NOVEMBER 2019 BCBUSINESS 29
b y N I C K R O C K E L
p o r t r a i t b y A L A N C H A N
EMBARKING ON HIS AMBITIOUS REINVENTION OF
OAKRIDGE, THE WESTBANK FOUNDER ISN'T LIKE
OTHER VANCOUVER REAL ESTATE DEVELOPERS.
WHAT DOES GILLESPIE THINK HE'S DOING, AND
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR THE CITY?
13
Ways of Looking at Ian Gillespie
At Oakridge Centre in south-central Vancouver, the slow-moving lineup
snakes down the hall. People keep gathering indoors on this mild Saturday afternoon
in late September to catch Unwritten, local developer Westbank Corp.'s showcase for its
coming transformation of a brown-brick, low-slung shopping mall into a gleaming new
vertical community.
The exhibition has been running for months, but today marks the opening for sales of
Oakridge x Clémande, a 17-storey luxury tower in the redevelopment. If some visitors are
just here for the free dim sum and the hourly iPhone 11 draws, there's plenty more to see.
"A living city forever grows from its people," reads the slogan above the entrance—one
of many statements, poems and explainers scattered throughout the winding exhibit,
set in a facsimile of a Pacific Northwest rainforest. Amid the greenery, a piano, bass and
vocal trio covers pop classics like the Beatles' "Something" and "God Only Knows" by
the Beach Boys. The grand piano is a Fazioli, whose Italian-made instruments fetch an
average of $1 million.
L E A D E R S H I P
