REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY, REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
Newswire | May 29, 2023
Canada's leading real estate companies Dream Unlimited Corp., Kilmer Group and Tricon Residential Inc. (together, DKT Partnership) have officially launched Maple House, the first phase of Canary Landing – one of the largest and most significant rental communities in Canada. Altogether, the 12-acre community is comprised of 2,300 rental units – of which 30 per cent will be dedicated as affordable housing and 25 per cent will be barrier-free – creating a model for inclusive, true mixed-income communities across the city.
Canary Landing is located in Toronto's award-winning Canary District community, a pedestrian scale urban village adjacent to the Distillery District in the Downtown East. Canary Landing includes eight mixed-use buildings spanning four city blocks along Cherry Street. In addition to significant market and affordable rental housing, Canary Landing will also include 30,000 square feet of retail and a future 5,000 square foot community space. Canary Landing represents an innovative public-private partnership between the DKT Partnership, the Province of Ontario, the City of Toronto, the Government of Canada, and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), all working collaboratively to create affordable housing solutions at scale.
"We are grateful for the collaboration with our municipal, provincial, and federal partners as we work towards our shared vision for Canary Landing, which will target ambitious LEED Gold sustainability outcomes, and provide long-term market rental and affordable housing. Maple House is the start of fulfilling our promise to create beautiful, sustainable, and affordable housing, and we look forward to seeing residents thrive in this vibrant new community very soon," says Andrew Joyner, Managing Director at Tricon Residential on behalf of the DKT Partnership.
Bringing much-needed affordable housing to the city, the development team is delivering 126 rental homes that will be filled in partnership with seven non-profit agencies from across the city, including: WoodGreen Community Services, Artscape, COSTI, Wigwamen, Performing Arts Lodge, March of Dimes and Interval House. These affordable rental homes will be offered at 40 to 80 per cent below the average market rent. An additional 105 affordable rental homes will be available to the public through a soon-to-be-released open market call. All 231 of the affordable homes have been financially supported by the City of Toronto's Open Door Program.
"We have all watched as Toronto's affordable housing crisis has grown during the past several years," says Anne Babcock, CEO of WoodGreen Community Services. "WoodGreen Community Services is thrilled to be working with other not-for-profit agencies and the DKT Partnership to deliver real and permanent housing solutions to a diverse range of Toronto residents. The Canary Landing initiative is a testament to what we can all do by working together for the common good."
Maple House sets the stage with community-centric amenities and design
Central to the vision for Canary Landing's Maple House is a desire to create beautiful architecture that is inclusive and accessible to all. The acclaimed architecture and design team, which includes Danish firm COBE, along with Canadian firms architectsAlliance and CCxA (Claude Cormier x Associés), focused on creating a design-forward and environmentally responsible community that respects the local heritage. Maple House has already garnered several accolades, including the Canadian Architect Award of Excellence and the 2021 BILD Award for Best New Community.
"Maple House is very special to us. It is not just a city-building project – more importantly, it is a community building project. We have focused a design that is highly contextual, connecting to the fine grain scale of the Distillery District, the prominent scale of Canary District, and at the same time, referencing the industrial heritage of Toronto's waterfront. It results in buildings that both fit in and stand out, and a project that celebrates architectural inclusion and fosters and embraces social diversity and cohesion in this magnificent context," says Dan Stubbergaard, Founder and Owner of Cobe.
"We are incredibly proud to be delivering this truly mixed-income community that is the first of its kind in Canada and a model for city-building," says Joyner. "This type of housing will strengthen our city's social fabric and meet the diverse needs of all Torontonians."
About Dream Unlimited Corp.
Dream Unlimited Corp. is a leading developer of exceptional office and residential assets in Toronto, owns stabilized income generating assets in both Canada and the U.S., and has an established and successful asset management business, inclusive of $24 billion of assets under management across four Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") listed trusts, our private asset management business and numerous partnerships. We also develop land and residential assets in Western Canada. Dream expects to generate more recurring income in the future as its urban development properties are completed and held for the long term. Dream has a proven track record for being innovative and for our ability to source, structure and execute on compelling investment opportunities. For more information please visit: www.dream.ca.
About Kilmer Group
Kilmer Group is the privately-held Toronto based investment holding company of Canadian business leader and philanthropist, Larry Tanenbaum O.C. Kilmer operates in three verticals, 1) real estate and infrastructure, 2) sports, entertainment and media and 3) private equity. Kilmer's operations employ over 22,000 people with a long-term, multi-generational horizon and vision. Kilmer brings an entrepreneurial and solutions driven approach to project delivery.
Kilmer has more than 40 years experience in the construction and development industry in Canada and continues to maintain a focus on the infrastructure sector. Kilmer has extensive expertise in large-scale redevelopment and a focus on unique public private partnerships, mid-rise urban infill projects, and master planned communities. Kilmer is proud to have had a hand in the development of over 12,000 homes.
About Tricon Residential Inc.
Tricon Residential Inc. (NYSE: TCN, TSX: TCN) is an owner and operator of a growing portfolio of more than 36,000 single-family rental homes in the U.S. Sun Belt and multi-family apartments in Canada. Our commitment to enriching the lives of our employees, residents and local communities underpins Tricon's culture and business philosophy.
Tricon was the first-mover to enter Toronto's purpose-built rental apartment sector with scale in 2016, and is today the market leader and most active developer in the marketplace. We partner with celebrated architects to create inviting living spaces and inspired amenities, empower our employees to deliver an exceptional service experience with the support of an innovative technology enabled platform, and build resident community through programming and events to foster meaningful connections. At Tricon, we have reimagined rental living.
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REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY, INVESTMENTS
Businesswire | June 01, 2023
SmartRent, Inc. (NYSE: SMRT), the leading provider of smart home and property operations solutions for the rental housing industry, today announced the launch of its Community WiFi solution, built by multifamily experts for the multifamily industry.
Through Community WiFi, SmartRent is elevating renter expectations for wireless service at their communities in terms of connection speed, dependability, portability and affordability. It is also raising the bar for management teams by upgrading infrastructure and working harmoniously with major property management systems and existing tech stacks for smooth integration and implementation.
SmartRent is an established industry leader, specializing in smart home technologies, self-guided tours, access control, asset protection and IoT solutions. Broadly, the impact of smart technology has often been limited by the WiFi system deployed at the property level. Resident-acquired WiFi varies substantially from home to home, and bulk WiFi packages are still dependent on the signal strength and reliability of individual routers and modems in each home, common area and amenity space. After analyzing the needs of apartment communities and experiencing the challenges firsthand, SmartRent decided to help solve the long-standing industry issue. Through its development of Community WiFi, SmartRent strives to deliver dependable, accessible, community wide internet access to serve as the bedrock upon which rental housing communities can confidently build out their smart home and proptech systems.
“SmartRent’s Community WiFi is the culmination of years of discovery with our clients and a deep understanding of the pains associated with connectivity at the property level,” said SmartRent CEO Lucas Haldeman. “We are uniquely positioned to bring a truly game-changing WiFi solution to the market. Through our infrastructure upgrade expertise, vast hardware and software installation experience and intimate knowledge of smart home technologies for IoT, we have designed Community WiFi to power fully connected communities. Dynamic and reliable high-speed internet connectivity is not only one of the single highest demand amenities for today’s renters, but also the backbone of efficient, high-performing properties.”
Residents can initiate Community WiFi in a matter of minutes, with no need to set up an installation appointment, through the SmartRent app — the same platform used to manage smart home devices and smart access controls and receive calls from video intercoms. Featuring up to 1 GB connection speeds, the service is competitive with individual in-home WiFi plans. A consistent connection encompasses the entire community, including amenities, common areas and office spaces, so residents and on-site staff aren’t required to connect to various routers as they move about the property. The powerful, reliable connectivity also enables WiFi calling, making it essential in areas with marginal cellular reception.
As a marketable amenity, Community WiFi can be leveraged to boost lead conversions and resident retention. Through infrastructure ownership, operators can gain a direct NOI boost from a monthly connection fee per unit and an overall increased asset value through significant infrastructure upgrades. Community wide connectivity fortifies smart communities, providing stability for property technologies and smart home devices to enhance overall IoT performance.
About SmartRent
Founded in 2017, SmartRent, Inc. (NYSE: SMRT) is a leading provider of smart home and smart property solutions for the multifamily industry. The company’s unmatched platform, comprised of smart hardware and cloud-based SaaS solutions, gives operators seamless visibility and control over real estate assets, empowering them to simplify operations, automate workflows, benefit from additional revenue opportunities and deliver exceptional site team and resident experiences. SmartRent serves 15 of the top 20 multifamily owners and operators, and its solutions enable millions of users to live smarter every day. For more information, please visit www.smartrent.com.
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REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY, MORTGAGE AND LENDING
PRnewswire | May 03, 2023
SeeCares, the world's premier artificial intelligence (AI) technology platform for streamlining commercial real estate financing workflows, announced today its strategic partnership with leading U.S. commercial real estate services firm Northmarq.
Northmarq is incorporating SeeCares technology to significantly reduce the processing time to prepare and deliver loan quotes. Lowering that time from days or weeks to a few minutes enables Northmarq to provide an even greater speed of service for their clients.
"With 7,000+ loans serviced, and $37B in deal volume annually, Northmarq is truly an industry leader and we're thrilled to be partnering together," said Moshe Yeli, CEO of SeeCares. "Their commitment to adopting AI in streamlining processes will ultimately put them at the industry forefront, and we're excited to help them reach more deals, at the best terms, more quickly."
The SeeCares platform will leverage data analytics compiled from hundreds of data sources, making them accessible and usable via AI technology. As a result, Northmarq's unique models will be filled with relevant market data to produce loan quotes within minutes.
"The SeeCares technology is revolutionizing this process at Northmarq, which will enable us to harness data and automation to streamline this strategic area of our business," said Jay Donaldson, president—Fannie Mae and FHA at Northmarq. "We look forward to continue collaborating with the SeeCares team and believe that harnessing data and automation to get clients smarter quotes faster will allow Northmarq to beat the experience and terms of any other commercial real estate lender in the market."
About SeeCares
SeeCares empowers CRE lenders, seller services, mortgage brokers, and sponsors to scale their business 10x faster using end-to-end underwriting automation and data aggregation. With SeeCares CRE stakeholders are able to optimize their analysis process and offer best-in-class service to their clients with instant loan quotes and credit memos. For more information, visit https://seecares.com.
About Northmarq
Northmarq is a full-service capital markets resource for commercial real estate investors, offering seamless collaboration with top experts in debt, equity, investment sales and loan servicing. We combine industry-leading capabilities with a flexible structure, enabling our national team of experienced professionals to create innovative solutions for clients. Our solid foundation and entrepreneurial approach have built an annual transaction volume of more than $37 billion and a loan servicing portfolio of nearly $76 billion. Through the 2022 acquisition of Stan Johnson Company and Four Pillars Capital Markets, Northmarq introduces clients to expanded opportunities across all major asset classes. For more information, visit www.Northmarq.com.
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