Commercial Leasing

The Commercial Leasing Group offers some of the pre-eminent expertise in the field. Our eight-lawyer team acts for developers, lenders, property and asset managers, landlords and tenants of all types of office, industrial and retail properties. Our knowledge of the business aspects of leasing enables us to offer value added counsel and excellent service in negotiating leases and related agreements, structuring transactions and enforcement of landlord and tenant rights and remedies.

We are experienced in developing innovative lease document packages and systems that are tailor-made for clients. We appreciate, and share, clients' impatience with unnecessarily long and complex paperwork, and are always striving to streamline our documents. We believe that short, well-drafted, easily understandable lease documents help achieve win-win results for landlords and tenants and greatly reduce legal costs and frustration levels.

On request, we can educate and train clients' employees to handle lease administration and problems more effectively on their own, resulting in savings in outside legal costs.

Members of the Minden Gross Commercial Leasing Group are proud to be invited frequently to lecture and lead programs at commercial leasing conferences sponsored by professional, industry and private organizations. This includes an active role in International Council of Shopping Centers conferences in Canada and the U.S. Two members of our Commercial Leasing Group are named as two of Canada's most frequently recommended property leasing lawyers by the Canadian Legal LEXPERT Directory and the American Lawyer Media's Guide to the Leading 500 lawyers in Canada.

The Minden Gross Commercial Leasing Group is an especially important resource for American companies. While Canadian lease documents and practices are very similar to those in the United States, there are some critical differences of which American companies entering Canada's marketplace should be aware. We provide the most current information on these differences as well as counsel on local law, title issues and certain additional rent charges which are unique to Canada. Our familiarity with the concerns and experiences of American companies who have established themselves in Canada positions us to provide important and timely advice which can avoid unnecessary delays, costs and exposure. We have broad experience dealing with virtually every significant developer in this country, and are familiar with their documents, people and practices.

Office/Industrial

We act for major retail office landlords and industrial tenants in multi-tenant, single tenant and mixed use office and industrial projects throughout Canada. As astute negotiators, we are a valuable resource in the critical areas of maximizing and protecting the value of our clients' most strategic assets, their leases.

We have a strong track record in regional malls, power centres, community strip centres and mixed use projects.

Retail Group

In addition to commercial leasing expertise, Minden Gross provides assistance in other matters of importance to retail clients, through its Retail Practice Group and partnering arrangements with other speciality firms. These services to retailers include advice in Franchising, Trade Marks, Sales Tax, and Marketing and Labelling.

Dispute Resolution

Our wide expertise and familiarity with the business aspects of leasing have uniquely qualified us by both knowledge and experience to advise on client's rights in dispute or default situations and to counsel the resolution of any such situations in a creative, constructive and cost-effective manner. In addition, in cases where dispute or default situations cannot be resolved, we have litigators who are highly experienced in dealing with lease disputes and default situations.

The quality of our work is substantiated by a roster of some of our clients including:

Addition-Elle
American Eagle
Bentall Properties
Beutel Goodman
Commisso's Food Markets
Dalmys
Fieldgate Developments
Finds
The Gap
H&R Developments
H&R REIT
Humbold Properties
King Optical
LA Express, Silk & Satin
La Senza Girl, La Senza
Laura's
Loblaw Properties Limited

Madison Homes Limited
Melanie Lyne
Medallion Properties
Michael Hill Jewellers
Monarch Construction
O&Y Properties
Ontario Realty Corporation
Oxford Properties
Penningtons
Penreal Capital Management
Reitmans (Canada) Limited
Ruth's Chris Steakhouse
Shirley K
Smart Set
Starbucks Coffee Company
Suzy Shier, Anne X
TACC Construction