Electric Cities

S5 Episode 4: Toronto City Cycling and the Upside to COVID-19

The pandemic may have beaten our city down, but it has had the opposite effect on cycling. In recent months cyclists have surged onto Toronto bike routes and many urbanists are applauding the addition of new cycling infrastructure hastily being added across the city. Could this mark the beginning of an emboldened era for Toronto city cycling? On July 31st, 2020, Jeremy interviewed Barbara Gray, the City of Toronto’s General Manager of Transportation to find out and learn more about Toronto’s plans for its cycling infrastructure and the impacts experienced as a result of the pandemic.

S5 Episode 3: COVID-19 Impacts on the Office Market

Three and a half months into the pandemic, most Toronto office buildings are virtually empty as tenants, landlords and developers try to adapt to these changing times and plan for the new workplace environment. Jeremy interviews Lisa Fulford-Roy and Jon Ramscar, two senior executives with CBRE Canada, to talk about the significant impacts of the pandemic on the Toronto office market.

S5 Episode 2: COVID-19 Impacts on the Retail Market

Before the pandemic hit, considerable shifts in the retail market were already taking place with the rapid rise of e-commerce and declining foot traffic to traditional brick and mortar retail. With the pandemic now upon us, those impacts have been accelerated as both large and small retail destinations struggle to survive and adapt to the new world of physical distancing. On May 29th, 2020, Jeremy interviewed Jamie Tate, founder and president of Tate Economic Research, to talk about the pandemic’s impacts on the retail market and the ways in which the industry is responding.

S5 Episode 1: COVID-19 Impacts on the Condo Market

Over the past 30 years, Toronto’s condo market flourished with an almost unstoppable pace of growth. But ever since the pandemic forced a global shutdown in mid-March 2020, condo sales have plummeted, forcing developers to quickly adjust their business model and operations. On May 15th, 2020, Jeremy interviewed Mimi Ng, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Menkes Developments, to talk about the pandemic’s impacts on the condo market and what the industry is doing to respond.

S4 Episode 7: Resilience and Sustainable Design with B+H Architects’ Lisa Bate

Lisa Bate, a global sustainability lead and principal with Toronto’s B+H Architects, joins Jeremy to discuss B+H’s ability to adapt under the global impact of COVID-19. They also discuss the correlation between global health, resilience and the environment; Lisa’s perspectives on working abroad; notable sustainable building design projects; and some final thoughts on inspiring women in architecture.

S4 Episode 6: FORREC. Toronto's Global Leader in Entertainment Destination Design

Many of the world's top theme parks and entertainment destinations like Canada's Wonderland, Universal Studios, Legoland, Nickelodeon Universe, Everland Theme Park and Dollywood were designed by Toronto-based FORREC, one of the world's premier design firms of entertainment destinations. Jeremy sits down with Cale Heit, FORREC's President and CEO to learn more about the company and how it has evolved over the past 3 decades to take on new opportunities and challenges in an ever-evolving industry.

S4 Episode 5: Brookfield Asset Management. One of the World’s Largest Investors in Real Estate

Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management is a multi-billion dollar juggernaut, with global investments in real estate, infrastructure, renewable energy and private equity. Despite a portfolio of mega-sized investments across the globe, Brookfield is showing increasing interest in the Greater Toronto real estate market, including a new partnership with InterRent REIT and CLV Group to develop a huge multi-family, mixed-use development on the GO Transit Rail lands in Burlington, Ontario. Jeremy sits down with Ashley Lawrence, Managing Director and Head of the company’s Canadian real estate division to talk about Brookfield’s real estate activity both abroad and closer to home.

S4 Episode 4: Mansoor Kazerouni on IBI Group’s Global Architectural Practice

Headquartered in Toronto, IBI Group is one of the world’s largest architectural firms with 60 offices around the world. Their projects reach far and wide in Toronto, across Canada, and throughout the world. In this episode, Jeremy sits down with Mansoor Kazerouni, the company’s Global Director of Buildings, to talk about IBI’s Toronto roots and its success on the international stage.

S4 Episode 3: Global Real Estate Investments with Michael Turner, President, Oxford Properties Group

As the real estate investment arm of OMERS, one of Canada’s largest pension plans, Oxford Properties Group is one of the world’s premier real estate investment, development and management companies. They manage over $60 billion worth of real estate assets, with a global portfolio spanning over 100 million square feet in Canada, Europe and the United States, including the recent opening of Hudson Yards in New York, the largest private real estate development in the United States. In this episode, Jeremy interviews Michael Turner about the company, its Toronto roots, and the phenomenal scale of projects it currently manages abroad and closer to home.

S4 Episode 2: The Global Significance of Toronto’s Pearson International Airport with CEO Howard Eng

As the most international airport in North America with services to 163 international destinations, Toronto’s Pearson International Airport is the largest airport in Canada, handling just under 50 million passengers and 300 tons of cargo per year. It is arguably the most vital transportation hub in the country while significantly contributing to Toronto’s local and regional economy. With a rapid population growth projected for the Toronto region over the next number of decades, Pearson has developed an ambitious, long-term expansion plan, including a massive new multi-modal transit hub that would connect numerous local and regional transit lines right at the airport’s doorstep. Jeremy sat down with the airport’s CEO, Howard Eng in late 2019 to talk about Pearson’s importance in making Toronto a global city.