‘It’s been a fun career’: Michael Church leaving top job at Avison Young – but not retiring

David Sali

April 18, 2024

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The leader who oversaw Avison Young’s rise from a one-person shop to one of the largest commercial real estate brokerages in the National Capital Region is stepping away from the top job. Michael Church will vacate the post of managing director of the firm’s Ottawa operations on May 1. The move comes a little more than 17 years after he established Avison Young’s first office in the city following a decade-long career as an executive at Cushman and Wakefield. One of the most recognizable faces in the capital’s close-knit commercial real estate community, Church says he plans to stay on with the firm as a broker for the foreseeable future, while devoting more time to charitable causes and other pursuits such as travelling and golfing. “I’m not quitting,” the 69-year-old Montreal native told OBJ in an interview on Thursday morning at Avison Young’s headquarters in the World Exchange Plaza. “I’ve got some great relationships in this community, and I want to keep them. It’s just the management – it takes a fair bit of time and there’s always a little bit of stress involved with it. Budgeting, personnel, staffing, recruitment, the whole nine yards. It’s a lot of fun, but at my age, I’m at the point where I’d sort of like to step back a little bit.” In a real estate career spanning more than three decades, the University of Ottawa alumnus has been involved in more than his share of major deals. Some of his favourites include helping to lease Telus’s Ottawa head office at the corner of Bank and Slater streets and finding a home for television station CHRO’s studio in the ByWard Market, a building now occupied by CTV Ottawa. Over the years, Church has helped countless clients navigate challenges such as government downsizing and the rise in remote work triggered by the pandemic. And while he plans to scale back his involvement in the management side of the business, he says the thrill of the deal still gets his blood flowing. “I’ve been doing this for 37 years,” he said. “I’ve seen a fair number of different scenarios over time. There's always a way to get the round peg in the square hole. I want to keep doing that, but I want to do a bunch of other things too.” Those other things include spending more time volunteering.

City booster

Church, who moved to Ottawa from Montreal with his family at the age of 14, is an unabashed fan of the nation’s capital. Over the years, he’s given his time to community causes as varied as the United Way, Big Brothers Big Sisters and the Ottawa Hospital Foundation. Today, he serves on the board of the Canadian Nurses Foundation and helps out as an adviser at the Ottawa Board of Trade, an organization he led for three and a half years in the mid-1980s. Those endeavours and more will continue to occupy much of his spare time. But the father of two grown children – son Kevin and daughter Samantha – also wants to do more globetrotting with his wife Julie, an accomplished visual artist whose paintings adorn the walls at Avison Young’s office. Later this spring, the two are heading off for a three-week excursion to Europe, where they plan to tour the south of England and Julie will attend an artists’ retreat at a resort town on Italy’s Adriatic coast. “I’m going along for the ride,” Church said with a smile. A member of the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club for the past 32 years, Church also wants to hit the links as often as possible in an effort to recapture the form that won him the senior club championship more than a decade ago. “When I came to (Avison Young), I was a one or a two handicap,” he recalled with a chuckle. “I’m not there anymore – I’m probably seven or eight. I’d like to get back to two or three.” Still, Church figures the slight jump in his scorecard was a small price to pay for the success he and his team have enjoyed at Avison Young. The firm is now among the city's leading commercial real estate firms, with veteran brokers Rob Quinn, Emily Quinn, Tom Brethour, Ron Milligan, Gillian Burnside and James Pero being joined by recent star recruits Giorgio DiNardo and David MacLeod on the leasing side and Graeme Webster, Benjamin Burns and Jessica Thalen on the new capital markets team. It’s a group Church is proud of, and he’s eager to see what they do next. Noting Avison Young’s recent foray into property tax services in Ottawa with the hiring of principal Erin Johnston, Church says the firm is looking to expand into practices such as project and property management. “We’ve just got to find the right fit,” he explained. “That will be somebody else’s role to take on.” As personable an executive as you’ll find in the Ottawa real estate industry, Church seemingly can’t imagine not being in the thick of it. “No two days are the same,” he said. “It’s problem-solving, and it’s connecting the right people. That’s what’s fun about it. “Occasionally, you hit the odd home run, and occasionally you don’t,” he added with a laugh. “Some days, you can make (enough for) a Slurpee and a cheeseburger, and the next day you’re having caviar. You just don’t know one day to the next. “It’s been a fun career, and it’s not over yet.”