Laurie Payne, Vice President of Development at DiamondCorp, joins us in this episode. The company takes on development projects that others wouldn’t due to their complicated nature. DiamondCorp is best known for their expertise in land entitlement, which can be one of the most profitable but difficult stages of the development process.

DiamondCorp has acquired some very desirable assets in Toronto, so Laurie explains how they were able to land these deals. She goes on to talk about how important real estate development is for the city of Toronto and how her company balances profit with environmental sustainability.

Topics covered include:

• Creating value in the riskiest part of the development process.
• Why DiamondCorp partners on nearly all of its projects.
• Reasons to choose a DiamondCorp fund over others in the market.
• How the timing of COVID-19 has affected development.
• Working with Toronto Community Housing Corporation.
• Balancing spiritualism with capitalism.
• The purchase of the enormous development site that was formerly owned by Celestica.
• Keeping Toronto’s development moving forward despite the pandemic.
• Working with different layers of government.
• Environmental, Social, and Governance.
• The “Five Thieves” area of Toronto and the landmark development in the pipeline.

More about our guest….

Laurie guides the development team at DiamondCorp from acquisitions to final approval and construction. Recently, Laurie led the approval for a 60-acre, 5 million square foot new community on former IBM factory lands in Toronto. Laurie regularly provides advice to governments, the development industry and non-profits on emerging planning policy and development matters.

Prior to joining Diamond Corp, Laurie was Development Director for Toronto Community Housing. She led the revitalization of outdated housing projects and negotiated development partnerships with some of Toronto’s leading developers.

Laurie is a founding member of ULI Toronto’s Women’s Leadership Initiative. In 2016, Laurie was named to the Urban Land Institute’s global “40 Under 40”. Laurie is honoured to be recognized by BizNow as Toronto’s Power Women 2019.

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