The Ottawa Sun ­ OTTAWA, June 11, 1999

Voices of Experience
This real estate firm has a real edge ­ over 60 years of it

By Kevin Bell
Business Editor

Any young company just getting on its feet realizes that management experience counts.

But for Primecorp Commercial Realty, just a year old, the combined 60 years of experience of its principals is paying off in spades.

After swinging deal after deal, Primecorp is now toying with the idea of expanding nationally to take advantage of the growing demand for the company's services.

"We don't want to say something has happened until it's definite," said Aik Aliferis, one of the company's principals. But he admits that the demand to go national is strong.

It's being driven by Primecorp's clients who operate in markets across Canada. To serve them better, it would make sense to expand from the company's lone Ottawa office into four or five other major centres across Canada, he said.

In just a year, Primecorp has been involved in real estate transactions worth a total of $115 million.

'Very, very hard work'

"It's not been easy. It's been very, very hard work," Aliferis said.

The company has benefited from the combined experience of its principals, which include Sam Firestone, Steve Lerner and Nick Pantieras. Aliferis and Lerner came from the Regional Group while Firestone left Ventron Realty and Pantieras came from District Realty.

Aliferis said the connections each partner has made over their combined 60 years in the business has helped propel Primecorp into a real estate blockbuster.

Last year, after just three months in business, the company brokered a $25 million deal that included the sale of two Ottawa apartment buildings and 300 townhouses. It was the largest single multi-family real estate deal in Ottawa in more than 15 years, Aliferis said.

Earlier this month, the company put together a $20 million deal in London, Ontario, that involved the sale of a multi-family residential portfolio.

Primecorp also recently completed the sale of the National Building, a 120,000 sq.ft. office tower on Slater Street, for about $9 million.

"Those are the kinds of deals that we've been consistently making almost every other month during our inaugural year," Aliferis said.