+ BOW is Calgary’s tallest now; incomplete, The Bow, now towers over the Suncor Energy Centre (formerly known as Petro-Canada) on its way to an end height of 58 floors!
+ ENMAX Corporation introduced an ‘electric cars for employees’ pilot program; approximately 100 vehicles will be put to the test when the pilot launches in late 2010 (Mitsubishi i-MiEV (pronounced i-meev) and the Toronto Electric A2B)
+ Integra Group and Schlumerger’s seismic are WesternGeco announced JV to be IG Seismic Services Limited to provide land seismic acquisition, interpretation and data processing in Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan; WesternGeco to have 25% stake
+ who knew? … private sector fuels stunning surge in jobs (largely in Central Canada), sending Canada’s unemployment rate to 7.9% nationally, down from 8.1% a year ago ..still too high to get excited about
+ are the pundits and economists over-reacting or just missing the point; on one hand the economy is fine, recovery is coming along albeit slowly and patience is required – and, if you believe the G-20 leaders, austerity and cost cutting are ‘the way to go’; one the other side of this great divide are economists and lots of investors voting with their feet that double-dip will be a reverse 1 1/2 somersaults in the tuck position dive into a very small bucket of water ..
+ some things are just too bizarre – master of the scrimp, cheap-out and cutter of corners - Britain former BP CEO of excess extraordinaire, John Browne (now Baron Browne to his peers) has been given the task of cutting the British budget by $9.9 billion … surely the man for the job!
+ business press have been commenting that investment real estate sales in Canada and the US are soft because of the pending ING portfolio sale – that major players are waiting to see who wins that bake-off before seriously looking at other offerings; an alternate theory might be they are all keeping their powder dry to make more aggressively priced acquisitions later in the year or next year in anticipation of continued recession . . . which would be my view
POINTS to ponder
‘Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.’ – W. Clement Stone
‘No one will question your integrity if your integrity is not questionable.’ – Nathaniel Bonner
‘I am especially delighted with the growth in oil and gas production and the quality of the downstream performance. All of this has given us the ability to increase the dividend.’ – John Browne when he was BP CEO
‘To participate, international business has to develop partnerships with the state sector, and to that we have to bring something substantive to the table.’- John Browne when he was BP CEO
‘I think the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to have been very, very modest.’ – Tony Hayward, BP CEO
"The BP president said yesterday that the company would survive. That's like someone running over your dog and saying, 'Don't worry, my car is fine.'" —Jimmy Fallon
"In a new interview, BP's CEO said that the GulfCoast oil spill is relatively tiny compared to the 'very big ocean.' That's like telling someone who's just been shot not to worry about the bullet because they're really, really fat." –Jimmy Fallon
OFFICE & INDUSTRIAL LEASING
Mark Kolke, President of MaxComm Realty Advisors, MaxComm Communications and Plandflex Corporation, has been working in real estate finance, management, leasing, sales and consulting work in Alberta for twenty-eight years. His license to practice real estate in Alberta is sponsored by MaxWell South Star Realty where he is an Associate dealing in commercial, residential and agricultural properties. He moved back to Calgary eleven years ago after twenty- seven years in Edmonton. He advises tenants, buyers, developers and institutional clients on issues involving residential developments, commercial real estate and public private partnerships (P3s).
