Armen Khajetoorian* is a partner in the Real Estate & Development Group at Cassels and co-lead of the commercial leasing team. His practice focuses on all aspects of commercial leasing transactions, including reviewing, drafting and negotiating retail, office, and industrial leases and subleases, and related documents such as termination and surrender agreements, non-disturbance agreements, and license agreements. Armen has extensive experience in representing both landlords and tenants using a practical approach, including representing international property managers and developers and prominent international luxury retailers in lease-related matters. Prior to joining Cassels, Armen practiced law in New York City and served as senior counsel in the New York office of Loeb & Loeb LLP. Armen is recognized as a leading leasing lawyer by numerous industry leading directories, including Best Lawyers and Lexpert. He is a frequent speaker and contributor at leasing conferences, seminars and workshops, including the Eight Minute Commercial Leasing Lawyer and the ICSC Canadian Law Conference. Armen was called to the bar in New York in 2011 and in Ontario in 2019.
Highlights of Armen’s work include representing:
- Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Tiffany & Co., Celine, Bulgari, Fendi, Loro Piana, Loewe, Givenchy, Sephora, Rimowa, Tag Heuer, and Marc Jacobs with respect to various leasing related matters in Canada;
- Louis Vuitton, as tenant, with respect to its retail location at Royalmount;
- Tiffany & Co., as tenant, with respect to the relocation of its Canadian flagship store to 200 Bay Street/66 Bloor Street West in Toronto;
- Bulgari, as tenant, with respect to its Canadian flagship store in Toronto at The Colonnade (131 Bloor Street West);
- Loewe, as tenant, with respect to its first standalone store in Canada at Yorkdale Shopping Centre;
- First Capital REIT, as landlord, with respect to Nike’s flagship store and Mango (Spanish retailer) at One Bloor East, Toronto;
- Menkes and Mantella Corporation with respect to various leasing related matters in Canada;
- Ivanhoé Cambridge, as landlord, in two separate leases to 21st Century Fox and News Corp. totaling over 1.2 million rentable square feet of office space at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan, New York;
- SL Green, as landlord, in a lease of approximately 135,000 rentable square feet of office space in Midtown Manhattan, New York, to a prominent international co-working firm — the lease covers the entire office portion of the Midtown building, totaling 11 floors;
- The Bank of New York Mellon, as sublandlord, in connection with the sublease of approximately 324,000 rentable square feet of office space in Manhattan, New York;
- The Bank of New York Mellon, as tenant, in connection with the lease of approximately 250,000 rentable square feet of office and retail space in Boston, Massachusetts — the lease was the largest transaction in Boston in 2015 and was named Office Deal of the Year by Boston Business Journal;
- Brookfield, as landlord, in the lease of (i) approximately 60,000 square feet of office space in Manhattan, New York and (ii) approximately 140,000 rentable square feet of office space to IHS Markit in Hudson Yards, New York;
- Convene, as tenant, in a lease of (i) approximately 58,000 rentable square feet of office space in New York’s Financial District and (ii) approximately 17,000 rentable square feet of space in Boston, Massachusetts;
- JCDecaux, as tenant, in the lease of approximately 46,537 rentable square feet of office space in the Empire State Building in Manhattan, New York; and
- Lowenstein Sandler, as tenant, in a lease of approximately 170,000 rentable square feet of office space in Roseland, New Jersey for its law firm headquarters.
*Services provided through a Professional Corporation