Heather Picken

Heather chairs the firm’s Real Estate Group and is the co-managing partner of the firm. Her practice is focused on commercial real estate and real estate land development, especially for residential, commercial and industrial subdivisions and condominiums. She has an extensive practice in commercial, industrial and farm real estate purchases, sales and secured transactions, zoning and land use planning, real estate development and financing, joint ventures, real estate remedies and determination of real property rights. She is also a seasoned residential real estate practitioner, having completed thousands of purchases and sales over her career, with particular expertise in cottage transactions and family conveyancing and co-tenancy agreements between generations.

In Heather’s land development practice, she has represented large and experienced builders and land developers as well as business owners, entrepreneurs, and investors who are interested in developing land for the first time. She has guided clients from initial land acquisition, through official plan amendment and rezoning, severances, minor variance applications and site plan/subdivision plan or condominium application approvals. She is exceptionally skilled in coordinating the efforts of all the important contributors to the client’s development throughout the municipal planning process, including the surveyor, planner, architect, real estate agent, property manager and builder. She has appeared before Municipal Councils, Committees of Adjustment, the Niagara Escarpment Commission and the Ontario Municipal Board in the course of her land development practice. Her team approach to projects is organized, thorough, timely, and cost-effective for her clients.

Heather has completed numerous condominium development projects throughout the GTA, from land acquisition and disclosure document preparation, through the planning approvals process, to occupancy closings, condominium registration and final closings of units to purchasers. She has organized the first Boards of Directors for newly incorporated Condominium Corporations and completed the turnover meetings to them. She also advises many Condominium Corporations with their ongoing governance issues.

Heather also heads the firm’s leasing practice, specializing in commercial, industrial and shopping centre leasing for Landlords and Tenants. She is also a member of the firm’s Business Law Group, where she focuses on business acquisitions and sales and secured transactions.

Representative Work

• Retained as outside real estate counsel for large Municipality, acting on the land assembly of private lands for a municipal parking facility, the acquisition of a property from a major bank for road/intersection improvements, the negotiation and completion of easements over private properties for municipal services, and the sale of surplus municipal lands for other institutional and private sector uses.
• Acts for Hydro One Brampton (now Alectra Utilities Corporation), preparing easement documentation to secure access and maintenance rights for its utility lines located in Brampton.
• Represents many Condominium Corporations, guiding Boards of Directors through governance issues including declaration and bylaw interpretation, lien enforcement and budgetary issues and interpretation of rights and obligations under the Condominium Act.
• Completes sales, acquisitions, financing and leasing of properties throughout Ontario for large and small commercial, industrial and farm clients.In particular, for such clients, Heather has:
  • successfully negotiated and completed the sales of numerous farm properties to developers with significant negotiations entailing title and planning difficulties, financing, joint venture and profit sharing arrangements.
  • successfully negotiated and completed the purchase, sale, and financing of commercial and industrial properties as clients sell their businesses and purchase larger or smaller facilities.
  • negotiated and completed long and short-term leases for business operations in stand-alone properties and retail/commercial plazas, telecommunications towers and roof-top leases, pylon sign leases, and interpretation of lease provisions for landlords and tenants, including related enforcement proceedings.
• Completes sales, acquisitions, financing and leasing of properties for many not-for-profit (NFP) organizations.NFPs can have particular governance issues and approvals processes, sometimes requiring extra time and attention and the formation of creative resolutions. In particular, for NFP clients Heather has:
  • successfully negotiated the relocation of one client’s facility with the municipality in which it was located. Funding was contributed by area developers and the municipality.
  • completed the purchase, sale and financing of numerous properties used for developmentally challenged adults and their families.
  • negotiated and completed the challenging sale of one client’s property to a developer, where a divided membership threatened completion of the sale.The file required an open and transparent approvals process and communication through the Board of Directors to the membership, with information to satisfy and defuse a simmering adversarial position, resulting in a sale for the benefit of all.
  • completed the legal work necessary to obtain the planning development approvals and the construction and financing of new church/temple facilities for three different religious institutions in the City of Brampton.
• Acts for clients throughout the GTA in the development of commercial condominium shopping centres and industrial condominium projects that total over $100 million of investment.
• Represents clients who have purchased and financed multi-tenant shopping centres in Toronto, Mississauga and Brampton, totalling an investment of over $75 million. Provides leasing services for clients with tenancies in these plazas, including the negotiation of leases with anchor tenants such as Tim Horton’s, Burger King, the Toronto-Dominion Bank and Imperial Oil.
• Successfully negotiated and closed joint venture agreements for golf course developments, shopping centres and residential housing developments in Ontario.
• Acted for many clients who have developed industrial and residential subdivisions in the Regional Municipalities of Peel, Halton, Muskoka and in the City of Toronto.