Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 28, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba Business Calendar this mornings opening numbers up tax 12,119.83 Dow Jones 11,284.05 Nash a 2,140.29 can. Dollar 90.13 cents us this weeks economic news. Today in Ottawa statistics Canada releases june payroll employ. Tomorrow ment earnings and hours. In Ottawa statistics Canada releases june employment insurance figures the second Quarter International travel account and first Quarter characteristics of International travellers. In Toronto Scotia Bank reports third Quarter earnings. Wednesday in Calgary the Eloitte business consulting firm issues a report on labour challenges facing Canadas Energy Industry. In Ottawa statistics Canada releases second Quarter balance. Thursday of International payments data and july Industrial product and raw materials Price indexes. In Montreal National Bank releases third Quarter earnings. In Ottawa statistics Canada releases second Quarter National economic and financial accounts and june Gross Domestic product by Industry. Friday in Ottawa statistics Canada releases 2006-2007 University sept. 12 women a club of Winnipeg meeting on Canadian railways from 19th Century to 21st Century City links with or. Rae Fleming writer lecturer historian and editor tuition fees. Tomorrow aug. 29 women in a Home office Winnipeg chapter with guest speaker from the women a Enterprise Centre of Manitoba from 9 30 . To 11 30 . At Linden Woods Community Centre. To Reserve a seat email . Or Call 253-4830. Fee $20 for non members and $10 for Mem Bers. Wednesday aug. 30 University of Manitoba continuing education information session financial and management accounting from 5 30 to 6 30 . At the University of Manitoba downtown Campus 11 the promenade. For information Call Sandra Woloschuk at 474-6661 or email . Free. Aug. 30 business networking International bin presentation on stretching for wellness with Roger Fontaine Active Healing Massage at noon at the Best Western charterhouse 330 York Between Donald and Hargrave. For information Call Georgine at 488-8732. Aug. 30 Canada Manitoba business service Centre student connections presents electronic email from 6 30 to 9 30 . At p403, arc Princess Campus. To Register Call 984-2272, 1?800-665-2019 or visit . Fee $30. Coming soon sept. 6 women business owners of Manitoba Winnipeg chapter meet ing with registration at 6 30 ., meeting 7 to 9 . At the Norwood hotel 112 Marion St. To a sep Call 832-1512 for women business owners Only. At noon at the Winnipeg convention Centre. For information Call Verdie Peters at 831-0788 or Vashti Greaves at 633-1523. Fee $18 members $23 non members. Sept. 12 Manitoba Chambers of Commerce breakfast with Hugh Mcfadyen Leader of the official opposition from 7 30 to 9 . At the ramada Marlborough hotel 331 Smith St. For information. To Register Call 948-0100 or email . Sept. 14 tax venture Exchange entrepreneur Boot amp seminar for entrepreneurs and business owners interested in going Public and deciding if it is a realistic option to help finance the growth of their company 8 . To 4 . The focus is on manufacturing retail Industrial technology biotechnology & real estate Sec tors but All sectors Are Welcome. Register at consulting present bylaws and Board member handbooks with Priti Shah from 1 to 4 ., charterhouse hotel 330 York ave. To Register Call 477-5985. Fee $90. Sept. 20 human resource management association presents managing change with Paul Robson red River exhibition at 5 30 . At the Norwood hotel 112 Marion St. To Register Call 943-0656 or visit by sept. 14. Fee $30 members $40 non members. The free press welcomes items for the business Calendar. They should include time Date location Spon Sor and fee and be mailed to Diane Pratt free press 1355 Mountain ave., r2x 3b6, fax 697-7412, email . No attachments please deadline is wednesday. Stock markets worried about Energy rate hikes by Malcolm Moron Toronto ? North american Stock markets will Likely be off to a Flat Start this week As investors look for leadership in an environment that has switched from inflation worries to concerns about How High Energy prices and a series of rate hikes will Impact the . Economy. Those concerns came to the fore last week As . Housing data ? for existing Home sales and new Homes sales ? showed a steeper decline than expected. Everybody now is comfortable with the idea that housing is slow ing we re now looking at what Hap pens to the rest of the Economy said John Johnston chief strategist the Harbour group at rib Domin Ion securities. So i think the thing now is there a not a lot of interest rate risk in the marketplace. There a More and More economic and earnings markets Are already braced for a slowdown in the United states later in the year As the Economy continues to absorb the effects of two years Worth of rate hikes that saw the . Federal Reserve hike its key rate by 425 basis Points to 5.25 per cent. The question Johnston noted is How hard will the Landing be investors have become used to earnings growth coming in at the High double digits for the last few years and Johnston said that expectation is getting unrealistic. I think that if you have an econ omy that could grow at Only two per cent in the . Its hard to see Dou ble digit earnings growth in that kind of environment he said. Twelve per cent earnings growth looks a bit High ? 10 or less is much More while some analysts look to hous ing data As a yardstick of gauging economic health others note that housing is just one sector ? and that the real litmus test to see How Well the Economy is holding together revolves around employment. I still think the . Will be Okas Long As the jobs hold together but if we Start to see Job losses then i think we could have a much More significant downturn in the .,? said Julie brought assistant vice president at Morgan leeches and associates. But right now we re still seeing Good jobs numbers and i think that will be the key to holding things together. I think that is the most important to watch right now prob ably More important than inflation More important than investors will be looking to Fri Days . August non farm payrolls report for reassurance on that score. Economists expect the . Economy to have created 120,000 jobs during the month 7,000 More than july. Johnston also observed that the Canadian Market has its own particular concerns to Deal with in the Short term. Especially you re getting some signs that growth in Europe is Cool ing a Little and there Are even efforts to rein in the chinese econ omy he said. I think we re moving into a period of More uncertainty globally and it looks like we re moving into a period where Oil prices Are Gener ally going to be biased a bit lower with supplies plentiful and the econ omy Cooling off. And Metal prices Are still looking pretty ? Canadian press Home Market booms but office leasing soft Economy Strong but no demand for commercial space t he Winnipeg office leasing mar Ket has been left out in the cold during Manitoba a current eco nomic resurgence according to a new report by Colliers Pratt Mcgarry. Although the local housing Market has been booming and the provincial Economy has been growing at a healthy Pace Over the last 18 months Winnipeg a office leasing Market has remained soft the Winnipeg commercial real estate firm states in its new mid year office report. Our Strong provincial Economy appears to be disconnected to the Winnipeg office leasing Market the report says. Office leasing in Winnipeg is soft As the Strong economic fundamentals do not appear to be generating White Collar jobs. There has been virtually no new private sector demand in the last two years except for some limited major tenant Colliers Pratt Mcgarry president Wayne Pratt and Martin Mcgarry chair Man of the Winnipeg real estate boards commercial real estate division and president of Mai commercial real estate Ltd., said they re not sure Why the office leasing Market has to benefited from the economic revival. Its strange Mcgarry said in an interview. Nobody can explain that it seems we re doing it growing the Economy with fewer bodies Pratt said. The Lack of private sector leasing activity has left the City a Overall office vacancy rate stalled at about 7.6 per cent As of june 30. While that a still a healthy Overall rate for Winnipeg Pratt said the Only reason its that Low is because the City a class b and class c office sectors Are doing quite Well with vacancy rates of 6.2 per cent and 9.8 per cent respectively. He said the demand for class b space remains healthy and the vacancy rate in the class c sector has been Drifting downward. But the same can to be said for the class a sector which consists of the City a five Premier downtown office Tow ers. Pratt said it has one of the highest vacancy rates of any major City in Canada at 10.4 per cent and there a a Good Chance it could climb even higher in the second half of the year. Mcgarry agreed the class a vacancy rate is much higher than it should be and that the sectors prospects for the second half of the year Arent encouraging. But he remains hopeful things will improve in 2007. There is a positive feeling in the air As a result of some of the new develop ments that have been taking place in the downtown Mcgarry said. They include construction of Manitoba Hydro a new High Rise office Tower on Portage Avenue and the recent opening of the new cred it Union Central of Manitoba office highlights from the mid year office report Here Are some of the highlights from Colliers Pratt Mcgarry a mid year office report. The Overall vacancy rate in Winnipeg a office rental Market remains a healthy 7.6 per cent. The sector with the highest vacancy rate is the class a sector with a rate of 10.4 per cent. Second highest is class cat 9.8 per cent followed by class b at 6.2 per cent. Winnipeg a office leasing Market posted a modest 23,000 Square feet of net Posi Tive absorption in the first six months of 2006. Net positive absorption for the full year is expected to be a modest 150,000 Square feet. Three downtown office buildings were sold in the first half of the year. Lasalle investment management acquired the buildings at 175 Hargrave St. And 330 St. Mary ave. From Brookfield properties corp., and the medical arts building on Kennedy Street was acquired by Huntingdon real estate investment Trust. A Lack of demand and ample Supply Are expected to keep new Deal and renewal rental rates in Check at $8 to $9 per Square foot and $10 to $12 per Square foot respectively for class a space. For class b space new Deal rates Are expected to remain at $6 to $8 and renewal rates at $7 to $9, while class c new Deal rates should remain at $4 to $5 and renewal rates will remain significantly higher. Class a buildings in Winnipeg Here is a list of the five class a office buildings in Winnipeg 1. The Richardson building North East Corner of Portage Avenue and main Street 2. The commodity Exchange Tower 360 main St. Just South of Portage 3. Can West global place formerly the to Centre Northwest Corner of Portage and main 4. Investors group building one Canada place Northeast Corner of Portage and Colony Street 5. 200 Graham ave., Southeast Corner of Graham Avenue and fort Street ? source Colliers Pratt Mcgarry building on Donald Street. I think we re right on the Cusp of see ing some More movement in the Down town he added. It just needs a bit of a Pratt and Esther Paterson president of Lombard place limited the real estate of James Richardson and sons Ltd., which manages the 32-Storey Richardson building said the downtown office leasing sector needs either an influx of new White Collar businesses or some healthy expansion by some of the ones already there. But they re not As optimistic that either of those things will happen in the near future they said. Business has been very slow and we Are not seeing a desire by businesses to occupy space in the downtown Market and we re not seeing an inflow of new tenants Paterson said. Pratt said perhaps the Way to encourage expansion and attract new Busi Nesses is to make sure the local colleges and universities Are producing the kinds of White Collar workers that companies need. He said while the class b sector is doing Well right now he also wonders what will happen when the new Manitoba Hydro Tower opens in 2008 and the provincial Utility vacates 78,000 Square ? source Colliers Pratt Mcgarry feet of space it leases in the class b office Tower at 444 St. Mary ave. Paterson who is also president of the building owners and managers association Boma of Canada and a past pres ident of Boma Manitoba said Winnipeg a class a sector used to be in Good shape when Many of the big chartered Banks and other Large National firms had their Western regional offices Here. But Over the last 10 years Many of those offices have moved to Calgary she said. She and Mcgarry said with office space now in Short Supply in Calgary and rental rates going through the roof there maybe some companies will Start mov ing some of their operations Back to lower Cost cities like Winnipeg. Although the Overall vacancy rate for local class a space has climbed above 10 per cent Paterson said the rate in the Granddaddy of Winnipeg a class a office towers ? the Richardson building ? remains a healthy 5.8 per cent. She said that a due in part to the fact James Richardson & sons which owns the building also occupies about 25 per cent of the space in it. Its also because Lombard place Ltd. Has managed to hang on to a solid Core of other Long term tenants she added. Paterson said while the Richardson building is doing Well another seven Storey office building James Richard son and sons owns ? the former Bank of Canada building at 161 Portage ave. East ? in to so Lucky. It has gone from being fully leased 18 months ago to 20 per cent vacant largely because of some exist ing tenants downsizing their operations. And replacement tenants have been Tough to find. She and Pratt said a growing number of firms seem to prefer renting in the suburbs where land and parking space Are More abundant property taxes Are often less onerous and its closer to where their senior executives live. Know of any newsworthy or interesting trends or developments in the local office retail or Industrial real estate sectors let real estate reporter Murray Mcneill know at the email address below or 697-7254. ;