REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY, REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
Businesswire | April 18, 2023
Real Title, a digital closing platform that provides a seamless search to close experience for real estate professionals and their clients, today announced it has launched Real Escrow of California to perform escrow operations exclusively in California. Real Escrow is a California escrow company built on industry-leading technology to enable agents to deliver a faster, better experience for their customers. Acquired by The Real Brokerage Inc. (TSX: REAX) (NASDAQ: REAX) in 2022, Real Title’s expansion to California gives the company a presence in six states, including Florida, Georgia, Texas, and Utah, in addition to Arizona, which launched earlier this month.
Real Title expects to be operational in at least 10 states by the second half of 2023. To support its continued growth, the company recently hired Brad Miller as National Director of Title. A 17-year veteran of the title industry, Miller will oversee Real’s title and escrow teams nationally, national underwriting partnerships, workflow processes, and vertical tech stack.
“We’re thrilled to begin offering escrow services in California and to welcome Brad to the Real team,” Sean Daly, Real Title Founder and CEO, said. “California is the fastest growing state in terms of agent attraction for Real and, because we consider ourselves one of the most innovative title companies in the industry, we are excited to launch in a state that is home to incredible name-brand technology companies.”
Miller joins Real Title from OS National, LLC where he served as Managing Director of Title Operations since 2020. Earlier, he oversaw the operations of Opendoor Title Holdings, a joint venture between Opendoor and OS National. Miller spent nearly 14 years at Amrock, beginning his career in 2005 as a Team Leader in Tax and Title Operations before being promoted to Vice President of Title Operations, a position he held for nearly nine years. Miller holds a bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University.
About Real Title
Founded in 2019 as Expetitle, Real Title streamlines the paper and time intensive settlement process through an in-app experience that allows agents and their clients to track the progress of their transaction, communicate and upload and store documents though a secure, collaborative environment. Real acquired the company in 2022 as part of its vision to provide agents and their clients with an end-to-end technology-driven search to close experience.
About The Real Brokerage
The Real Brokerage Inc. (TSX: REAX) (NASDAQ: REAX) is revolutionizing the residential real estate industry by pairing best-in-class technology with the trusted guidance of the agent-led experience. Real delivers a cloud-based platform to improve efficiencies and empower agents to provide a seamless end-to-end experience for home buyers and sellers. The company was founded in 2014 and serves 45 states, D.C., and three Canadian provinces with over 10,000 agents. Additional information can be found on its website at www.onereal.com.
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BROKERAGE, REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
Businesswire | April 20, 2023
Lessen, the premier tech-enabled, end-to-end solution for outsourced real estate property services, announced today a strategic acquisition of Blue Skyre IBE, a global facilities management solutions provider. This acquisition allows Lessen to extend its offerings in facilities management and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) solutions, as it continues to pursue its vision of bringing unparalleled operational excellence and efficiency, enhanced services and advanced technology to commercial and residential real estate—all under the direction of a single, unified platform.
Blue Skyre IBE Chief Executive Officer Maureen Ehrenberg and Chief Strategy & Product Officer Colette Temmink will join the Lessen leadership team. Ehrenberg is now president of Lessen’s commercial division, which was formerly the commercial division of SMS Assist, acquired by Lessen in January 2023.
Formerly CEO of Blue Skyre IBE, as well as a co-founder, Ehrenberg is an internationally recognized real estate industry business leader, with more than 35 years of experience in business process transformation, strategic positioning and operations of large, complex portfolios. Before co-founding BSI, she was the Global Head of Strategic Real Estate Operations for WeWork. Her previous experience also includes being International Director and Global President of JLL Integrated Facilities Management Services; Global Head of Integrated Facility Management at CBRE, and Executive Vice President of Grubb & Ellis Company and President and CEO of Grubb and Ellis Management Services, Inc. Ehrenberg was named to the Woman of Influence Hall of Fame by Real Estate Forum/Globe St.
Temmink is Chief Operating Officer of the commercial division.
"This acquisition advances our goal of providing a game-changing, tech-enabled service model for the entire real estate ecosystem,” said Jay McKee, CEO of Lessen. “Lessen and Blue Skyre share a vision of leveraging technology to help shape the future of real estate for a better world, solving pain points, and replacing complexity with transparency and operational efficiency backed by data-driven insights. With this most recent acquisition, Lessen is uniquely positioned to transform commercial and residential real estate to the benefit of all the stakeholders.”
Added McKee, “I’m thrilled to welcome Maureen and Colette to the Lessen family. Their experience, industry track record and expertise will be invaluable as we continue to broaden our reach into commercial facilities management.”
As president of Lessen's SMS Assist Commercial Division, Ehrenberg will drive business strategy and manage overall resources, partnerships, and operations to provide the most advanced and innovative integrated facilities management operating platform for commercial properties. Ehrenberg is focused on growing the enterprise client space, creating additional value, operational advances and savings for existing customers and bringing frictionless, fluid and ESG-focused operating solutions to the market, challenging the status quo.
“Leading Lessen’s commercial business division is an incredible opportunity to drive breakthrough innovation in facilities management,” said Ehrenberg. “The market is calling for a new business model for facilities management solutions; clients seek comprehensive data integration, real-time performance management, portfolio resiliency, service excellence and operationalizing ESG—all of which Lessen delivers through its advanced, integrated digital operating platform.”
As Chief Operating Officer, Commercial Division, Temmink is responsible for leading service delivery and operational excellence in the day-to-day support of clients.
Most recently Chief Strategy & Product Officer at Blue Skyre IBE, Temmink has also served as Senior Vice President and Chief Administration Officer at Apollo Education Group and held global real estate executive roles at Cushman & Wakefield, Oracle and Boeing. She is a renowned speaker and thought leader on corporate real estate, facilities management, ESG and PropTech. Temmink is the co-chair of the International Facilities Management (IFMA) ITC, a top-rated faculty for the MCR Capstone CoreNet course and serves as an editorial board member for the Corporate Real Estate Journal.
“Facilities management has been going through a transformation and Lessen has been at the forefront of this change,” said Temmink. “Delivering value, quality, predictive and efficient services to clients while providing real-time business insights is critical. Lessen’s dynamic approach to strategic integrated facilities management is exactly what the industry requires today.”
About Lessen
Lessen, together with SMS Assist, is the world class, tech-enabled, end-to-end property service provider transforming how commercial and residential real estate services are delivered and managed at scale. Our technology platform provides data-driven insights that unlock key growth opportunities for the entire real estate ecosystem—including investors, owners, managers, and service providers. Lessen enables local field managers to deploy and oversee a network of vetted, qualified vendors acting as one unit across distributed property portfolios—serving a national footprint of more than 1 million properties and completing more than 2.5 million work orders annually across an expanding range of services. Lessen, Inc. is a venture-backed, privately held company with offices in Scottsdale and Chicago. To learn more, visit Lessen.com and smsassist.com.
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REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY, REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
Newswire | May 29, 2023
Canada's leading real estate companies Dream Unlimited Corp., Kilmer Group and Tricon Residential Inc. (together, DKT Partnership) have officially launched Maple House, the first phase of Canary Landing – one of the largest and most significant rental communities in Canada. Altogether, the 12-acre community is comprised of 2,300 rental units – of which 30 per cent will be dedicated as affordable housing and 25 per cent will be barrier-free – creating a model for inclusive, true mixed-income communities across the city.
Canary Landing is located in Toronto's award-winning Canary District community, a pedestrian scale urban village adjacent to the Distillery District in the Downtown East. Canary Landing includes eight mixed-use buildings spanning four city blocks along Cherry Street. In addition to significant market and affordable rental housing, Canary Landing will also include 30,000 square feet of retail and a future 5,000 square foot community space. Canary Landing represents an innovative public-private partnership between the DKT Partnership, the Province of Ontario, the City of Toronto, the Government of Canada, and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), all working collaboratively to create affordable housing solutions at scale.
"We are grateful for the collaboration with our municipal, provincial, and federal partners as we work towards our shared vision for Canary Landing, which will target ambitious LEED Gold sustainability outcomes, and provide long-term market rental and affordable housing. Maple House is the start of fulfilling our promise to create beautiful, sustainable, and affordable housing, and we look forward to seeing residents thrive in this vibrant new community very soon," says Andrew Joyner, Managing Director at Tricon Residential on behalf of the DKT Partnership.
Bringing much-needed affordable housing to the city, the development team is delivering 126 rental homes that will be filled in partnership with seven non-profit agencies from across the city, including: WoodGreen Community Services, Artscape, COSTI, Wigwamen, Performing Arts Lodge, March of Dimes and Interval House. These affordable rental homes will be offered at 40 to 80 per cent below the average market rent. An additional 105 affordable rental homes will be available to the public through a soon-to-be-released open market call. All 231 of the affordable homes have been financially supported by the City of Toronto's Open Door Program.
"We have all watched as Toronto's affordable housing crisis has grown during the past several years," says Anne Babcock, CEO of WoodGreen Community Services. "WoodGreen Community Services is thrilled to be working with other not-for-profit agencies and the DKT Partnership to deliver real and permanent housing solutions to a diverse range of Toronto residents. The Canary Landing initiative is a testament to what we can all do by working together for the common good."
Maple House sets the stage with community-centric amenities and design
Central to the vision for Canary Landing's Maple House is a desire to create beautiful architecture that is inclusive and accessible to all. The acclaimed architecture and design team, which includes Danish firm COBE, along with Canadian firms architectsAlliance and CCxA (Claude Cormier x Associés), focused on creating a design-forward and environmentally responsible community that respects the local heritage. Maple House has already garnered several accolades, including the Canadian Architect Award of Excellence and the 2021 BILD Award for Best New Community.
"Maple House is very special to us. It is not just a city-building project – more importantly, it is a community building project. We have focused a design that is highly contextual, connecting to the fine grain scale of the Distillery District, the prominent scale of Canary District, and at the same time, referencing the industrial heritage of Toronto's waterfront. It results in buildings that both fit in and stand out, and a project that celebrates architectural inclusion and fosters and embraces social diversity and cohesion in this magnificent context," says Dan Stubbergaard, Founder and Owner of Cobe.
"We are incredibly proud to be delivering this truly mixed-income community that is the first of its kind in Canada and a model for city-building," says Joyner. "This type of housing will strengthen our city's social fabric and meet the diverse needs of all Torontonians."
About Dream Unlimited Corp.
Dream Unlimited Corp. is a leading developer of exceptional office and residential assets in Toronto, owns stabilized income generating assets in both Canada and the U.S., and has an established and successful asset management business, inclusive of $24 billion of assets under management across four Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") listed trusts, our private asset management business and numerous partnerships. We also develop land and residential assets in Western Canada. Dream expects to generate more recurring income in the future as its urban development properties are completed and held for the long term. Dream has a proven track record for being innovative and for our ability to source, structure and execute on compelling investment opportunities. For more information please visit: www.dream.ca.
About Kilmer Group
Kilmer Group is the privately-held Toronto based investment holding company of Canadian business leader and philanthropist, Larry Tanenbaum O.C. Kilmer operates in three verticals, 1) real estate and infrastructure, 2) sports, entertainment and media and 3) private equity. Kilmer's operations employ over 22,000 people with a long-term, multi-generational horizon and vision. Kilmer brings an entrepreneurial and solutions driven approach to project delivery.
Kilmer has more than 40 years experience in the construction and development industry in Canada and continues to maintain a focus on the infrastructure sector. Kilmer has extensive expertise in large-scale redevelopment and a focus on unique public private partnerships, mid-rise urban infill projects, and master planned communities. Kilmer is proud to have had a hand in the development of over 12,000 homes.
About Tricon Residential Inc.
Tricon Residential Inc. (NYSE: TCN, TSX: TCN) is an owner and operator of a growing portfolio of more than 36,000 single-family rental homes in the U.S. Sun Belt and multi-family apartments in Canada. Our commitment to enriching the lives of our employees, residents and local communities underpins Tricon's culture and business philosophy.
Tricon was the first-mover to enter Toronto's purpose-built rental apartment sector with scale in 2016, and is today the market leader and most active developer in the marketplace. We partner with celebrated architects to create inviting living spaces and inspired amenities, empower our employees to deliver an exceptional service experience with the support of an innovative technology enabled platform, and build resident community through programming and events to foster meaningful connections. At Tricon, we have reimagined rental living.
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