Richard Florida has been hired as vice chair, impact for Dream Unlimited and Dream Impact Trust.

Dream Unlimited Corp. (DRM-T) and Dream Impact Trust (MPCT-UN-T) have hired Richard Florida as vice-chair, impact and Pino Di Mascio as head of impact strategy and delivery.

Florida is one of the world’s leading urbanists. He is a researcher and professor at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities and Rotman School of Management. He is a writer and journalist, having penned several global best-sellers, including the award-winning The Rise of the Creative Class and his most recent book, The New Urban Crisis.

He is the co-founder of CityLab, the leading publication devoted to cities and urbanism, and an entrepreneur who founded the Creative Class Group. He received his PhD from New York’s Columbia University and his bachelor’s degree from Rutgers.

Florida will provide strategic leadership to the organization on emerging real estate impact strategies.

Di Mascio joins Dream with over 25 years of experience in planning and development. He will be joining Dream from Sidewalk Labs, an Alphabet Inc. company, where he was director of planning and delivery. Di Mascio is a former partner at Urban Strategies where he helped build one of the world’s leading urban planning and design firms.

At Dream, Di Mascio’s responsibilities include executing impact pathways across MPCT’s portfolio, which will include delivering measurable positive outcomes for specific social and environmental goals. He will also work to identify opportunities with external stakeholders and community partners to further advance Dream’s impact initiatives.

Brethour promotes Markovic to president, CEO

PMA Brethour Realty Group has promoted Christopher Markovic to become the firm’s chief executive officer.

Christopher Markovic is the new president and CEO at PMA Brethour. (Courtesy PMA Brethour)

A creative and results-driven real estate industry marketer for over 25 years, Markovic brings leadership experience and a market intelligence background from multiple perspectives, including as a homebuilder and developer, and as a service provider.

Markovic takes on the president and CEO role after having been the president of PMA’s Urban division. Prior to joining PMA in 2018, Markovic held senior positions at real estate development and sales firms, including Dundee360 (Sotheby’s International), Colliers and Minto Group.

He is an active member of ULI Toronto, serving on the equality, diversity and inclusion committee, and co-chair of the ULI Toronto mentorship program, and is also president of MasterWorks Oakville, a non-profit choir and orchestra.

SmartStop CEO McClure to retire

SmartStop Self Storage REIT, Inc. CEO Michael McClure will retire effective April 15. Founder and executive chairman H. Michael Schwartz will once again assume the role of CEO. McClure will remain available to SmartStop in a consultant capacity for 12 months.

McClure has spent over a decade with SmartStop and its affiliated companies during which the company’s presence grew to 150 properties and 11.4 million rentable square feet throughout the U.S. and Canada, making it one of the 10 largest self-storage companies in the U.S.

Jacob new COO at IBI Group

Design and technology firm IBI Group (IBG-T), has appointed Audrey Jacob as chief operations director. Jacob joins the firm’s executive team and assumes responsibility for global marketing, communications and human resources functions, as well as office leases across its 60-plus global offices.

She will also take a leadership role in advancing IBI Group’s mandate on diversity, inclusion and belonging. Jacob has steadily progressed up the ranks as Toronto office lead, Canada East deputy regional director and leading IBI’s real estate, economic and planning (REEP) practice. Having joined the firm in 1986, she has a long history and knowledge of IBI Group’s business and people.

Jacob is a registered professional planner (RPP) and a professional land economist (PLE) with more than 30 years of experience. She is also is a member of the Ontario Professional Planners Institute, the Canadian Institute of Planners, the Association of Ontario Land Economists, the Urban Land Institute and is also a Women’s Leadership Initiative Champion.

Fischer to lead Quebec operations for CBRE

Ruth Fischer is senior vice-president and managing director for CBRE in Quebec. (Courtesy CBRE)

CBRE has selected Ruth Fischer senior vice-president and managing director to lead the firm’s operations in Quebec.

Fischer’s diverse 20-year career spans the U.S., U.K. and Canada. Educated at Cornell University and the London School of Economics, Fischer has worked in all facets of the real estate industry, from analyst to consultant to a key founder of CBRE’s client solutions division in Canada.

With this appointment, she becomes the first female leader of a CBRE regional market in Canada.

She is a champion of the Canadian Chapter of CBRE Women’s Network, supports industry outreach and thought leadership as co-chair of the Urban Land Institute’s Sponsorship Committee, and is a member of the board of the Children’s Book Bank.

MacQuarrie new senior VP at Epic

Lachlan MacQuarrie has been hired as senior vice-president, real estate management (national) at Epic Investment Services .

MacQuarrie brings more than 20 years of real estate experience across operations, investments, development and asset management with a focus on data, technology and sustainability. He will oversee Epic’s Canadian real estate management services team as the company strengthens its national operations, leasing, customer experience, sustainability and innovation programs across its portfolio.

Prior to joining Epic, MacQuarrie was with Oxford Properties for 10 years, most recently leading platform services across Oxford’s global portfolio.

MacQuarrie sits on the board of Yorktown Family Services and of GBCI Canada, a joint venture between GBCI and CaGBC focused on certification of green buildings. He also sits on the advisory committee of the Rick Hansen Accessibility Certification program.

JLL hires Blaine, six others in Kitchener

JLL has expanded its presence in Southwestern Ontario and the Greater Golden Horseshoe with the addition of seven CRE professionals: Mitchell Blaine (executive vice-president), Chris Kotseff (vice-president), Mallory Weldon (senior associate), associates Luke Slabczynski and Keith Schappert, and co-ordinators Jaime Coyle and Alexandra Smith.

Blaine had been a senior vice-president with CBRE for the past 17 years in its Waterloo Region office.

Bringing over 45 years of combined experience, the team offers a wide range of services including leasing, site selection, acquisitions, dispositions, valuation and lease renewal services. It will specialize in the industrial, office and land sectors, with expertise in all forms of advisory services and transactions.

A new JLL office will welcome the team and will be located at 51 Breithaupt St., Suite 100 in Kitchener.

Bell promoted at Canada ICI

David N. H. Bell has been promoted to senior director at Canada ICI, where he’s been employed for the past two years as a director in Toronto.

Bell specializes in arranging commercial mortgage financing and debt capital for developers, investors, private equity and institutional groups across Canada.

His expertise includes land, construction, bridge, mezzanine, term and CMHC-insured financing, and his focus is on the apartment building and industrial sectors in Toronto and Montreal.