Over 100 years, Alberta-based Melcor has become a fully integrated real estate development and asset management company
Many companies held Christmas parties, but none were as celebratory as the one held by Melcor for its staff at the Fairmont Hotel Macdonald in Edmonton to commemorate the end of its 100th year in business.
The company was launched by Louis Timothy Melton in 1923 as Stanley Investment Co., named after his son. Records of that time show sales of land in the Jasper Place area for $100, with $5 down and $5 per month in payments.
Stan died from a heart attack in 1973 while attending an Edmonton Eskimos Western Final game and his son, Timothy, was appointed president. To concentrate on land assets, the real estate brokerage business was sold, the company was renamed Melcor Developments Ltd., and a number of new offices were opened. It currently has staff in Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Kelowna, B.C., and Phoenix.
The recession of the 1980s had a lasting effect on Alberta and took many years to recover from but, by the late 90s, Melcor was rebuilding and today can boast of $2 billion of real estate assets — it owns 10,000 acres of developable land and has 4.7 million square feet of properties under management.
Edmonton is still home to the head office where Tim Melton has transitioned into the role of executive chair and CEO, and Naomi Stefura completes the executive team as COO and CFO.
But Calgary continues to be an active market for Melcor and for the first time has surpassed the Edmonton area in number of residential lots.
Now under the leadership of Andy’s son, Graeme Melton — who is vice-president of community development for the Calgary region and also responsible for the company’s operations in the U.S. — its first forays into Calgary were in developing whole communities such as Dalhousie and Hawkwood.
Today, active single-family residential developments in the Calgary region are Sunset Ridge in Cochrane and Lanark Landing and Cobblestone Creek in Airdrie. Newer developments underway are Sora, to the north of Marquis of Lorne Trail at 104th Street S.E., and Goldwyn, a prairie estates community on the east side of the QE2 close to CrossIron Mills shopping centre.
Most impressive is Melcor’s long awaited Greenwich 59-acre master-planned community in the northwest along the Trans-Canada just before Stoney Trail, where the new Calgary Farmers’ Market has become a huge attraction. A multi-family residential district, two more commercial retail buildings are in the final stages of construction and enjoying good leasing interest.
From a young man’s dream to more than four generations of his family’s leadership, Melcor has become a fully integrated real estate development and asset management company that has helped shape much of Alberta’s high-growth landscape. Specializing in transforming real estate from raw land into high-quality finished product in both residential and commercial built form, its future looks bright, with lots of land in its portfolio.
Notes:
The start of a new year means organizing a new desk diary — yes, I still like to write down appointments — and wondering which events will reach new significant milestones. Renfrew Educational Services has already announced the date of its 25th annual Helping Kids Soar Gala at The Westin hotel on March 13. This year will mark the 50th anniversary of the organization founded by executive director Janice McTighe in a community kindergarten classroom. It has grown to an innovative, internationally recognized approach to teaching children with physical and cognitive special needs. Featuring singer Tom Jackson, it will be a sellout. Book early.
David Parker appears regularly in the Herald. Read his columns online at calgaryherald.com/business. He can be reached at 403-830-4622 or by email at info@davidparker.ca
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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