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Jim has delivered Asset Management services to both Owner / Occupants and Investors of commercial properties. For Owner / Occupants, he has analyzed corporate portfolios in accordance with the following criteria:
- Highest and Best Use related to the Value Equation
- Master Planning
- Occupancy, Space Utilization and Performance
- Equity Investment Partnerships
- Landlord and Subtenant quality
- Tax Considerations and Balance Sheet Issues
- Lease vs. Own
As an example of Jim's expertise in Asset Management as an Owner, he headed the development process for a key 20 acre property in Toronto for Compaq Canada. Recognizing that the size of the property was well over that required for Compaq's own use, Jim undertook an occupancy planning study to verify space requirements over the forseeable time horizon, taking out account work environment economies such as telecommuting and shared work environments. The resultant space capacity was then packaged into a Request for Proposal offering to the Tier 1 development community. With several high quality responses, Jim was able to negotiate a joint venture agreement with Olympia & York that would make Compaq the anchor tenant in the development and would lower Compaq's occupancy expense for its own tenancy on the property by participating in the profits derived from market tenancies developed by O&Y.As examples of Jim's expertise in Asset Management as an Service Provider, he has built Strategic Plans for several Fortune 500 companies. In preparing a strategic plan for a company with multiple assets, Jim will follow a specific procedure
- Determine the company's corporate business objectives that might impact on the real estate portfolio. Objectives may extend to Balance Sheet issues, growth, market penetration, corporate image, positioning relative to competitors, customers and suppliers, acquisition / disposition, etc. This is usually accomplished through direct interviews with senior business managers;
- Determine the company's real estate objectives including leasing vs. owning, space utilization, signage, quality, space type, etc.,
- Summarize current real estate assets, including abstracting leases,
- Demographic mapping of employees, customers, competitors and suppliers in aid of site selection,
- Prepare market survey to determine price and availability of space that conforms to the real estate objectives,
- Develop scenarios that provide alternative solutions to the current (base) space and building configurations,
- Financial and qualitative analysis of the various scenarios, including timing issues,
- Recommendation of best scenario,
- Presentation of final results at various levels up to and including the board.
Jim has prepared strategic plans for several companies including Lucent Technologies, AT&T, Compaq Canada, the Canadian Red Cross and others. His boardroom presentations are authoritative, knowledgeable and well researched. Frequently, real estate and financial staff have found that they can rely on Jim to "take the heat", defending his strategy effectively and successfully.
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Jim is a veteran Corporate Real Estate executive, having managed the real estate and construction divisions for Digital / Compaq Canada (2 million square feet, gross occupancy cost $35 million). He managed a staff of 17 in leasing, project management, space planning, lease administration and facility management. Jim conceived of an alternative officing strategy for Digital which included telecommuting, shared workstations for sales and service and the delivery of a suite of tools and services to enable the sales force to conduct business effectively outside the office. By implementing this program, strategic planning and other cost reduction strategies, he lowered Digital's occupancy cost by 31% over a 12 month period.
Jim was also responsible for the construction of several large office and manufacturing facilities for Digital / Compaq. In this role, he interviewed and selected the design consultants and managed their activities through design development and working drawings. He then tendered construction and either directly or through staff, supervised the construction, monitored deficiency completion,.reviewed testing & commissioning and supervised the move-in.
Jim was also extremely successful in managing the cost centre for Compaq. In each year the internal audits were performed, Jim's department received a "no findings" rating. He earned a special recognition from Internal Audit for this distinction. However, it is important to note that the work involved in achieving this status from Internal Audit was not achieved from "over managing" the real estate function, but from establishing an organized system of standardized legal documentation, delegation of authority, documentation followup and reconciliation to budget that for his staff became routine and simple to follow.
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Jim has employed Solid Presentation Skill in the making of dozens of formal and informal presentations to
- internal staff
- boards and executive committees
- clients
- technical committees
He delivers confidently and competently, employing a style and tempo of presentation that meets the expectations of the audience. He is comfortable in "taking the heat" because he is well prepared and knowledgeable.
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Jim's Development skills include
- Advanced offer and lease negotiation expertise,
- Market Knowledge,
- Master Planning,
- Design Management,
- Construction Management, from both contractor's and owner's perspective,
- Sales and Presentation Skills,
- Financial Analysis
Jim has supervised site master planning activities, municipal upzoning processes and development of numerous sites for market tenancies and owner / users. With his multiple levels of expertise, Jim can manage the entire development process from developing the initial financial proformas to assisting tenants with final move-in issues and all key functions in between.
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As Director, Corporate Services, Jim had a strong focus on National Brokerage Coordination. To deliver a complete turnkey service to his clients, Jim needed to provide brokerage services across the country. The challenge in this was to deliver consistency of service for his clients, whether the transaction was being undertaken in Tier 3 centres in northern British Columbia or in downtown Toronto. To accomplish this, Jim developed a set of process documents and procedures which each agent must follow in order to achieve a pre-set level of service. If the particular agent did not have the expertise to develop offers from Jim's templates, Jim would prepare the offers and transmit them to the agent for presentation. Reporting, analysis and documentation was of uniformly high quality and Jim would check the work of each agent and supplier before the work was permitted to be sent to the client. In this way, Jim was able to help his clients avoid the steep learning and familiarity curve associated with conducting numerous transactions across Canada.
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Throughout his career, Jim has had Staff Management responsibilities. While at Westar, he managed a group of 37 project engineers, designers, construction personnel and administrators in the management of the engineering department for the mining, oil & gas and forestry businesses. This expertise was eventually brought to bear at Westar Engineering, where Jim's group offered consulting services to international resource companies. Subsequently, at Digital / Compaq, Jim managed up to 17 people in the leasing, construction, design and facility management of all corporate facilities. Finally, at Royal LePage, Jim manages teams of associates and agents in the delivery high quality services to this clients.
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Jim has highly advanced Offer & Lease Negotiations expertise. He has worked closely with many senior real estate lawyers across Canada both for and opposing. Jim personally negotiates very complex and technical lease agreements and is knowledgeable in all lease issues. For most clients, Jim will usually manage one or two rounds of negotiations, then request final comments from a lawyer. Final legal comments are generally limited to very small points. In addition, Jim has a solid knowledge of risk management issues and is generally able to mediate a settlement between the landlord's and the tenant's internal risk management personnel and external insurance providers.
In general, Jim will adopt the following process for lease negotiations:
- Compare Landlord's draft lease document word for word with Offer to Lease (or LOI) to determine any discrepancies,
- Review with Tenant all key issues of special importance (either material or technical) that may not be sufficiently detailed in the offer document (insurance and indemnity, default, assignment, subletting and change of control, access, operating costs etc. etc.),
- Draft a memo of all points with respect to Offer / Lease discrepancy issues and additional Lease issues not covered in the Offer,
- Review memoed issues with Tenant,
- Issue memo to landlord (subject to tenant's legal and risk management review) and follow up with personal or telephone negotiating session,
- Receive and review 2nd draft of lease,
- Potentially engage in additional round(s) of negiations. Some issues may be referred back to Tenant for reconsideration,
- Review "draft final" lease and if accurate, pass on to Tenant legal and risk management personnel,
- Review legal and risk management issues with Tenant and, if necessary, explore areas of flexibility with both Tenant and Landlord
- Review any final legal and risk management points not initially covered with landlord,
- Manage document flow for final signatures,
- Prepare lease abstract and (if applicable) database entry
Jim has engaged in this process dozens of times for his clients. This process will typically save the client thousands of dollars in legal fees and will allow Tenant's legal counsel to concentrate on more technical points. Jim's knowledge of leases is highly advanced - he has carefully read and abstracted well over 1,000 leases.
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Jim has directly managed, as Tenant, the Property & Facility Management function for Digital (Compaq) Canada's country-wide facility infrastructure.
Facilities included leased and owned offices, distribution centres, manufacturing facilities and retail outlets. Together with his staff, Jim successfully reduced occupancy expense through a program of outsourcing, staff recruitment and leveling, energy management programs and economies of scale.
Jim and his staff also managed staff moves, interior fitup and construction, furniture & equipment acquisition and installation, building systems service providers (owned buildings) and all facility management contracts.
In addition, Jim introduced early Building Automation Systems to the manufacturing clusters, advancing to more modern systems as the technology improved.
As a service provider, Jim has consulted with numerous clients in the improvement of their Property / Facility Management infrastructure, implementing systems, procedures and programs to help clients lower their occupancy expense while maintaining or improving current service levels.
In this area, Jim concentrated on computer systems selection, service provider contract management and infrastructure setup.
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Jim has advanced Budeting & Cost Control expertise. Jim personally managed the cost centre function for Digital (Compaq) Canada's real estate portfolio (budget: $35 million) and successfully reduced Digital's occupancy expense by 31% during a period of constant headcount. Annually, Jim prepared staff and facility budgets, including occupancy and capital forecasting. Each year that Compaq's internal audits were performed, Jim's department received "no findings" ratings for his conformance to the annual budget.
Jim also engaged in annual strategic planning work to prepare for the budget. This work involved assessing the cost of each facility, the headcount within each location, application of metrics to ensure that facilities were properly utilized, demographic assessment and development of alternative scenarios where site conditions warranted a review of tenancy.
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Jim has developed advanced Project Analysis skills during his tenure at both Compaq and Royal LePage. He completed a number of University of Toronto financial management courses to provide a foundation for this work. Jim is usually called upon at Royal LePage Corporate Services to conduct the more complex analyses required. He has developed a number of models to assess alternative cash flows, NPV, ROI, ROE, EVA and Buy vs. Lease.
It is important to note, however that Jim has a strong sense of the level of analysis that the Tenant or Landlord requires to make a decision. This means that Jim has the flexibility to develop an analysis format that is suited to the audience. Even if the background cash flows are highly detailed, Jim can condense the decision criteria to a single chart, providing senior executives with a clear understanding of the issues considered, the pros and cons of the alternatives and the recommendation being put forward.
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As Director, Corporate Services and co-founder of the business at Royal LePage, Jim has constantly engaged in Business Development to develop new sources of revenue. With his multi-disciplined background, Jim is able to project a strong sense of competence to his clients and prospects. He can modify his presentation style to suit the type and temperment of the client. Jim has a very high success ratio where the client was truly in the market for services.
Once an initial contact is made, Jim will research the client thoroughly. Once a meeting date is established, he will interview the client in depth in advance to develop an understanding of the client's needs and drivers. From this intelligence, Jim will craft a set of services and a presentation strategy to target's the client's "hot buttons". Finally a presentation / proposal will be developed. Depending on the need, Jim can prepare very detailed Powerpoint slides or can keep the presentation simple and informal with only a page and some notes to work from. He has a keen ability to develop a rapport with the client and is adept at crafting a proposal that fully meets the client's needs.
Jim is also adept at writing proposals. Generally, as with presentations, his proposals are based on extensive research with the client. Proposals are generally succinct and to the point, with little "boilerplate".
Jim also participates in industry meetings and events, and is a continuing member of CORENet Global, the largest real estate organization for corporate real estate executives and service providers. As former chair of the program committee, Jim was responsible for developing challenging and timely seminar series, providing key feedback to participants on the issues of the day.
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Jim has good knowledge of many of the Real Estate Information Systems available on the market today.
He is familiar with both client / server and web based systems in lease administration, space planning, facility management and call centre response.
In addition, Jim designed and built Veridian a powerful yet very easy to use MS Access based lease administration and contact system. Veridian's user interface is unique in the industry and is the result of the merger of seasoned real estate knowledge and strong technical expertise. In order to develop Veridian, Jim attended numerous courses in Visual Basic at the community college level. To date, several clients have adopted Veridian in day to day use including Emco Supply, Loomis Courier, Compaq Canada and AT&T Canada.
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Jim's Project Management & Construction experience began with three years at Eastern Construction where he worked from project engineer to assistant project manager. Later, Jim became a project manager for Ellis Don. He has built numerous industrial, institutional and residential buildings including a 747 hanger and maintenance facility, a flat glass factory and warehouse, a 20 storey, 3 building condominium in downtown Toronto and was concrete superintendent and quality control engineer at the Roy Thompson Hall project.
Jim brought this expertise to Digital /Compaq where, as Director of the Real Estate and Construction department, he managed numerous leasehold improvement projects ranging from very small to 120,000 sf. In addition, he was responsible for constructing several manufacturing and distribution facilities an offices buildings. Jim headed the joint venture between Digital and Olympia & York to develop several hundred thousand square feet of office space in Markham, Ontario.
In that capacity, Jim negotiated the legal agreements between the JV partners, managed the design of the ofice complex and negotiated the construction contracts.
With Royal LePage Corporate Services, Jim provided his project management and construction experience to his clients, advising them in process and procedues, staffing, supervising RFP processes for architectural, interior design and engineering design management, construction and direct purchases. Jim can also predict construction issues for clients, assisting them in avoiding pitfalls during the site and office selection process.
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Jim has brought Supplier Management consulting expertise to many large clients. He is adept at managing the RFP process and has strong negotiating skills in the formulation of supplier relationships. As Director, Corporate Services, Jim managed suppliers on behalf of his clients, supervising and advising his clients on strategy and giving expert advice throughout the process.
Jim has managed suppliers in Facility Management (furniture and equipment, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, security, landscaping, janitorial, etc.) and in Project Management (designers, contractors, equipment and other suppliers). Of course, as a supplier of Corporate Services, Jim is adept at maintaining a high level of service while generating a profit for those services.
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Jim is a Professional Engineer with a degree in Civil (Structural) Engineering from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.
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