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15 years at CBRE Montreal. 3 years inside NYC's Economic Development Corporation. $150M deployed across the Tristate region in 4 years.

When I asked Brian Ker where a 25-year-old should start a career today, Montreal or New York, his answer was Montreal.

And the reasoning he gave is the kind of thing the people who actually built this industry know but never say out loud.

This is a conversation with someone who has sat on every side of the table. Sales broker. Investment salesperson. Public servant. General partner. He has been the broker losing the mandate, the city stakeholder writing the 150-page development agreement, and the sponsor raising emergency equity the night before closing. Across two countries, two cities, and three completely different seats, Brian came back with a thesis I have not heard anywhere else.

If you build, broker, lend, or invest in commercial real estate, this is the conversation worth your hour and a half.

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CHAPTERS

00:00 Opening: the REIT debate and why office-heavy REITs are the "sad dogs"

03:53 Vancouver to Montreal in 1997: the post-referendum playground

04:46 15 years at CBRE Montreal: the formative training ground0

7:25 Why the truth-telling broker rarely wins the mandate

11:11 The IOU rug-pull and the million-dollar commission that walked

15:48 Columbia MSRED and the four NYC government real estate groups

18:41 Day one at NYC EDC: working on Amazon HQ2

21:42 Why HQ2 fell apart and what NYC learned about subsidies

24:17 Quitting EDC in three weeks: COVID, fatherhood, the industrial thesis

27:26 Why "Snowball" and the multi-tenant industrial bet

30:33 The public servant edge at community boards

41:14 New York as a 6-month crystal ball into Montreal

43:24 400 Atlantic: the first investment sale Brian shepherded at 25

45:58 The Air Transat building teardown: should they have sold?

49:13 20 to 25% IRR US vs 12 to 16% Canada: why capital stays home

58:59 Snowball at $150M deployed in four years

1:03:53 Why JPM wins the callback and Brian wins the problem child deal

1:12:44 Advice to younger Brian: keep your assets liquid

1:14:50 The final question: Montreal or New York at 25? The answer.

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ABOUT BRIAN KER

Brian Ker is the Founder and President of Snowball Developments, a New York-based real estate investment company focused on Class B industrial and flex properties across the Tristate region. Since founding Snowball in 2021, Brian has deployed over $150 million across Connecticut, New Jersey, and the broader New York metro, including a $108.6 million portfolio of 10 industrial properties across Connecticut.

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ABOUT FIRST BRICKS

First Bricks is a podcast about the real estate industry, and the people who built it. Host PJ Goupil, founder and president of Fox Real Estate, sits down with the operators, developers, brokers, and institutional investors whose decisions have shaped skylines across North America. The goal is simple: surface the wisdom that's locked behind closed doors and never makes it into books, panels, or LinkedIn posts.New episodes drop regularly. Subscribe so you don't miss the next one.

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ABOUT THE HOSTPJ Goupil is the founder and president of Fox Real Estate. Fox is a multifamily turnaround firm built for institutional owners with assets that aren't performing. Unlike traditional property managers and consultants, Fox takes the keys, runs the building, and gets paid on the value it creates, not on hours, not on retainers. The firm operates across Canada and the United States, with a single accountable team handling leasing, marketing, operations, and financial reporting. Fox also acquires and operates multifamily assets on its own account, applying the same playbook as an owner.

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CONNECT

Fox Real Estate: https://foxre.co

Canada's population grew from 32 million to 42 million in a generation. Retail supply is flat or declining. That's the trade.PJ sits down with Jason Parravano, CEO of Plaza REIT — a public retail landlord with close to 200 properties across Atlantic Canada, Quebec, and Ontario. This is one of the most detailed CRE conversations we've recorded: how REITs actually work, why Canadian retail is structurally undersupplied, and how Plaza runs its portfolio — capital recycling, active asset management, and the discipline to stay in its lane while every other REIT chases multifamily.If you've ever wondered why a REIT trades at a discount to what it owns, what a 6-cap sale funding a 10-cap reinvestment really looks like on the ground, or why retailers kill deals through their analytics teams — this one's for you.What Jason covers:How the REIT structure actually works, and why the 90% distribution rule isn't the bug people think it isWhy Canadian retail supply keeps shrinking — and the $1.8B → $3B gap hiding in the spread between in-place and market rentsPlaza's LTV discipline: 65% at the property level, ~50% at the portfolio levelCapital recycling in practice — selling non-core at 6 caps, reinvesting into the portfolio north of 10Why analytics teams at major retailers operate like the credit department at a bankWhy Plaza won't build multifamily, even when every peer is adding itWhere retail sits vs. industrial today, and why the next 5 years might be boring in the best wayThe one piece of advice Jason would give his younger selfChapters:00:00 — Why First Bricks exists + meet Jason Parravano02:29 — REITs 101: flow-through structure, 90% distributions, and the real mechanics05:38 — How Loblaw and Canadian Tire used REITs to crystallize value08:45 — The tradeoff of being public + Plaza's LTV discipline10:33 — Why Canadian retail supply is structurally short13:48 — 32M to 42M: the supply/demand thesis30:19 — Tech stack, AI in operations, and custom-built software32:20 — Proactive CapEx and spray-on roof coatings36:46 — Why enclosed malls trade at 8–10 caps44:41 — Retailer analytics teams: the new credit department48:12 — Capital recycling: sell at 6, reinvest at 10+52:59 — The smartest way for a private investor to own retail55:45 — Focus over diversification (Nexus, Pro REIT, and why Plaza skips multifamily)1:04:39 — Canada as safe harbor + retail's comeback1:09:14 — Advice to young Jason1:09:58 — Under-$500 life upgrades (Wispr Flow, Poop and Scoop)About First Bricks:

First Bricks is a podcast about the people actually building and operating commercial real estate in Canada — hosted by PJ Fox, founder of Fox Real Estate. We talk to the operators, owners, and executives whose stories don't get told anywhere else.www.foxre.co

•Peter Picciola has sat in nearly every seat in Montreal commercial real estate, broker at Devencore, development leasing at Canderel, VP at Ivanhoé Cambridge overseeing Place Ville-Marie, and now SVP Development Leasing & Investment at Bertone, one of Quebec's most active private developers. That kind of full-stack career is rare. We sat down to pull the real stories out of it.In this episode, Peter breaks down what actually builds a career in this business — cold calling 40 times just to get the first interview, why saying yes when you're uncomfortable is the highest-leverage habit in real estate, and what institutional organizations do well (and get dead wrong) when it comes to leasing, amenity strategy, and tenant retention.We also get into the hard realities of the Montreal market right now: why that 96% office occupancy headline is, in Peter's words, "100% bullshit," what the sublease market is really telling you, why new multifamily inventory isn't absorbing the way developers underwrote it, and what it's going to take for the next generation of projects to compete.Peter doesn't sugarcoat it — on affordability, on construction costs, on the gap between what developers need to charge and what people can actually pay. If you want an honest read on where Montreal real estate is heading from someone who's been at every level of it, this is the conversation.What we cover:• How Peter got his start (and the 40 cold calls that got him hired)• The habits that separate producers from pretenders in brokerage• Place Ville-Marie: the coffee shop decision that changed how they thought about NOI• Office market reality check — vacancy vs. availability and why the stats lie• Montreal vs. Toronto vs. New York: cultural differences in how tenants use space• Why new multifamily is underperforming underwriting — and what has to change• The affordability crisis: who's actually responsible, and what the industry can and can't fix• What Peter looks for in the next generation coming into the business#montreal #realestate #apartmentleasing #commercialrealestate, #multifamilyinvesting #canada #bertone Group, #IvanhoéCambridge, #officemarketMontreal, #realestatepodcast First Bricks, #pjgoupil #FoxRealEstate, #leasingagent

Mark Sinnett has closed 900 transactions over 25 years — one a week, holidays included. As Executive Vice President at Avison Young Capital Markets, every major multifamily deal in Quebec has run through his team.

In this episode of First Bricks, Mark breaks down the pattern he’s watched repeat itself across hundreds of buyers — who lasts, who flames out, and why the difference is almost never the deal.

First Bricks is a commercial real estate podcast hosted by PJ Goupil, Founder & President of Fox Real Estate — conversations with the dealmakers, principals, brokers, and owners who’ve built the market.

In this episode of First Bricks, PJ sits down with Bill Tresham, a veteran real estate operator, to talk about what actually builds a long career in real estate.

Bill breaks down the difference between getting lucky in a rising market and creating real value, why true skill shows up in distressed or empty assets, and the hard lessons he learned from selling too early. They dive into leadership, hiring the right people, why property management is the most underrated value driver, and how real estate rewards patience more than cleverness.

In this episode, PJ sits down with Mitchell Abrahams, a seasoned real estate investor and developer, to explore the power of value-add strategies. They discuss how to transform underperforming properties into high-performing assets, sharing key lessons from their own experiences. Mitch and PJ dive into the challenges and opportunities of repositioning assets, offering practical insights and valuable advice for anyone looking to succeed in the world of real estate development.

PJ and Paul get into early career setbacks, the mentor who had his back, and why real relationships beat deal sheet wins for long term growth. They dive into leadership and culture with a simple model for team roles, measurable missions and core values grounded in kindness, and they close on why property management is the owner tenant touchpoint you should not outsource blindly.

Follow PJ on his socials.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pjgoupil/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foxre.co/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pjfox88

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@pjfoxre