Balanced Retail for Successful Urbanism

What brings energy, personality and vibrancy to cities, towns and mixed-use development projects? At the core of any great place are the restaurants, bars, cafés and entertainment concepts that help to shape the personality of the place they are a part of. Retail is often the catalyst in the birth or re-birth of places. In almost every case of great precedents of neighbourhoods in transition, the initial sparks were the business pioneers who opened these “cornerstone places” that “got people talking.” Come listen to Rob Spanier, Senior Vice President of LiveWorkLearnPlay, discuss the how successful retail can define a place and has proven time and again to drive the true success of mixed-use urbanity.

Rob’s hands-on experience in planning, developing, and leasing large-scale mixed-use developments and destinations has produced over 30 legacy projects throughout North America, Europe, and the Caribbean. During his tenure as a senior executive with Intrawest Corporation, Rob planned and developed world-class mixed-use destination resort towns and managed international leasing teams to complete over 300 mixed-use non-traditional retail, restaurant, entertainment, hospitality, and service-based deals. Managing LiveWorkLearnPlay’s Toronto office, Rob is focused on strategic development initiatives, is involved in the Targeted Leasing and Casting/Community Drivers and Animation business. Rob is also very involved in the Urban Land Institute Toronto District Council (ULI Toronto), where he currently serves as Vice Chair.