Michael Kehoe

Transcript

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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Canada's Podcast.
[00:05] SPEAKER_00: Hello, I'm Mario Tonicuzzi, managing editor of Canada's Podcast. Joining me today on
[00:10] SPEAKER_00: Calgary's Podcast is Michael Keeho, broker of record with Fairfield Commercial Real Estate.
[00:17] SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us today, Mike.
[00:19] SPEAKER_00: Thanks for inviting me, Mario. Good to see you.
[00:21] SPEAKER_00: All right, let's talk a little bit about your career in real estate.
[00:25] SPEAKER_00: First of all, how long have you been involved in this industry?
[00:31] SPEAKER_02: Well, in the commercial real estate industry on the shopping center in retail side, 45 years.
[00:37] SPEAKER_02: Whoa.
[00:38] SPEAKER_02: And, yeah, I started as a marketing director at a major mall and worked my way up through
[00:43] SPEAKER_02: shopping center management into leasing and then into brokerage.
[00:48] SPEAKER_02: Where was your first job?
[00:50] SPEAKER_02: I was at SoCenter mall in Calgary and then I moved to Appentine as the marketing director of
[00:57] SPEAKER_02: Bonnie Dunes Shopping Center with Cadillac Fairview.
[01:00] SPEAKER_00: Okay, tell me, you know, at that time, 45 years ago, what was the appeal of getting
[01:06] SPEAKER_00: involved in this kind of career?
[01:10] SPEAKER_02: Well, my schooling and background was in business and advertising and marketing.
[01:15] SPEAKER_02: And this was a direct extension of my training.
[01:18] SPEAKER_02: It was in my DNA and I was fortunate to work with some great mentors,
[01:25] SPEAKER_02: one mentor, Alan V. Stanker, Matt Cadillac Fairview in Appentine at Bonnie Dunes Shopping Center,
[01:33] SPEAKER_02: really trained me in shopping center management, how to deal with retailers.
[01:38] SPEAKER_02: And this was really of interest to me at the shopping environment, the consumer environment,
[01:45] SPEAKER_02: dealing with customers, shoppers, retail tenants, business owners and entrepreneurs.
[01:52] SPEAKER_02: Okay, and when did you start Fairfield?
[01:55] SPEAKER_02: Well, actually, 32 years ago, this month, after 15 years in corporate life with major
[02:02] SPEAKER_02: shopping center firms, I struck out on my own and started Fairfield commercial real estate.
[02:08] SPEAKER_02: In January of 1992.
[02:12] SPEAKER_00: And tell me the reasons behind that, like what sparked you to start a kind of a boutique real estate firm?
[02:22] SPEAKER_02: Well, I saw a niche in the market.
[02:24] SPEAKER_02: After tiring of working for big corporations, I saw a niche in the market where there was room for a small firm
[02:32] SPEAKER_02: that had specialized expertise in retail real estate and had a customer service focus
[02:39] SPEAKER_02: to be sort of a local sharpshooter in Calgary and in Alberta.
[02:47] SPEAKER_02: So I always went where the crowd wasn't going.
[02:52] SPEAKER_02: So when the big brokerages were doing their thing, expanding with bulking up their teams,
[02:58] SPEAKER_02: I stayed small and that's been my niche.
[03:00] SPEAKER_00: Okay, talk a little bit, Mike, about, you know, where's your focus in terms of the clients you deal with?
[03:11] SPEAKER_00: And the sectors of the commercial real estate area that you focus on.
[03:18] SPEAKER_02: Thanks for asking.
[03:20] SPEAKER_02: Our focus is on the consumer real estate environment, anything to do with shopping centers, street retail, main streets,
[03:29] SPEAKER_02: all season resorts, anywhere where you can shop or dine.
[03:33] SPEAKER_02: That's our wheelhouse.
[03:35] SPEAKER_02: And we work with building owners that have space for lease.
[03:40] SPEAKER_02: We like to work on a project basis from the ground up.
[03:44] SPEAKER_02: And we also represent, which is the main focus of our business these days,
[03:49] SPEAKER_02: on the tenant representation side, helping entrepreneurs find great locations.
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[04:04] SPEAKER_00: What about being a boutique firm and competing against some of these won't mention the names,
[04:11] SPEAKER_00: but some of these big mega companies that are nationwide,
[04:16] SPEAKER_00: but beyond nationwide, internationally, international white.
[04:22] SPEAKER_00: What's the key for a small firm like yourself compete against the giants?
[04:28] SPEAKER_02: That's a big, that's a good question.
[04:31] SPEAKER_02: We don't really compete with them.
[04:33] SPEAKER_02: We collaborate with them.
[04:35] SPEAKER_02: We'll never be in a position to compete with these big firms.
[04:40] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, pick an acronym for the big firms.
[04:44] SPEAKER_02: I think our niche is providing personalized service, local market knowledge.
[04:49] SPEAKER_02: I mean, we work all over Western Canada, but you know, we know from door to door street to street,
[04:55] SPEAKER_02: shopping center to shopping center, the lay of the land.
[04:59] SPEAKER_02: And I think that's our benefit.
[05:02] SPEAKER_02: We can choose our customers.
[05:04] SPEAKER_02: And we work with people that we know like and trust.
[05:08] SPEAKER_02: So we work with a small handful of clients at any one time.
[05:12] SPEAKER_02: We don't spread ourselves too thin.
[05:15] SPEAKER_02: We don't delegate our assignments to junior people or assistance.
[05:22] SPEAKER_02: When you work with us, you get the partners, you get the owners.
[05:27] SPEAKER_02: So I think that's our competitive advantage.
[05:29] SPEAKER_02: It's all relationship driven.
[05:32] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it is.
[05:33] SPEAKER_00: Can you talk a little bit more about that?
[05:35] SPEAKER_00: The importance of, you know, in your industry, but maybe in all industries and all.
[05:41] SPEAKER_00: And it's also as much as the importance of customer service and building relationships and connections with people.
[05:48] SPEAKER_02: It is really them.
[05:50] SPEAKER_02: It's the foundation of any business is good customer service relationships.
[05:58] SPEAKER_02: Always putting the human side of the of what's happening with the entrepreneur.
[06:04] SPEAKER_02: Where are they in your office entrepreneurial journey?
[06:06] SPEAKER_02: What's happening with that personally and professionally?
[06:10] SPEAKER_02: What's their background?
[06:12] SPEAKER_02: Both history wise and ethnically wise, you know, Calgary and Canada is so culturally diverse.
[06:21] SPEAKER_02: We work with everybody from everywhere.
[06:24] SPEAKER_02: It's very quite exciting.
[06:26] SPEAKER_02: So, you know, we always find that lane to help entrepreneurs be successful.
[06:33] SPEAKER_02: But customer service, you know, focusing on the relationship, focusing on the customers needs,
[06:41] SPEAKER_02: seeing them right through the process.
[06:43] SPEAKER_02: Not just, you know, as soon as the lease assigned to disappear, you know, we stay right through the construction period,
[06:52] SPEAKER_02: right through the store opening even after into lease renewal five years later.
[06:58] SPEAKER_00: So, you know, one of the things I know that you're big on you're a man of both towns, so to speak.
[07:05] SPEAKER_00: You like to get, you know, your feet on the ground and you go visit places and whether it's shopping center or street front locations.
[07:15] SPEAKER_00: Tell me why you think that's important.
[07:19] SPEAKER_02: Well, early in my career, I read a great business book called In Search of Excellence.
[07:23] SPEAKER_02: And one of their chestnuts was management by walking around.
[07:27] SPEAKER_02: And when I became a shopping center manager and marketing director, I would always go out and walk around them all.
[07:34] SPEAKER_02: At least three or four times a day, going sort of store, talking to customers in them all, talking to store owners, entrepreneurs.
[07:43] SPEAKER_02: And getting out on the main street, cold calling for new business, introducing myself to new retailers.
[07:50] SPEAKER_02: And I think that's as a people person.
[07:53] SPEAKER_02: I think that's been my secret to success is being out there, meeting people, leaving my card, asking them how businesses and forging those conversations.
[08:05] SPEAKER_02: I'll get a phone call three or four years later after meeting someone.
[08:09] SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, I kept your business card on the bulletin board in my office.
[08:13] SPEAKER_02: You know, my lease is coming up and I really want to move.
[08:15] SPEAKER_02: Can you help me?
[08:16] SPEAKER_02: Well, there you go.
[08:18] SPEAKER_02: And yeah, management by walking around.
[08:22] SPEAKER_02: You have to be out in the trade, talking to people all the time.
[08:25] SPEAKER_02: And that's really one of the foundations of my success.
[08:30] SPEAKER_00: It's also beyond just the talking to people too.
[08:34] SPEAKER_00: It's just the observation of what you come across and see in your travels, right?
[08:40] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you have to get your eyes on the street, on the store, friends.
[08:44] SPEAKER_02: You have to be walking the market all the time to see what new stores are happening, what retailers might be in need of your services.
[08:53] SPEAKER_02: I would like to go to other cities and go to the main streets, go to the shopping centers, how you kind of forge your market knowledge.
[09:04] SPEAKER_02: And that's really what my customers are buying when they engage my services is my market knowledge.
[09:10] SPEAKER_02: I know the history of the various properties, who the owners are, who the owners were.
[09:15] SPEAKER_02: You know, what spaces are in transition and so that's good.
[09:21] SPEAKER_00: But your entrepreneurial hat on for a second, Mike, you know, in starting your own business back years ago, what was the biggest challenges you had to face and overcome?
[09:36] SPEAKER_02: Well, I think one of the biggest challenges was just sort of forging your way.
[09:42] SPEAKER_02: I always, you know, one of the first things is to have your credentials, which for me was getting a real estate license.
[09:50] SPEAKER_02: I had great training in the shopping center industry through the International Council of Shopping Centers and working on the big properties.
[09:57] SPEAKER_02: But I really had to get my credentials, which was a real estate license in Alberta.
[10:03] SPEAKER_02: And that was important.
[10:05] SPEAKER_02: When I got my license, I had more credibility, let's say, on the trend of action outside.
[10:12] SPEAKER_02: And when you're a small brokerage or a sole practitioner, as I started out, you really have to collaborate with everyone.
[10:20] SPEAKER_02: So, you know, that was one of the, I think the second point is a track record of performance.
[10:27] SPEAKER_02: People have to know that you've done it.
[10:30] SPEAKER_02: You know, you've worked on properties, you've leased space, you've worked on large transactions, small transactions.
[10:37] SPEAKER_02: And then I think the third thing is a track record.
[10:42] SPEAKER_02: People have to know that you can do the work.
[10:44] SPEAKER_02: They have to know that your competence with documents that you know the business terms in the market, market conditions.
[10:52] SPEAKER_02: And you can get transactions done across the goal line and help entrepreneurs get source and restaurants open.
[10:59] SPEAKER_02: So those are the three things for me.
[11:01] SPEAKER_00: I guess too, like for entrepreneurs, whether they're restaurant owners or a boutique retail shop or whatever,
[11:11] SPEAKER_00: like all this stuff can be overwhelming for them, right?
[11:15] SPEAKER_00: In terms of the real estate side of things.
[11:18] SPEAKER_02: It is overwhelming.
[11:20] SPEAKER_02: It's daunting actually for an entrepreneur looking for a location dealing with building owners, dealing with large landlords, dealing with complex documents.
[11:34] SPEAKER_02: You're really need to team around you to help get to get a good location.
[11:39] SPEAKER_02: And that involves working with a good broker or a tenant representative, working with a competent space designer.
[11:46] SPEAKER_02: Working with a great contractor to build your store, working with a commercial lease lawyer or lease consultant to get the document done.
[11:56] SPEAKER_02: Commercial leases are very complex.
[11:59] SPEAKER_02: And we're finding that some of our clients are, you know, they're overwhelmed by the documents.
[12:05] SPEAKER_02: So we can help with these areas in streamlined process.
[12:09] SPEAKER_02: It's all about time and money.
[12:12] SPEAKER_02: We like to save people money and compress the transaction period to get stores and restaurants open at a timely manner.
[12:21] SPEAKER_00: So, you know, in dealing with a lot of these entrepreneurs out there, are you amazed at how many people want to be entrepreneurs?
[12:31] SPEAKER_02: It's a never ending pipeline of hopeful people that come to Canada, they come to Alberta, they come to Calgary.
[12:42] SPEAKER_02: We work with them every day.
[12:44] SPEAKER_02: They come from all over the world, other parts of Canada.
[12:48] SPEAKER_02: And they want to have their dream of owning their business, starting their brand, working to see their family be successful.
[12:59] SPEAKER_02: It's actually quite exciting.
[13:01] SPEAKER_02: And yeah, it's very exciting.
[13:04] SPEAKER_02: They're coming from all over to Alberta specifically.
[13:09] SPEAKER_02: And in Calgary, we can't build the retail space and restaurant space fast enough.
[13:15] SPEAKER_00: What's the key for the, you know, a would be entrepreneur.
[13:20] SPEAKER_00: What's the key for success for them?
[13:23] SPEAKER_02: I think you really have to get your back of how sorted out.
[13:27] SPEAKER_02: You have to have your financing.
[13:29] SPEAKER_02: Your financing approved.
[13:31] SPEAKER_02: You have to have a commitment letter from a lender or have your financing available.
[13:37] SPEAKER_02: You have to have a good clean, crisp business plan that really sets out your path forward.
[13:46] SPEAKER_02: And you have to have your ducks in a row as far as, you know, images of the store or restaurant you want to build, conceptual plans, you know, breakdown to having your menu set out.
[14:01] SPEAKER_02: This is if you're a non-franchised operation.
[14:04] SPEAKER_02: Because when you go looking for a space, it's so competitive, especially for food service space.
[14:09] SPEAKER_02: There are two or three offers on every space.
[14:12] SPEAKER_02: Building owners have the pick of who they're going to choose.
[14:16] SPEAKER_02: And there's always a bigger and better, shinier brand.
[14:19] SPEAKER_02: So you really have to be locked and loaded so that you can go in with an offer on a space and commit right away with your financing, a good business plan, and your concept and brand completely ready to go.
[14:34] SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it's all about time and money.
[14:38] SPEAKER_01: So that's what I would say.
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[14:51] SPEAKER_00: All right, Mike, when you were talking about walking around, you mentioned a book.
[14:55] SPEAKER_00: I'm just curious during your career, what books have helped you in your journey?
[15:03] SPEAKER_02: Like I think that book in search of excellence was really really one of the ones that sat me on my path as being a boutique brokerage.
[15:13] SPEAKER_02: Their concept was more than five people.
[15:16] SPEAKER_02: Doesn't work in an entrepreneurial setting.
[15:19] SPEAKER_02: Of course, it doesn't many areas.
[15:22] SPEAKER_02: But if you really want to focus on success, other books, the cost of everything, free economics was good for you.
[15:31] SPEAKER_02: For me, anything that talks about disruption, a good book by a local economist and author taught her spiders and space was excellent.
[15:44] SPEAKER_02: Talks about disruption and dealing with change.
[15:47] SPEAKER_02: And I think in these times, you know, the Trump era in the political and economic times that we're in, disruption and unwadded change is going to be the order of the day.
[16:00] SPEAKER_02: We have to know how to deal with it.
[16:02] SPEAKER_02: And this is when my brokerage, our brokerage are working a partnership with a great broker partner, Monica Blahut, here at Fairfield.
[16:11] SPEAKER_02: But we thrive when things are in times of change, when there's disruption, when source of restaurants are changing hands and their space available.
[16:22] SPEAKER_02: That's when we really shine.
[16:23] SPEAKER_00: Okay, now you talked about change in disruption, yeah, over 45 years or so.
[16:30] SPEAKER_00: So what are the big, big and key changes you've seen in the retail sector, especially in retail and hospitality sector over those years?
[16:41] SPEAKER_02: Well, first, it's the cyclical economy, you know, Calgary, Alberta used to have a boom in bust cycle, not so much anymore.
[16:52] SPEAKER_02: But I've been through all kinds of different peaks and valleys.
[16:55] SPEAKER_02: And I see that, you know, there's really a flight to quality for stores and restaurants.
[17:02] SPEAKER_02: They want good locations.
[17:04] SPEAKER_02: And on the building owner in landlord side, there's a flight to quality as well.
[17:09] SPEAKER_02: They want retailers and restaurants with strong covenants, a track record of performance.
[17:15] SPEAKER_02: And they want certainty.
[17:18] SPEAKER_02: So I think that's the big thing.
[17:20] SPEAKER_02: You know, I think the other trends, certainly with Omni Channel, retailing, the internet.
[17:27] SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm old enough to go back almost 50 years in consumer real estate.
[17:33] SPEAKER_02: So I've seen a lot of change and a lot of evolution.
[17:36] SPEAKER_02: So it's actually quite exciting to see the industry the way it's evolving with all the young people coming in.
[17:44] SPEAKER_02: And the way that properties and shopping centers are evolving, densifying, adjusting their 10 and X's.
[17:52] SPEAKER_02: It's an amazing business. It's always changing.
[17:55] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's funny. You mentioned the shopping center, right, full circle.
[18:01] SPEAKER_00: You know, I can imagine just the shopping centers of old that you were involved with.
[18:07] SPEAKER_00: And you look at today and what's happening with those shopping centers, why you mentioned densification.
[18:13] SPEAKER_00: You know, shopping centers now have everything in them, right?
[18:17] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, pickle volume and you know, you see the shopping center model.
[18:24] SPEAKER_00: I guess continuing to evolve and change over the next few years.
[18:29] SPEAKER_02: Absolutely. It will always be changing with the densification comes residential on these sites.
[18:36] SPEAKER_02: Mixed use sometimes office other other uses to complement the retailer.
[18:42] SPEAKER_02: It's an exciting time. And you know, I just see it evolving even more quickly, especially on the main streets where there's constant change in restaurants and stores.
[18:54] SPEAKER_02: If evolving and coming and going that it's an evolutionary process.
[19:00] SPEAKER_00: All right, Mike switching gears before we sign off.
[19:06] SPEAKER_00: You know what's you're in a high stress. Very busy, you know, career.
[19:13] SPEAKER_00: What do you do to relax and unwind?
[19:17] SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm a great fan of live music.
[19:19] SPEAKER_02: And I like to go out to concerts to music events.
[19:24] SPEAKER_02: That's kind of my thing.
[19:26] SPEAKER_02: Being in the restaurant business as a commercial broker.
[19:31] SPEAKER_02: I love trying new restaurants and.
[19:34] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I have a varied varied life where I've lots of interests.
[19:40] SPEAKER_02: I volunteer at Canada's largest homeless shelter here.
[19:43] SPEAKER_02: I've been active on the on the social side for many years.
[19:49] SPEAKER_02: And yeah, I guess I'm a I'm a writer as my creative outlets.
[19:54] SPEAKER_02: I like to write short stories. I've written a couple of books.
[19:58] SPEAKER_02: I've a couple of more books in the pipeline and different essays.
[20:03] SPEAKER_02: This is my creative outlet. And I really enjoy that.
[20:08] SPEAKER_00: All right, wonderful. Well, thanks, Mike for joining us today.
[20:12] SPEAKER_00: Mario, thanks for the invitation. Always good to see you.
[20:15] SPEAKER_00: All right. That was great. That was Michael Kehoe broker at record with Fairfield commercial real estate in Calgary.
[20:22] SPEAKER_00: I'm Mario Toniguzi, managing editor of Canada's podcast.
[20:25] SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us today.