The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, Greater Vancouver Realtors, and Urban Development Institute have formed a coalition calling on the Government of British Columbia to scrap the expansion of the PST announced in Budget 2026.

As part of Budget 2026, the Province has also cancelled the controversial supportive housing project planned for 5389 Imperial Street in Burnaby, as I reported for The Tyee. I’m a long-time resident of the Royal Oak-Metrotown area where the project was planned and talked to Minister of Housing Christine Boyle (weeks before Budget 2026 was tabled) about the misperceptions of supportive housing and the role communication plays in that.

Bloomberg published a story about the financial troubles Westbank has been facing over the past few years, which were detailed in the ongoing civil suit between the company and former-VP of Development Rhiannon Mabberley. CBC News followed up with a story on their own and asked me to add some context in a (pre-recorded) segment on the 6pm news.

I’ve been following Westbank closely since November 2023, when they were hit with a wave of construction liens on projects in Vancouver, Toronto, and Seattle.

After that, Westbank went on an extensive selling spree, selling their stakes in Deloitte Summit, Toronto House, The Lauren, The Pendrell, M2, The Zephyr, Shangri-La Vancouver, M4, and Sen̓áḵw, as I’ve reported for Storeys.

More recently, I broke the news that Westbank had named Darren Tangen as its new President, was increasingly focused on AI infrastructure, and that Allied Properties REIT had taken over full operational control of the KING Toronto project the partners are co-developing and increased loan facilities to Westbank on two projects.

The two-tower Kinnaird Place redevelopment at 65 First Street in New Westminster has been placed under receivership, The Realist has learned. This comes after their Victoria Press Building project was placed under receivership a few months ago, as I reported for Western Investor.

Last year, the City of Richmond quietly purchased the Camellia at The Gardens rental building from developers Townline and Peterson for $70,250,000, as I reported for Western Investor last week. I made multiple attempts to reach the City to ask about the purchase, but all I got was “No comment.” However, a day after the article was published, a City representative added that the purchase was a “strategic long-term investment.”

Outside of British Columbia:

I learned that Walmart also quietly made a purchase last year, buying the 85-acre property at 10223 Highway 50 within the Vaughan Enterprise Zone for $76.8 million. The site was flipped by Montreal-based Groupe Mach to PSP Investments and Crestpoint, who sold it to Walmart, as I reported for RENX.

Another notable transaction involving Crestpoint: I learned that their previously-announced acquisition of 145 Wellington Street West in Toronto came at a purchase price of $50.8 million, as I reported for Storeys. I asked Crestpoint whether they intend to proceed with the 65-storey redevelopment project H&R REIT was planning for the site, but did not get a response.

In the Prairies, Montreal-based Leyad announced that they had acquired the St. Vital Centre shopping centre in Winnipeg for $160.5 million a few week ago. The purchase is the latest in an extensive list of acquisitions by Leyad in the Prairies. President & CEO Henry Zavriyev told me and Western Investor that he believes the Prairies are very consistent and that more acquisitions may be coming this year.

Megan Johal, Ian Brackett, and Mark Goodman of Goodman Commercial have listed the two adjacent apartments building at 1432 W 10th Avenue and 2625 Hemlock Street in Vancouver for $33 million.

The two adjacent apartment buildings at 4326 & 4336 West 10th Avenue in Vancouver have also been listed, by Angus Tone and Cynthia Jagger of CBRE.

Brett Aura of TRG Commercial has listed 2014 Dundas Street, a commercial property in Vancouver, for $3.5 million.

Curtis Leonhardt, Joe Genest, Jon Buckley, and Andrew Gormley of Marcus & Millichap have listed 7590 Kingsway, a commercial property in Burnaby.

Over in Kamloops, Goodman Commercial has also listed The Victoria Building, a 10-storey office tower located at 210 Victoria Street, for $13 million.

Isaac Foord and Lucas Chavez of London Pacific alongside Rachel Diesing of Sotheby’s International have listed a 141-acre industrial business park in Peace River leased to an assortment of top energy sector companies. The property is owned by BGR Properties Inc.