Areas of Practice

You need practical advice to complete your project on time and on budget. At Owen Bird, we understand that timely, accurate and cost efficient solutions are vital through the development process to hit your targets and meet your business objectives in a competitive industry. Our focus is to provide skilled, accurate, client-centered and responsive service. We strive to exceed our clients’ needs with hands-on service to deliver progressive solutions in the fast paced world of real estate development.

The Development Group is actively engaged and highly experienced in all aspects of real estate development. Our lengthy history of effective full service development advice combines high level technical expertise with business savvy real-world experience. Our Development team loves a challenge, and employs innovative and collaborative strategies to support your success. Our diversity of experience and backgrounds empowers our lawyers to understand the perspectives and unique priorities of your business. We can assist you with a broad range of development advice from start to finish of your project including:

• advising on ownership structures;
• acquisition and disposition of development sites and development related real property including land assemblies and disposition of partially completed project sites;
• conventional and air space subdivisions including air space parcel subdivisions for residential, industrial and commercial projects, as well as leasehold stratas and developments on first nations lands;
• strata/condominium matters, including mixed-use structures and challenges such as common facility uses, cost-sharing and phasing;
• municipal matters including advising on approvals and permits, drafting and negotiating a wide range of covenants, easements and land title encumbrances;
• industrial, residential and mixed-use developments with both commercial and residential components;
• uniquely challenging development transactions including strata conversions, collapse of stratas and co-ownership properties, fractional interests and distressed properties;
• preparing disclosure statements for condominium, fractional, timeshare and conventional/bare-land strata sales;
• construction and general financing for borrowers and a diverse range of lenders from major institutional lender to mortgage investment corporations and private lenders;
• conveyance of completed development lots or interests; and
• real estate litigators with vast experience in successful pre-sale, construction and other real estate based litigation.

We are passionate about partnering with our clients on the successful delivery of complete transactions throughout the lifespan of a project, from acquisition, development and financing to completion. Contact us today for more information about how we can help you.