Nicole St-Louis

Partner and National Co-Leader, BLG Beyond Leasing

Ottawa
NStLouis@blg.com
613.787.3519
Nicole is the National Business Leader of BLG Beyond and is the founder and Co-Leader of Beyond Leasing.

Nicole leads up Canada’s largest leasing group and supports clients with large national portfolios. Nicole brings a business-focused perspective to Beyond Leasing, garnered from her long experience as an executive at Canada’s largest retailer. She is the driving force behind Beyond Leasing’s unrelenting focus on process, technology and efficiency.

Nicole has over 20 years of experience in the real estate industry. She has managed large real estate portfolios and has extensive experience working with both landlords and tenants and complex project management including leading a large managed service portfolio for one Canada’s leading property owners. Nicole leads a collaborative, dedicated team of leasing specialist whose mission it is to bring clients the very best leasing services, on a fully integrated national platform, utilizing the most cutting-edge technologies and incorporating the best practices from across the country.

Experience

  • Lead a team of 11 professionals dedicated to the legal support of a portfolio consisting of 20 major shopping centres across the country, including the preparation of all legal documentation and support related to operational issues and litigation arising therefrom.
  • Assist one of Canada's largest retailers in the negotiation of retail food store, pharmacy leases and physiotherapy clinics in numerous locations across Canada ranging from regional malls, outdoor power centres and mixed-use urban projects.
  • Provides leasing support on a managed service basis to a multi-national chain of convenience stores for Ontario urban store program.
  • Provide leasing-related services to the largest network of office, co-working and meeting spaces in the world with over 3,000 locations in 120 countries.
  • Provide leasing support (from offers to lease, leases, amendments, opinions and interpretations) to one of Canada's five largest banks for office and retail locations across Canada.
  • Provide a range of leasing services to one of Ontario's largest municipalities, including the development of leasing guidelines, precedent development, and advice regarding process mapping and best practices, as well as general leasing support.
  • Represent Canada's largest union in the negotiation of office leases across Canada.
  • Provide real estate advice and support to a U.S. based retailer including leasing and leasing related issues across Canada for retail and office locations.
  • Provides leasing support and general real estate advice to a multinational heavy equipment
    manufacturer specializing in agricultural and forestry machinery for retail, office and industrial locations in Ontario.
  • Assist with lease negotiations and day to lease administration support for a leading international financial services group.
  • Assist a major global environmental consulting company with all types of real estate matters across Canada.
  • Provide general leasing-related services to a regional real estate holding and investment firm including lease drafting and negotiations, template lease development and general advice.
  • Provide leasing advice to Canada's largest bilingual university in regard to various leasing issues.
  • Provide a full range of leasing support (from template creation to offers to lease, leases, and amendments, and negotiations to completion) to a national chain of cannabis retail stores.

Beyond our Walls

Professional Involvement

  • Member, ICSC

Community Involvement

  • Volunteer, Habitat for Humanity
  • Former Board Member, Ottawa Community Housing
  • Volunteer, BLG Reads to Kids

Awards & Recognitions

  • Recognized in the 2024 edition (and since 2020) of The Canadian Legal Lexpert® (Property Leasing).
  • Recognized as a 2023 Thomson Reuters Stand-out Lawyer

Bar Admission & Education

  • Ontario, 2000
  • LLB (Magna Cum Laude), University of Ottawa, 1998
  • B.Soc.Sc in Political Science (Cum Laude), University of Ottawa, 1995