In 2019, Shannondale Developments looked at purchasing the former industrial factory at 152 Shanley Street in Kitchener, Ontario. Nic Tyers, one of the co-owners of Shannondale and Ian Pinchin, the development manager, saw an opportunity and developed an Agreement of Purchase and Sale (APS), working through many challenges to ultimately secure the purchase. The case outlines the situation leading up to the decision to acquire the property and the many challenges they faced as they went through the potential acquisition process. The case challenges students to try to understand the numbers behind the purchase of this environmentally challenged site and to use them to make the decision whether to purchase it.

Spreadsheet to accompany product W39059.

Instructor Spreadsheet to accompany product W39060.

It was September 2022, and, despite a long day at the office, Stephen Price had a lot to consider. He had just finished a meeting with the development and sales team at Graywood Developments (Graywood), during which they had discussed one of the latest developments in Graywood’s pipeline—the Centricity project. With a zoning bylaw amendment (ZBA) in hand, kicking off sales for the project was the next step in the process. However, with a looming recession and an anticipated cooling of the real estate market, Price had to decide whether to proceed with a sales launch in the first quarter of 2023, or shelve the launch until market conditions improved. Graywood could ultimately launch sales in January 2023 in the hope of achieving an average selling price of CA$1,650 per square foot, or it could delay the launch until January 2024 and hopefully sell at $1,700 per square foot or higher—though there was no guarantee that the market would improve. He wondered what impact his decision would have on Graywood’s plans to launch its tenth real estate fund in 2023. This case includes a complex merchant developer Microsoft Excel model, whereby students can adjust inputs and observe how key metrics change.

Student Spreadsheet to accompany product W34120.

Instructor Spreadsheet to accompany product W34121.