Noella M. Milne  

Noella Milne is a partner practising in the Toronto office of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP. Noella concentrates on commercial real estate, with emphasis on asset and share acquisitions and dispositions, mixed-use developments, public-private transactions, joint ventures, condominium development, partnerships and other business activities, financings, ground leasing, land development and other commercial real estate matters. She advises clients with respect to structuring of transactions and issues related to financing, leasing, employment, environmental concerns and title.

Other areas of specialization include all aspects of hotel-related transactions, including, acquisitions, dispositions, management agreements, franchise agreements, co-ownership arrangements and financings.

• Acting in acquisitions of numerous shopping centres, office buildings, hotels and development properties, including consideration of structure of transaction, negotiating and drafting agreements of purchase and sale, co-ownership arrangements, property management agreements and negotiating and acting on financings for acquisitions.
• Acting for various banks and trust companies as well as for borrowers in connection with the financing of real property, including financing of major hotels, shopping centres, office towers and development projects.
• Headed up the legal team acting for George Brown College in connection with its $200-million Waterfront Campus Development Project, which involved the creation of an integrated facility including academic buildings, student spaces and a recreation centre.
• Part of the team acting for the City of Ottawa in connection with the establishment of a Light Rail Transit System through a public-private partnership.
• Acted for George Brown College in connection with its acquisition of a Student Residence on the Pan/Parapan Am Games Athlete’s Village Site.
• Acted for a pension fund and a large private corporation in the acquisition of a $1-billion portfolio of shopping centres in Ontario.
• Acted for a consortium, including a pension fund, a financial institution and a large private corporation, in the acquisition of a $900-million portfolio of office buildings across Canada.
• Part of the team acting for Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board in its acquisition of Cadillac Fairview Corporation (CFC). This was a major and complex transaction involving several billion dollars as CFC was one of the largest owners, managers and developers of commercial real estate in North America.
• Part of the real estate team acting for Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) in connection with the development of the Broadcast Centre in Toronto. Project involved structuring arrangements for long term leases of two future office towers, agreements regarding a proposed condominium project and agreements involving the construction and financing of the CBC Broadcast Centre.
• Acted for Context Development Ltd. in the negotiation of the acquisition and development of its condominium projects, including The Spire, Tip Top Lofts, Kensington Place, Radio City Lofts, Mozo and District Lofts.
• Acted on the purchase of some of Canada's leading hotels, including, The Fairmont Chateau Laurier and The St. Regis Hotel Vancouver.

• Delivered several lectures and presentations on Board Governance and Ethical Issues.

• Appointed to the Order of Ontario.
• Recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal.
• Recipient of the RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award.
• Recognized in the 2017 edition (and since 2013) of Chambers Global – The World's Leading Lawyers for Business (Real Estate).
• Recognized in the 2017 editions of Legal Media Group’s Guide to the World’s Leading Real Estate Lawyers and the Guide to World’s Leading Women in Business Law, 3rd Edition (Real Estate).
• Honoured by the Women's Executive Network as one of Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women.
• Recipient of the YWCA Women of Distinction Award, the Arbor Award from the University of Toronto and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Children's Aid Foundation.