Laurent N. Benarrous joins Avison Young's Montreal brokerage operation

MONTREAL, July 20 /CNW/ - Bernard Poliquin, Avison Young Principal and Managing Director of the company's Quebec operations, announced today that Laurent N. Benarrous, one of Montreal's top tenant and leasing brokers, has joined Avison Young.

Effective immediately, Benarrous will join the leasing team in Avison Young's Montreal office as Vice-President. Benarrous has 18 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry and was formerly with Jones Lang LaSalle where he specialized in tenant representation services in the Montreal market.

"We are extremely pleased to have Laurent join Avison Young. His extensive background with both landlords and tenants will be a tremendous asset to our organization," comments Poliquin. "His strong work ethic will reinforce the level of professionalism that clients have come to expect of us."

Having held various positions with several landlords, such as Corporation Immobilière Magil Laurentienne, TrizecHahn, TeleReal (a BCE affiliate) and SITQ, Benarrous' experience will complement the Montreal office's tenant representation and leasing teams. His track record includes the execution of more than 450 leasing transactions totalling 2.5 million square feet. Additionally, he was awarded both the Innovation and the Efficiency and Integrity awards at SITQ's Quality Awards Gala in 2002.

Benarrous holds a B.A.A. and a Certificate in Finance with a specialty in Real Estate from Université de Montréal's H.E.C. He currently sits on the Professional Inspection Committee of the OACIQ (Québec's real estate association), and on the Boards of the Montreal Airports Authority, Montreal Harbourfront Corporation, and serves as Vice-President of the Board of the Héma-Québec Foundation.

He is also a member of the Canadian Delegation on the Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC) of the NAFTA Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC); the Montreal Economic Institute; Civitas; and the Banff Forum - a group of approximately 100 young leaders who meet annually to exchange new ideas aimed at improving Canada's standard of living.

An accredited expert on commercial real estate market issues and trends, Benarrous often takes part in electronic and print media interviews and is a frequent speaker at the Montreal Real Estate Forum. He also provides training in real estate finance to various Montreal law firms. In 2009, Benarrous raised funds and launched the construction of a school in the mountains of Nepal in collaboration with Dalai Lama's advisor, Matthieu Ricard.

"I am extremely proud to be joining Avison Young at this exciting time in its growth," says Benarrous. "I look forward to sharing my knowledge of the Montreal market with the company's highly-skilled team, and taking advantage of the outstanding pool of talent, resources and knowledge base at Avison Young to better serve my clients in the Montreal marketplace."

Over the past year and a half, Avison Young has grown from 11 to 21 offices and from 300 to more than 700 real estate professionals in Canada and the U.S.

Founded in 1978, Avison Young is Canada's largest independently-owned commercial real estate services company and the only national, Canadian-owned, principal-managed real estate brokerage firm in the country. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario and ranked among Canada's leading national commercial real estate organizations, Avison Young is a full-service commercial real estate company comprising more than 700 real estate professionals in 21 offices across Canada and in the U.S. The company provides value-added, client-centric investment sales, leasing, advisory, management, financing and mortgage placement services to owners and occupiers of office, retail, industrial and multi-residential properties.

    
    Editors/Reporters: please click on link to view and download photo of
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    Laurent Benarrous
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    For further information/comment/photos:
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    -   Sherry Quan, National Director of Communications & Media Relations:
        [phone]; cell: [phone]

    -   Bernard Poliquin, Principal & Managing Director, Quebec:
        [phone]

    -   Laurent Benarrous, Vice-President, Montreal Leasing Group:
        [phone]

    -   Mark Rose, Chair and CEO, Avison Young: [phone]

    www.avisonyoung.com
    

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For further information: Media Relations: Sherry Quan, [phone] or [phone], email: [email protected]