Project Dream of former Calgary engineer
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He’s bucking the trend.
While people are drawn to the oil and gas industry in Alberta like baseball fans are to hot dogs, Henry Man isn’t about to strike out with his new career.
The chemical engineer moved from Calgary to Vancouver, leaving a management position with a large oil company to work in the residential construction field and he hasn’t looked back since.
“My favorite pastime when I was in Calgary was to go to the parade of homes there,” he says. “I was interested in how the homes were laid out, and the design and functionality of the rooms. Eventually, I invested in a property and put it into rental. Little did I know that I already had that mindset.“
While in Calgary, he worked with British Petroleum and completed an MBA degree from the University of Calgary.
In Vancouver, “Concord Pacific Group came beckoning, and I joined in 1994,” he says.
Man played a pivotal role in developing properties such as Vancouver’s Concord Pacific Place and CityPlace in Toronto.
He served as executive vice-president and CEO of Concord Pacific Group and director and CEO of Concord Adex Developments Corp, in Toronto before retiring in 2002.
“But opportunity beckoned,” says Man. Retirement wasn’t in the cards.
He joined a friend who was developing a property and had asked for his help.
“I said, yes, originally, I would help direct the architects and work once a week,” says Man.
“At the end of the day, I was doing it full-time. Now, I’ve stared my own company and I find myself doing a $140-million project.”
“I have a staff and, although I’m not looking for new sites or bidding for land, I already have two other sites when I’m ready to move on.”
People call Man the “gentleman developer,” he says, alluding to the gentleman farmer who has a small acreage that is a hobby farm more than a career choice.
Man is president and CEO of Magellen 20/20, and the $140-million project is Atelier, a sleek, modern highrise condo tower in the heart of downtown Vancouver.
Soaring more than 20 storeys over Robson Street at Homer Street, the building will have 202 suites by completion, which is expected to be in the fall of 2009.
