Category: Uncategorized

October 1, 2020

First Capital REIT (“First Capital”) alerts employment candidates that employment offer scams are on the rise in Canada. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic seems to be an opportunity for scammers to target people seeking employment.

One of the schemes being used by fraudsters are to create fake job advertisements that are followed through with a fake Skype/Zoom interview and fake job offers using falsified documents containing a real companies’ name, logo, or trademark.

One of the first signs of a fraudulent job offer is when the applicant is asked to send any form of payment, for example, to cover job supplies, visa/immigration costs, uniform expenses, etc. Please also note the email address from which the communications are being sent. i.e. if it is a hotmail/gmail address it may not be a legitimate company email.

First Capital, nor any recruitment agency acting on its behalf, would never ever ask job applicants to forward any type of payment in conjunction with a job application/offer of employment. Moreover, a job offer would not be made without first meeting with the candidate.

If you have any concerns about a job offer, please do not hesitate to contact us.

If you believe you are a victim of employment offer fraud, we would urge you to contact the local police and/or report the incident to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

The Sculpture

“Inspired by the historic architectural curved roof feature of Parkway Mall and the heritage of Maryvale Farm, a breeder and trainer of racehorses (circa 1928 – 1939), ThreeSidesOneGesture curves into an arch through which the community enters and engages with the history and identity of the neighbourhood. In this sculpture, the community experiences three elements that coexist: the human conjoined with the ecosystem and the built environment, even though all three are never simultaneously visible. By walking around the sculpture, the viewer experiences the changing juxtapositions of the arch, humanity and horse, which superimpose in changing configurations.”

You can read more about the sculture, and the artist Suzanne Simoni at her website here.

The Competition

In 2019, First Capital selected Suzanne Simoni as the winner of the 2019 First Capital Public Art Competition for her ThreeSidesOneGesture sculpture. This competition was part of the public arts initiative that provides students and emerging artists with an opportunity to showcase their work publicly at First Capital properties. 

First Capital made a commitment to sponsoring this public sculpture competition, which was open to third-year and fourth-year OCAD U students and graduates.  The winner of the program received a cash prize and First Capital supported the fabrication, site preparation, transportation and installation of the sculpture.

FCR is committed to supporting our small business tenants through participating in the CECRA program.

The FCR CECRA Tenant Application portal will provide qualifying tenants with access to apply to the program with the required CECRA tenant information.  

Please ensure you confirm you meet the FCR tenant registration criteria on the portal landing page prior to proceeding to create an account.

Once the tenant application is reviewed by FCR, the required CECRA tenant documents will be issued to the tenant for execution.

Deadline to submit tenant application: Friday, June 26, 2020.

Please note, if you are already accepted in the FCR SBSP, you have the option to choose between the SBSP or CECRA, but not both. If you qualify for CECRA and apply to FCR CECRA, once your application is processed and approved by CECRA, the terms of the CECRA Rent Reduction Agreement will replace and terminate the prior SBSP agreement.

Be sure to stay informed as CECRA continues to provide regular updates – here is the link to access the latest CECRA program details + FAQ.

Access your FCR CECRA application here.

We are excited to announce that First Capital has been named one of Canada’s Top Small & Medium Employers for 2020!

Now in its 7th year, Canada’s Top Small & Medium Employers is an editorial competition that recognizes the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that offer the nation’s best workplaces and forward-thinking human resources policies.

To determine eligibility for Canada’s Small & Medium Employers, the editors for the Top 100 competition adopted the SME definition used by Statistics Canada, which is private-sector commercial organizations with less than 500 employees. We were then evaluated using the following eight criteria:

•            physical workplace;

•            work atmosphere and social;

•            health, financial and family benefits;

•            vacation and time-off;

•            employee communications;

•            performance management;

•            training and skills development; and

•            community involvement.

For the full list of 2020 winners of Canada’s Top Small & Medium Employers competition, and the reasons for selection, please click here.

Since our first meal delivery in May, we have continued to work with our specialty retail tenants to provide hundreds of delicious meals to front line and community service workers across Canada.  From hospital staff, EMS responders and women’s shelters in our communities, we wanted to show our gratitude for their dedicated service to all of us during this very challenging time in our lives.

First Capital will continue to find ways to bring our communities together even while we are apart.

Thank you for visiting our SBSP application site.  In planning for the upcoming launch of the CECRA program, First Capital intends to fully support our qualifying tenants and will be applying to participate in the CECRA program. Therefore we have temporarily closed this site, as we are getting ready for next steps to transition qualifying tenants from the FCR SBSP to CECRA as well as provide an efficient online application process for all tenants.

Please note, if you are already accepted in the FCR SBSP, you will be given the option to choose between either the SBSP or CECRA, but not both.  In the meantime, we recommend you become familiar with CECRA Program and the Tenant eligibility requirements including the helpful FAQ’s, by directly accessing:  https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/finance-and-investing/covid19-cecra-small-business

In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an outpouring of inspiring community support. Across Canada, help is being offered for those most in need, and in particular recognizing the frontline workers who are working to keep us healthy and safe, and care for those impacted directly by the virus. As a show of gratitude, First Capital is bringing practical relief to the frontline community, while also supporting our specialty food and restaurant tenants.

To launch this frontline worker meal program, First Capital has sourced fresh and delicious meals from Toronto’s renowned McEwan’s Fine Foods for delivery to the frontline healthcare workers at Mount Sinai Hospital. This hospital, which is a part of the Sinai Health System, is ranked one of the leading hospitals in North America and is at the centre of Toronto’s pandemic fight, focused on the care and safety of patients, families and the hospitals people.  For these frontline healthcare professionals who work tirelessly over long shifts, a delivered nutritious meal is an important part of staying healthy and can also make their day just a little easier.

Our super urban philosophy is all about bringing communities together, and this pandemic reminds us of what we can achieve when we work collaboratively. As we explore additional meal delivery opportunities that support tenant partners across our portfolio, healthcare workers operating on the front lines of this pandemic are foremost on our minds. First Capital team is pleased to provide them with great-tasting and nutritious meals, our appreciation and most of all our THANKS!

We are working and living in a truly unusual time. The spread of the coronavirus across Canada has marshalled us as an organization to work together and to work quickly to address the things that matter most – our employees, partners and tenants.

Leadership

The leadership team has been meeting regularly since early March to monitor the coronavirus situation and began to anticipate the potential changes that might be required to our operations. We continue to adjust accordingly as we need to based on heightened government-issued closures and stricter social distancing measures and are performing to the best of our ability. 

First Capital’s balance sheet is strong and we are well-positioned to withstand the volatility of the current environment. Our portfolio is built on a solid foundation of grocery-anchored plazas with curated retail that includes pharmacy, liquor, government and medical services in many of our properties to support the community in which it operates. Those essential services remain open.

Our people

We are fortunate to have the technology to support 100% of our employees working remotely or on a limited, rotational basis at the properties where essential services are required. We provide weekly People & Culture updates to our staff, all employees have access to a dedicated intranet portal for coronavirus resources, mental wellness webinars, ebooks and podcasts, and employee and family assistance plans.

Supporting small businesses through this time

No one could have anticipated mandated closures of non-essential services and retail for a protracted period of time. We know that small businesses are the lifeblood of the vitality of our neighbourhoods – the coffee shops and restaurants we all enjoy – and we wanted to help these smaller tenants get through this challenging time.

So on March 25, we announced First Capital’s $30 million Small Business Support Program (SBSP) to assist small tenants with deferring rent payments over a 12 month period. https://fcr.ca/fcr-launches-small-business-support-program/ In addition, we have provided all of our tenants – large and small – with a summary of all government programs so they had them in one place to help them make decisions.

These are dynamic times, economic conditions and government policies change daily. We will continue to support our staff and work with our tenants to get through this challenging time together.

The former Christie Cookie site at 2150 Lake Shore Blvd. W. is the last remaining undeveloped parcel of land in Humber Bay Shores. Our vision for this 28-acre property is a revitalized transit-oriented, mixed-use community with a high-quality urban design that integrates with a range of uses delivering additional community needs.

This master-planned development will build a new heart for Humber Bay Shores, addressing existing deficiencies in the area by creating new transportation options, adding significant employment opportunities and delivering new lifestyle amenities and options.

The addition of a transit hub to this historically industrial location unlocks new connections for the existing residents, while building a complete community that all can enjoy and experience.

See what The Globe & Mail had to say about our redevelopment plans for this site.

Our CEO, Adam Paul, speaks about FCR’s transformational ‘Super-Urban’ Strategy at the Centre for Real Estate and Urban Economics at The Rotman School of Management.  Adam touches on various aspects of the ‘Super-Urban’ Strategy from location, investments and development decisions that align to creating a Super-Urban Strategy. 

Watch the video below to see how we break down our three-core metrics: population density, incremental density pipeline and walkability score.