The maple leaf flew high in Manhattan yesterday, where we snapped Canada Pension Plan Investment Board head of real estate investment (Americas) Peter Ballon and Oxford Properties Group SVP of investments Andrew Trickett, in town to speak at a New York University capital markets conference. Oxford has a position in NYC's mega Hudson Yards development (where rezoning will allow up to 26M SF of new office, 20,000 units of housing, 2M SF of retail, and 3M SF of hotel). The project's focus on urbanization and highly efficient office space are two themes Oxford zeroes in on in its projects, like the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Andrew says. (It had also looked at Hines' CityCenterDC project in Washington, DC; it invested near there, but not in the project itself.) Peter says CPPI is investing $3B to $4B in real estate annually across 14 countries. (What kind of frequent flyer miles does that get you?)