Tara L. Piurko, Esq.

Tara L. Piurko, Esq. is a Partner, Commercial Real Estate Group, for Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP in Toronto. Tara has been practicing commercial real estate law for almost 15 years. Her main areas of expertise include land development, real property assessment and taxation, and municipal law issues. Tara represents real estate owners with property assessments, payments in lieu of taxes, property tax recharges and rent determination matters. She provides specific advice to public and private developers on development project approvals such as official plan and zoning bylaw amendments, subdivision and site plan approvals, minor variances and consents. She also negotiates and prepares official plan amendments, zoning bylaw amendments, and a variety of agreements, subdivision and site plan agreements, agreements under section 37 of the Ontario Planning Act, and heritage easement agreements. In addition, Tara negotiates settlements with municipalities, community groups, neighbors and other interested parties regarding proposed developments and other municipal law matters. She also specializes in matters under the Ontario Retail Business Holidays Act, having represented owners of retail assets in obtaining approvals. 

Tara is the 17^th president-elect of Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) Network. She is also the 20^th past-president and a former director on the board of her local chapter, Toronto CREW. She is also a member of the Municipal Law section of the Ontario Bar Association and a member of the Urban Land Institute, the Canadian Property Tax Association, Inc. and NAIOP. For ICSC, Tara is the Provincial Government Relations Chair for the Province of Ontario. She has an L.L.B. from Queen’s University and an M.PL. (Urban and Regional Planning from Queen’s University. And a B.A. (Hon. Geography) from Carleton University. 

Ms. Piurko will present  "10 Tips for Getting your CRE Career Started," (Hosted by CREW Network) on Monday, May 22, 10:00 - 11:00 am in the Talent Development Pavilion.