#urbanizeTHIS: Recent Episodes
urbanizeTHIS
Ara Mamourian (Founder of TheSpringTeam.ca) and Matthew Slutsky (Founder BuzzBuzzHome.com) take you on an auditory journey through various urban Toronto issues and bring some super interesting guests along for the ride .
Matthew Slutsky (co-Founder of Buzzbuzzhome) and Ara Mamourian (Founder/Broker at TheSpringTeam.ca) have a chat with Danny Tseng - Architect and Development Director at Syllable Design.
This week we discuss the future of the urban office. With everyone working form and many of the World's largest companies announcing more flexible work from home opportunities, will anyone come back?
Is downtown dead? Subscribe and listen to find out!
Matthew Slutsky (co-Founder of Buzzbuzzhome) and Ara Mamourian (Broker at The Spring Team at Property.ca) continue to dig deep into the Toronto Real Estate market.
This time we talk resale. Why are people selling now? Are Buyers buying? What about prices? Down? Up?
We tackle all of these questions and more with best selling author, realtor, and all round great human, Brian Persaud!
Once again, huge shoutout to Mortgage Jake for jumping on board as our first ever sponsor! Listen for his ads throughout the video and audio versions.
Matthew Slutsky (co-Founder of Buzzbuzzhome) and Ara Mamourian (Broker at The Spring Team at Property.ca) have an important chat about Real Estate and COVID-19 with two amazing humans (see below)
We had to go remote on this one so it's our first VIDEO episode. You can check your podcast provider a little later today for the full audio version.
Once again, huge shoutout to Mortgage Jake for jumping on board as our first ever sponsor! Listed for his ads throughout the video and audio versions.
The Corona Virus has taken the world by storm, turning the entire world upside-down in a heartbeat and is going to change the way that the real-estate industry operates for many many months, and potentially forever.
But, life isn’t stopping. It is time to evolve the way we do business. Today we are welcoming two very different guests to talk about the changes taking place, what builders are doing in the wake of COVID19, and how we are going to move forward as an industry.
Please welcome Andy Brethour of PMA Brethour Real Estate Corporation Inc, Brokerage and Saul Colt - The Idea Integration Company!
Can a small town reinvent itself to be relevant for future generations? Ara Mamourian (founder of TheSpringTeam.ca and Matthew Slutsky (founder of BuzzBuzzHome.com) speak to Innisfil’s CAO Jason Reynar about using Uber for public transportation, paying taxes by Bitcoin, and building a city of the future called Orbit City.
This episode is sponsored by Mortgage Jake! Please visit MortgageJake.com to check our your BEST mortgage options.
This week Matthew Slutsky (Founder and President of BuzzBuzzHome) and Ara Mamourian (Founder and Broker at TheSpringTeam.ca) sit with Peter Freed, founder and visionary behind Freed Developments.
Peter Freed started out building single family homes in Markham then quickly became one of Toronto's more in demand developers with transformative projects like 75 Portland and 55 Stewart. As if literally transforming and creating a new community in King West wasn't enough, Freed has created a ton of trend setting hospitality spaces like the Thompson and many more to come to Freed's more recent completions at Yonge and Eglinton.
Happy Listening and as always, your reviews are appreciated!
This week Matthew Slutsky (Founder and President of BuzzBuzzHome) and Ara Mamourian (Founder and Broker at TheSpringTeam.ca) sit with Brian Brown, Principal at Lifetime Developments
Brian and Lifetime Developments are Liberty Village Pioneers. They've transformed Liberty Village from underused employment lands to a booming micro city within a city with thousands of new jobs and amenities. All while respecting Liberty's roots and contributing to the growth and involvement of both the residential and businesses communities.
Did you know WeWork is coming back in a big way with a flagship location here?
What do you think about Liberty Village?
This week Matthew Slutsky (Founder and President of BuzzBuzzHome) and Ara Mamourian (Founder and Broker at TheSpringTeam.ca) sit with Sean Galbraith of Galbraith & Associates Inc and Emerich Kaspar, Architect at Standard Practice to talk Mid-Rise.
Mid-Rise is not often talked about and extremely hard to build in an ever expanding metropolis like Toronto. As construction costs rise and NIMBYism delays projects, more and more developers are forced to go high-rise to make their projects viable.
Will we see more mid-rise in our residential communities?
Today we are sitting down with Gregg Lintern, the Chief Planner of the City of Toronto - more specifically, the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning Division, City of Toronto.
This was a great discussion that took us from Bill 108 to Laneway Homes and of course a couple Jane Jacobs mentions.
We talk about Toronto Winters and how they can be made more bearable with smart city planning (hello awnings!) and a slew of other awesome journeys that Gregg took us on!
This week Matt and Ara chat with Janie Romoff, General Manager of Parks, Forestry and Recreation for the City of Toronto since 2014.
She’s held various senior positions with the Province of Ontario, and cities such as London Ontario and Burnaby BC.
Janie oversees the services of the Division, which includes community recreation, parks, horticulture and forestry programs, park and open space planning, capital development and environmental initiatives. Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation is the largest of its kind in Canada.
We discuss Risk Based Play in Toronto's parks as well as a few other hot button items like the early removal of basketball nets in parks and why some parks don't have swings!
This week Matt and Ara chat with Taya Cook, the Director of Development at Urban Capital, overseeing residential developments across Canada.
Taya is in the midst of launching a new project in Toronto called “Reina Condos”, which is described as “Condominiums designed by women. Developed by women. Built for everyone.”
You're going to want to take a deep listen to this one, folks. We learned a ton about what Taya and her team are up to.
But more importantly, we had an open and honest discussion about women in Real Estate and what we can all do to make this a much more inclusive space.
This week we chat with James Yurichuk, a former CFL linebacker who's created an amazing movement: The Wuxly Movement!
Creating cruelty free, uber warm clothing for Canadians by Canadians! Well, they're in the US too.
This is also the very first laneway office we've seen. A trend that I'm sure will continue as property owners look to maximize their property's value.
A truly amazing Canadian company! Go get it, James!!!
This week Matt and Ara talk with Craig Patterson. Craig's been studying the retail landscape for over 25yrs and seems to know everything about retail.
Craigs drops some serious secrets about who's coming into the Toronto market and who's leaving.
Some juicy juicy info here that you definitely didn't know about!
In our second episode of season four we invited Brendan Charters, Founding Partner at Eurodale Homes to talk building, renovating and slowly changing the face of existing residential communities one 5 plex at a time.
After a long hiatus Matt and Ara are back at it with season 4 of urbanizeTHIS!
This week we talk with Mike Collins-Williams about the Ford Government's reinstatement of the OMB and the ins and outs of Bill 108 which aims to tackle affordability and development in Ontario
How will this affect you? What do developers think? What do we think?
Hope you enjoy and of course if you have any feedback for us don't hesitate to contact ara@property.ca or matthew@buzzbuzzhome.com
Have a great week and well see you in 7 days!
Mamourian and Slutsky chat with Dan Flomen who's lived through multiple real estate cycles, and is still alive to talk about it!
Slutsky and Mamourian are back on the podcast scene after a 3 month hiatus. This time we chat with Corey Herscu, owner of RNMKR PR. A firm that focuses on the Cannabis industry here in Canada. Corey's a media and technology commentator who has evolved into an ‘always-on’ publicist focused on technology and cannabis.
Pop ups. It's all about the Pop Ups. Big complicated commercial leases are painful enough to keep some would-be entrepreneurs out of the retail game. David King, General Managr at ThisOpenspace.com (let's call it the AirBnb of retail) has big plans to make commercial retail much more accessible and put some extra cash in Landlord's pockets during vacancy periods. Happy Listening!
This week we chat with Neil Jonsohn, Principal - Creative at U31 Deign! Neil and his team have been designing luxury and large-scale residential projects for over 20years! We talk about what's new in luxury building and try to understand the expectations of folks when buying these types of houses and condos.
Everyone's talking about it, right? So we decided to jump on the Bitcoin train and talk Blockchains and Cryptocurrencies. We do out best to stay focussed while our brains were exploding but we do jump around all over the place to try and help you understand what we're dealing with here. We'll do a follow-up to this once we understand Blockchain better and in the mean time you can visit Ameer's site: Blockgeeks.com to do all your own research! Ameer is a serial entrepreneur, marketing expert, SEO pro, youtube master but most importantly, he’s the founder and CEO of Blockgeeks.com! A Blockchain education and technology platform used by millions of people each year. Whether he knows it or not, Ameer has taught me everything I know about Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies.
Mamourian & Slutsky chat with Claire Nelischer from Ryerson's City Building Institute. It's true, all the land we have is here. To expand this amazing city of ours. We're stuck with what we've got...or are we. An ambitious group of folks decided to make new land. That's right. Cover up the rail lands from Blue Jays Way to Bathurst and create a park on top of it! We talk all things from this crazy thing called "air rights" to why the heck does Councillor Mammoliti seem to be on the wrong side of every single vote.. EVER. Claire Nelischer is a Project Manager at The City Building Institute at Ryerson University, which addresses complex urban problems through research, teaching, communications, and engagement. Claire recently authored the Police Paper “The Opportunity of Rail Deck Park” which says that the Rail Deck Park would provide the City of Toronto with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a large contiguous green space of regional significance.
Slutsky & Mamourian chat with Amanda Cosco, founder of Electric Runway and Fashion Tech entrepreneur! We unpack a ton of info including how Fashion Tech can help build better Cities (thing big data), how retail is changing and how fashion tech is evolving. Basically we're all going to be cyborgs soon. Guest Bio Amanda Cosco has reported on cyborgs, wearable tech, smart fabrics, and augmented retail for WWD, the Toronto Star, and Wareable—to name a few. In addition to being a sought-after speaker, curator, and consultant in the area of fashion tech, Amanda has also been recognized by the likes of Intel for her innovative approach to journalism and new media storytelling.
Slutsky and Mamourian have a candid chat with new OREA (Ontario Real Estate Association) CEO Tim Hudak. You may know Tim as the former leader of the Provincial PC party but his mission is now help OREA evolve into the leading advocate of Realtors and homeownership. Tim doesn't hold back with his criticism of the new Federal meddling in our Real Estate and challenges the effectiveness of the Foreign Buyer tax and the new OFSI mortgage stress test changes taking hold January 1st 2018. Have a listen and tweet us using the hashtag #urbanizeTHIS to @aramammo or @iSlutsky!
Welcome to Season 3 of urbanizeTHIS! The Toronto Real Estate market has been the talk of the World for a long time. Both Matt and I are in the trenches every day and sometimes we see that what's being reported in the media isn't always what we're seeing on the ground. Today we talk to 25 year industry vet, former President of the Toronto Real Estate Board, current director at large at the Ontario Real Estate Association and President at Property.ca (Ara's new company!). Laser focussed on the stats, Mark lays down some real truths about where we are, where we've been and where we're going.
Alex Mazelow destroys the "Retail is dead" myth in our final episode of season 2! HIs company, The Carbon Collective has been thriving whist others are dying. We dig into WHY and HOW. Hint - it's not as easy as opening up next to a Starbucks anymore.
Jake Tobin from ParkPeople.ca talks parks....and let me tell you, we ain't talking about your average park. We dig deeper into the urban parks of the future from the $25mm privately funded underpass park aka the bentway to the massive park path along the hydro corridor. You'll want to listen to this one.
Gianpiero Pugliese: Principal at Audax talks Medieval Modern & Human Architecture, shall we? They sure don't mak'em like they used to. Building cities in "super-blocks" as the Romans did way back in the day seems to be making a comeback. You see, Cities used to be built by pedestrians for pedestrians. They invented the whole "shop local" movement and Henry Ford ruined it all. Whatever you needed was literally steps from your front door. You worked, played and shopped where you lived.
Can you raise a family in an urban condo? YES. Jeanhy Shim talks about this and tells us that people buy jeans the same way they buy real estate. The Value Equation: Value = Rational Benefit x Emotional Benefit ÷ Price has been top of mind as Jeanhy consults developers while creating the perfect suite mix in a new development. The goal? Making 900 square feet feel bigger than it actually is.
Steven Tingley, a Toronto Community Housing (TCHC) resident talks about his experience with his TCHC apartment and living with no heat since February. Steven is an active member of the TCHC community as their Community Animator and Co-Chair of Communications Workgroup. We also learn some surprising facts about Steven's life from a $200K book deal he turned down to his club owner days on the East Coast.
From Artificial Intelligence to Planning Algorithms to Staying Safe in tall buildings. Prof. Brenda McCabe and Prof. Arash Shahi take us on an interesting journey through their recent report titled: EVALUATION OF TALL BUILDING CONSTRUCTION PERMITTING PROCESS IN TORONTO (read it here --> http://rescon.com/media/2015/Shahi_K_et_al_CSCE124_Permitting_Process.pdf)
We chat with Core Architects Principal, long time architect and urban enthusiast Babak Eslahjou about everything from politics to the next "boom town". Will Babak run for Mayor again? How will community politics change now that the OMB is being dismantled? Are we going to see more developers back politicians to help get their way?
Why do we live in Toronto and not Vancouver? Sunlight, baby! Ara loves it but Slutsky prefers the shade. But in all seriousness as we develop more density in urban communities around the World the shadowing effect is something that needs to be taken seriously. This week, Paul Kulig Urban Design and Transportation leader at Perkins + Will has a serious talk about what's being done about preserving sunlight, the benefits of shade and some cool new tech that make it rain sun everywhere!
This week we chat with Lisa Bate an Architect with B+H who's working on something we bet you haven't even thought about. Waterproofing Cities. Waterproofing. Think about that for a second. With all the recent floods wiping out major Canadian and US Cities this is a serious discussion that's gaining a ton of momentum. One troubling thought: How do we protect against future events if we constantly take measures to protect ourselves using stats from the past?
A high level discussion with Graham Haines about the new Rent Control rules the Wynne Government has proposed and a deep dive into Graham's recently written policy paper titled: Making Cents of Ontario's Rent Regulation: Assessing the Financial Impact of Rent Control and Developer Incentives.
Slutsky and Mamourian sit with Marco VanderMaas about this strange thing called the Missing Middle. Everyone's always talking building way up up up while Marco's talking about taking advantage of existing structures and build them out. He's basically the Frank Lloyd Wright of today!
Slutsky and Mamourian chat with Ed Levy a global transit authority and a man who's raging passion for Transit has taken him all over the world in a consulting capacity. We're pretty sure he knows more than all of us combined. Also, did you know that the TTC is the only transit system in the World that is expected to fund itself? You should buy his book --> http://www.bagroup.com/news/~1278-Ed-Levy-s-Book-now-Selling-in-Bookstores-and-Amazon
Slutsky and Mamourian sit with Norm Li the KING of renderings. If you've seen a rendering of a condo somewhere in the World you've likely seen a Norm Li. The conversation quickly evolves from simple 2D renderings into Virtual Reality. VR will be responsible for the decentralization of real estate sales centres to allow brokers to litterally showcase thousands of projects all within a small office space. The future is here, folks.
Slutsky and Mamourian chat with Alex Mereu, transportation planner with the IBI group. We dive into Alex's recent report: "A Driverless Future Is Not Just About Cars" and go on a few tangents here and there. Autonomous Vehicles seem to always come up during our discussions so now we devote an entire episode to it. What would you do with all that parking infrastructure if people didn't have cars?
Slutsky and Mamourian sit with President of Centrcourt Developments; Shamez Virani. Centrecourt does highrise and only highrise and want to do more highrise! They've developed exciting Toronto high rises like Peter Street condos, Axis, Core Condos, Karma and INDX and are now creating a new downtown from scratch in Vaughan.
Slutsky and Mamourian chat with a man that needs no introduction: Councillor Norm Kelly! Most famous for his recent beef with rapper Meek Mill and known globally for his witty Twitter chops and of course his work on Toronto's City Council representing Ward 40. We talk about politics, urban planning and what The 6ix Dad thinks about provincial interference on the Tory road toll.
Slutsky and Mamourian sit with Quandrangle Architects Principal, Richard Witt. We take a deep dive into his career and how he's put his stamp on Toronto over the past two decades. Richard thinks Toronto needs to have more "super-tall" buildings. Do you?
Slutsky and Mamourian chat with Kirkor Architects co-founder Clifford Korman. We take a walk though the company's humble beginnings and have a glimpse into the future of Toronto development. We learn about Background Buildings and why they're important plus some interesting stories from the trenches. Also...we need more canopies. Amiright?
Slutsky and Mamourian talk with Dr. Stephen Hwang, a 20yr physician at St. Mikes Centre for Urban Health Solutions. There are over 5000 homeless in Toronto with approximately 500 on the street every single night we discuss ways folks can help, how Cities are helping and what the future holds.
[Season 2 Premier] Slutsky and Mamourian have a loooooong and super interesting discussion with Jordan Teperman. Yes, that Teperman with the big Black and Orange signs. They’ve been taking down the old to make way for the new for over 5 generations and have also been developing for the past 16 years with Haven Developments. Teperman gives us an unexpected window into some Toronto history through the eyes of his great grandfather while they were making way for Maple Leaf Gardens (wait till you hear the deal they turned down) and how hard it was for them to demolish the old Government House at Chorley Park.
Season 1 Finale! Slutsky and Mamourian chat with Casie Stewart, one of Toronto's most sought after influencer marketers. Our conversation goes all over the place starting with what influencer marketing is, how some companies are doing it right and how some are doing it very wrong! Thanks so much for listening this year! We had no idea what we were doing at the beginning and to be honest, we have no idea what we're doing now! But we're excited to bring you season 2 in just a few short weeks. Thanks again and don't forget to subscribe! #urbanizeTHIS!
Slutsky and Mamourian chat with iconic Toronto Real Estate Broker and Developer Brad Lamb. Brad has very strong opinions and he does not hold back! Saying AirBnB needs to be squashed like a cockroach, speaking about his development process and where the unforgettable "head on a lamb" marketing plan all started and how it quite literally doubled his business overnight.
Slutsky and Mamourian chat with Amber MacArthur aka Amber Mac about everything tech from party lines to how Municipalities can use Facebook Messenger and AI to effectively run Cities. Predictive technology is the future! Will Cities get with the times or get left in the dust?
Slutsky and Mamourian sit down with Michael Emory - President and CEO Allied REIT one of Toronto's most prominent landlords. Emory believes strongly in the future growth of Toronto and has put his money where is mouth is with by investing millions into some of Toronto's most unique buildings to create the most creative workspaces in The 6ix.
Slutsky and Mamourian chat with Ariana Cancelli, co-founder of the TheLanewayProject.ca who says Laneways are for more than just driving and housing. We learn how homeowners can take control of their laneways and create wonderful backyard community experiences. is the City helping or hindering this evolution? Find out! Placemaking is the name of the game here so get on board or get out!
Slutsky and Mamourian discuss OMB (Ontario Municipal Board) with Municipal Lawyer John Alati and why he thinks they’re doing a good job. He talks about whether local councillors should even be involved in local planning decisions. Things get heated!
Slutsky and Mamourian discuss with the councillor why he thinks the appeals process at the OMB is flawed and skewed heavily in favour of the developer and wants more control at the local councillor level. He drops some real talk about how things are done, where they’re going and where he’d like to be. PS: have you heard of the Republic of Rathnelly???
Slutsky and Mamourian sit with veteran Urban Planner, and bow tie enthusiast, Sean Galbraith and discuss something called the: Yellow Belt - a series of out-dated zoning by-laws that prevent intensification and density in a City that is craving for affordable housing. We discuss tapping into our laneway infrastructure and dive a little into how mixed use is being done wrong and right in some cases. Enjoy!
Slutsky and Mamourian sit down with Alison Gordon who's one of Canada's top marketers and founder of Rethink Breast Cancer. We discuss how the potential regulation, legalization or decriminalization of medical cannabis can and will affect urban environments and the potential pros and cons for municipalities.
Slutsky and Mamourian sit (pun intended) with Katia Osokine, founding member of the #sitTO movement here in Toronto. Katia discusses how Toronto's largest land asset, Roads and Sidewalks, are underused. By creating more places for folks to sit and engage we're contributing to "Placemaking". Promoting mobility through sitting...go figure! You can follow the #sitTO movement here https://twitter.com/hashtag/sitto
Uber5000 is an aerosol artist born in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. As a child he wrote his name on a rock by the railroad tracks and an artist was born. Currently he calls Toronto, Ontario home. His work can be seen throughout the city, his little yellow chick "lucky" is well know across the city. In 2012, he painted a mural on a 4 story building in Toronto's graffiti alley, transforming the exterior into an underwater ocean scene.
Slutsky and Mamourian have a sit down with Inspector Chris Boddy of 11th Division in Toronto. We dig into Marijuana dispensaries and what makes them illegal/legal, we wonder where Blinki is and talk community engagement and how it's changed the way they solve crimes.
Slutsky and Mamourian get into a serious discussion with one of Toronto's most visionary infill developers, George Popper! George is a visionary architect, developer and changemaker in the Toronto Development Scene. For his first ever podcast appearance he isn't shy about letting us know his beef with the City and how difficult they make it to build mid-rise in Toronto. Despite these roadblocks, George has gone on to build some of Toronto's funkiest condos and townhouses in the Annex, Leslieville area and beyond.
Richard Joy - Executive Director of ULI Toronto - is PISSED! We talk about: Mobility, Housing Affordability and what makes a good global City.
Matt and Ara meet Councillor Joe Mihevc of Ward 21 in Toronto. He's the man behind many of Toronto's great achievements from the Artscape project at Wynchwood to the Crosstown LRT currently under construction. We discuss everything from how Wynchwood Barns came to be, how the St. Clair dedicated streetcar lane worked out and what the future looks like for Eglinton Ave as the Crosstown LRT nears completion.
Matt & Ara have a chat with Jeff Goldenberg awesome author of The Growth Hackers Guide To The Galaxy, former Head of Growth at Borrowell.com currently heading up his new start-up focussing on helping businesses GROW using Facbeook. We talk about how Toronto has transitioned into an inviting place for Tech Companies to set up. What Toronto is doing right and what we're doing wrong and what we have to do in the future to attract top level tech talent to keep Toronto growing.
Matt & Ara discuss the concept of Placemaking with Rob Spanier - Principal at Live Work Learn Play (lwlp.com) and various other urban issues. We dig pretty deep into the concept of commercial retail and how it can be done better. We discuss how Canary District has taken this concept of placemaking and community building to a whole new level.
Matt and Ara take you on a walk through how Drake is solely responsible for the rise in Toronto Real Estate values and some density issues in Toronto.
Matthew Slutsky and Ara Mamourian take you on an auditory journey through various urban Toronto issues.
Matthew Slutsky founder and CEO of BuzzBuzzHome.com and Ara Mamourian Broker/Owner at SpringRealty.ca decided to sit down and talk. They thought that you'd be interested in what they had to say about various urban Toronto issues so here we are. Welcome to the #urbanizeTHIS Podcast. Share using that hashtag and we'll talk!