REGISTRATION & CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

OPENING REMARKS

Introduction:

Dave Cordick, President, BOMA Ottawa

Forum Chair:
Hugh Gorman, Chief Executive Officer, Colonnade BridgePort

ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: WHERE IS CANADA HEADING AS 2018 APPROACHES?

An insightful presentation on the economic fundamentals that are driving the Canadian economy in general. What is the outlook for economic growth, employment growth, inflation, interest rates, and commodity prices over the next twelve months? How strongly will the U.S. economy perform over the next year? What global conditions do we have watch for? How will all these trends affect the Canadian economy?

A detailed examination and insights on some of the notable leasing and investment deals in the apartment, industrial, office, retail and land markets in the Ottawa region during the past twelve months. How much leasing and investment momentum did the Ottawa market experience in 2016 and the first half of 2017? What is the outlook for the remainder of this year and beyond? How do the market fundamentals look at this time including vacancy rates, absorption rates, and cap rates? How much development is in the pipeline? What were some of the notable investment transactions in the year so far?

UPDATE ON THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S REAL ESTATE PORTFOLIO AND SPACE REQUIREMENTS IN THE NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION

What space does the federal government currently occupy in Ottawa and Gatineau? What new developments are proposed or underway and what is their status? What changes are on the forefront with respect to federal government space occupancy requirements across the National Capital Region? Workplace 2.0 was elephant in the room over the past 5 to 7 years. What have been the results of its implementation? How are plans for Workplace 3.0 proceeding? What trends in PWPC’s portfolio are we likely to see in 2017 and going forward?

As Ottawa continues to evolve into a metropolitan area with a population of over one million, the City is implementing a series of key initiatives and planning policies that have implications on growth and development. These have included a new comprehensive zoning by-law, five year Official Plan review, Official Plan Amendments 150 and 180, Development Charges Review, the Employment Land Strategy, various Community Design Plans, and High-rise guidelines. This conversation will examine many of these policies and strategies, and how will they impact the intensification and urbanization of Ottawa? Can the City afford to keep growing the way that it has been growing or does anything need to change? How is the LRT construction progressing? What kind of development opportunities are emerging along this public transit line? What impact will the reform of the Ontario Municipal Board have on development going forward?

Moderator:
Michael Polowin, Partner, National Municipal Group Leader, Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP

Speakers:
Miguel Tremblay, Director of Planning + Development, Fotenn Consultants Inc.
Stephen Willis, General Manager, Planning, Infrastructure and Economic Development Department, City of Ottawa

ARE YOU AWARE OF THE SCALE AND VOLUME OF DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY IN OTTAWA? WHAT WILL THE CITY LOOK LIKE IN FIVE TO TEN YEARS?

The Ottawa region is experiencing one of the strongest periods of development activity in many decades. The city is experiencing a significant number of “community-building projects” – large-scale redevelopment of strategic sites that has the effect of transforming existing neighbourhoods. Investors are being encouraged to redevelop large parcels, resulting mainly in mixed-use centres and in proximity to existing transit and future LRT stations. Lansdowne Park, Greystone Village, CLC’s Rockcliffe Airbase, Rideau Centre, Tunney’s Pasture Federal lands, Trinity Station, LeBreton Flats and Zibi all signal an important period of city building in Ottawa and it’s progression as a National Capital City. This session will briefly examine a number of quite diverse projects and provide some insights into what are the underlying factors that have led to these developments.

Moderator:
Ted Fobert, Founding Partner, Fotenn Consultants Inc.

Speakers:
Bernie Ashe, Chief Executive Officer, Ottawa Sports & Entertainment Group
Mark D’eon, Senior Vice-President of Leasing, Trinity Development Group
Josh Kardish, Vice President, eQ Homes
Jonathan Westeinde, Chief Executive Officer, Windmill Development Group

CONCURRENT SESSIONS (SELECT A1, A2 OR A3)

SESSION A1:
THE OTTAWA OFFICE MARKET: DOWNTOWN, KANATA, NEPEAN, MIDTOWN, AND THE EAST END – WHICH AREAS ARE IN DECLINE AND WHICH ONES ARE NOT?

With some 60% of the Ottawa office market being outside the downtown, this session will examine all the submarkets along with the core area. With its high concentration of high technology tenancies, Kanata appears to have finally shrugged off the effects of sluggish leasing conditions. What is the impact of DND’s move of 8,500 of its employees to the former Nortel campus? To what extent have vacancies increased over the past twelve months in most other submarkets – in some cases to levels twice as high as one year ago? How is the downtown market performing? What will generate the growth to fill the space across the Ottawa region? How demand is there be for? What new development is underway or anticipated? What impact has federal government real estate activities had on which submarket? To what extent are rents moving down and vacancy rising? What does the future hold for B and C class space?

Moderator:
Oliver Kershaw, Principal, Ottawa, Avison & Young

Panel:
Dan Gray, Vice President, Leasing, QuadReal Property Group
Sender Gordon, Director, Investment & Leasing , The Regional Group of Companies
Bernie Myers, Vice President, Eastern Canada, Office/Industrial, Morguard Investments Limited
Marc Shank, Vice President, Leasing – Ontario & Western Canada, Cominar REIT

 

SESSION A2:
THE UNDER 25,000 SQ. FT. REAL ESTATE HOLDINGS…WHAT ARE SMALLER ENTREPRENEURS DOING IN THIS MARKET? CAN FAMILY STYLE AND PRIVATELY OWNED INVESTORS FIND PROFITABLE OPPORTUNITIES?

Given the strong private investor demand to acquire and own assets in the Canadian market, major opportunities have emerged for entrepreneurialism in the real estate industry. These are traditionally privately owned firms with portfolios of assets that do not mirror the major pension funds, lifecos, private equity funds, and most publicly owned entities. Their tenants are the smaller office or retail chains, or successful local businesses. This type of investor typically wants to invest outside the stock markets and mutual fund industry. They are prepared to accept some risk, and because they are local investors, invest in projects that are between $1M to $10 M, often buying buildings under 25,000 sq. ft. They have the ability to see value and reward where many others do not. How do they source capital? What lenders and equity partners are best suited to work with them? What are some examples of how they structure their deals? What niches and opportunities do they strategically focus on to find the highest potential value opportunities that will enable them to make above average returns, provide ongoing monthly cash flow and own real estate that will grow and prosper? What have been the most significant challenges that they have had to endure? How do they see business and investment opportunities in the Ottawa market unfolding into the future?

Moderator:
Paul Bregman, Principal Consultant, Real Estate and Financial Advisory Services, Bregman Law

Panel:
Jonathan Kardash, President, Marklyn Management
Michael Simon, Director of Financial Services, CLV Realty Corporation
Julie Taggart, Vice President, Operations & Leasing, Taggart Realty Management Inc.
John Zinati, Broker of Record, Zinati Realty Inc.

SESSION A3:
UNDERSTANDING THE OTTAWA RETAIL MARKET: FROM BUOYANT AND GROWTH TO CHALLENGES AND TRANSFORMATION

No other real estate property class attracts as much attention as retail. In recent years, U.S. and international retailers like Nordstrom, Saks, and others have been circling Canada and opening stores. The growth of online shopping is having implications for traditional retail formats. There are also concerns about tapped out consumers and the closure of national chains like Target, Future Shop, and many apparel retailers. Closer to home, three of the four major regional centres in Ottawa have been expanded and renewed including the $360M revitalization of the CF Rideau Centre. Add to this is the transformation of Lansdowne Park, the new Tanger discount outlet centre and the proliferation of urban retail in mixed-use developments across the inner city. In total, over 1.7M sq.ft. of retail space has been added to the inventory over the past three years. What is driving all of this activity? How are landlords and retailers responding to the transformational trends in the market? How are landlords and retailers adapting to the changing market conditions with pop-ups, incubation, omni-channel strategies and urban formats like Farm Boy’s opening in the CF Rideau Centre? What impact will the LRT have on future retail growth along with other inner city sites?

Moderator:
Richard Getz, Vice President, Retail, Colonnade Bridgeport Realty Inc., Brokerage

Panel:
Stuart Craig, Vice President, Planning & Development, RioCan REIT
Alan Dillabough, Vice President, Development and Construction (East), Primaris Management Inc.
Sebastian Greenall, Senior Vice President, Architecture & Design, The Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited
Mary Knapp, General Manager, St. Laurent Shopping Centre, Morguard
Jean Rickli, Senior Advisor, Sales and Operations, Real Estate, Strategic Planning, JC Williams Group

Estimates are that some 1,700 high-tech companies are in Ottawa employing roughly 70,000 people. According to analysts at Expert Market, 71% of respondents would set up their new tech business in the city, ranking Ottawa as the number one top tech hub in Canada. The respondents identified quality of living, high average salaries, the number of available tech jobs in the city, and tech diversity among the reasons for their choice. How are growth and strategies of tech enterprises affecting downtown Class A and suburban office markets? Consider Shopify. Starting with a 170,000 sq.ft. downtown corporate headquarters, the fast growing company is taking an additional 325,000 square feet of nearby office space. At the same time, Kanata continues to be the largest high tech hub within Ottawa with a very diversified cross-section of firms. This session will examine the growth of the high tech economic engine in Ottawa, why that is the case, and how it consumes both suburban and downtown office space.

Moderator:
Shawn Hamilton, Vice President & Managing Director, CBRE Limited

Panel:
Kelly Daize, Market Director, Americas, Investment and Trade, Invest Ottawa
Jenna Sudds, President & Executive Director, Kanata North Business Association
Martin Vandewouw, President, KRP Properties

SESSION B2:
UPDATE ON THE OTTAWA MULTI-RESIDENTIAL MARKET: DEMAND, DEVELOPMENT, INVESTMENT AND STUDENT HOUSING

This session will open with an overview of the major trends in the Ottawa apartment market which continues experience strong growth. Among the questions that will be examined: what is the short and medium term outlook for the performance of the multi-unit residential sector; where are rental demand and vacancy rates heading over the next twelve months; is the condominium market posing any impact on the multi-family housing; what impact will the Provincial rent review policy changes have on new rental developments; how cost effective is new rental development at this time; how much do you have in the pipeline; and is student housing still a major new niche sub-market attracting strong interest. The session will end by examining the amount of investment quality apartments available for sale. What can break the logjam between strong investor interest and lack of sufficient product? Where are cap rates heading at this time and where are they expected to be in 2018?

Moderator:
Aik Aliferis, CEO & Co-Founder, Primecorp Commercial Realty Inc.

Panel:
Ugo Bizzarri, Founding Managing Director, Portfolio Management and Investments, Timbercreek Asset Management
Philip Fraser, President & CEO, Killam Apartment REIT
Alf Hendry, Chief Executive Officer, Homestead Land Holdings Ltd.
Mike McGahan, Chief Executive Officer, InterRent REIT

SESSION B3:
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO MAKE YOUR BUILDING A MARKET LEADER: HOW CAN YOU REPOSITION OLDER ASSETS TO ENHANCE THEIR VALUE?

New construction only represents about a small fraction of the building stock in Ottawa. What are the options for the older more pre-dominate buildings with respect to improving their operational efficiencies and ensuring that their space remains competitive in the market? The Ottawa market has a large inventory of buildings constructed in the 1960’s and 70’s. Are some of the older Class A buildings being repurposed to enhance their attractiveness in the Ottawa market? This applies to office, retail and multi-family properties. This session will examine the asset management, marketing, and capital strategies that landlords can pursue for the repositioning an older asset. Discussion will also focus on how feasible is it to pursue LEED or BOMA BEST certification as part of the retrofit. Will this branding make a difference in the leasing market?

Moderator and Speaker:
Sean O’Sullivan, General Manager, Sun Life Financial Centre, Bentall Kennedy (Canada) LP

Panel:
Sam Barbieri, Senior Vice President, Asset Management, LaSalle Investment Management
Greg Johnston, Vice President, Property Management, Colonnade BridgePort
Rodney Wilts, Partner, Windmill Development Group/Zibi

AFTERNOON REFRESHMENTS

EXECUTIVE ROUNDTABLE: INVESTORS VIEW OF THE OPPORTUNITIES TO BUY AND SELL ASSETS IN THE OTTAWA MARKET

A discussion with a cross-section of senior real estate executives as they provide their perspective on real estate market fundamentals for 2017 and beyond for the Ottawa market: from private equity funds to institutional investors. They will offer their insights on what they see occurring over the next twelve months, and their strategic thinking going forward. The session will open with a brief examination of some of the benchmark investment transactions in Ottawa over the past twelve months. Among the other questions to be examined:

• What are the most significant challenges and opportunities for investors in the Ottawa market?
• What does it take to complete an investment deal in this market?
• What are you buying or selling, where are you buying or selling, and why are you buying or selling?
• What will be your strategy for 2018 and beyond in this market?
• Where are we in the cycle in the Ottawa market? Where are cap rates heading?
• What property classes will likely offer the best possible returns in 2018?
• What needs to change in order for Ottawa to reach its ultimate potential?

Moderator:
Hugh Gorman, Chief Executive Officer, Colonnade BridgePort

Panel:
Trevor Blakely, Chief Executive Officer, Forgestone Capital
Joe Mazzocco, Executive Managing Director, KingSett Capital
Ryan Robison, Senior Vice President, Investments, QuadReal Property Group
Martin Tovey, Vice President, Acquisitions & Rental Development, Minto Capital
Nico Zentil, Vice President, National Investment Team, CBRE Limited