Real Estate

With the combined expertise of more than 20 accomplished lawyers and notaries, Lavery’s real estate professionals  advise clients ranging from small to large businesses on all issues related to real estate law.

In addition to advising its clients on their usual operational needs, Lavery also supports them in the milestones of their development, for example:

• drafting or negotiating commercial leases
• real estate financing
• purchase transactions and real estate sales
• the development and co-development of real estate projects of all sizes.

Lavery regularly represents buyers and vendors, lessors and lessees, as well as lenders and borrowers. The team’s expertise extends to commercial, industrial and multi-residential properties, including residences for seniors.

Several members of Lavery’s real estate team have additional recognized expertise in the area of networks, such as railways, fibre optics and telecommunications networks, and the distribution and transportation of electrical energy. This expertise allows Lavery to provide targeted legal opinions for its clients on the validity and extent of real rights and dismemberments of the right of ownership that may affect these particular immovables. In addition, the professionals on the team draft agreements and deeds relating to dismemberments and the terms of ownership rights.

Lavery’s real estate team also includes several notaries specializing in real estate title searches and registration. These professionals are commonly asked by the firm’s clients to give opinions on the validity of real estate and mining titles, as well as on charges and other real rights encumbering immovables.

In addition to its services in the field of real estate titles, the Lavery team is frequently called upon to negotiate and put in place title insurance policies in various types of cases, whether in the context of real estate financing or real estate acquisitions. 

Select recent mandates

• Represented Broccolini for the acquisition, lease, construction and construction financing and syndicated long-term loan in connection with the new Maison de Radio-Canada.
• Represented the Selection Group:
  • as part of a consortium for the acquisition of the approximately 1.2 million sq. ft. site of the Molson Brewery located in Old Montréal, as well as the financing of the operation;
  • in the establishment of a consortium for the construction of the largest mixed-use real estate project in Laval, Espace Montmorency. Valued at more than $450 million, this brand new urban centre will be located in the heart of Laval and will be directly connected to Montréal’s underground network, via the Montmorency subway station;
  • in the establishment of District Union, a billion dollar multi-generational megaproject comprising 3,500 units, in the Lachenaie district of Terrebonne, at the intersection of highways 40 and 640.
• Represented CDPQ Infra Inc. and the corporations in its group in the setting up of the Réseau express métropolitain (REM), one of the largest automated transportation networks in the world with 67 km and 26 stations, for the acquisition of infrastructure and the transactional, real estate and regulatory aspects subsequent to the transactions.
• Represented and advised Freestone International LLC, a California-based natural resource development company, and GNL Québec Inc., a company formed for the development, financing and operation of a US$7 billion development project for a liquified natural gas (LNG) export facility at the Port of Saguenay. In particular, Lavery participated in the drafting and negotiation of the land option agreement with the Saguenay Port Authority, in legal opinions related to several aspects of the project, and more particularly with regard to real estate matters.
• Representing Owl's Head Resort and Fred Korman for the sale of the Owl's Head Resort to a group of investors.
• Represented a Canadian bank in the $76 million financing for the construction of the two towers located on Maisonneuve Boulevard West in Montréal. This mandate also included a negotiation component with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) for the transformation of one of the two towers into a divided co-ownership.
• Represented a Canadian entrepreneur, a leader in the restaurant industry, during the acquisition of the Hôtel St-James in Old Montréal and the negotiation of a long-term lease for the hotel in its historic building on Saint-Jacques Street.
• Represent three of the co-owners of the Îlot Wilder project which will house Espace Danse in the Quartier des spectacles in Montréal, an innovative project whose legal structure includes emphyteusis and divided co-ownership 
• Advised AP Wireless Investments ULC in setting up the agreements required for the expansion of its business in Quebec, and we represent this corporation for the acquisition of leases from cell phone service providers.