Advanced Negotiating for Real Estate Transactions

Negotiation strategies
Delee Fromm

Building relationships with your business partners: A financing perspective
Don Ross
George M. Valentini

Overcoming obstacles to agreement
Delee Fromm

Reading non-verbal communication
Heather Swartz
John Coffey

Evasive manoeuvres: Effective countermeasures for what this course has taught you
Heather Swartz
John Coffey

Delee Fromm is both a lawyer and a psychologist. She is a former Partner of McCarthy Tétrault LLP, where she practised commercial real estate law for 17 years. While practising law, she helped represent GE Capital in its $827M purchase, along with the OMERS Realty Corporation and Oxford Properties Group Inc., of the Royal Bank of Canada's 33-property Canadian Office Building and Data Centre Portfolio including RBC's flagship Royal Bank Plaza in Toronto. Now, as a founding partner of Fromm & Goodhand and a consultant in the areas of negotiation and communication she lectures, gives keynote speeches and conducts workshops for a variety of organizations. She continues to conduct McCarthy Tétrault's national workshops on negotiation and mediation advocacy, and to teach at Osgoode Hall Law School, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

George Valentini practises in the Business Law Department at Osler, where he is the National Chair of the firm's Commercial Property Group. He is also a member of the firm's Financial Services Group and has been recognized in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, Chambers Global, The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers and the Guide to the World's Leading Real Estate Lawyers. His practice encompasses a wide range of commercial transactions.

Michael Cooper is Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dundee REIT, in which capacity he is focused on strategy, acquisitions, capital markets and investor relationships. He held the position of Chief Executive Officer of Dundee Realty Corporation from its creation in 1996 to its restructuring into Dundee REIT in 2003, during which time it grew from under $5 million of assets to over $1 billion. Prior to joining Dundee Realty, he was a Vice-President of Goodman & Company, responsible for investments in real estate and for establishing and co-managing the Dynamic Real Estate Funds.

 

Chris Huband
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

Chris Huband is a Partner in Blake, Cassels & Graydon's Real Estate Group in Toronto. His practice includes a wide variety of real estate matters, including purchase and sale transactions, mortgage financings, joint ventures, leasing and construction and development work. He has a broad range of clients, including pension funds, mutual funds, life insurance companies and other institutional investors, as well as lenders, advisers, major landlords, tenants and developers. He is recommended by Chambers Global: The World's Leading Lawyers for Business and The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory as a leading real estate practitioner.

George Mejury has been in the financial service industry for 25 years, and has been in real estate finance for the past 18. Having cut his teeth in the exciting environment that was the smaller Trust company sector of the late 1980's and early 1990's, George has held loan origination and asset management positions with chartered banks and life companies. George is now the Managing Director of the Ontario production office of MCAP, Canada's largest independent mortgage and equipment financing company with over $30 billion in assets under administration.

Don is Vice President, Capital Markets for MCAP, and has 18 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry, having built commercial mortgage portfolios through a combination of direct lending and corporate acquisitions. He has been instrumental in the growth of MCAP's assets under administration, which include in excess of $10 billion in commercial and construction loans. Don has held senior positions in commercial asset management, loan servicing, investor relations, commercial lending and most recently capital markets and structured finance. Don also manages North America's only securitized construction lending program. As a senior manager responsible for approving commercial mortgages, Don must constantly negotiate and assess the best deal that both meets the needs of the mortgage fund and satisfies the requirements of the borrower. Don's negotiation skills are built on a foundation comprised of his career experience, his education (Honours Bachelor of Business Degree) and his contributions to numerous industry associations such as the CMSA (Commercial Mortgage Securities Association).

John Hutmacher is a Partner practising in Blake, Cassels & Graydon's national Real Estate Group, one of the largest and most comprehensive in Canada. John works primarily on acquisitions and dispositions, joint ventures, financing and leasing transactions involving major Canadian commercial real properties, including many of the country's most prominent retail, office and industrial developments. He has acted for pension fund advisers in acquisitions, development, management, leasing, dispositions and financing of office, retail and commercial real property across Canada, has acted for a German purchaser of a newly constructed multi-tenant high-rise office and retail property in Metropolitan Toronto area, and represented a borrower on a C$335-million hotel financing transaction involving properties located in several provinces across Canada. He has also acted for a major U.S. developer in acquisitions and dispositions of land in Canada for development of industrial and office buildings, and for Canadian, U.S. and German lenders in connection with several single and multi-property financing transactions secured by Canadian commercial real estate.

Heather is an active team member with Agree Dispute Resolution. She specializes in providing civil, workplace and family Mediation. She also provides customized conflict management and interest-based negotiation Training, facilitates Partnering Workshops and is an Instructor for Mediation Certificate programs at several Ontario Universities. Her academic background is in the field of Social Work and she spent nine years as a School Trustee for the Town of Dundas. Heather is a Roster Mediator, Ontario Mandatory Mediation Program - Toronto and Windsor and has received the Chartered Mediator (C. Med.) designation from the ADR Institute of Canada and the Accredited Family Mediator (Acc.FM.) designation from the Ontario Association for Family Mediation.

John Coffey - Real Estate practitioner since 1973. A Broker with Remax in York Region, John has worked on land development, commercial, industrial and residential sales and mortgage finance. John manages a portfolio of private mortgages, sells real estate and performs Mediation. He is a graduate of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Program at York University and is a Mediator and Arbitrator for the Toronto Real Estate Board helping resolve disputes between brokers.