The top managers and operators of commercial real estate were honoured Saturday by their peers in the Building Owners and Managers Association.
The top buildings were honored as well, and the top historical buildings named as Buildings of the 20th Century.
The G.E. Harris Canada building by Hopewell Development Corp. was named Suburban Building of the Year, and the Great Plains won the Industrial Property category for Morguard Investments Ltd.
Fred Stenhouse of O & Y Enterprise real estate services was named operations manager of the year and Barry MacDonald of CB Richard Ellis was named operator of the year.
The Standard Life Tower’s operations team won operations team of the year and O & Y won property management team of the year for 840 7th Ave. S.W.
The service excellence award went to Magna IV Engineering and the innovation award to Smed Construction and Smed International.
Real estate agent of the year went to Angus Fraser of CB Richard Ellis.
Gabby Franco of O & Y Enterprise real estate services won the Malcolm Bryce Award for voluntarism in BOMA activities and outstanding service to the industry.
Calgary City Hall was named the outstanding historical building of the 20th century. The top modernized building was 444 7th Avenue, the top industrial building Smed International and the top suburban building the Esso Research Centre.
The Alberta Treasury Branch was named the building of the century under 100,000 sq. ft., Shaw Court, 100,000 to 500,000 sq. ft., the Canterra Tower, 500,000 to one million sq. ft., and Bankers Hall East, more than one million sq. ft.
A neighbourhood with a Canadian connection has been built to house victims of a 1998 hurricane in Central America.
Calgary-based ATCO Structures Inc. has completed delivery and assembly of 59 single detached houses for Honduran employees of a Canadian company whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Mitch. The hurricane cut a two-day path of destruction through Honduras in October 1998, killing 7,000 people and causing $5 billion in damage.
ATCO had the new houses up in San Pedro, Sula, Honduras, only 16 weeks after approval of the project. The contract was awarded by Gildan Activewear Ltd., an international garment producer with head office in Montreal. It was financed by a donation from Gildan, a grant from the Canadian International Development Agency and subsidized mortgages for the homeowners.
The residents have named the new neighbourhood Villas El Arce — “Maple Houses.”
Apex Corp. announced a 39th consecutive quarter of record financial results, with cash flow per share up three per cent at the end of the third quarter on Jan. 31.
The Calgary land development company had revenue of $104 million, a nine-per-cent increase, and net earnings of $5.86 million, up three per cent over the comparable nine months a year earlier. Cash flow per share was 31 cents.
Apex operates single-family, multi-family and land development divisions in several high-growth market segments. Among its current projects is The Renaissance at North Hill, a condominium apartment building next to the North Hill Shopping Centre.
BOMA Calgary’s Web-based course on building floor space measurement (Business Edge, Nov. 8-14, 2000) has taken off, with students coast-to-coast in North America.
The floor-space measurement course was developed last year using technology from INet e-Seminar Centre, a Calgary-based unit of Globel Direct Inc.
BOMA Calgary executive vice-president Bill Partridge, the instructor for the streaming video and audio presentation, reports fielding e-mail questions from around the world. The General Services Administration in the United States, has adopted the course.
The Real Estate Council of Alberta, which regulates the real estate industry in the province, has accepted the BOMA course as continuing education for real estate professionals.
Partridge says the real story is that people like the technology.
The value of building permits issued in February was down 14 per cent from the previous year, the city reported this month.
Permits were issued worth $124.4 million, down from $144.9 million in February 2000. Residential permits were up 13 per cent, to $78.9 million from $69.8 million. Non-residential permits dropped 39 per cent, to $45.5 million from $75.5 million a year ago.
Building permits this year have totalled $231 million, down 26 per cent from $311 million in the same period of last year. The city notes that building permits indicate intentions in the construction industry and are not actual starts.
Proprietary Industries Inc. of Calgary has signed a deal to buy all the outstanding shares of Family Golf Acquisition Inc. for $8.4 million US, with the sale to close by month end. FGA owns all the shares of Eagle Quest Family Golf Centres Inc., which operates 10 golf centres in B.C., Alberta and Ontario.
Boardwalk Equities Inc. has declared its first annual dividend, subject to regulatory approval, for shareholders of record at the close of business Thursday, March 22.
The Calgary-based multi-family landlord company also reported cash flow of 71 cents a share for the seven months ending Dec. 31, its new year end.
The company also reported total revenue of $147.1 million and cash flow from operations of $34.7 million.
Web Watch:
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www.bwalk.com
www.proprietaryinc.com
