Last week’s Calgary Home and Garden Show turned its attention to the thousands of Calgarians with nowhere to live.

“It’s an interesting dichotomy to be in a place where you see such excitement about a home and know that there were 2,000 Calgarians in shelters last night, and another 2,000 in transition homes,” said John Currie, president of the Calgary Homeless Foundation.

In the midst of everything you could imagine related to homes inside the exhibit at the Corral and Roundup Centre, there was thought for the homeless. A huge “garage sale” was held to raise money for the Calgary Homeless Foundation, to put toward the $300,000 needed to buid a duplex for the Simon House Recovery Centre.

In just three years, the foundation has raised $52 million for 34 projects in partnership with more than 60 agencies.

Trading Spaces designer Vern Yip wowed the crowd at the Calgary show.

The foundation is a success because of participation of organizations such as the home and garden show. Donations from exhibitors for the two-day garage sale ranged from promotional coffee mugs to new gas fireplaces.

Thousands of Calgarians toured the 217,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space with 450 exhibitors. Displays included garden tools, decks and summerhouses, hot tubs, wood flooring, windows, appliances, artwork and patio furniture.

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A real estate brokerage founded in Calgary has formed an international alliance that gives it access to global markets.

Torode Realty has become the Western Canadian representative of Oncor International.

Torode was incorporated in Calgary by John Torode in 1973. It later acquired Merrett Management and the Canadian operations of Knowlton Realty. In 1997 the firm began trading on the Alberta Stock Exchange. In 2001 senior members of the selling team bought back the brokerage arm and took the firm private.

The alliance gives more direct access to 50 markets in the U.S., said Andrew McLachlan, vice-president sales and general manager of Torode in Calgary.

“The U.S. relation between Calgary and Houston for the oil industry is the obvious pipeline, so to speak,” he said last week.

The direct advantage is working with real estate brokers in Houston and Dallas, and to a lesser extent in Oklahoma and Chicago.

Torode’s real estate services include office and industrial leasing and sales, investment sales, retail leasing and development, and strategic planning. Oncor is an organization of 50 privately owned commercial real estate firms in more than 200 international markets.

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TGS Properties Inc. could be going private if regulators and shareholders approve a proposal this spring.

The offer by 1032377 Alberta Ltd., or AcquisitionCo, covers those assets that did not become part of TGS North American REIT when it was formed last fall, said company spokeswoman Jenelle Wohlberg.

This offer would see shareholders of TGS, other than AcquisitionCo and some others, receive $1.20 a share for their TGS shares.

All options of TGS would be cancelled for a payment of the difference between $1.20 and the exercise price of the options, and all outstanding TGS convertible debentures would be repaid.

The offer requires regulatory and shareholder approval. The last step would be the shareholders’ vote in late March or early April.

The $1.20 figure is based on the valuation of the company by Low Rosen Taylor Soriano. It had valued TGS originally for the creation of the TGS North American REIT in late 2002. The second valuation put the company between $1.16 and $1.20 a share.

“Public markets historically – and TGS has been no exception – did not value land development and real estate operating companies,” said Wohlberg.

TGS specializes in acquiring, developing and managing office buildings, community malls and industrial warehousing.

It owns Three Sisters Mountain Village in Canmore.