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Canada, these days, seems to have become a trilingual nation: English, French and Real Estate.
In recent months some of the largest banks from north of the border have increased their stake in New York real estate lending, as economic conditions in Canada and a search for expanded business lead them to seek out more deals from American sources.
Traditionally, large Canadian banks such as Toronto Dominion Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Bank of Montreal have concentrated real estate loans here among the leading Canadian developers. Bank of Montreal, for instance, is closely identified with Olympia & York, a major Manhattan office builder and developer based in Toronto.
Now these bankers have aggressively expanded their turf by arranging financing, sometimes in concert with other lenders, for some major projects in New York.
"The natural direction of growth is to move south," says Gerd Hagenmeyer, a vice president here with Bank of Montreal. "The Canadian developers are too big for any one bank, and the market in the U.S. is 10 times as big as it is at home."
For example:
* The $400 million office tower at 1585 Broadway, developed by Solomon Equities, has three lead bankers-Toronto Dominion, Bank of Montreal and Swiss Bank Corp. The 42-story building has 1.3 million square feet of space.
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