of Capital Interest
Produced by Juteau Johnson Comba Inc.
Real Estate Advisors and Appraisers
2255 St. Laurent Boulevard, Suite 340
Ottawa, Ontario
K1G 4K3

Phone 613-738-2426 ex 104
Fax 613-738-0429

Editor John Comba
I would first like to correct the information on one of the sales that was reported on in the last newsletter.  The sale by Urbandale Corporation was for a 353 unit townhouse and apartment complex on Heatherington Road and Fairlea Crescent at a price of $28,500,000 or $80,737 per unit.  The project consists of a six-storey 108 unit apartment building and 245 two-storey townhouse units.  District Realty acted as brokers in this transaction. 

The real estate market was rather slow in comparison to previous months.  Only 19 transactions occurred between August 2^nd and August 30^th.  Although a relatively low number of sales, the total value of the transactions was considerably higher, with a total of almost $150 million.  Retail sales accounted for 27% of the total, office sales at 13%, residential building sales at 52%, industrial building sales at 1%, and remaining consistent with last months statistics, vacant land accounted for 6% and one school sale represented less than 1% of the total value.

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

SALES

The retail market was slower than normal during the month of August with only two transfers totaling $40,389,000.  One sale in particular accounted for $39,739,000 which was for only a 50% interest sale at that!  The property at hand is 2210 Bank Street, or more commonly known as South Keys Shopping Centre.  Canadian Property Holdings (South Keys) Inc., purchased a 50% interest from South Keys Shopping Centres Limited at an approximate cost of $170 per square foot.

There were three recorded office building transactions this past month totaling $20,125,000.  The price per square foot ranged from $70 to $89.

The former Kool FM and CFRA broadcast and production studios located at 1900 Walkley Road was sold by CHUM Limited.  D.R.Drive Inc. purchased the one-storey building for $2,200,000 or $89 per square foot building area.   This property was listed for sale by Nathan Smith and Michael Church of Royal LePage.

The former head offices of JDS Uniphase located at 570 West Hunt Club Road was sold to the Ottawa-Carleton Catholic District School Board for a total consideration of $5,325,000 or $70 per square foot of building area. Jon Valiant of Valiant Realty Corp. was the listing agent for JDS Uniphase.

RBP/BPO Centre Inc. transferred two office buildings located at 301-303 Moodie Drive in the Bells Corners community in Ottawa s west end to Royal Trust Corporation of Canada for a total consideration of $12,600,000 or $87 per square foot building area.

The apartment market slowed down during the month of August with only five transactions.  Although few transactions occurred, the total combined considerations amounted to $77,086,000.  The average price per unit ranged from $34,773 to $128,448.  Two sales alone are accountable for the high transaction value.

Riverside III Limited sold a 24-storey 279-unit building located at 1541 Riverside Drive to 1213763 Ontario & 1319399 Ontario Inc. for a consideration of $26,450,000 or $94,803 per unit.

The other large apartment building sale involved the 374-unit complex located at 160-162 Chapel Street.  172856 Canada Inc. sold the property to Morguard Residential Properties (1) Inc. for $48,425,000 or $129,479 per unit.  This represents a new benchmark price in the high rise residential market in the Ottawa market.

The industrial market continued to be slow in the month of August, reporting only two transactions totaling $1,425,000.

One industrial sale of interest was the multi-tenant building located at 29 Cleopatra Drive.  Business Development Bank of Canada sold the property to W.C.L. Construction Ltd. for $625,000 or $49.31 per square foot of building area.

The school boards have been selling off several old sites over the past few months.  Another sale to add to the list occurred in the month of August.  The Ottawa-Carleton Catholic School Board sold the property at 1119 Lazard Street in the Bel-Air Heights area of the City.  Torah Acadamy of Ottawa purchased the site for $905,000.

Five vacant land transactions occurred this month totaling $8,923,800.  The average price per acre ranged from $6,265 for a residential site to $836,364 for a commercial land sale.  One residential transaction involved the sale of an 84 acre rural land parcel located along the north side of Queen Street in the former Township of Cumberland.  Robert Van Den Ham & Josef Trombetta purchased the property for $525,000 or $6,265 per acre from 3924530 Canada Inc.

Two commercial land sales occurred during the month of August.  Riokim Holdings (Ontario) Inc. purchased a 5.5 acre site located at 1021 Cyrville Road and 1091 St. Laurent Boulevard reportedly to expand the adjacent retail plaza.  A total consideration of $4,600,000 or $836,364 per acre was paid to 519502 Ontario Ltd. & Ogilvie Realty Ltd.

An industrial land transaction occurred on the property located at 40 Hearst Way in the former City of Kanata.  The City of Ottawa purchased the property from 754341 Ontario Limited for $1,240,000 or $246,521 per acre.

The City of Ottawa also sold a parcel of land located south of Innes Road in the former Township of Cumberland between Trim and Frank Kenny.  The parcel was sold to Conseil De District Des Ecoles Publiques De Langue Francaise No. 59 for $1,932,800 or $160,398 per acre.  The property is to be developed with a school. 

NEWS

jj Barnicke has released their third quarter office market survey which indicates that the overall vacancy rate for Ottawa is at 8.2%.  The Kanata office market continues to have the highest vacancy level at 25.8%.  However, the survey notes that for the third consecutive quarter, the Kanata Class A sub-market experienced positive leasing activity as occupied space increased by 101,686 sq.ft. .

Colliers has also released their third quarter office survey with a reported vacancy rate of 10.0% for the whole city.  The report notes that Not all space for lease/sublease is truly available to the average tenant&who typically requires only 3,000 to 5,000 square feet.  The report then notes that in terms of available space most is over 15,000 square feet in size (72% in Kanata, 78% in the south and 63% in the west) and sub-landlords have resisted spending additional funds to subdivide the available space.  This is once again a very good overview of the Ottawa office market.  To view a copy, go to www.colliers.com

BOMA Ottawa has just released their third quarter office survey with an overall vacancy rate of 7.9%.  The Kanata market is reported at 20.2% with the downtown core at only 4.0%.  The survey also provides a chart of the office projects under construction and those that are proposed.  To view the report, go to http://www.bomaottawa.org/trends/survey.shtml

The unemployment rate in Ottawa-Gatineau for September 2002 has been reported at 6.9%.  This is up from the previous month s unemployment rate of 6.7%.  The region s slight rise in unemployment is attributed to an increase in the number of job seekers.  There are now 48,700 technology workers in the region, which is less than the 52,000 at this time last year.  These losses have been offset somewhat by public administration, which has been growing at a strong pace for months and gained another 3,000 jobs in August.  The total employment level is now at approximately 565,000. Employment in the public administration sector is up around 18% from a year earlier to 128,000.  The number of new jobs across the region was also reported to have increased by 3,000 in September.

According to the Ottawa Real Estate Board, the resale market in September had 989 transactions, which was some 13.3% higher than the activity in September 2001, but less than the previous month when there was some 1,059 transactions.  For the first nine months of the year there have been a total of 10,550 transactions, which is 10.1% more than for the same period last year.  The average price of a resale home in September was $203,283 which is 15.2% above the average price for September.