The building will feature on-site amenities such as a fitness facility including showers and locker rooms as well as bikestorage.
> Slated for completion in Q4 2013

Office Leasing Details
Available Area: From 3,000 - 50,326 sq. ft of contiguous space
Average Floorplate: 23,000 sq. ft.
Rental Rates: Market
Tenant Improvement Allowance: Negotiable, “Turnkey Office Packages” available
Operating Expenses $14.99 (est. 2013)
Term: 5 - 10+ years
Parking: 1:500 sq. ft.

A few renderings:

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We just completed a deal with an Anchor Tenant (Hopewell Development Corp) who will be moving from their current location in 1122 4th Street SW.

Visual stacking plan:

Spoiler!

Most people want to know what’s going on in the retail portion. Right now we are in talks with a number of groups but for confidentiality reasons I can’t say who. I can tell you that there will be a major restaurant in the SW corner of the main floor and we have a deal done with a TD Bank on the NW corner.

Any other questions let me know.

[J pold]

Place 10 recently got it's DP approved. I'm a bit skeptical about their +15 access into Gulf Canada Square. I'm not sure the city would want a +15 south of, or that close to the tracks but Centron has assured us they will get the go ahead.

Leasing information below:

Place 10

Address
10th Avenue SW between 4th and 5th Streets.

Building Size (Office Component in SF)
East Tower: 306,900
West Tower: 287,450

Building Description and Comments: Phased, two tower development. 14 floors each. East and West tower are +15 connected with potential +15 connection to Centennial Parkade. Designed to LEED® Silver Certification.

• Estimated Pre-Lease Threshold (SF): On Spec
• Typical Floorplate (SF) 23,000
• Projected Parking Ratio 1:1,460
• Projected Rental Rate (PSF / Annually) $35.00 to $38.00
• Estimated Tenant Improvement Allowance $40.00
• Estimated Operating Costs and Taxes (PSF) $15.00
• Project Status Development permit in place.
• Pre-Leasing
• 0% Leased
• Earliest Completion Date for Business Occupancy: Q3 2016
• Estimated Fixturing Date: Q3 2016
• Ownership Structure: Centron

Renderings:

Spoiler!

[Bigtime]

I had no idea that City Centre is only 17% leased, I'm actually quite surprised by that.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by J pold

Place 10 recently got it's DP approved. I'm a bit skeptical about their +15 access into Gulf Canada Square. I'm not sure the city would want a +15 south of, or that close to the tracks but Centron has assured us they will get the go ahead.

I wonder about this too. I understand that the +15 network is part of downtown Calgary, but I get nervous with it coming into the Beltline. Much prefer to see people out on the sidewalks and it helps keep the ground floor business' viable.

I would be ok with the +15 network hooking up to these buildings on the north side of 10th avenue, but the network goes no further south from there.

[bizaro86]

I'm curious the difference between AA and A office space, is there some sort of "official" dividing line in relation to ceiling height/amenities or something? Some of the A buildings I would have thought would be considered top tier.

[ranchlandsselling]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

I'm curious the difference between AA and A office space, is there some sort of "official" dividing line in relation to ceiling height/amenities or something? Some of the A buildings I would have thought would be considered top tier.

Jpold might have a different response as colliers probably has some stats that justify theire classifications but the opinion from my office it all depends on who's doing the classification. CBRE, Colliers, Avison Young, Altus. When writing up proposals for the Bow and Centennial we had appraisers calling them AAA buildings, research departments calling them AA's.

It's also a very relative measure and basically (for us) established from the best building down and taking into account (with a grain of salt) the appraisers comments. The best/most new large office buildings will obviously be AA or even AAA and from that you can compare on a downward scale.

I've seen some appraisers call buildings A that were clearly B buildings and from a financing perpective I'd never submit a proposal to our head office calling Fifth and Fifth, Chevron Plaza, Nexen, Shaw Court, Watermark (might improve as development continues) and some of those A listed buildings as A's. If it's not on the +15 and in the west downtown classification it's pretty much a B for us. But, from a financing perspective you're always on the conservative side - from a broker perspective and apprasier everything is AAAAAA!!!!
Just teasing!

[fundmark19]

Woo +15 access to 10th ave now I won't have to walk that extra block in the cold to get to downtown. If only we could get it all the way to MEC

[ranchlandsselling]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

I wonder about this too. I understand that the +15 network is part of downtown Calgary, but I get nervous with it coming into the Beltline. Much prefer to see people out on the sidewalks and it helps keep the ground floor business' viable.

I would be ok with the +15 network hooking up to these buildings on the north side of 10th avenue, but the network goes no further south from there.

How would that even work? Connect diagonally NE/SW across 4th and 10th to the GC Sqaure Parkade? They need a +15 connection going to something/anything at the west end of GC Square, what a bunch of awful dead space at that end.

[J pold]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

I had no idea that City Centre is only 17% leased, I'm actually quite surprised by that.

That is from our September Skyline (I'm working on getting the November one up) but since then Walton International has taken 3 floors and Inter Pipeline, who has top 6 floors just took one more and put a ROFO on another, and they will likely take it when it's all said and done. Currently it's about 28% leased.

[J pold]

Originally Posted by ranchlandsselling

How would that even work? Connect diagonally NE/SW across 4th and 10th to the GC Sqaure Parkade? They need a +15 connection going to something/anything at the west end of GC Square, what a bunch of awful dead space at that end.

Agreed. Centron told us at are their project announcement that the +15 would potentially attach in the west end of GCS. Again not sure how that would happen but you can see one in the rendering.

[J pold]

Had some interesting things happen around the market last week.

Looks like Westbrook Urban Centre now has Cours Entertainment as an anchor tenant and they have been given naming rights and is now going to be called Corus Block.

Renderings:

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Location and Info:

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[J pold]

Another announcement was Q Block a s a 130,000 square foot mixed-use complex located in the East Village. I'm not sure if the office portion of the development will be driven by the retail/residential portion. I find the floor plates to be kind of strange/inefficient but there is an appetite for a more funky/trendy user.

Renderings:

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Concept Floor-plate:

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Development info:

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[J pold]

Property I thought I'd feature today is the Biscuit Block redevelopment. It’s being listed by CBRE and they are saying that it will be ready for Tenant Fixturing by the end of the month.

Leasing information below:

The Biscuit Block

Address
438 11 Avenue SE

Building Size (Office Component in SF)
54,073

Building Description and Comments: Six storey character office redevelopment

• Estimated Pre-Lease Threshold (SF): On Spec
• Typical Floorplate (SF) 7,071SF
• Parking Ratio: 5 stalls per floor
• Projected Rental Rate (PSF / Annually) $28.00
• Estimated Tenant Improvement Allowance $30.00
• Estimated Operating Costs and Taxes (PSF) $25.00
• Project Status Development: Under Construction.
• Pre-Leasing
• 50% Leased
• Earliest Completion Date for Business Occupancy: Q1 2014
• Estimated Fixturing Date: Q4 2014
• Ownership Structure: Royop Development Corporation

Renderings:

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Concept Floor plans

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If you want anymore info feel free to PM me.

[Travis Munroe]

Thanks to J Pold for adding a new dimension to the CP community as well as the side communities involving sponsors. Personally, I love it and would love to see further sponsors step up and further develop the community we have.

[J pold]

New sublease hit the market Yesterday. Wood Group PSN is combining with IMV projects to be rebranded as Wood Group Mustang. As a result some of the Wood Group Space in IBM Corporate Park is being subleased through Cresa Partners. Full floor for about 22,370sq ft.

Details:

• Sublandlord: Wood Group PSN - Western Canada Inc.
• Premises: 4th Floor: 22,370 sf
• Availability: Immediately
• Term Expiry: March 31, 2018
• Tenant Improvements: As-is
• Operating Costs & Taxes: $18.92 per sf (est. 2013)
• Parking: 11 unreserved underground parking spaces

Floorplan and Rendering:

Spoiler!

[J pold]

Featuring one of our listing down in Seton. Brand new medical development directly across from the new south hospital. Landlord is Brookfield Residential so it will be an A class project the whole way. Currently we have it about 44% leased with two anchor tenants, but Brookfield is looking to cross the 50% lease threshold before they move forward with development.

PM me for more details.

Property Details:

• Available Premises: East Building: 41,495 sq. ft. - Conditionally Leased
  West Building: 58,489 sq. ft.
• Basic Rent: Market Rates
• Operating Costs: TBD
• Tenant Improvements: Negotiable
• Term: 5 - 10 Years +
• Parking: 1:269 per sq. ft.
• Available for Tenant Fixturing : Q2 2015

Renderings:

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Maps:

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[J pold]

Originally Posted by fotze

Any update who the tenants are for that Westbrook building on 17th and 33rd? If there is a jugo juice in there, I'm going to blow it up.

Corus is the anchor tenant but not too sure on the main floor retail side of things. It looks like the east corner has been leased. When we originally pitched on getting the listing the owners wanted a high end grocery store and that's what that pocket looks like. I'd imagine you'll see a coffee shop and maybe a yoga studio on the main as well.

You have Momentum Health on the 2nd floor along with some smaller service companies. You'll probably see a dentist setup shop in the building at some point.

[J pold]

Had some space come back in Hanson Square. We had it fully leased last year but one of the tenants isn't doing so hot. Specs are below:

Hanson Square

• Available Area: Third Floor: 7,692 sq. ft.
• Term: 5-10 years
• Net Rents: Market
• Operating Costs: Estimated at $16.00 psf (2013 Budget)
• Cash Allowance: Negotiable
• Parking Ratio: Allocated at 1:540 sq. ft.
• Available: Immediately
• Ceiling Heights: 10.0’ to T-bar ceiling

More Info:

Spoiler!