Saturday, March 12, 2016

Property Development Group Lawrence Rank

Property Development Group
Lawrence Rank 
Founding Partner & Chairman
A recognized expert in the field of shopping centers, Mr. Rank has served as a principal/senior executive at several notable development companies in North America and Asia. He has been responsible for completing the planning, development and redevelopment of over 60 shopping centers and regional malls (over 31 million sq. ft.) during his over 35 years in the real estate industry.

Prior to forming Property Development Group and PDG Investments, Mr. Rank was recruited by Lippo Bank to start up a major shopping mall development group headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia. As the business grew, he relocated to Hong Kong with Lippo Bank to develop a landmark retail mall/mixed-use project in the heart of Beijing, China. Following the completion of his work with Lippo Bank he founded a successful shopping centre consulting firm with offices in Hong Kong and Singapore. Mr. Rank then merged his consulting firm with Koll Asia Pacific and relocated to Newport Beach, California to run CB Richard Ellis' international retail development services group after its acquisition of Koll. Among other development activities, Mr. Rank negotiated a joint venture with a major Taiwanese conglomerate to develop mega retail projects throughout Taiwan.

His North American experience included senior positions with Pan Pacific Development Corporation (partner/director based in Vancouver BC) where he was responsible for managing the company's shopping centre development, leasing and property operations teams throughout Western Canada and the Western United States.

At Cambridge Shopping Centres Limited (VP Development based in Toronto Ont.) Rank was responsible for creating and implementing a program to expand the company's portfolio of shopping centres and mixed-use retail projects from 17 properties to 42 properties over a nine year period. Prior to Cambridge Shopping Centres Rank was a senior development officer at Cadillac Fairview Corporation based in Toronto, Ontario.

Mr. Rank has been an active member of the International Council of Shopping Centers since 1974.


Keith N. McRae
Partner & Director of Acquisitions & Development
Mr. McRae has established an impressive track record in Canada's REIT industry, primarily by creating and growing Calloway Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX: CWT.UN) into a major public REIT and through identifying and acquiring a diversified portfolio of assets, with an emphasis on shopping centres.

Prior to joining Property Development Group, Mr. McRae was Vice President Acquisitions/ Operations for Calloway Real Estate Investment Trust, one of Canada's premier public real estate firms. Mr. McRae's efforts were instrumental in the growth of Calloway from $8 Million Dollars in assets to over $3 billion in assets. Mr. McRae was directly involved in the acquisition and financing of over 100 shopping centres with a total value in excess of $2.5 billion. Mr. McRae was also responsible for the asset management of Calloway's entire portfolio, including the development of over 500,000 square feet of retail space.

Mr. McRae holds an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business (University of Western Ontario) and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Alberta.


David Coon
Partner & Director of Leasing & Property Operations
Mr. Coon has extensive experience in the management, leasing and re-merchandising of shopping centre and mixed-use commercial properties. Mr. Coon formed the Warrington Property Group in 1992, based in Vancouver, BC, and built the company into one of the largest privately owned shopping centre, office, industrial and residential property management and leasing firms in British Columbia. Mr. Coon merged Warrington Property Group with PCI in 2005 to form Warrington/PCI Management.

Prior to establishing the Warrington Property Group, David spent 10 years with Campeau Corporation in Toronto as Director of Shopping Centres Operations and as Director of Leasing and 4 years with Pan Pacific Development Corporation in Vancouver as Director of Leasing. David has been involved in all facets of the real estate industry, including development and re-development, financing, leasing, operations, marketing and property sales/acquisitions. David is a licensed real estate broker in British Columbia.


Ken Grassi
Partner & Director of Construction & Development
Mr. Grassi has extensive experience in the construction and development of major shopping centres, commercial buildings and high profile public facilities. Mr. Grassi's construction experience with PCL Constructors Western Inc., Penreal and Pan Pacific Development includes the Pan Pacific Hotel (Vancouver), Eaton Centre Metrotown, Grosvernor Office Building, Strawberry Hill (77 acre commercial/ residential site), Prairie Mall Shopping Centre in Grand Prairie, Alberta (for Lawrence Rank with David Coon) and City Square (for Lawrence Rank), amongst other major development projects.

Most recently, Mr. Grassi managed the development and design for the $833 million, 1.1 million sq.ft. Vancouver Convention Centre Expansion Project (including 100,000 sq.ft. of prime retail space). In addition to his Canadian and U.S. Pacific Northwest development and construction experience. Mr. Grassi was responsible for managing the design and construction of Chai Tai Riverfest, a 2,637,000 sq.ft. retail/entertainment development in the burgeoning Pudong area in Shanghai, China.


J. Michael Storey
Partner & Director of Financing & Development
Prior to joining PDG Mr. Storey was the founder, President and CEO of Calloway Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX: CWT.UN) growing the assets of the company from zero to over $3 billion, composed of 84 shopping centres. This impressive portfolio of Wal-Mart and grocery anchored shopping centres comprised 14 million square feet of fully constructed properties and a further 6 million square feet on ongoing development projects.

In addition, Mr. Storey has considerable experience in real estate lending (Bank of Nova Scotia's Corporate Real Estate Group; real estate development, leasing and property management (Oxford Development Group and Steward Green Properties) and started and eventually sold a private mortgage syndication firm, Exeter Capital. He is also a director of Ripper Oil and Gas, a small O&G exploration company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange.

Mr. Storey has a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Washington and an MBA from the University of British Columbia.

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