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Laurie J. Sanderson
Partner • Ottawa
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Laurie J. Sanderson
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Laurie Sanderson is a partner in Gowlings' Ottawa office and head of the Firm's Real Estate National Practice Group. With more than 20 years of experience, Laurie is a recognized expert in the area of commercial leasing. She represents a wide variety of both private and public sector landlords and tenants.
Laurie has extensive experience in both P3 and the design build process, in addition to the unique requirements of Crown Corporations. She is also well positioned to give strategic advice in insolvency proceedings.
Laurie takes a practical results oriented approach to all matters. Her clients can count on a level of service that is matched only by her expertise. She is passionate about her work and committed to delivering strategic results. She is a trusted adviser to her clients on issues unique to commercial leasing, including:
cost recovery and realty tax allocations and reporting obligations;
the appropriate selection and application of measurement standards to achieve financial objectives;
best practices for securing covenants given the unique treatment of commercial leases in bankruptcy;
risk allocation and insurance matters;
repair and restoration obligations;
environmental due diligence both before and at the conclusion of the term of the lease;
operating covenants and radius restrictions.
Most recently represented Export Development Canada in its request for proposal for its national headquarters. The RFP resulted in a long term lease for the construction of a LEED Gold building with a rentable area in excess of 500,000 square feet in downtown Ottawa.
Represented the Federal Crown with respect Her Majesty’s lease from Minto Developments of 3000 Merivale Road, Ottawa, the prior headquarters of JDS Uniphase. This will become the new National Headquarters for the RCMP. The Ottawa Business Journal identified this as Ottawa's largest lease transaction for 2006. The transaction involved a 25 year securitized lease to the Crown. The leased property is a 50 acre site on which JDSU had built a massive 910,000 square feet campus. It is expected that the Crown will build a further 350,000 of office space on this property. The lease includes a bargain transfer of ownership of the lands to the Crown at the end of the 25 year term. The transaction also included a construction management contract under which Minto will undertake what is anticipated to be a two year renovation of the property to ready the site for the RCMP, and a 25 year property management contract between the Crown and Minto.
Represented the Ontario Realty Corp. with respect to Her Majesty in right of Ontario's lease from Sakto Development of an office building in Ottawa Ontario. The new building will house a number of Ontario Ministries. This was a pre-construction lease and was completed on a very short time line of a few weeks from the receipt of the retainer.
Represented the Global Centre for Pluralism with respect to a 99 year ground lease of the site of the Canadian War Museum from the National Capital Commission for the establishment of the Global Centre for Pluralism. This trasaction was particularly challenging given the heritage nature of the property and its location on Confederation Boulevard.
Represented Arnon Corporation in its leasing to Nortel Networks Limited, of the office towers known as the Skyline and Woodline campuses on Baseline Road in the City of Ottawa, involving a rentable area of approximately 1 million square feet. After the sale of the Skyline project to Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada, Ms. Sanderson again represented Arnon with respect to the negotiation of the property management agreement between Her Majesty and Arnon. She also represented Arnon in the re-leasing of the Woodline campus to the City of Ottawa.
Laurie is a frequent speaker on commercial leasing and has published extensively in the area.
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