Menkes Developments

Menkes is a Toronto-based, family-owned and vertically integrated real estate developer founded in 1954 by Murray Menkes. It is one of the largest private developers in Canada, focused primarily on the Greater Toronto Area.

The company began building single-family homes and grew into a major mixed-use developer working across residential, office, retail and industrial.

Yes, and unusually deeply. Carrying on their late father’s legacy, the company is led by Murray’s three sons Alan, Steven and Peter Menkes, together with his grandsons Jared, Jason, Adam and Sean.

Three generations working in the business at the same time is rare. It generally indicates a company being managed for the long term rather than for an exit, which is a reasonable thing to want from whoever is building a home you will not receive for three years.

The figures span both sides of the business:

• More than 40,000 condominium apartment units completed
• Ownership of over 15,000 residences
• More than 20 million square feet of commercial property owned

The ownership figures are the interesting ones. Menkes does not only build and sell. It retains a very large portfolio, which means it is a long-term operator as well as a developer.

That development, construction, leasing and property management sit inside one company rather than being contracted out.

For a buyer the practical consequence is accountability. When the company that sold you the unit also built it and manages the commercial space downstairs, there are fewer parties to point at when something needs resolving.

Mixed-use at significant scale: condominiums, office towers, retail and industrial, frequently combined on the same site. Its work is concentrated in downtown Toronto and North York, where it has been building for decades.

Note that menkes.com is a JavaScript-heavy site, so if you are researching, their project pages are easier to reach directly than through search.

On a mixed-use site, establish what else is in the building and who owns it. Menkes retains a great deal of commercial property, so your residential condominium may sit above offices or retail that Menkes continues to own and operate. That affects shared costs, access and how the condominium corporation is structured.

Ask how the maintenance fee treats shared building systems in a mixed-use structure, since that is where the complexity lives.

Then the usual: deposit schedule, what is standard rather than an upgrade, parking and locker, and the occupancy and registration timeline.