Crown acquires, leases, manages, and redevelops commercial real estate assets across Canada. With a well-established track record, an experienced team, and a hands-on approach, we're able to provide superior returns for our investors and better workplaces for businesses operating within our portfolio.
With 20+ years of expertise, Crown is a leader in acquiring, leasing, managing, and redeveloping commercial real estate across Canada. Our hands-on approach and experienced team deliver exceptional returns for investors, while creating dynamic workplaces for businesses. Learn more about what we do.
In a significant step for Crown's succession planning and leadership evolution, Scott Watson joins as Partner, Leasing & Acquisitions, while Emily Hanna has been promoted to Partner, Investments. Les Miller and Jamie Christie are appointed Co-Managing Partners, bringing years of trusted leadership, with their partnership dating back to 2002 and 2010, respectively.
To support this growth, Crown has introduced a new governance structure and established an Executive Committee to provide strategic counsel to the partnership.
Crown forms a closed-end fund consisting of $400M of stable real estate assets intended for long-term hold and ongoing distributions.
Longtime members of the Crown team, Gary Summers and Mark Dimmell are added to the Partnership. Each is continuing as a leader of a Crown business unit, overseeing the Operations & Construction and Finance & Reporting teams at Crown, respectively.
Crown adds a 415,561 sq. ft. portfolio of flex office space in Ottawa, Ontario. This marks Crown’s second major acquisition in the Ottawa market and motivated the establishment of an office in Ottawa.
After its second major acquisition in the Ottawa market, a new management office is established in the country's capital, led by Michael Stones.
Crown continues to expand its leadership team with the promotion of Scott Watson to Managing Partner, Leasing & Acquisitions, Emily Hanna to Managing Partner, Investments, and the addition of Stefan Teague as Partner, Leasing.
Crown is proud to announce its first fully digital building. Tenants of 30 Eglinton Avenue West can now experience and access all elements of their office experience - through their phone. This is part of a portfolio-wide initiative at Crown to create a digital work experience for tenants through the Connect by Crown app launched in 2021.
Crown introduces two new employee partners, Monica Di Zio, Director, Marketing and Innovation and Michael Stones, Vice President, Property Management, Ottawa as we continue to invest in our succession planning.
Get to know the passionate leaders driving our success. Our executive team brings expertise, innovation, and dedication to everything we do. Each member is committed to fostering growth, building strong relationships, and delivering exceptional results.
As Managing Partner and CEO, Les oversees the strategic corporate direction, governance, talent development, and other service functions across the organization. As Crown’s biggest advocate for delivering an excellent workplace experience to tenants, Les has helped establish this as the foundation of the team’s approach to property management. With extensive experience across multiple service lines, he has been instrumental in spearheading and executing Crown’s unique approach to value-add real estate, creating sustainable, risk-adjusted returns for investors.
Jamie oversees asset management functions across Crown’s portfolio and, as Managing Partner, leads the strategic planning, development, repositioning, and disposition of assets. His detail-oriented workstyle provides the foundation for Crown’s value-add approach to building repositioning, ultimately focused on delivering above-average risk-adjusted returns to investors. Prior to joining Crown, Jamie was Director of Asset Management at Minto Developments. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Urban Land Institute in Toronto. Jamie is a Chartered Professional Accountant.
As Managing Partner, Leasing and Acquisitions, Scott is responsible for identifying and negotiating the acquisition of investment opportunities across Canada to meet Crown’s investment objectives, acquiring more than $1B since 2020. Scott is responsible for obtaining approval on all new investments from both internal and external investment committees. Scott uses a creative lens to add value for Crown’s stakeholders and investors through guiding new leasing and strategic capital initiatives across Crown’s portfolio. A member of the VTS Office Advisory Board, Scott collaborates with some of North America’s leading office sector experts within one of the largest proptech companies in real estate. He is also a former board member of NAIOP Greater Toronto. Scott is the Chair of the St. Joseph’s Hospital Golf Fundraiser leading a committee to annually raise more than $400,000 for much needed equipment for the hospital. Before joining Crown, Scott was Senior Vice-President, National Director at Jones Lang LaSalle.
Emily is Managing Partner, Investments, overseeing the capital raising and Investment functions at Crown. Emily works with the acquisitions, finance, and asset management teams in the development of Crown’s investment strategies. Emily offers partner oversight for Crown’s ESG Strategy and is a member of Crown’s Investment Committee. Prior to joining Crown, Emily was at Allied REIT, where she advanced the REIT’s early property development program and acquisitions across Canada, including 151 Front Street West, a Wall Street Journal “deal of the week.”
Emily is an active member in the Canadian real estate community, having served on the board for Toronto Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW), the Ted Rogers School of Management Real Estate Advisory Council. She is also a past board member and past president of NAIOP Greater Toronto. Emily holds a Bachelor of Sciences (Honours) degree, Master of Arts and PhD in Economics from the University of Toronto.
As Partner of Finance and Reporting, Mark oversees the preparation of financial statements for all Crown funds and co-ownerships, investor reporting requirements, treasury, taxation, and accounting policies. Prior to joining Crown, Mark was Director of Reporting for a major Toronto-based REIT. He volunteers his time on the Executive Committee of the Learning Disabilities Association of York-Simcoe. Mark is a Chartered Professional Accountant.
A creative thinker with a national perspective, Stefan leads Crown’s Leasing team. With extensive industry experience, including a successful career as a top-performing leasing broker and as Executive Managing Director/ Broker of Record, Greater Toronto Area for Cushman & Wakefield, Stefan consistently uncovers opportunities and delivers outstanding results for Crown’s clients. He is an expert in value creation and asset positioning, with a deep understanding of the changing dynamics in Canada’s urban and suburban markets. Stefan is committed to fostering innovation and driving growth within Crown’s portfolio. He is active in many industry associations including SIOR and NAIOP, and is a regular speaker at industry conferences including the Toronto Real Estate Forum.
Crown’s Advisory Board consists of business leaders who meet regularly with Crown’s partners to provide strategic counsel, recommendations and advice to the firm. The Advisory Board provides recommendations to Crown’s partnership on ESG matters, market insights, consulting on investor reporting and potential conflicts of interest. The intelligence and unbiased outside perspective of Crown’s Advisory Board ensures Crown’s strategic decision making is in the best interests of investors, employees, and other stakeholders.
