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These are bullish times for retail in Canada. RKF CEO Robert Futterman tells us that's why his firm is opening a Toronto office this month. (Open an office just in time for a Christmas party. It seems they understand Canada already.)  The retail services company—specializing in retail leasing, investment sales, and consulting—will be led by Canadian retail services vet Steven Alikakos (right, snapped with Robert). RKF just expanded into the UK as well. Steven has worked with some of the country's most visible retail landlords and tenants, recently as SVP at DTZ Canada. It's an office of three, Steven says, hoping to add eight to 12 by the end of 2014.  "We have been talking about this for awhile," Robert says. "You see a wave of Canadian tenants coming into the US—Joe Fresh, Lululemon, Aldo." Then there's the flip side: "Many companies we represent are very curious about how they can get into the Canadian market." (Are we that intimidating?) Snapped is Yorkdale Shopping Centre, where several high-profile US retailers have set up shop recently.  The RKF office will be here in part to help educate clients—both landlords and tenants--about the Canadian marketplace and the Canadian shopper. While at DTZ, Steven was involved in the effort that brought Brooks Brothers into Canada (above, the new Bloor Street store). "We have the playbook on how to do that and make it easy for them," he says. The next natural move for a lot of these companies is Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa, and Montreal. "There are so many different platforms for US retailers to come up and open." |
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Real Numbers About Development Porter's plan to extend the runway to allow for more flights at longer distances is a hot topic—and exactly the type of thing that Ryerson University's new Centre for Urban Research and Land Development (CURLD) will analyze, says one of men who helped established the centre, urban and real estate economist Frank Clayton. CURLD is the first research centre of its kind, dedicated to studying the economic impact of urban policies in the Greater Golden Horseshoe area, one of the country's fastest-growing regions. Investigating the economic effects of urban growth issues and making sure policy-makers have the data is exactly why the building industry has raised close to $2M to develop the centre, he says.  Ryerson students will very involved in the new centre. They also plan to have educational seminars for local politicians. "Municipal and urban policy should be conducted within a cost-benefit framework," Frank says. Fiscal resources are tighter, after all. The centre is all about bringing the different sides to development together more. "Developers will understand that there is a bigger picture, that it's just not about their development," Frank adds. (See the forest for the trees--then build around the trees to earn a LEED cert.) Ryerson School of Urban and Regional Planning professor David Amborski and Kylemore Communities prez Patrick O'Hanlon also founded the centre with Frank. |
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Thumbs Down for Arena PlanTalk about a rout. City council in Markham yesterday voted 11-2 to reject a plan that would have seen public funds used in part to build an NHL-sized arena in that city. Markham had a minute chance of landing another GTA NHL team as anchor tenant for the 20,000-seat rink, despite claims by the people behind the project they had a business plan that didn't include an NHL team. Reports this morning say the dream might not be over, though. City council doesn't want public funding to be used if a group still wants to pursue an arena. |
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The New Workplace |
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 Young people. Nobody knows what they want, but if you ignore them, your company's Twitter feed will run dry. That's why CoreNet Young Leaders held an event last week at the Haworth showroom at 55 University Ave to discuss the ideal workplace for the next gen. The discussion was not so much focused on technology but on strategies to create engaging workplaces, says Infrastructure Ontario real estate analyst Curtis Kjinserdahl. |
 Haworth senior architecture and design manager Yoel Berznoger, Oxford Properties VP leasing John Peets, IQ Office Suites co-founder Alex Sharpe, and CBRE managing director Judy Fancy spoke, touching on how the commercial real estate team can partner with IT and HR to create a more efficient workplace strategy. Best piece of advice? Judy and John recommended the book Start With Why by Simon Simek, explaining how some companies and individuals are more innovative and influential than the rest. Another nugget: Landlords, tenants, brokers, and designers need to collaborate to achieve the ideal workplace. Ask a lot of questions, andà understand why things are done in a certain way. |
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Harsh Message in Top 100The Women's Executive Network released its Top 100 list of Canada's most powerful women, and we noticed something shocking. The list covers the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors, but no one from the commercial real industry made the cut. "No, you did not miss a name," WXN founder Pamela Jeffery tells us. "At WXN, we do believe that there is much to be done by the commercial real estate industry to recruit and retain high performers who are women." The industry would be well served to do a better job at increasing the number of female real estate brokers, particularly in light of the growing number of female entrepreneurs and women in executive roles, she says. Snapped is Pamela at a recent WXN event, with Premier Kathleen Wynne of Ontario. |
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