As companies across the city were opening for business, Yosi Behar was preparing to attend what he believed to be a regular meeting with an RBC private banking manager. But as he came into the office at 1170 Sheppard Avenue West yesterday morning, he wondered why the table in the boardroom had been pushed flush against the wall. This did not look like a regular meeting.

To Yosi’s surprise he was greeted by not one but a team of private bankers from RBC Wealth Management’s Private Banking division. The proposed meeting was in fact a presentation organized by The Behar Group’s team of private bankers at RBC, in celebration of the brokerage’s twenty years in business in commercial real estate.

Sengkee Ahn, who has worked closely with the Behar family for the last five years, presented a commemorative plaque to The Behar Group Realty, Inc. to recognize the company for “20 successful years in business,” and to honour the Behar family’s forty-year partnership with the bank. Speaking on behalf of his RBC colleagues, whom Yosi affectionately calls ‘The Dream Team,’ Mr. Ahn said, “We all feel very connected to the business and to the family.”

Sengkee Ahn was accompanied by fellow ‘Dream Team’ members Leeann Signorotti, RVP of Private Banking, Hadielia Yassiri, Private Banker, Aneta Siaskiewicz, Senior Private Client Associate, and Ji Wang, Manager, Credit Structures.  A card was presented to Yosi Behar bearing congratulations and best wishes. “We look forward to working together for many more years,” it said.

Ms. Signorotti added a few words with respect to the business relationship. “You value our partnership, and you approach it like a partnership. And I just want to say thank you. It really is a privilege.”

“It really has been twenty years,” said Yosi Behar, obviously pleased and very touched by the unexpected visit. ”It was May 12, 1992–my birthday, in fact.” He paused briefly, then added, “To have Leeann, and all of you, here…Wow. It’s really special. I don’t know what to say. Thank you.”

For the last month The Behar Group Realty has been hard at work promoting the official launch of MediPro Professional Centre, a beautiful office condominium located on Bathurst Street, just across from The Promenade Mall—one of the most densely populated areas in Thornhill.

The launch, which will take place in the Richmond Room of the Richmond Hill Country Club this Sunday, May 27^th, is an opportunity for prospective buyers and their representatives to view site plans and discuss available units with the property’s developers and brokers. Over the last two weeks, to encourage registration for the event, a team of Behar Group administrators and sales representatives mailed out formal invitations to hundreds of brokers in the area. Incoming registrations have been steady, and as the launch date approaches it is anticipated that there will be an influx of calls over the remaining two weekdays before the event.

The three-storey building has a contemporary design and high-quality finishes, an elegant lobby with integrated communications technology, and both underground and above-ground parking. The premium medical and professional office units range from approximately 500 to 1,800 square feet, with units on the ground floors enjoying retail exposure.

The boutique environment is suitable for professional, medical, and administrative uses. This week the developer, MediPro Developments, sent out several hundred personalized letters to professionals in the vicinity—including doctors, lawyers, dentists, and accountants, to name a few—with invitations to the event and a “VIP incentive” to buyers who purchase units on or before the launch date.

Greg Evans, The Behar Group’s Executive Vice President and manager of MediPro sales, is satisfied with his sales team’s progress. “The team has been cooperating to ensure that the people most likely to benefit from this investment opportunity were contacted individually in advance of the launch. I’m delighted by the enthusiasm we’ve been able to generate for the project—in our own office and among real estate and other professionals in the community.  I’m anticipating a successful turn-out on the big day.  It’s a great development.”

Occupancy is planned for the summer of 2013. For more information or to reserve a unit, visit www.medipropc.com. To register for the launch or to speak to a sales representative, contact Greg Evans at 416-636-8898, extension 230.

Baskin-Robbins has been making Canadians smile “inside and out” for almost forty years.

The company is the world’s largest chain of ice cream specialty shops, creator of innovations such as hand-packed quarts of ice cream, a unique flavour ribbon technique, the use of ingredients such as apple pie and cheesecake, and the introduction of mousse-textured ice creams. Famous the world over for its unrivalled collection of ice cream flavours, the company is also well known and loved for its signature ice cream cakes and a growing line of beverages.

A leader in the ice cream industry for over 65 years, Baskin-Robbins celebrates its 40th birthday in Canada this year. In honour of the occasion the company is introducing a new brand-wide store design that includes lounge-style seating, pink spoon door handles, and textured walls in the style of its classic waffle cones.

“We’ve received consistently positive feedback on the new design from the landlord and developer community,” said Greg Evans, Executive Vice President of The Behar Group, who handle site selection for Baskin-Robbins Canada.

Along with the new design, the company is preparing for expansions across the country, with an initial focus on Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver.

“We are actively seeking new Baskin-Robbins franchisees throughout Canada,” said Bob Tipple, director and general manager for Baskin-Robbins Canada, in a company release.

The company is currently on the lookout for sites, favouring neighbourhood shopping centres or busy streetfront locations, preferably with a grocery anchor or other daily traffic generator.

The ideal store size for Baskin-Robbins is between 900 and 1,200 square feet, with a minimum 18-foot frontage. A patio is preferred.

The company is also open to non-food-court mall locations, typically in busy traffic corridors, with ideal unit sizes of between 400 and 500 square feet.

For more information, contact Greg Evans at (416) 636-8898, extension 230 (gevans@thebehargroup.com) or Barbara Kless at (416) 636-8898, extension 240 (bkless@thebehargroup.com).

The Behar Group Realty—Toronto: Over ten years in the making, the Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Jewish Community Campus—the largest of its kind in Canada—is changing the landscape of York Region, home to the third-largest Jewish community in Canada and one of the fastest-growing Jewish communities outside of Israel. Located on a fifty-acre site at Bathurst Street and Lebovic Campus Drive (north of Rutherford Road and south of Major Mackenzie Drive), construction of the first phase of the main community complex is nearing completion for later this year.

“Through generous support of donors, dedicated planning, and strong community leadership, the Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Jewish Community Campus is taking shape and looking beautiful,” says Avi Behar, CEO of The Behar Group Realty. “We’re very excited about helping tenants find a home in such a vibrant community.”

The main community complex on the campus will be home to the Schwartz/Reisman Centre, which features a range of recreational and family programs, including fitness and sports facilities, and a child daycare that is enrolling very quickly for next fall. With approximately three hundred people working onsite and a projected fifty-five hundred members, the Schwartz/Reisman Centre will be ready for occupancy this summer. This summer, Centre Camp is excited to be opening a northern branch of its highly respected summer camping program onsite.

Additionally, the community complex will house arts facilities of the Koffler Centre of the Arts, including state-of-the-art ceramics and painting and mixed-media studios, a Reena Adult Daycare program, and agency offices for Jewish Family and Child, Circle of Care, and several other community organizations.

The complex will also open its café and conference and celebration centre in the early fall, offering an exciting new kosher venue for meetings, conferences, and other community events.

Since 2007, the campus has been home to the Anne and Max Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto Kimel Family Education Centre, which currently serves six-hundred and fifty students—with a potential for growth to more than eight hundred.

“This state-of-the-art facility will be a part of the largest Jewish-themed development in the world outside of Israel, and will cater to the needs of the community while remaining open to everyone,” says David Sadowski, Executive Vice President of Jewish Community Properties of Toronto at the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto.

Finally, Mount Sinai Hospital is opening up an interdisciplinary health and wellness centre, housing a family health team, clinical specialists, allied health professionals, and other healthcare services.

There are currently multiple leasing opportunities adjacent to the Mount Sinai space and in other portions of the complex. Spaces are available for service commercial as well as office and professional use, to complement the core services being provided by the community agencies and Mount Sinai; they range in size from 500 to 11,000 square feet.

Is community part of your business plan? Tenant submissions are welcomed by Greg Evans, Broker (gevans@thebehargroup.com), and Michael Gordon, Broker (mgordon@thebehargroup.com), at The Behar Group Realty Inc., 416-636-8898.

Mathnasium Selects The Behar Group for Ontario, Canada

The Behar Group Realty—Toronto: Mathnasium LLC, based in Los Angeles, California, has selected The Behar Group Realty (TBG,www.thebehargroup.com) to represent it for Ontario, Canada.

Mathnasium is an international chain of year-round learning centres where children go to improve their math skills. Mathnasium exists because affordable, high-quality math instruction is very difficult to find and the demand is only growing. Mathnasium currently has 272 thriving centres in the United States, 4 in Canada (Vancouver, Ottawa, greater Toronto), and additional centres now open on four continents.

Each franchised centre utilizes the Mathnasium Method, an individually customizable educational K-12 curriculum created through over 35 years of classroom experience and research to teach children math in a way that makes sense to them. Mathnasium centres are open to members at least five times per week during after-school and weekend hours.

“We chose The Behar Group to assist us in managing all of our franchisees’ real estate needs, and grow our presence, throughout Ontario. We are genuinely enthusiastic about the long-term prospects of our business relationship with TBG,” said Joe Novak, SVP Franchise Marketing & Development of Mathnasium.

Mathnasium is looking for locations and franchisees all over Ontario, in towns with children counts as small as 5,000 within a 5 kilometre area and area household incomes of greater than $70,000. Sites of interest are generally 900 to 1,200 square feet, high-pedestrian-traffic retail locations anchored by a grocery or triple A anchor, where highly-visible second floors are an option and there is a safe drop-off point for children, a 3-5 year lease with commensurate options, and a tenant allowance for build-out.

Landlords that feel a Mathnasium franchise would be a good fit for their retail property, or prospective franchisees looking for a profitable business with super-strong franchisee support, are encouraged to contact Chris Seepe, Broker, at The Behar Group, E:cseepe@thebehargroup.com  M: 416-525-1558.