BCBusiness

24 B C B U S I N E S S . C A S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 5 IN THE CORNER OF A BOARDROOM in Ryan Beedie's sprawling ninth-storey down- town Vancouver headquarters sits a picture of Keith Beedie—a constant reminder of the family patriarch and "powerful force" who brought the younger Beedie into the family enterprise. "The business was everything. I wanted to make him proud," Ryan says of his father, who passed away in 2017 at the age of 91. "We bonded through Canucks hockey and work." The everlasting legacy of Keith is never far away as Ryan shares his journey of building a development behemoth in B.C., though now the empire has arms and robust footprints in Alberta and Ontario, as well as an unorthodox—although quite successful—expansion into Nevada. Oh, and the opening of a gold mine that will be one of the biggest employers in central B.C. Beedie, the firm, has hit incredible milestones with Ryan at the helm (he became company president in 2001, at the ripe old age of 33), including more than 135 million square feet of completed industrial space—featuring custom developments for purchasers like Sobeys and Saputo—and two Amazon facilities. Now with 350-plus staff, Beedie is the largest private industrial landowner, developer and property man- ager in Western Canada, with the manage- ment arm alone totalling 172 properties, 375 tenants and an income-generating portfolio of just over 16 million square feet. Personally, it was a big spring for Ryan. In May he was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame; that same month he was also inducted into the Business Laureates of B.C. Hall of Fame, alongside his late father. While he has never been one to seek formal recognition, accolades cer- tainly find him as his accomplishments pile up. When I ask him about the Order of B.C. pin on his jacket, Ryan admits he doesn't wear it as much as he thinks he should, but fondly recalls then-premier John Horgan giving him the award in 2020. "He said, 'Good job, keep going.' These forms of recognition serve to inspire me to want to keep going and to do bigger and better things," he says. Though Keith started the business back in 1954 as a family home builder (Beedie just celebrated its 70th anniversary last year), Ryan jumped in as a fresh-faced—and rather impatient— 24-year-old (he recalls doing a deal from a pay phone during graduate school). As a young businessman fresh out of Simon Fraser University (he and Keith would go on to donate $22 mil- lion back to the school), Ryan pushed his father—and the business vision—as they grew. With a mind that is constantly in motion ("You should read my report cards from grades two, three, four. Guaran- teed there's ADHD," he says), Ryan constantly strove to enter new sectors and shake up the model of development that was the foundation of the company—because, he says, in his heart he believed they could scale. Where his dad focused on a vertical inte- gration model in which you buy a site, build custom for the tenant and preserve ownership, Ryan transitioned the development arm from industrial to residential, diving headfirst into the world of condo development by creating Beedie Living. "It's fun to enter new markets. My greatest fear is being bored," he says. THE MASTER PLAN Going from a primarily B2B model to the more public-facing B2C came with massive challenges, especially when it came to breaking ground on high-rises and higher density projects. The new world of public hearings, red tape and anti-development sentiment in some jurisdictions presented a steep learning curve ("I still have a lot to learn," he says) but he also recognized an opportunity to build something lasting in communities, with hopes of the Beedie name becoming synonymous with good work, good values and good construction. And now, enter Fraser Mills, the most ambitious residential project of Ryan's career. The master-planned community on the Coquitlam waterfront will encompass 5,500 houses across 16 towers and low- and mid-rise buildings on 96 acres. There's a 50,000-square-foot state-of-the-art aquatic community centre; 100,000 square feet of office, commercial and retail space; 16 acres of recreational and green space along the Fraser River and plans for 400-plus childcare spaces and an elementary school. So far, so good: the first 36-storey tower, aptly named Debut, sold out in three weeks. For Ryan, bringing Fraser Mills to life has been a long time coming and not an easy road. Beedie bought the site as industrial and rezoned it to be residential. It took a long time to renegotiate with the city, says Ryan, but the rewards outweighed the headaches. ("For us, being relatively new to the sector, it's a pretty B U I L D I N G A N E M P I R E

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