A RECORD OF SUCCESS WITH $ 500M IN REAL ESTATE DEALS
Senior negotiator specializes in mid- size retail and office properties
George Larson didn’t begin his career in real estate until 1986 after working in banking and lending services for 22 years. Since then he has sold over $ 500 million in properties and continues to enjoy making deals for his clients.
Larson’s earlier experience included working for the Bank of Montreal and as a senior regional manager for a credit union.
In 1986 he met John Torode, who convinced him to join Torode Real Estate as its general sales manager. Larson took on the role as senior negotiator in 1991, a role he continues in today, and he became a member of the partnership that acquired the brokerage in 2001.
In 2003, David Wallach assumed the leadership role as president of the company and rebranded it under the name of Barclay Street Real Estate in 2007. He has built it up to be the largest locally owned, full- service real estate brokerage and property management firm in the province — with offices in Calgary and Edmonton, and membership in TCN Worldwide, a consortium of independent commercial realestate firms with approximately $ 21.6 billion in annual transactions.
Wallach currently serves as regional vice- president for the organization.
It’s the relationships with worldwide connections and other members of the Barclay Street investment sales team that have contributed to Larson’s success.
He specializes in the area of mid- size retail and office properties in the $ 5 million to $ 25 million range and has numerous repeat clients, including two he has represented on 12 acquisitions and divestitures.
Larson also has a special knowledge of Macleod Trail real estate. He recently sold Centre 7800, a mixed- use commercial property in the 7800- block S. E close to the Heritage Park LRT station. A separate part of the same investment portfolio — Centre 7500, two buildings on 1.66 acres of land between Macleod Trail and the CTrain tracks — remains to be sold.
Two other Macleod properties that Larson has sold are Shawnee Station, a 27,000- square- foot building with tenants that include Humpty’s and a passport office, and the 40,000- square- foot Century Plaza at 1040 Macleod Trail S. E., home to White Spot, Tim Hortons, Edward Jones Investments, Fabutan and Dollar Giant.
On the south side of the city, Larson was responsible for the sale of Fish Creek Village, 53,400 square feet of buildings in a retail centre along Canyon Meadows Drive S. E. whose tenants include Arby’s, Pizza 73, Maxwell and Weight Watchers.
But Larson has also been known to travel north of the river and recently sold Golden Acre Twin Plaza off McKnight Blvd. at 4th Street N. E., two retail buildings totalling 57,500 square feet.
His expertise has welcomed him in Cochrane to sell multitenant retail plaza Points West, to Ponoka to sell Ponoka Town Centre, to Olds for the sale of Mountain View Plaza, and to Sherwood Park — where along with colleague Doug Grinde in the Edmonton office — he sold Nottingham Centre.
Larson is a man who thoroughly enjoys working hard, which includes travelling monthly to major Canadian cities to meet clients and attending out- of- town conferences and forums.
He said there are few good quality properties coming to market, but no doubt he and his associate Nicholas Earl will find them when they do.
Larson is a man who thoroughly enjoys working hard ... travelling monthly to major Canadian cities to meet clients.
NEWS AND NOTES
Tourism Calgary has announced changes in the way it plans to reimagine its visitor engagement methods. Early in 2016 it will exit its Visitor Information Centre at the base of the Calgary Tower, although keeping its Calgary International Airport location in operation. The new strategy is based on having a roaming physical presence around the city.
“We have a tremendous opportunity to pilot innovative visitor engagement strategies including a mobile approach being where visitors are, rather than forcing them to find us,” says Cindy Ady, president and CEO.
It is anticipated that more than 1.9 million visits will be made to the Tourism Calgary website this year. And 55 per cent of those will be from mobile or tablet devices — resulting in 400,000 referrals to industry partners.