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Editor John Comba

Well we have finally recovered from the Senators loss to New Jersey, who at least were able to defeat the Mighty Ducks. Now onto the more mundane world of real estate.

This newsletter is covering all sales in the month of March. There were 23 reported sales this month, with a total value of almost $94,300,000! This is the highest sales volume reported since August 2002. There were no apartment buildings sales reported this period. Retail buildings accounted for 55.9% of the total sales, office buildings 20.9%, industrial buildings 4.2%, mixed-use sales totaled 5.1%, special sales were at 2.9% and vacant land 11.0%.

Sales data has been provided by RealTrack, Inc. For more information visit http://www.realtrack.com or call 1-877-962-9033.

SALES

There were four RETAIL building sales this month totaling $52,674,744. The Merivale Mall located at 1642 Merivale Road sold to 1540709 Ontario Limited. Merviale/Gateway Holdings Inc. sold the property for $31,171,500 or $138 per square foot building area. The Merivale Mall is a two-storey, 48-unit neighbourhood shopping mall built in 1977. Tenants include the YMCA, Farm Boy, Sportchek and Shoppers Drug Mart.

1427583 Ontario Ltd sold the Innes Centre, which is located on the south side of the Innes and Blair Road intersection. Innes Centre Inc. purchased the new retail strip for $18,350,000 or approximately $170 per square foot building area. The property is improved with a one-storey retail strip plaza with seven units, three pads and two pads on land leases. Major tenants include The Bay Home Outfitters, Denny’s, Marks Work Warehouse, McDonald’s and Sunoco Gas Station.

Laurentian Plaza Corporation sold the neighbourhood shopping centre located at 1920-1940 Bank Street. 1550882 Ontario Inc. purchased the property for $2,223,243.75.

There were five OFFICE building sales this month totaling over $19,731,802. 1550702 Ontario Inc. sold a two-storey office building located at 2733 Lancaster Road in the Lancaster-Sheffield Industrial Park. 2733 Lancaster Corporation purchased the property for $3,750,000 or $107 per square foot building area. The building is fully leased to Public Works for five years.

1368923 Ontario Inc. sold the former JDS Uniphase building at 2445 St. Laurent Boulevard in the Ottawa Business Park. Conseil De District Des Ecoles Publiques De Langue Francaise No. 59 purchased the property for $11,500,000 or $77 per square foot leasable area. 1368923 Ontario Inc. originally purchased the building September 2, 1999 from The Canada Life Assurance Company for $9,900,000.

There were two INDUSTRIAL building sales during the month of February totaling $3,960,000 in value. 1550658 Ontario Inc. purchased the one-storey industrial building located at 1800 St. Laurent Boulevard from the Fournier family who sold the property for $2,650,000 or $59 per square foot of building area. The property is occupied by multiple tenants including Laser Quest, New Body Dimensions Gym and Surplus Freight.

There were no reported APARTMENT building sales in March.

There were two MIXED USE sales during the month of March totaling $4,800,000. Bor Gee Eng and James Eng sold 712-720 Somerset Street West to Koon Shing Yip who purchased the property for $3,600,000. The property is improved with an older three-storey building containing ground floor retail and 28 residential apartments on the two upper floors.

There were two SPECIAL sales this reporting period with a total value of $2,765,000. 884706 Ontario Inc. sold the Fairfield Manor Retirement Home at 17 Lombardo Drive in Kanata to 2022549 Ontario Limited for $2,000,000 or $50,000 per unit.

There were 8 vacant LAND transactions during the month of March totaling $10,367,825. There was one residential sale, one rural land sale, one commercial, three industrial, one institutional, and one special sale. Canadian Tire Real Estate Limited sold a 3.452 acre parcel to the immediate east of the new Canadian Tire store on Coventry Road. Best Buy Canada Ltd. purchased the land for $2,000,000 or $579,374 per acre. Best Buy is a specialty retailer of consumer electronics, personal computers and entertainment software.

Ottawa Biotechnical Properties Inc. sold a 3.44 acre parcel of land on Peter Morand Drive in the Ottawa Life Sciences Technology Park. 1550825 Ontario Inc. purchased the land for $2,000,000 or $581,395 per acre.

NEWS

CMHC reported housing starts in the Ottawa CMA fell to 5,000 units seasonally adjusted at an annual rate (SAAR) in March, down 22 per cent from February’s revised 6,400 starts. March’s unadjusted housing start count for Ottawa CMA was 442 units, down 39 per cent from March 2002’s volume, but 44 per cent above the average 307 units posted in the previous 10 March’s.

CMHC estimates the average price of new single-detached dwellings absorbed in Ottawa during March 2003 was $312,501, up eight per cent from March 2002. Ottawa’s average resale price is $214,729, a 7.9 per cent increase from $199,037 in March 2002.

Ottawa – Gatineau added 7,100 new jobs to the region in the month of April. This is the largest monthly employment increase in 13 years! Employment gains in the past twelve months stand at 34,600, which is higher than the 22,000 jobs added to the economy during the technology boom in 2000. The hiring in April pushed the region’s unemployment rate down to 6.7 per cent, which is the lowest unemployment rate for the region since August 2002.