[JonnyCanuck]

Bow Tower sells for $1.67BN This is surprising to me. I thought with a high vacancy rate it would be a lot cheaper, but I suppose they still have the original lease agreement which runs to 2038.

The Bow office tower sold in $1.67B deal

H&ampamp;R REIT said it sold two million square feet of office space in the distinctive, 58-storey downtown property to Chicago-based Oak Street Real Estate Capital.

calgaryherald.com

Apparently the city of Calgary has assessed the value of the building at less than $700 million. That will reflect favourably on property taxes going forward. It is just another example of how the city's tax base has been shredded.

 

[MichaelS]

Well next year's assessment should be much closer to the sale price. I believe they set the date for assessment at July 31st. This gives a pretty strong data point for next year.

 

[MichaelS]

A bit more of an in-depth article on the sale of the Bow:

The Bow tower iconic symbol of Calgary’s ups and downs

When the iconic The Bow tower was conceived and built at the height of an energy boom, it was a symbol of Calgary’s status as a key economic driver in the country. Some people even made note of its geographic

renx.ca

Apparently H&R REIT is retaining ownership of the south block. Also, some shocking vacancy rates in some of our newer/bigger office towers mentioned.

 

[JonnyCanuck]

Apparently H&R REIT is retaining ownership of the south block. Also, some shocking vacancy rates in some of our newer/bigger office towers mentioned.

Yeah some of those vacancy rates are staggering. I know one building that was not mentioned that I believe is still 100% vacant ... the old Nexen building on 8 Ave & 7 St SW.
As an aside, I am pretty disappointed in Encana/Ovintiv. I would be surprised to hear that they still do occupy 840,000 sq ft of The Bow, and instead most of it is probably sub-let. Encana, before they split out Cenovus, was Canada's largest energy company and was supposed to compete with other global energy companies. The Bow was built for Encana and Cenovus in mind. Within a very short period of time, Cenovus moves over to Brookfield and Encana decides to change their name and move a large part of their operations to the U.S. There was very interesting article on all of this in a recent issue of Report on Business magazine. What a travesty.

 

[MacLac]

Yeah some of those vacancy rates are staggering. I know one building that was not mentioned that I believe is still 100% vacant ... the old Nexen building on 8 Ave & 7 St SW.
As an aside, I am pretty disappointed in Encana/Ovintiv. I would be surprised to hear that they still do occupy 840,000 sq ft of The Bow, and instead most of it is probably sub-let. Encana, before they split out Cenovus, was Canada's largest energy company and was supposed to compete with other global energy companies. The Bow was built for Encana and Cenovus in mind. Within a very short period of time, Cenovus moves over to Brookfield and Encana decides to change their name and move a large part of their operations to the U.S. There was very interesting article on all of this in a recent issue of Report on Business magazine. What a travesty.

Poor ‘ol Encana….at one point AB’s largest energy company by market cap….and at one point ….so I’ve been told that 1/20 Albertans either directly or indirectly worked for them….myself included….contracted to them for over 10 years. Spoke to my old boss at the Bow a few days ago….he says they’re down to a “few hundred” staff now and regulated to a “field office” as per Suttles. Can’t imagine 300 hundred staff taking up over 800,000 sq ft. On a positive note….they are partnered with Mitsubishi on the Canada LNG project….could mean a few large projects soon…..

 

[MichaelS]

Anybody know of a good realtor that specializes in selling downtown condos (slightly larger ones, not just small bachelor suites)? Someone who perhaps has a better than the competition track record at selling those types of properties? Or, is the current state of the market something that no realtor can overcome?

 

[JonnyCanuck]

Anybody know of a good realtor that specializes in selling downtown condos (slightly larger ones, not just small bachelor suites)? Someone who perhaps has a better than the competition track record at selling those types of properties? Or, is the current state of the market something that no realtor can overcome?

Julie Dempsey - Calgary Downtown Certified Condo Specialist

With over 14 years experience with Condo Developers and purchasers, I know the ins and outs of buying and selling condos. I know the latest in condo legislation.

www.juliedempsey.ca

I don't know what her track record is.

 

[Geo_Jedi]

Anybody know of a good realtor that specializes in selling downtown condos (slightly larger ones, not just small bachelor suites)? Someone who perhaps has a better than the competition track record at selling those types of properties? Or, is the current state of the market something that no realtor can overcome?

My wife used to work for Christina Hagerty https://christinahagerty.ca/. She specialized in condos!

 

[MichaelS]

Similar to the previous sale of the Bow tower, Western Canadian Place has been sold, to the same outfit:

Oak Street buys Calgary’s Western Canadian Place for $475M

Western Canadian Place, a major Calgary downtown office complex comprising two towers and over one million square feet of space, has been sold for $475 million, RENX has learned. BCIMC and its real estate arm QuadReal sold the property in

renx.ca

 

[darwink]

Similar to the previous sale of the Bow tower, Western Canadian Place has been sold, to the same outfit:

Oak Street buys Calgary’s Western Canadian Place for $475M

Western Canadian Place, a major Calgary downtown office complex comprising two towers and over one million square feet of space, has been sold for $475 million, RENX has learned. BCIMC and its real estate arm QuadReal sold the property in

renx.ca

That is a good price! Cenovus shareholders have got to be smarting - the amount of empty real estate the company is leasing, perhaps they should spin out a special purpose company to try to fill it and make the obligations obvious. Take a 1 time write down of 'goodwill', and a cash hit on their obligations in the Bow and Brookfield.

 

[Surrealplaces]

Similar to the previous sale of the Bow tower, Western Canadian Place has been sold, to the same outfit:

Oak Street buys Calgary’s Western Canadian Place for $475M

Western Canadian Place, a major Calgary downtown office complex comprising two towers and over one million square feet of space, has been sold for $475 million, RENX has learned. BCIMC and its real estate arm QuadReal sold the property in

renx.ca

$475.00 per square feet. Not too bad for a building of that age, with a tenant occupying most of the building for 11 years and a recent lobby reno to boot.

 

[Surrealplaces]

That is a good price! Cenovus shareholders have got to be smarting - the amount of empty real estate the company is leasing, perhaps they should spin out a special purpose company to try to fill it and make the obligations obvious. Take a 1 time write down of 'goodwill', and a cash hit on their obligations in the Bow and Brookfield.

Imagine if they had gone for Oxford's proposal.

 

[darwink]

Imagine if they had gone for Oxford's proposal.

I am misremembering - wasn’t that imperial? Or was there a competing Oxford to Brookfield Place?

 

[Surrealplaces]

I am misremembering - wasn’t that imperial? Or was there a competing Oxford to Brookfield Place?

I remember Imperial looking at both Oxford and Brookfield and Husky for Oxford. I don't know if Husky looking at Oxford was public or not.

If I recall correctly (and I may have the events wrong) Imperial was actually planning a building with Oxford. A shorter, wider proposal that was to be around 35-40 storeys....kind of like TCPL. It feel through for some reason, and they had then looked at Brookfield Place, but Exxon strong armed them into going with a campus setup like they did in Houston. Husky was definitely looking at Oxford as well, and I believe it was for the proposal we've seen in the renderings. They renewed at WCP, and Oxford went cold.

 

[CBBarnett]

Seems to be a lot of things going on all at once, but it's hard to tease out what is speculative theories v. what is founded in long-term trends or something more fundamental.

Some or all of these things seem true or partial true when talking about housing in Calgary:

1. Super high home sales in 2021, rebounding from super low home sales in 2020. Seeing a spike in prices and multiple offers in some areas, which really hasn't happened in Calgary for years.
2. Cheap interest rates remain a key reason for some of the price increases.
3. Lots of people buying properties from Ontario and Vancouver for relative affordability. Is this actually happening at a scale that it can impact local housing prices on it's own? I have heard anecdotes but little data that substantiates this
4. General supply & demand imbalance - really low housing inventory levels available right now. Is this really a function of slow growth for so long, housing supply isn't able to keep up to a unpredicted, large spike in demand? This seems true but it's not like we haven't been building new homes or don't have thousands of hectares of approved sprawl communities in the pipeline, surely in the longer term this will moderate price increases?
5. General recovery of Calgary's economy. We've been stagnant for so long, its just time for a bit of growth.
6. Calgary remains an attractive city and continues to attract attention, investment, immigration regardless of the shorter-term local economic picture.
7. A rising tide raises all boats - almost everywhere in Canada is seeing homes appreciate, is Calgary just along for the ride like other big cities or are we uniquely positioned?

Curious on everyone's perspectives on Calgary's housing market, which has seen that notable surge. Any truths to back up all the anecdotes we are hearing?