industry insider
10 Minutes with ...
David McComb, CEO Edenshaw Developments Ltd.
Cascadia achieved numerous accolades on our various developments culminating to British Columbia’s Builder of the Year Award in 1998. Looking for a bigger challenge in my career, I relocated to Toronto to oversee Concord Adex’s development operations at City Place, and in the early years was responsible for the design and construction of the project, which was Canada’s largest urban master-planned community valued at more than $3 billion. In 2006, we added a project similar in size and scope to City Place, Concord Park Place, valued at more than $2 billion.
Q Tell me a bit about you – where you grew up, where you studied, how you got your start in the business. I was born in
Winnipeg but grew up in Vancouver, and after high school was involved in construction where I became a Master Carpenter. I enjoyed the business so much that I chose to go back to school at British Columbia Institute of Technology where I completed my studies in Building Engineering, majoring in Economics. Tell me a bit about your career before Edenshaw Following my education at Q
BCIT, I began with a Vancouver-based multi-family residential builder, Polygon Homes, in 1987 and wrapping up my tenure with them in 1992 as vice-president of construction. I left Polygon to become a principal of Cascadia Land Corp. in 1992, where I was responsible for the startup of our new development company. My partner and mentor in the company was Moh Faris, the founder of the well-known company Intrawest Developments. During my tenure, 078 new Condo Guide apr 20 - may 4, 2013
Q I’d like to know about Edenshaw’s beginnings and why/how you founded it. The company was founded out of a desire be a stakeholder
once again and utilize the experiences and relationships I gained over the last decade developing the large master-planned community at City Place. I wanted to take on bigger challenges and I felt the entrepreneurial spirit to start my own company; that’s when Edenshaw began in 2009. Why “Edenshaw”? I’ve always been amazed at the intricacy of Northwest Coastal art, how First Nations artists interweave their artistry into their community and how it becomes part of who they are. They work with wood, stone and precious metals. I see a connection with this art and what we do. That is why we chose to revere a wellknown Haida artist and Chief, Charles Edenshaw, to reflect our company name. Q What would you define as your specialty? We are a boutique development company that specializes in creating residential condominium communities. We take a personalized approach with our developments and mark our success by the excellent relationships we have in the industry. Although we are a young company, we have on our team an incredible amount of experience and a large network of relationships that provide substantial support in what we do. Q
What about being a developer in Toronto is exciting? Real estate is a
cyclical industry, and what is exciting about being a developer in Toronto is that we are here at the right place at the right time, doing magnificent things. The city is growing at a pace where we have now outstripped Chicago as the fourth largest city in North America. We have a very stable and secure government making this a popular location for people from other countries to immigrate to.