Building August September 2014

real estate development

|

construction

|

architecture

64

building.ca August September 2014 CDN $4.95

04

Renaissance du centre-ville in MontrĂŠal

PM#40069240

+ BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 1

An ISO for Cities The Evolving Retail Landscape

14-09-04 10:34 AM

Tri

Ble

Li

Her decision to cut energy costs by 70% with LED lighting was a great idea.

And a great start.

Once you start seeing the benefits of our incentives for LED lighting, you’ll want to look into making other areas of your facility like HVAC, pump systems and building automation more efficient too. When you do, you’ll be joining thousands of organizations across Ontario who are already enjoying the energy savings that our programs deliver.

Take a look at their stories and our incentives at

saveonenergy.ca/building-magazine

O i e

1

Subject to additional terms and conditions found at saveonenergy.ca. Subject to change without notice.

OM Official Mark of the Ontario Power Authority.

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 2

14-09-04 10:34 AM

ONE TOUGH AIR BARRIER SYSTEM FOR TODAY’S CODES & BEYOND.

Owens Corning™ FOAMULAR® CodeBord® Air Barrier System is another innovative solution providing long term energy efficiency performance and comfort for homeowners.

1-800-GET-PINK® or visit owenscorning.ca

THE PINK PANTHER™ & © 1964-2014 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved. The colour PINK is a registered trademark of Owens Corning. © 2014 Owens Corning. All Rights Reserved. 73% recycled content is based on the average recycled glass content in all Owens Corning fiberglass batts, rolls and unbonded loosefill insulation manufactured in Canada. SCS certified. GREENGUARD Certified products are certified to GREENGUARD standards for low chemical emissions into indoor air during product usage. For more information, visit ul.com/gg.

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 3

14-09-04 10:34 AM

BUILDING.ca

the road to recovery A friendly and welcoming healthcare environment can play a vital role in uplifting the spirits of patients, staff, and visitors. With Health Zone™ Optima® and Ultima® Create!™, you get superior acoustics, lasting durability, and custom design aesthetics. All Health Zone ceilings are designed with water-repellent surfaces that welcome repeated scrubbing for infection control. Visit the Armstrong website to learn how the right ceiling can make the road to recovery short and sweet. armstrong.com/ultimacreate 1 877 ARMSTRONG PRODUCT :

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 4

Health Zone™ Ultima® Create!™ 24" x 24" panels / BUILDING: Lancaster General Health Women & Babies Hospital, Lancaster, PA

14-09-04 10:34 AM

64 04

what’s on BUILDING.ca

FEATURES

16 > Towards un meilleur centre-ville /

How Montréal is using tools and resources the city actually has to generate investments in strategic sectors and create quality public spaces. By Peter Sobchak

READ > Engage, Don’t Enrage Robert Freedman explains how to use a design charrette to negotiate your next development proposal.

19

19 > Looking for Urban Fun /

Montréal is drawing on its creativity and energy to animate downtown quarters. Two examples: one the largest urban redevelopment project of the past decade; the other existed only for the summer. By Peter Sobchak

READ > Final Certificate of Payment final no more Roy Nieuwenburg and Michal Jaworski discuss a BC Supreme Court decision on claims for interest on late payments.

EXPLORE > Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Montréal Provencher_Roy Architectes puts a new glass envelope on an architectural gem.

CONTENTS

22 > Clicks vs. Bricks /

How new technology is impacting your retail portfolio. By Leslie C. Smit

27 > City Metrics for City Building /

A new ISO standard gives cities useful indicators to help measure their performance in delivering services and improving quality of life.

By Patricia McCarney

IN EVERY ISSUE

6 > Editor’s Notes 8 > Developments 12 > Market Watch 14 > Legal 30 > Viewpoint

ABOVE IMAGE:

What began as a temporary installation in the Quartier des spectacles, 21 Balançoires

by Montreal-based Daily Tous les Jours, came back for the fourth time from April to June this year. Each swing triggers a musical note, and several swings moving at once create a melody.

The more swingers, the more elaborate the melody, amplified by individual illumination at night. (Photo

by Maxime Leduc).

building.ca

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 5

14-09-04 10:34 AM

Volume 64

06

Grow Up

04 Number Editor / Peter Sobchak

When I listen to presentations given by companies, organizations, municipalities or other entities that are trying to be positive contributors to this thing we call “city building,” I am struck by the feeling that many are constantly encountering a major roadblock to achieving the praiseworthy goal of improving downtown livability. And that roadblock is the childishness of their citizens.

It has long been known that traffic congestion is one of (if not the) biggest impediments to growing downtown density. But getting people out of their damn cars is proving to be a Herculean task, due in no small part to people’s unrealistic expectations of what they deem as their right to space, both to drive and to park. But the reality is this: thinking you can get across town quickly is a naive thought for maturing cities like those in Canada. Here is one thing I love to ask people who loudly complain about congestion: when you go to Paris, London or New York, do you rent a car? NO! You walk or take transit. So why would you assume you can’t do that at home?

When development proposals go to public consultations, one of the quickest outcries is how much parking will be lost. Again, there’s that childish expectation of a right to space. Yes, downtowns often have vacant sites, and yes, they are often used as impromptu parking lots (legally or illegally). But as we know, these vacant sites can be detrimental to downtown density, the pedestrian experience and people’s overall impressions of the core. Thankfully some cities (like Montréal, as you will read in this issue) are beginning to temporarily transform vacant lots into more humanized spaces that can both revitalize and differentiate the downtown core, until the market conditions are in place to achieve a major redevelopment.

I heard it said beautifully once that involvement is democratic, but implementation should be dictatorial. I agree. Cities should be more aggressive in using the tools they actually have, like zoning and regulatory efforts, to affect positive change. We are seeing some of that in cities like Edmonton and Montréal (again, as you will read in this issue) that addressed their overabundance of downtown surface parking by creating bylaws that limit additional downtown parking construction.

I firmly believe that the availability of car parking significantly influences car usage. If there is an ample and cheap supply of parking in a downtown, it will be incredibly difficult to encourage people to consider other modes of transit. It’s been argued that humans respond more strongly to disincentives than incentives when it comes to behaviour modification, and hitting them where it hurts – the wallet – almost always works. In this case, pricing parking aggressively and effectively can act as a deterrent and also help reflect the real cost of parking on a downtown core.

For example, I’ve heard of some cities in the U.S. and Europe experimenting with Memberaof new system of ‘smart parking’ where sensors monitor spaces and determine prices based on supply and demand and vary by time, day and block.

Some say a certain amount of traffic congestion contributes to the “buzz” associated with a vibrant downtown. I consider that a misdirected concession. The greatest asset of any downtown is its density and intensity of people, jobs, and activity, and in successful cities this means getting people out of their cars, because automobiles are inefficient users of land and incompatible, in great numbers, with prosperous downtowns. As we are propelled into the Age of Cities, I am reminded of that Bible verse telling us to put away childish things.

Art Director / Roy Gaiot Legal Editor / Jeffrey W. Lem Contributors /

Patricia McCarney, Odysseas Papadimitriou, Leslie C. Smith

Circulation Manager / Beata Olechnowicz beata@building.ca Reader Services / Liz Callaghan Advertising Sales / Faria Ahmed (416) 510-6808 fahmed@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).

Association of Business Publishers 205 East 42nd Street New York, NY 10017

Inc.

Occasionally we make our mailing list available to reputable organizations whose products or services can be of interest to our readers.

If you do not wish to be included, please e-mail or write to us.

Building is published six times a year. Printed in Canada. The content of this ­publication is the property of Building and cannot be reproduced without permission from the publisher.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage.

H.S.T. #890939689RT0001 ISSN 1185-3654 (Print), ISSN 1923-3361 (Online)

|

AUGUST SEPTEMBER 2014

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 6

Peter Sobchak Editor

Glacier BIG Holdings Company Ltd. Customer Number: 2014319 Canada Post Sales Agreement #40069240

We welcome your feedback. Send your questions and comments to psobchak@building.ca

Proud member of

building.ca

14-09-04 10:34 AM

SIMP0180_B

Now one call protects it all.

Tyco SimplexGrinnell and Tyco Integrated Security have come together to form one unified organization in Canada—Tyco Integrated Fire & Security. We’re now your single source for the industry’s most comprehensive fire, security and life-safety solutions. Working with us means customers get the right solution, developed by experts and supported by the resources of a committed fire and security industry leader. We’re advancing safety and security for customers in Canada like never before.

Visit the one team that protects it all: www.TycoIFS.ca.

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 7 SIMP0180_BuildingCanada.indd 1

14-09-04 10:34PM AM 7/30/14 12:58

08

MENTS

DEVELOP-

LEED growth in Canada continues

in second quarter of 2014

News Insurance association suggests solutions to boost Canada’s infrastructure

AUGUST SEPTEMBER 2014

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 8

— Frank Swedlove, president of CLHIA

“Canadian life and health insurers have $540 billion in long-term assets in Canada. We are prepared to work with governments to invest in infrastructure and get these projects built.”

TORONTO | Canada faces an estimated $400 billion infrastructure deficit that must be addressed if we are to grow our economy and support Canadians’ standard of living. So says the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA) in their recent report, Get it Built: Fostering Economic Growth and Prosperity Through Enhancements to Canada’s Longterm Investment Market, which makes recommendations on how businesses and governments can work together to build the infrastructure this country needs.

“From the hospitals that heal us to the bridges that link us, a robust infrastructure system is critical to economic growth and to maintaining Canadians’ standard of living,” said Frank Swedlove, president of CLHIA, a voluntary association whose member companies account for 99 per cent of Canada’s life and health insurance business. “Canadian life and health insurers have $540 billion in long-term assets in Canada.

We are prepared to work with governments to invest in infrastructure and get these projects built.”

The report notes that it is vital for governments to commit to working with the private sector to make sure these projects continue to get built. It recommends a number of steps that provincial governments and the federal government can take to stimulate financing, including: governments should create a dedicated agency to assist in funding infrastructure; federal and provincial governments can help municipalities more easily access private investment dollars to finance their infrastructure requirements; governments should issue more 50-year bonds to help finance infrastructure projects; governments need to ensure that the regulatory and accounting regimes support a robust long-term investment market.

OTTAWA | The CaGBC announced that the number of LEED registrations and certifications in Canada continued to grow during the second quarter of 2014, with 124 registrations and 109 certifications between April 1 and June 30, 2014.

This brings the total number of LEED certified projects in Canada to 1,756.

“The second quarter of 2014 was a big one for us at the CaGBC with the launch of the LEED v4 Alternative Compliance Paths to Canadians, and the release of the first-ever major green building study in Canada,” says Mark HutchinYear to date totals by son, Director of Green BuildLEED certification level ing Programs for CaGBC. “That (up to June 30, 2014): momentum showed itself in our LEED registration and cerLEED Certified tification numbers for Q2, with LEED Silver strong levels of growth across LEED Gold all building types.”

Place TELUS, Quebec City, certified LEED Gold

67 85 89 12 LEED Platinum

Toronto’s office construction boom continues, availability of sublease space rises TORONTO | Newmark Knight Frank Devencore reports that the building boom in Toronto’s Downtown District continues unabated, although the amount of sublease space available on the market is climbing. Combined Class “A” and Class “B” vacancy rates in downtown Toronto are approximately 6.0 per cent. “A new spate of construction projects has been launched over the past two years,” said Allan Schaffer, president and Broker of Record of Newmark Knight Frank Devencore’s Toronto office. “Once all of these projects are completed another five million square feet of state-of-the-art office space will be added to the downtown inventory. At the same time, there is an increase in the amount of sublease space coming onto the market, driven by companies that are consolidating their of-

building.ca

14-09-04 10:34 AM

fice spaces as well as by downsizings or corporate dissolutions. As a result, space options and negotiating leverage for tenants should continue to improve in the months ahead.”

In most of the submarkets outside of Toronto’s downtown core, Class “A” and Class “B” vacancy rates have risen over the past six months. “In the GTA West, for example, combined Class “A” and Class “B” vacancy rates rose from 12.7 per cent to 14.2 per cent,” said Rob Renaud, senior vice president, managing principal and Broker of Record of Newmark Knight Frank Devencore’s Toronto West office.

“Activity continues to be pronounced in Meadowvale where a number of new office towers are being marketed on a prelease basis. Space is most abundant in the Airport East area along Airport Road where many of the buildings date from the 1970s and 1980s and have difficulty competing against the more modern and efficient buildings in the area that conform to LEED standards.”

“As tenant options increase in downtown Toronto, the key question now is whether or not the rise in sublease space points to a waning of demand in the marketplace,” Schaffer added. “If this is the case, it remains to be seen what impact this decrease in demand will have on occupancy rates in both the new tower space and the older Class “A” office buildings.”

water seepage; stormwater backup prevention management; and emergency backup power for building and suite systems designed to run indefinitely (far exceeding the city requirement for two-hour emergency backup power).

09

Vancouver developer launches new condo “recycled” from old cinema VANCOUVER | Vancouver-based devel­oper, Image Develop-

ment Inc., has completed what it is calling “one of the city’s most recycled buildings on Commercial Drive.” Marquee on the Drive, a low-rise development, transforms the old Van East Cinema, originally designed by Bruno Freschi, the architect behind Expo ’86 and Science World, into a modern 58-unit mixed residential condominium that builds on the fabric of the storied neighbourhood.

Designed by Vancouver-based architects Ankenman/Marchand, the condo reuses more than 75 per cent of the building’s previous structure, including its brick façade, steel and concrete to create a dichotomy between the old and new. “Commercial Drive is a unique microcosm of Vancouver, it’s what makes it so attractive to families and first time homebuyers,” said Timothy Ankenman, lead architect from Ankenman/ Marchand. “There are very few opportunities for new condo developments New Projects on Commercial Drive; we saw the redevelopment of this space as an opporConcord Pacific to build new flood-mitigated tunity to show the community that a residential development in Calgary new building can be incorporated without sacrificing the spirit of the ‘Drive.’”

CALGARY | Canada’s largest urban community developer, Concord Pacific, has unveiled Calgary’s newest multi-family development, called The Concord. It will be ACQUISITIONS located along the Bow River in the Eau Claire community, and will be, according to the company, “the best engineered flood and emergency prepared residential building ever designed in Canada.”

Avison Young acquires project Although the site was not affected by the 2013 flood, The Concord’s robust inframanagement firm Roy et structure, designed by flood mitigation experts Associated Engineering, includes: Tremblay a building design engineered to withstand an episode twice as significant as the 2013 flood; a perimeter system which includes secant piles that surround the TORONTO | Avison Young has acquired foundation and above-grade fortification walls with floodgates for pedestrian acMontréal-based project management cess; waterproof foundation with self-sealing capabilities to prevent underground firm Roy et Tremblay Inc., a purchase that further expands Avison Young’s business-line coverage in Montréal and the province of Québec and adds nine employees to Avison Young’s Montréal operations, including Roy et Tremblay co-founder Claude Roy who becomes a Principal and Director of Project Management for Québec. “While Avison Young has expanded extensively in the U.S. in the past few years, this acquisition also demonstrates that we will not hesitate to expand in our well-esThe Concord tablished Canadian market when an building.ca

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 9

14-09-04 10:34 AM

DEVELOP10

MENTS

outstanding opportunity like this one presents itself,” said Mark E. Rose, Chair and CEO. Established in 1995, Roy et Tremblay specializes in major project management assignments, in particular projects in the cultural domain, such as theatres, art schools, circus schools and museums. Currently, projects under construction are valued at $130 million.

Zeidler Partnership’s Calgary office merged with BKDI Architects.

TORONTO | This merger represents the combination of shared

culture and complementary practice strengths and is a natural transition from Zeidler and BKDI’s 15-year history of joint collaboration as a registered collaborative firm working in Alberta. Now known as Zeidler BKDI Architects, the firm of 70 staff in Calgary will draw from the resources of Zeidler’s offices in Toronto, Victoria, London (UK), Berlin, Beijing, Chengdu, and Abu Dhabi. Zeidler’s senior partners Vaidila Banelis and Tarek El Khatib join Jean Guy Beliveau, Stephen Bugbee, Bill Mitchell and Catherine Richardson, partners at BKDI, to form the new partnership group. Michael Cojocar and Martin Veenhoven join Ross Roy of BKDI as principals and continue in their senior leadership roles. At this time, they are working

“The next several years are a critical watershed moment in the growth of the Toronto Region.

We must better capitalize on our common vision of a network of livable neighbourhoods and communities and continue to advance the implementation of responsible infrastructure investment through positive leadership and collaboration between public policy makers, industry and our local communities.”

– Richard Joy

together with Cadillac Fairview on the 1.75 million square feet, mixed-use Calgary City Centre development.

PEOPLE ULI Toronto appoints Richard Joy as Executive Director TORONTO | Urban Land Institute (ULI)

Toronto has appointed Richard Joy as the Toronto District Council’s Executive Director. Joy, an experienced public policy professional, becomes ULI Toronto’s first full-time Executive Director, marking a new stage in the evolution of ULI’s Toronto District Council.

ULI is a globally recognized, non-profit research and education organization, with over 32,000 members worldwide representing the entire spectrum of real estate development and land use disciplines.

Engineering solutions for INNOVATIVE and INSPIRING social infrastructure

Follow us: williamsengineering.com

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 10

Greenstone Building Yellowknife, NWT LEED® Gold Certified

14-09-04 10:34 AM

THIS ISN’T JUST A BUILDING

IT’S A PREFABRICATED PANEL SYSTEM THAT SPEEDS UP CONSTRUCTION

Factory-built panels The industry’s fastest construction process Certified thermal resistance

Architectural flexibility

Ideal for commercial, industrial and institutional buildings

murox.canam-construction.com - 1 866 466-8769

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 11

CANAM 9871_BuildingMagMuroxAN_A01.indd

Brigitte (223) Olivier (240)

14-09-04 10:34 AM

12

MARKE T Merck, Novartis, Sanofi, AstraZeneca, and Roche. “Investment capital is one of the primary challenges facing big pharma in Canada”, said Brett Miller, president of JLL Canada. “With the increasing trend of big pharma looking to right-size, partner or acquire smaller R&D firms, we can also expect the industry to start demanding smaller, more flexible space rather than large, multi-million dollar facilities.”

From a real estate perspective, the need to streamline costs, combat the threat of non-compliance issues, and fill talent shortages is leading to increased outsourcing in facilities management. Additionally, the trends seen on a global level are stimulating significant changes to space needs: mid-tier companies and specialty players are spurring a majority of new demand while the larger life sciences players are looking for strategic portfolio planning as their businesses transform.

The 2014 JLL Global Life Sciences Cluster Report analyzes top life sciences clusters, ranks the cities for their prominence in the industry and also offers an analysis of global trends in 17 countries. Vancouver – the only Canadian city ranked globally – was named to the report’s Global Watch List: 10 cities in the spotlight. Vancouver is described as having “a rich infrastructure for biotech and research and development (R&D) TORONTO | The Life Sciences industry currently represents approximately seven per cent of Canada’s GDP and that bodes well as the industry favours smaller, nimbler organizations.” Among the major Canadian cities with acemploys a total of 400,000 people nationally. According tive life sciences industries, Vancouver has the greatest to JLL, the industry will soon face ‘right-sizing’ trends, share of R&D jobs and tends to feature more start-ups and and thus demand smaller, more flexible workspaces.

A main contributor to the industry is the R&D expendismall to medium-sized companies, as opposed to large pharmaceutical campuses. b tures by big pharma firms such as Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline,

Global life sciences industry facing ‘right sizing’ trend

Custom Brick™

Lymestone™

TerraNeo®

Quartzputz®

Tuscan Glaze™

Sandpebble®

Reflectit™

T H E P E R F E C T S o Lu T i o N F o R A N Y D E S i G N Dryvit outsulation® systems offer unlimited design flexibility to suit any architectural style, and are available with a wide range of finishes that can be customized to meet any color or texture desired.

The benefits of Outsulation® have been realized in hundreds of thousands of projects around the world, and the systems provide a single-source, seamless and sustainable cladding solution for buildings of any shape, size and type. Visit dryvit.ca to find out more.

CCMC-12874-R

For more information call 1.800.263.3308 e-mail info@dryvit.ca or visit dryvit.ca

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 12

14-09-04 10:34 AM

What’s going on in the Markets?

13

Vancouver:

] The life sciences sector is estimated to contribute approximately $482 million to British Columbia’s annual GDP. ] The provincial government offers tax credits and incentives for research, development, training and international transactions making British Columbia an ideal environment for investment in the life sciences sector.

UBC-Broadway Corridor:

] The UBC-Broadway Corridor is the second largest business and innovation hub in British Columbia behind downtown Vancouver.

Burnaby:

] As the single largest provider of nursing graduates in British Columbia, BCIT provides the Burnaby submarket with health and technology professionals specializing in anatomy, behavioural science, microbiology, immunology, and communicable diseases control. ] Currently 165,000 square feet of laboratory space exists within three kilometres of the BCIT main campus.

Greater Toronto Area (GTA):

] The GTA is positioned in the middle of the second largest life sciences cluster in North America, the Québec-Ontario Life Sciences Corridor. ] Currently, the Corridor hosts more than 1,100 companies, 66,000 qualified professionals and 490 educational programs in the biological and biomedicine sciences. In 2013, the GTA’s life sciences industry alone saw more than $36 million in investment funds. ] The market has witnessed manufacturing jobs moving overseas to countries with lower labour and manufacturing costs, and the centralization of R&D around areas with the best access to resources. ] With Canada’s economic recovery, the life sciences sector in the GTA has already begun its rehabilitation.

Downtown:

] Located in the heart of downtown Toronto, the Discovery District holds one of North America’s largest clusters of research institutes, related business incubators and support services. With over 7 million square feet of facilities, the district has a reputation for medical and technological breakthroughs, notably in areas such as breast cancer, cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimer’s, and cystic fibrosis research. ] The industry’s prosperity in Downtown Toronto has been driven by employment growth, inter-provincial cooperation, a state-of-the-art research cluster, and the benefits of a reputation as one of the top global environments for discovery, innovation, and success.

Mississauga/Meadowvale:

] Boasting positive absorption of over 100,000 square feet almost every quarter over the last five years, the best performing life sciences sector in Mississauga is R&D, which has more than doubled the number of companies over the past 10 years. ] Testing laboratories and pharmaceutical wholesalers/distributors have also seen growth with 79 per cent and 51 per cent increases in employment respectively since 2001. ] Mississauga has seen a 24 per cent increase overall in the number of life sciences companies and a 10.4 per cent increase in employment since 2001. These positive trends are expected to continue as industry confidence and investment flows to the GTA and the Québec-Ontario Life Sciences Corridor.

Greater Montréal Area (GMA):

] Over 35,000 jobs across 630 organizations, of which 15 per cent are foreign-owned companies. In real estate terms, this translates to over 18 million square feet of office, industrial and lab space. ] There are three major hospitals and R&D facilities currently under construction in and around downtown Montréal. The sites represent over $5 billion in investments and are scheduled for completion over the next five years. ] The $52 million invested in Montréal’s life science industry this year accounted for just over 20 per cent of total Canadian equity investments. ] The City of Montréal still offers one of the lowest corporate tax rates for companies and attractive fiscal incentives for businesses with a strong emphasis on R&D.

West Island:

] The West Island submarket remained the largest and most active GMA life sciences cluster in 2013. There are approximately 9 million square feet of office, industrial and lab space occupied by companies in the Life Science industry on the West Island, of which 29 per cent are owner-occupied and 71 per cent are leased by tenants

Laval:

] Laval’s life sciences cluster continues to attract organizations looking for newer buildings. Within Laval, the ‘Biotech City’ is the submarket’s primary biotechnology cluster, employing over 5,000 people across 90 organizations. building.ca

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 13

14-09-04 10:34 AM

14

LEGAL Arrested Development How the reputation of the developer’s law firm may now impact pre-construction condo sales.

By Jeffrey W. Lem and Odysseas Papadimitriou

The recent arrest of Meerai Cho, a real estate lawyer practising in North Toronto, is proving to be a dramatic tale of woe over absconded condominium deposits. As everyone knows, Ontario (the Greater Toronto Area in particular) has become the heartland of the new condominium construction boom — a boom that, to date, may show some signs of slowing, but no real sign of bubble bursting. Developers and consumers alike also know that Ontario has a statutory consumer protection scheme designed to protect the deposit moneys of prospective purchasers buying pre-construction condominiums. Of course, to most, this deposit protection is the $20,000 coverage automatically available for all new construction condominiums from the Tarion Warranty Corporation under the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act. What most people don’t know or remember is that this $20,000 coverage from Tarion is but one source of statutory deposit protection in Ontario.

This Meerai Cho case reminds readers that Section 81 of Ontario’s Condominium Act, 1998 also provides a form of deposit protection in addition to the statutory Tarion warranty coverage by requiring that all deposit moneys are to be paid directly to the developer’s lawyer, who, in turn, must keep the deposits in his or her trust account until closing. Regulations under the Condominium Act also permit a very limited number of non-lawyer professional escrow agents to hold such deposits, but in our experience, the deposit holder under Section 81 is almost invariably a law firm, who holds the deposit until deposit insurance is put in place A store on West permitted under the Act). (as expressly Street in Goderich, Section Ont.’s historic 81 of the Condominium Act does not operate as a supplemental insurdowntown the ance for before the deposits, but, rather, seeks to insulate these deposits from the develtornado hit (above), oper’s financial woes by forcing the deposits into a lawyer’s trust account right the damage (right), from the start and in August 2013 of the deal. In theory, the deposits will then be safe from the devel(below)and/or after the town’s oper the developer’s other creditors until the deal closes, and if the deal rebuilding efforts. doesn’t close, the deposits will be returned by the lawyer to the relevant purchasers.

Alas, the best laid plans of mice and men...The Meerai Cho case reminds readers that even well-conceived legislation does not always work out exactly as intended.

Centrust Development, a development company run by Yo Sup (Joseph) Lee, a Korean entrepreneur, had plans for building the Centrium. As artists’ renditions are wont to be, the Centrium was going to be a gorgeous mixed-use condominium project (typical residential/hotel high-rise tower on a commercial/retail podium at grade) on Yonge Street at the north end of Toronto. Mindful of the deposit trust requirements under Section 81 of the Condominium Act, Centrust retained a local lawyer, Meerai Cho, to act as the deposit trustee. She collected upwards of $15 million in such deposits and dutifully deposited them into her bank account. As these stories all too often go, Centrust ran into financial diffiAUGUST SEPTEMBER 2014

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 14

culties and the Centrium was eventually sold under power of sale, cratering all of the existing pre-sales.

Well, long story short, when the prospective purchasers turned to Cho for the return of their respective deposits as contemplated under Section 81, they were shocked to find out that: firstly, the $15 million putatively in her trust account was gone, having been prematurely released by Cho to Joseph Lee (Centrust’s principal); and, secondly, that Joseph Lee had, by then, already “skipped town” and was presumably living the life of Riley back in Korea!

In this case, the deposit protection scheme envisioned by the Condominium Act left the prospective purchasers of the Centrium holding the bag with absolutely nothing to show for it. Cho has since declared bankruptcy. Sure, she may also eventually be disciplined by the Law Society of Upper Canada (already, her ability to operate bank ac-

The Meerai Cho case reminds readers that even well-conceived legislation does not always work out exactly as intended. counts has been suspended and there is a motion before the courts to temporarily halt her ability to practice law completely), but anything that happens to her professionally will be relatively cold comfort to the many purchasers whose life savings were reflected in those deposits. “Many of the victims are from the local Chinese-Canadian and Korean-Canadian communities, and most of them can ill-afford the loss

building.ca

14-09-04 10:34 AM

of these deposits,” says Brian Kwan, a local solicitor with a busy practice near the ill-fated Centrium, Sadly, the story has already been picked-up with fervor by CityTV, CTV, the Toronto Star and Law Times as a scandal in the making. At this rate, the Centrium collapse and the fragility of the protection actually offered by Cho’s trust account, may very well become one of the bigger headline stories for the Ontario development industry in 2014.

While the case against Cho and the Centrium is still in litigation nascency, there are already lessons that the development industry can take away from the mess. Sure, to the cynics reading this column, the “developer absconded, purchasers S-O-L” story is a perennial one (stay in this game long enough and this story is bound to repeat), but this time, there is a bit of a twist: the thought that a lawyer’s trust account might no longer be a safe harbour for purchasers may mean a re-think of the role of the project lawyer. While technical competence, capability and timeliness will always be a prerequisite for any lawyer on any file, as crazy as this may seem, going forward, the developer’s project lawyer may suddenly become an integral part of the overall marketing of future projects. While the spin masters will make it sound far more eloquent, we can already see the pitch being “come buy

Jeffrey Lem is editor-in-chief of the Real Property Reports and a Certified Specialist in Real Estate Law.

Odysseas Papadimitriou is an Associate at Miller Thomson LLP, specializing in all aspects of condominium law.

our project — this isn’t the Centrium -we have a famous and trustworthy lawyer who will hold the deposits in trust for you — and they will stay in trust!”

This is especially true of commercial condominiums, where the deposit protection under Section 81 of the Condominium Act is the only deposit protection available to prospective purchasers (remember, Tarion is only available for residential condominiums whereas the Section 81 deposit trust requirements apply to both commercial and residential condominiums).

Of course, this may be a bit of an exaggeration, but sophisticated buyers will, after the Cho/Centrium debacle gets a full ride in the popular press, look more seriously at the reputation of the developer’s choice of law firms.

Imagine: the lawyer as part of the marketing budget — stranger things have happened! b

15

Environmental Abatement Council of Ontario Did you know that a designated substance assessment is required on all projects before they commence? – Do you want to make sure you understand where hazardous materials are before you start construction?

When you are considering your next environmental project, call EACO for assistance in developing your standards. EACO members are: trained, insured and experienced. Whenever abatement work is required, make sure you hire an EACO member.

The Environmental Abatement Council of Ontario (EACO) is a contractor based organization serving the environmental abatement industry. Our members represent our industry as a whole including contractors, consultants, engineers, suppliers, government officials and others with an interest in the environmental abatement industry.

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 15

For more information on EACO please visit www.eacoontario.com or contact us at: Environmental Abatement Council of Ontario.

70 Leek Crescent, Richmond Hill Ontario L4B 1H1 (416) 499-4000 Ext.114 • (416) 499-8752 fax

14-09-04 10:34 AM

16

TOWARDS UN meilleur CENTREVILLE

it

How Montréal is using tools and resources the city actually has to generate investments in strategic sectors and create quality public spaces.

goes without saying that Montréal carries a certain mystique within Canada, both to Canadians and especially to those new to this country. Some of downtown Montréal’s inscrutable charm is hyperbole, but to be fair much of it is deserved, and stems from an area of strong cultural identity building in the 1970s when broad-scale heritage protection and renewal programs were implemented. These programs affected not only prestigious buildings and historical sites such as Old Montréal, but also residential downtown neighbourhoods such as Milton Park and Plateau Mont-Royal. This, coupled with the city being an incredible laboratory of design in the 1960s (Expo ‘67, for example, was an unprecedented showcase for creators) earned Montréal international recognition.

However despite its postcard perfect veneer, the growth and development of downtown Montréal in recent years has been plagued with setbacks, such as a major infrastructure crisis that often makes pockets of the city look like the set of a Hollywood disaster movie. Politically, Montréal is a mess; with mayoral fiascos that rival the one Toronto is currently experiencing, and who can forget the head-

AUGUST SEPTEMBER 2014

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 16

building.ca

14-09-04 10:34 AM

Photos courtesy of Knightsbridge

By Peter Sobchak

line-grabbing corruption associated with the management of public construction contracts, otherwise known as the Charbonneau Commission.

Nevertheless, Montréal soldiered on, looked for ways to turn this situation of governance around and has taken a constructive approach in order to rebuild trust among citizens, civil servants and the business community.

This multi-pronged urban redevelopment strategy, called Action Plan 20072017 – Montréal, Cultural Metropolis, is roughly halfway through a 10 year implementation plan and aims to have significant results to showcase when Montréal celebrates its 375th anniversary in 2017. But in fact, these initiatives are already having an impact on development in downtown Montréal.

“This constructive approach is based on one of the successful conditions to realizing a vibrant downtown: sharing

a common vision,” says Nancy Shoiry, Senior Director of Land Use Development, Ville de Montréal. “For that, we simultaneously shared development plans with the community while challenged the city to renew itself, applying the principles of ‘live work play.’ These three principles allowed us to have a shared vision that we could all agree upon.”

17

Land Not Meant for Cars Compared to other Canadian cities, Montréal’s downtown population growth has been near glacier-like. Decades back, some population estimates were predicting Montréal to hit six million inhabitants by 2000. As of 2006 the number is actually 1.621 million. Therefore one of the first and most impactful initiatives in the Action Plan that was begun in 2007 aimed to address this stagnant growth by implementing measures that favour development. “We started out with a detailed inventory of vacant downtown lots, and 87 per cent of these were parking lots,” says Shoiry. “We then studied the possible strategies for doing away with our BELOW: A March overabundance of downtown surface parking, [and] start2010 snapshot of vacant downtown ed looking at measures that would favour an approach to tracts, including ones build on those vacant lots.” operating as both The first attempt to tackle this problem that the city serlegal and illegal iously considered was taxing land at a higher rate than buildparking lots. ings. “Conventional property tax, which taxes land and build(Courtesy of Ville de Montréal). ings at the same rate, is not logical when you think about it,”

Photos courtesy of Knightsbridge

city gic

building.ca

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 17

14-09-04 10:34 AM

18

says Shoiry. “Property owners building or making improvements to their structures see their tax bill go up as speculators who allow their properties to decay are rewarded with a lower tax bill.” The first measure was to impose tax structures that substantially increased the rate for vacant lots. But this measure was not enough to really encourage development, so three other measures were also undertaken.

First, a mandatory by-law restricting any new outdoor parking was created, and for existing parking lots a change to existing zoning codes required parking lot owners to meet high standards of landscaping and screening of their lots. Secondly, because many of these commercial parking lots were operating illegally, an aggressive legal initiative was undertaken by the city to tackle this problem and resulted in the closure of most illegal parking lots, leaving the land owners with higher taxes and no more easy sources of revenue.

“These two measures were regulatory and legal in nature and so were not very well received by the land owners and didn’t make us popular,” says Shoiry, but strong political will and support helped make them a reality.

Thirdly, and a bit in reaction to these angry land owners, an additional unconventional measure was proposed.

“Because the tax and zoning measures were based on the development potential of these lots, which required a detailed planning exercise, we decided to share these results with the landowners,” says Shoiry. “It was also because we were feeling the need to figure out who were the land owners, what were their stories and their intentions with these lots. With this unusual approach, we were opening up our plans and sharing our planning vision with the stakeholders rather than waiting for them to come to us with their projects.”

So began a process where Shoiry and her staff went out and personally met with many of these land owners, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, found many of them eager vent their displeasure with AUGUST SEPTEMBER 2014

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 18

the recent measures. “It took two years but these meetings in my office, asking simple questions, have been one of the most rewarding planning experiences in my career,” says Shoiry. “Without leaving aside the traditional models of planning and regulation, the city could embrace these changes with an innovative approach and a sense of partnership with these stakeholders. We discovered that many of these lots were owned for decades by individuals and most of them were on the verge of transferring their assets to their children, to the next generation, who had a very different view about these parking lots. We also discovered that these owners were not developers, but that their children were more aware about economics and interested in a new way of living downtown.”

One significant realization that surfaced over the course of these meetings was that these landowners would not A UNESCO CITY on their own initiate new developments OF DESIGN on their property. This led the City to In 2006, Montréal became push this exercise further by organpart of UNESCO’s Creative izing working sessions that matched Cities Network in the Cities land owners with developers in the city. of Design category, which Lastly, but importantly, the City initiincludes 41 cities in 23 ated new zoning frameworks for downcountries. The Network town following the advice of these helps creators in member private partners. The adoption of these zoning frameworks created major dencities share their experisity and height changes to the downences, while promoting the town area (and also received some critiinternational exchange of best practices and knowl- cism from certain non-profit organizations when the public consultations edge. “When we were aptook place). However by adopting the pointed UNESCO City of process of stakeholder engagement and Design, the temptation was transparency, developers began to look great to use the title just for more and more at downtown again. branding the city. Although As Montréal ponders ways to encourit may be useful and impor- age denser downtown development and bring more people to the city, impletant for consolidating a menting the previous measures was a city’s reputation, it must nevertheless reflect reality,” first step. But planners also realized that not all quarters of downtown needsays Nancy Shoiry. “This ed the same level of interventions. “Eninitiative of obtaining the gaging with stakeholders allowed us designation had a clear to be more specific in our planning and goal: within the space implementation process,” says Shoiry. of 10 years, Montréal wants For example, Quartier Bishop-Crescent to go from being a “City of was what her office called the “war Designers” (2006) to a “City zone” and where discussions with private land owners mostly took place. It of Design” (2017).” was also where the results were the most effective. “Not only did we introduce a higher density zoning framework, but we undertook specific studies of the urban landscape lot by lot. This allowed us to assure that the remaining low density heritage buildings and the different views on the city would be considered and respected,” says Shoiry. “The approval process was facilitated because of these studies conducted by the City. What was expected was known and shared with everyone.” b building.ca

14-09-04 10:34 AM

LOOKING FOR URBAN Fun

19

By Peter Sobchak

probably

Montréal is drawing on its creativity and energy to animate barren downtown quarters. Two examples are on different ends of the spectrum: one represents the largest urban redevelopment project in the past decade, the other existed only for the summer.

one of the best examples in Montréal of how public investment can generate private investments and lead towards a more liveable inner city is the Quartier des Spectacles, the city’s cultural heart and one of the most concentrated yet diverse grouping of cultural venues in North America. Dubbed “1-sq.-km. of Culture,” the Quartier has in some form or other been home to various types of entertainment, beginning in the 19th century as the city’s Red Light district. Evolving over time, the area attracted teaching institutions, theatres, cabarets, and museums, making it a popular cultural and entertainment destination. Then in the 1960s, during what the city thought was “modernization,” the area did what many neighborhoods in North American cities did and turn their backs on the street and pedestrians. In an effort to accommodate cars, many of the Quartier’s avenues became overly-broad canyons that led “from nowhere to nowhere,” says David Ross, culture and heritage project chief, Ville de Montréal, “in an effort to accommodate a projected population growth that never happened.” As a result, development dried up and pockets of empty lots emerged like zits on the face of downtown.

Yet as unfriendly and unattractive as they were, these lots oddly became useful tools for music and arts festivals looking for space to run their outdoor events, for example the Montréal International Jazz Festival, which took root here. Others followed, and eventually the vibrancy of the area along with the many empty lots supported the proliferation and expansion of festivals.

To both capitalize on the area’s arts and cultural value, as well as stymie the loss of this downtown energy to burgeoning developments happening on the fringes of Montréal’s suburbs, the idea to create a Quartier des Spectacles and position culture as a key development tool for Montréal was born in 2001. The Quartier des Spectacles Partnership began extensive consultations in order to develop a vibuilding.ca

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 19

14-09-04 10:34 AM

sion for the Quartier’s expansion, and thanks to provincial and federal government support, the Quartier achieved solidity with the development of the Place des Arts in 2007.

Since then, new public spaces have been created (the Place des Festivals, Parterre, Promenade des Artistes) and several private and public real estate projects have been built, many with a cultural focus. $800 million in public investment, 6,000 residents in 2,350 housing units and 450 cultural businesses later, the district is now a yearround host to countless festivals and events, many of which include free outdoor shows and activities.

AUGUST SEPTEMBER 2014

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 20

Summer In the City Not every downtown rejuvenation effort need to come from up on high. While a City Council’s broad mandates and broad strokes ultimately have the broadest impact, often it is little interjections of life in the most unexpected places that can have equally profound impact. Such is the case for a small plot of asphalt under Jacques-Cartier Bridge, made orphan by the awkward and aggressive slice of Rue Est Notre-Dame, Rue Port de Montreal and Av. de Lorimier. Decidedly pedestrian-unfriendly, the closest things to Pied-du-Courant (as the area is known) are a prison, a brewery, and Park Bellerive.

But overcoming these very obstacles was part of what attracted the bright minds at L’Association du design urbain du Québec (ADUQ). Their response was to extend a challenge to Montreal’s design community to come up with a temporary solution that “appropriates underutilized spaces.” Around 80 submissions were received in response to a call for proposals that went out in April, and 20 were chosen building.ca

14-09-04 10:34 AM

Village Éphémère: Jean-Michael Seminario/ADUQ

20

Megaphone: Moment Factory

In addition to festivals, the Quartier also hosts innovative urban installations involving lighting design, immersive environments or interactive digital spaces. FAR LEFT: Designed by Montréal -based Moment Factory in partnership with the National Film Board of Canada, Megaphone gave Montréalers a chance to vent their frustrations in an interactive installation similar to London’s Speakers’ Corners, but on a much bigger scale.

From September to November 2013, their voices were amplified by megaphone, and then transformed into visuals projected onto UQAM’s façade in the Quartier des spectacles. LEFT: Fountain House, a public installation that celebrates water by German collective raumlaborberlin, will be open on all sides and has in its core space a free flow of drinking water falling from above. It will operate from August to October in the Quartier.

To see more of Village Éphémère, visit building.ca

21

Village Éphémère is ADUQ’s second project to appropriate underutilized spaces.

The first was in June 2013, on a parcel of land near the Lachine Canal. It lasted only one day but had a huge response. This year, ADUQ partnered with another nonprofit that helped keep the Village going for two summer months.

Village Éphémère: Jean-Michael Seminario/ADUQ

Megaphone: Moment Factory

THIS PAGE:

to create what Martin Paré, vice president of the nascent ADUQ, calls “a potpourri of elements” for the site. Built around several key components envisioned by ADUQ — a boardwalk, a plaza and 33 tons of beach sand — Village Éphémère is made up of eight pavilions (made using shipping containers and which serve as shelter for pop-up boutiques); eight urban furniture installations; and four art installations aimed at celebrating the site’s urban qualities. ADUQ received a $10,000 grant from Montréal’s Festival and Cultural Event Office for the project, but according to Paré, had to pay $7,000 to the Province’s Ministry of Transportation to use the land. Nevertheless, with the remaining funds each selected design team received $500 to help offset the costs of building their proposed installation.

Lasting only two months this summer, Village Éphémère is both delicate and rugged, and vibrant example of a growing DIY-mentality of “urban guerrilla” citizens reclaiming city space. While not part of the City’s larger plans, this project is in-line with the spirit of renewal and regeneration that Montréal is working on.

Energetic, unashamed and bold, arranged seemingly haphazardly but inhabited with joyful, sloppy sincerity, Village Éphémère vividly illustrates how changes in ordinary urban settings often occur on a small scale, and, similar to acupuncture, can have a strong impact on a city’s spirit. b building.ca

Caption Ilibus. Cesti in re ditatemqui tempore sed undentia BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 21 saperum et explicias andus

14-09-04 10:34 AM

22

clicks

VS. AUGUST SEPTEMBER 2014

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 22

building.ca

14-09-04 10:34 AM

T

hirty years ago, personal computers started their march across the planet. 20 years ago, the internet sprang into life.

Since then, technology and its applications have spawned millions of innovative ways to do things. In a single generation, humans have had to adapt to a new world order that offers much but demands instant gratification in return. Businesspeople find themselves perpetually scrambling to keep up with continual technological advances. In retail realty alone change ranges across the community, from design and sales to expansions and shifting consumer buying patterns.

Store Apps

Cool can have a short shelf life or it can morph into a permanent cultural presence. Take the internet as an example.

Now ingrained into our daily habits to the point where many users have been declared official addicts, electronic communication has progressed over the years from a novelty to a necessity.

The e-implications for physical locations mean that today WiFi access should be established throughout any shopping area or mall, according to Elizabeth Evans, Associate Dean of Academic Undergraduate Programs at Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Management. “Omni-channel versatility,” encompassing bricks-and-mortar, mobile apps, e-retail alerts to push nearby consumers into a given store, and more, is what is needed “to reach the main target market — synched-in Millennials.” This generation has grown up tethered to cellular communication. Texting, tweeting and posting are as natural as breathing to them, and they have grown

How new technology is impacting your retail portfolio

23

By Leslie C. Smith up expecting “instant flexibility, gratification and recognition.” Store promotion, therefore, must follow suit, plus vigorously pursue any up-and-coming tech trends. The inherent expense of doing this will likely be offset by the ability to collect valuable, real-time purchasing data. As for the costs of establishing a network, these may well end up being shared between the mall’s owner and its tenants.

Anthony Casalanguida, Director of Retail for Oxford Properties Group, oversees Toronto’s Yorkdale Mall. At 60 years of age, it is Canada’s oldest mall, and still one of the most desirable shopping locations in North America. The property recently underwent a $330-million remodelling and expansion, and a further expansion is being considered to handle an expected influx of notable U.S., U.K. and Asian entities. As an expert in retail operations, Casalanguida believes firmly in branding, a marketing precept that has burgeoned over the past couple of decades. Stand-alone stores, established or pop-up, are their own brands. Mall-anchor department stores now act more or less as umbrellas for multiple brand names.

And Yorkdale itself is a brand.

A brand essentially represents a product’s character, as well as that of its parent company. Crafted to appeal to a specific target market, it uses design, packaging, traditional and online advertising and promotion, as well as the instore experience to tell its own little story, helping to not only connect the seller to the customer but to forge all-important bonds of emotional loyalty. This process is collectively known as “the brand experience,” and technology provides a variety of platforms on which to tout it.

A Unique Selling Proposition, or what feature distinguishes you from your competition, lies at branding’s heart. And here, Casalanguida feels that Yorkdale’s mix of restaurants and entertainment, luxury goods and funky affordables will stand it in good stead. With retailers now competing on a global basis, the majors are looking at a model where they invest in just one flagship per market. Second- and third-tier malls could well lose out to larger malls that offer the shopper a unique, accessible and enjoyable experience.

The recent emergence of pop-up stores — temporary retail spaces that may open for only a day or two, or end up hanging around for a couple of years — is a direct result of social media marketing. “Flash” phenomena, such as groups of people breaking into song and dance in a public venue, has led to flash selling. Only those who are interactive and in the know will luck out on the latest brands whenever the elecbuilding.ca

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 23

14-09-04 10:34 AM

28 24

tronic call goes out. This retail game scores high in cool factor and customer engagement but, because it is primarily based on faddishness, also has a high burn-out rate. Casalanguida says that, given their draw, pop-ups are becoming more acceptable to mall owners. New brands often use this format to test products or locations. If successful, the test can lead to long-term tenancy. If not or if the tenant chooses to move on, the premium prices often charged for short-term leasing will add to the mall’s bottom line.

In the Air

Camera-equipped drones could conceivably become a gamechanger. As The Globe & Mail recently reported, the idea of being able to take clients, no matter where they’re located, on a real-time, close-up tour of building sites may help spur sales. But, as we are seeing with electronic cigarettes, new tech can run smack up against existing laws. Particularly when it comes to air flight regulations and safety and

ages. The recent widespread adoption of tablet PCs has given us the capability to meet this increased demand, and the creation of new business platforms facilitates the necessary steady flow of data.

Arcestra is one such software platform, developed expressly for landlord needs by Colin Graham, founder of Toronto’s Arcade Architecture and Design. Working in conjunction with Arcade’s content-building function, Arcestra essentially mobilizes a company’s entire portfolio, making it instantly accessible internally and externally, while still allowing management to select how much information gets released to the general public. Perpetually updating itself, searchable, shareable, printable and secure, the system acts as a sales brochure on steroids.

In retail terms, a customer looking for a new store location can set the parameters and call up every one of a company’s properties that fits the bill. With a click on any of these, he or she can take a customized, 360-degree, virtual 3D tour of the site, whether it has already been built or is still in the planning stages. Arcade’s rapid prototyping enables potential tenants to see exactly where a new store would be situated, who its neighbours would be and how its signage would appear. In established malls, the customer privacy concerns, drone usage could be curtailed almost can click and drag an old storefront to one side and investibefore it has begun. In the U.S., the Federal Aviation Augate the space’s interior, from fixtures to the MEP layout. All thority is already working out rules for unmanned air vehipertinent details are available through Arcestra at the sales cles, and it’s a sure bet Ottawa is keeping close tabs on rep, broker or customer’s command, including property comthe process. In the meantime, drone enthusiast Matthew parison reports and leasing arrangements. By empowering Slutsky, president and co-founder of the Toronto-based online realty firm its users and offering 24/7 access, such proprietary programming makes the BuzzBuzzHomes, says his new, $2,200 decision-making process much more informed and much, much faster.

Phantom 2 remote-controlled craft has provoked a lot of interest: “Developers want us to fly over their sites. They The revitalization of Toronto’s iconic Union Station began in 2009 — much to the think it’d be really cool.” dismay of that city’s downtown drivers, who’ve been dodging construction blockades ever since. Brad Keast, vice president of Development for the real estate firm Osmington Inc., helps manage the enormous undertaking, involving a dig-down of four metres and the creation of 165,000 square feet of new retail and restaurant In a mobile, wired world, clientele view space, including a huge underground shopping concourse, all to the tune of $640 anything less than immediate informillion. The redevelopment, expected to be finished by 2017, will represent a prime mation retrieval as tired and old-fashportfolio asset for the privately held company. ioned — a fatal flaw for most brand im-

Sales Kits

AUGUST SEPTEMBER 2014

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 24

Rendering: Osmington Inc.

In the Ground

building.ca

14-09-04 10:34 AM

Coordinating a construction project of this magnitude would have taken far more time, money and effort if Building Information Modelling (BIM) didn’t exist. BIM software allows for instant 3D imaging of every facet of a build, from the placement of physical infrastructure and utilities to the impact on surrounding neighbourhoods. It allows its user, in Keast’s words, “to essentially build a digital building,” in order to identify problem areas before they actually exist.

Osmington’s design firm, Partisans, uses Revit, a relatively recent addition to the engineering and architectural tool box. This program takes now-baseline CAD files and reimages them in a three-dimensional format that can be moved through and zoomed in and out on at will. Keast gives an example of erLeft: Yorkdale Shopping Centre, Toronto, where rors digitally caught when his team nomore than a third of all ticed a portion of the Union Station new entrants into plan called for a fire pipe to run straight Canada chose to open through an air duct. Another program their first location. Far left: Aerial drones can Keast calls helpful is Grasshopper, a be a new tool for graphical algorithm editor slaved to 3D retailers and developers modelling tools from Rhino. With it, alike, from surveying construction projects to designers can generate forms and virdelivering packages to tually install them anywhere in a planshoppers. Below: Revit ned space. For instance, a Beaux Arts helped designers at quatrefoil repeated in one of Union Partisans find a conflict in pipe arrangement.

Station’s brass balustrades is currently Next page: Using being experimented on by the project’s Grasshopper, designers team, who have turned the shape into a working on Union suggested ceiling motif.

Station’s new retail concourse experiment When his site is at last finished, with new forms, such as Keast says he’s determined to make this ceiling motif inspired Union Station “a compelling cultural by a Beaux Arts and retail venue.” Most of its shops will quatrefoil found in

Rendering: Osmington Inc.

balustrades.

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 25

Canadian cities face increased competition for retail expansion dollars

27 Once the darlings of the retail world, Canadian cities now have to compete more aggressively for retailer expansion dollars. With global markets largely recovered from the recession, retailers now have an increased number of expansion opportunities to consider. How Global is the Business of Retail, a new report from CBRE, analyzes the operations of 334 leading retailers in 61 countries and suggests that cross border retail activity continues to accelerate around the world; however, the Canadian retail market recorded fewer new entrants last year.

In 2012, Canada ranked sixth in the world for the most new foreign entrants into the retail market, while Toronto was listed amongst the 20 most targeted cities. In 2013, Canada no longer ranked among the countries attracting the most new retailers and did not have a city ranked among the top 20 most targeted markets.

“While Canada remains an appealing destination for global retailers, our competitors are catching up and Canada has had to relinquish our unusually large share of the spotlight,” said Ross Moore, Director of Research for CBRE in Canada. “One reason for the decrease in new retailers coming to Canada is that there is little to no vacancy in highly sought after shopping centres and high street locations.

It is only natural for there to be a pause while developers and supply chains adjust to the influx of brands from years past.”

Canada still ranks highly in terms of the variety of global retailers that are present in cities across the country. In 2013, Canada had 35 per cent of global retailers building.ca

14-09-04 10:34 AM

Osmington Inc.

26

be small — 2,000 square feet and under — with many as miniscule as 300 square feet. The concept Keast would like to see in place for some of these spaces is what is now being called “showrooming,” wherein normally big-box tenants have mere samples of their wares on display in a contained area. A commuting customer can come in and physically check out the product, place an order for it through the store’s web system and, ideally, by the time he or she has reached home in the suburbs, the product will at the front door courtesy of a local distribution centre. Perhaps, too, such deliveries might be made via drone carriers, as Amazon intends to find out soon in a much-publicized trial program.

Things to Come

As little as five years from now, we could well be discussing how to deal with one’s robot workforce. Robotics, long a futurist concept, represents a very real, growing trend. While its profoundest impact will likely be on the construction sector, customer service, product distribution and other retail-related fields could also be deeply affected. Shopping patterns themselves could change, with customers employing ’bots to do their buying via remote control, or at least to carry their purchases to the car.

Of course, like all technology, we won’t know how robots or any other radical breakthroughs will alter our lives until they are right on top of us. The good news is that, although these things often entail a mad rush to adjust, humans have so far shown they have the capacity to cope, and some even to excel.

Perhaps the real trick is remember­ ing that technology can’t and arguably won’t be able to do everything for us. No matter how sophisticated the tool it is still a tool, wielded by beings much more complex than any mechanical or electronic gadget yet to be devised. Then too, when it comes to doing business, there is still no app that replaces a firm, flesh-andblood handshake. b AUGUST SEPTEMBER 2014

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 26

building.ca

present, enough to rank 20th in the world.

A city-by-city comparison of retailer penetration rates reveals that Toronto slipped from 37th to 38th place, Vancouver jumped from 56th to 51st, Calgary climbed one spot to 76th and Montréal held steady at 83rd.

“The retailers that entered Canada with a limited number of stores have been busy expanding their footprint across the country,” Moore noted. “No longer satisfied with a single location, usually in Toronto, we have seen retailers pursue opportunities in Vancouver, Calgary and Montréal. As a result, most Canadian cities had their rankings improve in terms of overall retailer representation.”

The luxury and business fashion category accounted for the bulk of cross border retail activity in 2013, both globally and in Canada. Tory Burch, John Varvatos, and De Beers are just a few of the retailers from this category that opened stores in Canada last year. Homewares and food were the other active categories. Remarkably, more than a third of all new entrants into Canada chose to open their first location in one shopping centre – Yorkdale Mall in Toronto.

The continued strength of malls like Yorkdale reflects a key finding of the report. The shopping centre format was found to be remarkably strong globally and shopping centre construction is at an all-time high. This is certainly the Canadian experience, as landlords continue to invest in improvements, alter the tenant mix and maximize shopping centre footprints.

“Canada’s top shopping malls are becoming entertainment destinations, transportation hubs and new neighbourhoods. We have not seen the end of shopping centre revitalization and expansion in Canada,” Moore said.

14-09-04 10:34 AM

THE REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION PRACTICE AT BDO

Build to suit.

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 & Construction Practice combines in-depth knowledge of the industry with a truly global network of support. All through a single point of contact.

For unique distinction or franchise consistency.

Assurance | Accounting | Tax | Advisory

arriscraft.com

www.bdo.ca/real-estate-construction

The Environmental Abatement Council of Ont ario (EACO) serves the environmental abatement industry.

Our members represent our industry as a whole including contractors, consultants, engineers, suppliers, and government officials involved in the environmental abatement industry.

The Environmental Abatement Council of Ontario (EACO) serves the environmental abatement industry. Our members represent our industry as a whole including contractors, consultants, engineers, suppliers, and government officials involved in the environmental abatement industry.

Whenever abatement work is required, make sure you hire an EACO member. Visit: www.eacoontario.com for more information.

Whenever abatement work is required, make sure you hire an EACO member. Visit

Dryvit introduced the concept of combining both Continuous Insulation (CI) and design- flexible aesthetics into a single exterior wall system, and called it “Outsulation.” Over half a million buildings later, Outsulation systems are a trusted choice for architects, building owners and contractors who want a high performance, insulated cladding solution that can provide everything needed from a building code perspective, and all that is desired from an aesthetic standpoint.

For more information call 1.800.263.3308 e-mail info@dryvit.ca or visit dryvit.ca

ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCT DECLARATION — ANOTHER FIRST AT OWENS CORNING

www.eacoontario.com

more information.

CANAM:forBuild differently

Canam specializes in the fabrication of steel joists, girders, steel deck, and also designs, fabricates and installs the Murox building system, Econox prefabricated buildings and Hambro D500™ composite floor system, girders and tranfer slabs.

Our construction solutions are simple and straightforward. So you don’t get any surprises.

As a leading global producer of residential and commercial building materials, glass fibre reinforcements, and engineered materials — we are committed to balancing economic growth with social progress and sustainable solutions. Our new Environmental Product Declaration is a component of our stated goal to provide life cycle information on all our core products.

1-877-499-6049 | canam-construction.com

www.owenscorning.ca

PIONEER STEEL BUILDINGS for Cities, Utilities & Transportation

Dec 3-4, 2014 International Plaza Toronto

Pioneer Steel has been manufacturing steel buildings in Canada since 1980. Our premium quality, preengineered steel buildings have been in use for a wide range of industrial, commercial, residential, agricultural and recreational applications.

Pioneer’s clear span, no trusses, no beams, no posts designs are today’s leading edge steel building solution. You’ll get 100% usable space that’s affordable, eco-friendly, easy to install, maintenance-free, weather and storm-resistant and, above all, long-lasting.

www.assetmanagementsummit.com

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 27

800-668-5422

STEEL BUILDINGS SINCE 1980

PIONEERSTEEL.CA

14-09-04 10:34 AM

City Metrics for City Building

28

F

or the first time in history, the majority of the global population lives in cities.

Alongside this demographic shift comes a new set of challenges for city leaders around the world. Now more than ever, sustainable urban growth is dependent upon effective management and evidence-based policy making. In addressing global challenges and opportunities for sustainability and prosperity, the need for globally comparable city data has never been greater. Cities need indicators to measure their performance in delivering services and im­ proving quality of life. The ability to compare data across cities globally, using a globally standardized set of indicators, is essential for comparative learning and progress in city development. These indicators can be leveraged by city and business leaders, researchers, planners, designers, and other professionals to build sustainable, inclusive and prosperous cities worldwide.

The World Council on City Data and ISO 37120 In May 2014, the World Council on City Data (WCCD) was launched in Toronto as an evolution of the Global City Indicators Facility (GCIF), a reporting group of almost 300 cities worldwide across some 80 countries. The WCCD core team has been building a standardized set of definitions and methodologies for city indicators since 2009 and most recently have authored the first international standard for cities, ISO 37120 Sustainable Development of Communities — Indicators for City Services and Quality of Life. This new international standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) includes a comprehensive set of 100 indicators — of which 46 are required for conformity — that measures a city’s social, economic and environmental performance. ISO 37120 is part of a new series of International Standards being developed for a holistic and integrated approach to sustainable development and resilience.

The WCCD will host the global registry for ISO 37120 and open data platform that will allow cities and citizens to make use of this invaluable data.

Globally standardized data will assist cities in building core knowledge for city decision-making, and enable comparative insight and global benchmarking. More importantly, ISO 37120 does not provide a value judgement, or numAugust September 2014

building.ca

A new ISO standard gives cities useful indicators to help measure their performance in delivering services and improving quality of life.

By Patricia McCarney

eric thresholds on what a particular city should choose as appropriate targets. Rather, it provides a set of standardized definitions and methodologies that enables city-to-city learning and allows for cities to set their own targets and benchmarks. Pilot cities as diverse as São Paolo, Toronto, London and Makkah have been able to use standardized data to build core knowledge for city decision-making and a greater, in-depth relationship for the sharing of lessons. The WCCD as an open data platform will make all verified data available publicly. The WCCD coordinates all efforts on city data to ensure a consistent and comprehensive platform for transparent and standardised urban metrics. Perhaps most importantly, ISO 37120 is a demand-led standard, driven and created by cities, for cities.

Benefits of ISO 37120 Standardized Indicators for Municipalities Within the context of a rapidly urbanizing world, ISO 37120 helps build more effective governance by fostering more informed decision making. Standardized indicators enable cities to assess their performance and measure progress over time, which is vital for continuous program and service improvement and cost-effectiveness. In addition to building more open data on cities and transparent governance, the new international standard ISO 37120: guides policy, planning, and management for more effective governance and delivery of services; enables local and international benchmarking; fosters comparative learning and

In addition to building more open data on cities and transparent governance, the new international standard ISO 37120: • Guides policy, planning, and management for more effective governance and delivery of services; • Enables local and international benchmarking; • Fosters comparative learning and sharing of informed practice across cities; and • Leverages funding and attracts investment.

sharing of informed practice across cities; and leverages funding and attracts investment.

The Standard will also provide a framework for sustainability planning, in particular resilience planning and risk assessment for insurance. Measuring and reporting ISO 37120 indicators can help cities to leverage funding and investment from international entities, businesses, and higher levels of government. Open data with third-party verification demonstrates accountability, transparency, and stability, which can help to improve a city’s credit and bond rating. A higher credit rating can increase a city’s access to funds both inside and outside the country, reduce the cost of borrowing money, and attract business and investment. This is important for the sustainability and growth of the city’s economy.

ISO 37120 now aids in building more effective governments by enabling local and international benchmarking. A reliable foundation of globally standardized data allows for global benchmarking. Cities can measure to see if they are meeting the most basic level of needs against international benchmarks or targets such as those put forth by the Millennium Development Goals (and future Sustainable Development Goals), UNESCO, the World Health Organization (WHO), and many others.

Cities working with Cities – Globally Standardized City Indicators City leaders worldwide want to know how their cities are doing relative to their peers. Standardized indicators allow

city leaders to measure their performance and compare it with other cities. ISO 37120 standardized indicators facilitate learning by enabling cities to draw comparative lessons from other cities locally and globally. For instance, comparable city level data can help build collaboration and understanding by fostering learning and sharing of best practices across cities. Comparative analysis and knowledge sharing is vital in the face of rapid urbanization and the associated demand for infrastructure investment and city services as well as the emergent global challenges including climate change and the associated demand for sustainability planning, resilience and emergency preparedness.

Recognizing the growing importance of indicators for improving governance, establishing evidence-based policies, and promoting civic engagement, the City of São Paulo, Brazil used the global city indicators (the basis of ISO 37120) in the development of quantitative targets and goals in their Growth Plan. The City of Haiphong, Vietnam also used these standardized indicators in their green growth model of development for the Haiphong Green Port City, a sustainable development plan that balances environmental and socio-economic aspects of the city based on its marine economy, port function and coastal location. Helsinki uses this set of globally standardized indicators to look for common trends and differences internationally, since it is the largest city in Finland and without domestic comparators.

In this age of results-based management, it is important to benchmark and measure results from investments.

On a local scale, indicators allow city officials to determine and set baseline performance expectations. They can show whether cities are meeting their targets and can also identify and prioritize areas for improvement. For example, working with the city indicators has allowed the City of Buenos Aires to benchmark and set values for different aspects of the city’s development. Knowledge generated from the collection of indicators Patricia McCarney allows Buenos Aires to have a clear idea is president and CEO of the state of the City and what could be of the World Council improved to achieve desired goals. on City Data (WCCD) There are numerous benefits and and also a Professor applications of ISO 37120 in cities but of Political Science and overall conformity with ISO 37120 will Director of the Global lead to responsible city building. AcCities Institute at the curate reporting of key performance University of Toronto. indicators will improve accountability Professor McCarney and foster sound decision-making by leads the development city leaders, especially at a time when of international cities have become the new sites for standards on city global population concentration and metrics within the when city services and quality of life International are at the core of economic prosperity, Organization for both locally and globally. b Standardization (ISO).

29

building.ca

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 29

14-09-04 10:34 AM

30

V I E W -

IN

Walk with Joy

ULI Toronto’s Executive Director and a former Chief Planner for the City of Toronto discuss the City’s residential building boom.

By Richard Joy One of the first things I did as Executive Director of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Toronto was to ask Paul Bedford to join me for a summer beer so I could pick his brain about the emerging development of this city. I was particularly curious to get the former Chief Planner for the City of Toronto’s perspective on the new residential construction frontier of the city’s downtown precinct When I suggested an urban walk before our drink, he asked me to select a neighbourhood. I chose CityPlace, Toronto’s dense condo-land west of the Rogers Centre on the north side of the Gardiner Expressway. I recalled his vision 20 years ago (pre-dating the current Official Plan) of a Vancouver-style high density but liveable waterfront neighbourhood and wanted to understand what went wrong. How was it that Vancouver could build world renowned high density but liveable communities that put people and families first, while Toronto could only build soulless concrete jungles that pushed its residents out as soon as they graduated to small families? Our walk surprised me.

Paul’s vision for Toronto’s downtown waterfront was to replicate as much as possible the delicate urban fabric of Vancouver’s redevelopment of its old Expo lands, but clearly this city came nowhere close to achieving that. However what I experienced on our walk was a remarkably intimate and vibrant new mixed-use community. Large-footprint buildings that I felt overwhelmed, when seen passing on the Gardiner, seemed quite human scale at ground level. The public realm feels open, green and inviting, pedestrian connectivity to neighbouring communities felt natural (though the Gardiner is still very much a barrier), neighbourhood-oriented retail plentiful and parkland both abundant and well-utilized.

A new public school under development also surprised me. Weren’t families moving away from such communities?

Obviously the Toronto District School Board understands that the stroller boom in condo-land is a harbinger of young families choosing to stay downtown, not the last stand of hip urban Millennial couples before a move to more conventional residential pastures. Yet while seeing is believing, the true liveability test is, obviously, living it.

AUGUST SEPTEMBER 2014

The seemingly abundant and well-utilized parkland is in reality highly over-subscribed according to Dave Harvey, executive director of Park People, the city’s leading park advocate. Evidently we have not built enough basic playing field space, notwithstanding the considerable parkland contributions associated with the condo construction. Another liveability indicator that jumped at me on my walk with Paul was how the new 1,500-sq.-ft. Fort York library branch (pictured above) was jammed to near capacity — and this was an August mid-afternoon! No doubt many would-be-users are being turned away now that school is back.

Public transit is yet another challenge. While the proximity to the central commercial district in downtown allows over 40 per cent of its residents to walk or cycle, nearly a third rely on public transit. Pressure to provide higher order transit access to the GO transit corridor for these new waterfront communities will increase annually.

Hopefully the planned school will be large enough to accommodate student demand that may well have been Richard Joy is Executive underestimated. Hopefully also the new Director of ULI Toronto. school will lend itself to a multitude of Previously, he served as community uses to accommodate ever Vice President, Policy and increasing demands for public ameniGovernment Relations at ty space during evenings, weekends, the Toronto Board of and summertime. Time will tell. As Trade, and was the my walk with Paul ended with a wellDirector of Municipal deserved pint and a look at the city at Affairs and Ontario large, he noted that the success of (Provincial Affairs) at smaller high-rise homes in dense cenGlobal Public Affairs. trally located neighbourhoods works Follow him on Twitter @RichardJoyTO or email for some, but a broader demand for af­ at Richard.Joy@uli.org fordable, larger floor area, transitsupportive homes must still be met.

Ultimately, the challenge for the city and development industry will be to define this next frontier, as clearly the work of reshaping our city and region has just begun. b

C

A b e

G

©

building.ca

71103 BEH BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 30

14-09-04 10:34 AM

INDUSTRIAL | COMMERCIAL | RECREATIONAL | INSTITUTIONAL

High Quality

EXPERT ADVICE Improving Your Bottom Line

Cost-efficient building solutions As experts in pre-engineered steel buildings, we’ll help you find the right solution for your budget. Our on-staff engineers insure the construction of your BEHLEN project is timely, efficient and built with high-quality products that last.

GET YOUR PERFECT FIT. (888) 315 -1035 | www.behlen.ca © BEHLEN Industries LP 2014

71103 BEHLEN Builder Ad - Bld Mag - 8x10.75 V2.indd 1 BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 31

2014-03-07 3:23 PM 14-09-04 10:34 AM

“With these tax incentives, it’s like we already filled 10 units.”

People who know Real Estate & Construction, know BDO.

The Real Estate & Construction 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 & Construction 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-construction

BLD Aug Sepl 2014.indd 32

Seiter&Miller 001224 Pub. Building Size. 8 x 10.75 Issue April 2014

14-09-04 10:34 AM