Commercial real estate firm JLL has launched a new property management services group in Canada which it says will be a key in the company’s expansion efforts across the country.

Ron Fiell will head up JLL’s new property management group, which is being based in Calgary. (Image courtesy JLL)

The initiative will be led by Ron Fiell based in the JLL Calgary office with practice leads in several cities/regions, providing service with local expertise backed by global real estate knowledge.  

Fiell said the group will work with regional and national property investors to increase their value and provide property management services not currently provided by local and regional suppliers.

“We’re bringing the JLL global platform to Canada. We manage just over four billion square feet globally and 58 million square feet in Canada through our property management and lead management groups,” said Fiell. “This is another service that we can provide to our clients.

“It’s a global platform which is extremely detailed and collaborative and geared toward clients and their tenants and tenant engagement, tenant retention and achieving our clients’ ambitions for the real estate.”

Expansion of JLL services

JLL Canada said that with this addition it is able to offer its clients integrated real estate services, including capital markets investment sales, agency leasing, corporate services, project & development services, valuation and consulting and facilities management.  

Fiell said the Canadian team will help owners and investors reduce risk, operating costs and occupant turnover by applying global-best practices, proven engineering capabilities and the latest technology tools in property management.

“Our clients will benefit from lower operating costs and increased asset value,” said Fiell. “The property management industry is highly competitive and JLL’s management platform offers a level of service and customization that many national and regional firms cannot.”

Fiell said the JLL Calgary office approached him last year to start a property management group. He said practice leads will operate in cities and regions such as Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and elsewhere.

“Fantastic platform”

“It’s a fantastic platform. In my 20-plus years in the business, I haven’t seen anything like it,” he said. “And I’ve been on both sides of the fence both as a property manager and as an asset manager.

“We’ve talked to some large clients across the country as part of our research before we really launched and they all felt there was a need and a want for another large multi-national third-party provider.”

In a statement, Brett Miller, CEO of JLL Canada, said the introduction of Property Management Services is in line with its vision of becoming a key player in the Canadian commercial real estate industry.

In 2016, JLL had revenue of $6.8 billion and fee revenue of $5.8 billion. It completed sales acquisitions and finance transactions of about $145 billion.

At the end of the second quarter of this year, JLL had close to 300 corporate offices, operations in over 80 countries and a global workforce of nearly 80,000.