Commercial Real Estate Library

Quality Homes designs and constructs custom housing in a factory. They then ship it to your land and put the pieces together onsite in record time. They have used this concept to create everything from two stories homes and cottages to multi-residential housing.  Learn more about Quality Homes at https://qualityhomes.ca/about-us/  Learn more about Green Fox Capital at www.greenfoxcapital.com  See more CRELIBRARY at www.crelibrary.ca

Jennifer Keesmaat is an urban planner passionate about creating places where people flourish. Named one of the “most powerful people in Canada” by Macleans, one of the “most influential” by Toronto Life, and one of the top Women of Influence in Canada, she spent five years as Toronto’s Chief City Planner, where she was celebrated for her forward thinking and collaborative approach to city-building. Jennifer is the founder and CEO of The Keesmaat Group. Founded in 2018, they work with corporate and political leaders to advance change in cities around the world. Jennifer is also the host of the award winning Invisible City podcast (invisiblecity.com). As you'll learn in the podcast, she has a new and impactful development already moving on projects.   To learn more about Jennifer, visit https://www.thekeesmaatgroup.com/  For more CRELIBRARY visit https://www.crelibrary.ca

Also visit www.greenfoxcapital.com

Phil Verster is the President and CEO of Metrolinx, responsible for much of the public transportation in the Ontario region. Wherever transit goes, development and economic activity follows. So we sat down with Phil to learn about the biggest developments Phil's working on, where savvy owners should look to buy next, and what Metrolinx is working on in general.   We were thrilled to have Phil on the podcast with his wealth of experience. Prior to joining Metrolinx, Phil was one of the UK’s rail leaders, having managed train operations, infrastructure builds and infrastructure management for passenger rail systems in England, Scotland and Ireland.  For more information on Phil visit http://www.metrolinx.com/  Visit www.greenfoxcapital.com for our sponsor.

Thomas founded Prestigious Properties in 2000, a western Canadian company with a focus primarily on apartment buildings, but also single family houses, condos, land parcels and mobile home parks. He is happily married with two adult children.  Thomas is the author of 80 Lessons Learned on the Road from $80,000 to $80,000,000. 

https://www.amazon.ca/80-Lessons-Learned-Road-000/dp/0992108306.  

Learn more about Thomas here: https://www.prestprop.com/about-us/executive-team/

For financing visit www.greenfoxcapital.com

For more crelibrary visit www.crelibrary.ca

China is 3 months ahead of North America when it comes to this pandemic. With that in mind, we spoke with Betty Wong - leader of Colliers' Capital Markets Team in China. Based in Shanghai, Betty is responsible for coordinating all major mandates, as well as client strategies associated with real estate investment in China with investment volume of more than $4Bn CAD.  China has already eased restrictions and are settling into the new normal. We talk about the biggest winners and losers post pandemic, adjusted cap rates, retail activity and a whole lot more.   

For more CRELIBRARY, visit www.crelibrary.ca

Very timely episode with Well Grounded Real Estate VP, Gabriel Diamond. Well Grounded Real Estate is a Toronto based private landlord and manager. They own a portfolio of multi-residential and retail properties throughout Southern Ontario. For this episode we focused on his retail portfolio.  The Federal government unveiled plans to assist retail businesses just in advance of this episode. Gabe thoughtfully gave us his take on the plan, and explained how he is working with tenants on the frontlines.   This episode was filmed on May 11th, 2020.

To learn more about Well Gorunded Real Estate and Gabem visit https://www.wellgroundedrealestate.com/

For more Commercial Real Estate Library visit www.crelibrary.ca 

Kingsett Capital is Canada's leading private equity firm. Founded in 2002, KingSett has raised $11 billion of equity for its Growth, Income, Urban and Mortgage Strategies. KingSett has completed $40 billion of acquisitions, dispositions and mortgage lending and currently owns interests in a $15 billion portfolio of assets. KingSett continues to seek further opportunities to invest in a wide range of real estate properties, developments, joint ventures and mortgage lending.

Jon was formerly President and CEO of Oxford Properties Group and serves on the Board of Directors of the Chief Executives Organization and is a member of the Business Council of Canada and YPO.

Jon graduated with an Honours degree in Business Administration from Western University’s Ivey Business School, where he is an Emeritus Advisory Board member and in 2016 was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Western University. Jon was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2018.

To learn more about Jon and Kingsett, visit - https://kingsettcapital.com/

To learn more about CRE Library, visit - https://crelibrary.ca 

This podcast was recorded on April 15th, 2020.

Reetu Gupta was kind enough to join us for the second time. Reetu is the President and CEO of Easton's Group of Hotels as well as The Gupta Group. Easton's Group of hotels is the largest private developer of hotels in Canada. They currently own and operate 19 hotels across the country. On this podcast Reetu shared how the hotel industry is being impacted by COVID-19, what she is doing to weather the storm, and how she sees the industry on the other side of this pandemic. This podcast was recorded April 8th, 2020.

More about Reetu - Reetu’s career has quickly progressed from Executive Director to President and CEO of the Easton’s Group of Hotels and The Gupta Group, successfully launching numerous condo projects including Dundas Square Gardens, Rosedale on Bloor, Yonge Park Plaza and The Icona. She has continued the growth of the hotel division, expanding its flagship hotels across industry-renowned brands such as Marriott, Starwood, Hilton, and IHG.

Reetu sits on several boards (corporate & not for profit), co-chairs many committees and is a frequent guest speaker. Some of her roles include a Board Member Seat of the Women in Tourism and Hospitality Conference and  a Board Member Seat for the Community Foundation of Mississauga, Grants Committee. Reetu is also the President of The Shakti Society, where she teaches complimentary monthly meditation classes, to empower all individuals with courage and to instil a strong sense of confidence.

She is featured in various publications and the media. In July 2017, Reetu was honoured with the distinction of Canada's Top 40 Under 40®. She was the only honouree from the real estate sector and one of just nine women to receive this designation.

To learn more about Reetu and Easton's, please visit https://eastonsgroup.com/

To learn more about the podcast, visit https://crelibrary.ca 

We are continuing our series on the impacts of COVID-19 on the commercial real estate market. Joining us to discuss retail is Adam Paul - President and CEO of First Capital Realty. First Capital is one of Canada's largest owners, developers and operators of mixed-use real estate. They have 158 properties across Canada and an enterprise value of $9.3Bn. First Capital is a landlord to many of the world's biggest retailers - Walmart, Sobeys, Canadian Tire, Metro putting them in an excellent position to help us understand what's happening in retail.

Adam first Capital in 2015. As President and CEO, Adam has overall responsibility for First Capital's strategy, operations and performance. Prior to joining First Capital, Adam was a senior executive at Canadian Real Estate Investment Trust (“CREIT”) (now Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust), where he had direct responsibility for various aspects of CREIT's business. Adam is a Chartered Professional Accountant, Chartered Accountant, a member of the Young Presidents' Organization and a director of Real Property Association of Canada (REALpac).

This podcast was recorded on April 6th, 2020.

Gord Cook is an Executive Vice President and Top Producer at Colliers International with market leadership in several verticals - industrial investment, industrial big box development, infill redevelopment and multi-family apartment investment sales. In 2019 Gord was once again recognized as the top industrial broker at Colliers International Canada.  The focus of this podcast is on the impacts COVID-19 is having on the industrial market. How have tenants been affected? How are landlords reacting? Where are the largest opportunities today and in the near future? How can broker's best position themselves to succeed in the wake of this crisis? We discuss all this and more on today's podcast (virtually of course).  

To learn more about Gord Cook, visit his profile at https://www.collierscanada.com/en-CA/Experts/gord-cook

To see more Commercial Real Estate Library, visit https://www.crelibrary.ca This podcast was recorded on April 3rd, 2020.