So, what does winning a NAIOP Developing Leader Award at the REX Awards do for business? (Does your phone start smoking from how often it's ringing? Are you offered cereal endorsement deals?) We spoke with one of this year’s winners: Ashlar Urban partner and broker Jeff Thomas. Snapped with Jeff at the ceremony a few weeks back is Denton Canada LLP’s Adrian Frank and Michael Toshakovski and fellow award-winner Jonathan Peretz, AVP at CBRE.

“My team would probably rather it be a more lucrative ‘deal of the year’ award,” Jeff says. Alright, he’s kidding. But he does acknowledge that winning it isn’t bad for personal branding, as he works with the Ashlar team to further build the business. Jeff says he’s seeing recent transaction growth on the urban retail front. He and colleague Alan Rawn just brokered the sale of 477 Queen St W, just west of Spadina, in a $13.9M deal. “It’s further evidence of the value investors are putting on high-quality urban assets with strong retail tenants,” he says. In this case, a key to the deal he says is the redevelopment of Alexandra Park and the condo infill west of Spadina, south of Queen. In the image is the property, with Urban Outfitters at the base.