The Municipal Approach To Real Estate with Salima Rawji of CreateTO

Today we’ve got Salima Rawji, the Senior Vice President of Development at CreateTO. The organization was established by the City of Toronto to manage its portfolio of real estate assets, such as ensuring that single-use assets are minimal.

Because CreateTO is government-owned, their operations are quite different compared to other real estate organizations in Toronto. Salima explains why, including the goals the city is trying to accomplish along with how they measure success.

Topics covered include:

• The perspectives and backgrounds of the team built at CreateTO.
• Thinking about what the future needs of the city will be.
• Some examples of unusual assets owned by the city.
• How CreateTO prioritizes which tasks need to be worked on.
• Changes that have happened throughout the years due to governing bodies.
• Benchmarks used to measure success for the city.
• An example of how CreateTO finds land to use to meet city objectives.
• Starting every project with the proforma in mind.
• Developing mixed-use properties and inspiring others to do the same.
• Current projects that Salima is the most excited about.
• Aspects that are approached differently by CreateTO compared to private developers.
• Why CreateTO works on projects with the most incredible talent.

More about our guest…..

Salima Rawji is an accomplished city builder with a passion for purpose-driven solutions. As the Senior Vice President of Development, she leads CreateTO’s Real Estate Development team including key portfolios such as the City of Toronto’s Housing Now Initiative, which leverages City-owned lands to build affordable housing and mixed income communities. Salima’s commitment to city building extends beyond her role at CreateTO. Throughout her career, she has served on several non-profit boards committed to inclusive and resilient cities. Currently, she is a member of the ULI Toronto Advisory Board, the R-LABS Industry Issue + Transformation Council and serves on the Board of Directors for the CivicAction Leadership Foundation, as well as for the Toronto Foundation, where she chairs the Social Impact Investment Committee. 

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