As president and CEO of Choice Properties REIT, Rael Diamond oversees a portfolio of over 700 retail, industrial and mixed-use residential properties in Canada.

Those assets combine to exceed 60 million square feet of gross leasable area (GLA), are worth approximately $17 billion, and also include a significant development and intensification pipeline. CHOICE is Canada's largest real estate investment trust by total portfolio GLA, number of properties and market capitalization.

Diamond discussed the company, his personal background and experiences as part of the recent Urban Land Institute Toronto Fireside Chat 2025. He was joined by Choice vice-president of sustainability and placemaking Orit Sarfaty at One King West Hotel & Residence’s Grand Banking Hall.

Diamond didn’t know anyone in Toronto when he moved to Canada from South Africa in 1995. He graduated from York University with a bachelor of business administration degree and started his career as an accountant with Deloitte.

He then moved on to become chief financial officer (CFO) for several of Brookfield Properties’ subsidiary public entities, including Rouse Properties, Brookfield Office Properties Canada and Howard Hughes Corporation.

Those positions included stints living in New York City and Australia before he returned to Toronto, where both he and his South African wife had family roots.

From CREIT to Choice

Diamond served in the roles of CFO, president and chief operating officer for Canadian Real Estate Investment Trust (CREIT) from 2012 to 2018, the year Choice acquired CREIT. He was named to his current position in May 2019.

“I was fortunate that at Brookfield I had seen many takeovers,” Diamond explained. “There were some smooth transitions and some that weren’t so smooth, and the acquisition of CREIT was not so smooth.”

Diamond committed to having lots of meetings with Choice employees and is now proud of the workplace culture, which he said includes an open office environment to enable communication. 

Many people come to real estate from different professions, just like Diamond, and he said he looks for smart people with humility and an even temperament when hiring.

Diamond is a big believer in having employees in the office as much as possible, while still providing them with some flexibility.

Focus on “deep platforms”

Choice has exited the office asset class under Diamond’s leadership because the real estate investment trust wanted to have “deep platforms.” It didn’t have a big office footprint, but owned an extensive collection of grocery-anchored retail properties, a $4.5-billion industrial portfolio and a lot of land that could be used for mixed-use residential intensification. 

Necessity-based stores are very important in people’s day-to-day lives, and it’s a very stable asset class, which is why they comprise such a big part of Choice’s portfolio and, he expects, will remain that way for a long time.

Diamond said Choice’s industrial portfolio could be initially impacted more than its retail properties by tariffs imposed on Canadian goods by the United States, but believes that industrial should still perform well in the long term. He has confidence in Canada, citing its “smart people” and “great resources.”

Diamond stressed the importance of owning good real estate and maintaining a strong balance sheet with very low leverage (the REIT's adjusted debt to total asset value ratio was 40 per cent as of year-end 2024). 

Sustainability and business relationships

Choice has made an ambitious commitment to sustainability initiatives because it plans to own its properties for the long term, management believes “climate change is real,” new technologies are making them more cost-effective, and many tenants are asking for them.

“We have to try and keep pushing forward,” Diamond said. “We believe we will be rewarded for it.”

Diamond stressed the importance of working and co-operating with competitors in real estate partnerships because it’s a “capital-intensive business” and breaking up relationships can be expensive.  

“We have to make sure that we work well together and we each bring our own skill sets to the table,” he said.

Audience questions

ULI Toronto executive director Richard Joy took questions from audience members for Diamond, led by one about what asset class he was most bullish about.

Diamond expects net operating income (NOI) growth to be higher for industrial than retail, where NOI growth is still very stable. It will take more time to increase NOI growth in multifamily, he added.

Choice is looking to expand based on markets showing the most population and job growth. While the best job growth is now in Alberta, Diamond still very much likes the long-term prospects of Toronto.

Loblaws is a major Choice tenant and is planning to grow by six new grocery stores — three each in Alberta and Ontario. 

When asked about his daily routine, Diamond said he “gets up exceptionally early” and has “non-stop meetings.”

The interview ended with Diamond advising younger people in the room to try and spend as much time as possible around company leaders and peers in order to learn and grow.