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40 BC BU S I N E S S .C A J A N U A R Y/ F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 5 REAL ESTATE One of the people who has helped Wall through his journey is Bob Rennie, the renowned real estate marketer who worked with Wall's grandfather for over two decades but hasn't had much contact with him over the last several years. "Everything you hear about Peter is true," says Rennie with a laugh. "What I find from my obser- vations with Colin is that he understands that he had to get out of Peter's shadow. You wouldn't pick him out of a lineup as a developer and that, to me, is refreshing... Colin isn't relying on the wealth of his family. He's comfortable—no one is eating cat food here—but he's going to carve his own path." Another person who's been impressed with Wall is Westbank founder Ian Gil- lespie, he of projects like Vancouver House and Telus Garden. "Empathy would come to mind, sincerity, lack of pretense," says Gillespie when asked how he'd describe Wall. "He wasn't saying, 'I'm taking over the family business.' It was, 'I want to do this myself; I want to make my own mark.'" Wall is part of the next generation of Vancouver real estate developers, most of whom are the offspring of well-known families with last names like Aquilini, Bosa, McAllister, Podmore, Chard, Mackay, De Cotiis and Gaglardi, among others. In general, Gillespie has liked what he's seen from those who are coming up in the industry. "They often seek me out, or, when I see them in a social setting, they make an effort to engage in a conversation. And without exception, they're much more interested and passionate in the things I am than maybe the older guard is. And so I'm interested in them," he says. "I'm looking forward to following Colin's path and I think he fits the mould of his generation, who are more interested in what their proj- ects mean to the community they're build- ing them in than what it means to their income statements." The changing of the guard in the Vancouver real estate scene seems like it will result in fewer family feuds and the like. "Old prob- lems between developer families don't always transfer to the younger genera- tions," says Wall. "I know a lot of developer families, their kids, grandkids, whatever; we all get along, a lot of us hang out. Why wouldn't we work together instead of claw- ing each other apart?" Wall does recognize that his situation is remarkably different from how his grandfa- ther, a Ukrainian immigrant, grew up. "He had to be down in the mud, I didn't," says Wall. "So I get to say all these nice things about how I get along with everyone. He had to be a little ruthless; most of that gen- eration did." But the real estate industry, with its high barrier to entry, stagnating economic con- ditions and rocketing construction costs, isn't necessarily getting easier to make your mark in, even if you have capital. "They're not all going to make it across the finish line," Rennie says of the city's younger developers. Wall knows that, too. He's hoping the Hollybush development is the first of many, but any missteps—and there are so many ways a 23-storey building can go wrong— will be extraordinarily costly. "There's a lot riding on this—my career essentially," he says. "I want to make sure I do it as well as I can." After meeting with Wall four times over the course of a few weeks, I'm still not sure if the kid I knew more than 20 years ago, the one who stood up for the little guy with- out a moment's hesitation, is still there, buried under the fancy shirts and tattoos. The city will soon find out if he is. But while most of his peers have come up through the family ranks before tak- ing over those familiar companies, Wall was never an employee at Wall Financial and, though he's learned some of the tricks of the trade from both Peter and Wall Financial chair and CFO Bruno Wall, Peter's nephew, he's intent on starting something new. "No, I don't," says Rennie when asked if he sees many similarities between Wall and his grandfather. "A lot of it is genera- tional. The notoriety and the celebrity that went with Peter, in Colin, it will be more about what he produces. The product will be more important than the person." Colin Wall waffles a bit when asked the same question. "We have similarities for sure, but we're very different people at the end of the day," he says. In terms of the work he's doing, Wall notes that he would like to collaborate closely with others, and with city hall in particular. "I want to pro- vide something for the people and the city while also receiving something in return. That's how things should work. Both par- ties get what they want. I do believe [my grandfather] does that, but I want to emphasize that that's what I'd like to do." He isn't, in other words, going to call city planners "complete and utter idiots," like Peter Wall did in a 2012 Vancouver maga- zine profile. CONSTRUCTION 3: OPERATION 4:

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