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What Now Terry Hui?

Jim Sutherland

| September 8, 2010

Image by: Paul Joseph | Various

For 18  years the  challenge  for Terry Hui  and Concord  Pacific has revolved  around its massive  city-within-a-city  Expo-land project.  With the development  almost complete, the  next 18 years look  a little different .

The moment he steps into a meeting on the 10th floor of Concord Pacific’s Pender Street headquarters, Terry Hui professes embarrassment. The windows look north toward Burrard Inlet, the North Shore mountains and, coincidentally, Jimmy Pattison’s suite of offices in a building across the street. Had he the urge, Hui could look over and wave at the other operator of a Vancouver-based, family-owned consortium with annual revenues measured in 10 figures, but right now he has some explaining to do. Specifically, something has to be said about the massive bandage that covers much of the left side of his face.  

Grinning sheepishly, talking in characteristic rapid-fire bursts, Hui holds out his cellphone. On the screen there’s a figure in a helmet lying on bare, grey pavement. It’s none other than Hui himself, president and majority owner of “Canada’s Largest Community Builder,” as the company describes itself. Attempting to learn the sport of longboarding, Hui had headed out on the weekend to the shady and quiet but also winding and hilly roads around UBC after being kicked off a parking lot by security guards. The fall came soon after. Simply riding a longboard isn’t that hard, Hui explains: the challenge is learning how to stop. 

The challenge right now for Concord Pacific is quite the opposite: learning how to keep going. For two decades the company’s bread and butter has been a single parcel of land, albeit an extraordinary parcel of land, one that is frequently referred to as the largest development site in North America. Since 1990 some three dozen condo towers have been built there, in addition to a similar number of smaller structures – providing homes for about 20,000 people. But Concord Pacific Place, as the one-time Expo site on the banks of Vancouver’s False Creek is known, is perilously close to build-out. Of the original 83 hectares, only about 10 remain undeveloped, enough space for maybe 12 more towers. About half of those won’t come online for another decade, leaving only a handful of starts over the next few years. The company has plenty of other developments elsewhere in Greater Vancouver and across Canada, but they occupy less-perfect locations. None has been quite the smash hit that Concord Pacific Place was, and a couple are actual misses, at least for now. Hui is also involved in lots of side projects – a software company, a fibre-optics network, a wind farm – but none of his tech ventures comes close to the development company’s size. 

Meanwhile, there is the worry that time is not on the side of any developer just now. As strong as condo sales have been for most of the past two decades, the current market looks more than a little tenuous, especially given the starkly different situation south of the border. “We talk about a dead cat bounce,” says Matt Meehan, Concord’s senior vice-president of planning. Yes, at times like these you need a leader like Hui, someone who’s not afraid to lay it all out where the rubber – or the cheekbone – hits the road. 

Ask a dozen different people for their take on Terry Hui and you’ll hear a dozen variations on words like “smart,” “creative,” “thoughtful” and “generous.” 

“He was always pushing the teams – including the city – to be more creative,” says Larry Beasley, former co-director of planning for the City of Vancouver. 

“He’s been invaluable, so competent,” says David Eisenstadt, president and CEO of Keg Restaurants Ltd., who has recently worked with Hui in pursuing a new site for the Vancouver Art Gallery. 

“He’s really creative, highly artistic, thoroughly technical and intensely analytical,” itemizes Paul Lee, former president of Electronic Arts Worldwide Studios and co-founder of Vanedge Capital Inc., who’s known him for 18 years and invests in some of his side ventures, a favour that Hui returns. 

“His first billion he was born to – but the second billion he earned the hard way,” says Howard Nemtin with a laugh. The real estate consultant counts himself yet another Terry Hui fan.  

Of course, there’s also another theme when it comes to Hui: “Never met him.” “Don’t know much about him.” “Bit of a mystery man.” 

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Dear Anonymous, Have to

Submitted by mogrady (not verified) on Tue, 2010-09-14 13:01.

Dear Anonymous, Have to disagree with you – it would only be a case of burying the lede if, indeed, the story was some sort of qualitative analysis of Concord's developments. But it's very clear from the outset that the story is about Concord's business model, and whether the current growth trajectory can be sustained. The debate about the Concord aesthetic – which has been played out, ad nauseum, for 20 years – is another story for another magazine.

Overall an interesting read.

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 2010-09-09 21:20.

Overall an interesting read. But come on Matt and Jim - the two of you committed the ultimate journalism mistake here - you buried the lede. The real story here is getting to the bottom of how Terry Hui was able to force upon Vancouver dozens of cookie-cutter condo towers. And yet, you only touch upon this key issue in the final paragraphs. Hui is one of the primary reasons that this city is associated with mediocre architecture. And somehow you get Larry Beasley - Larry Beasley! - to tell us why this was not a bad thing. Why didn't Bing Thom comment on Terry Hui's developments? How about Trevor Boddy? They would have provided much more critical analysis than Beasley, whose role during Terry Hui's glory years was to rubber stamp the majority of those hideous Concord buildings on False Creek. It's no coincidence that Hui's name has NOT been associated with what little decent architecture we have enjoyed in the past decade in Vancouver (Shangri-La, One Wall, Jamieson House). What really irks me is that Gordon Price gave you an opening when he declares the mediocrity of buildings in Vancouver. Instead of seizing upon his comments, you inexplicably dismiss them and defend Hui! If Sutherland's reporting wasn't so thorough, I would call this an official puff piece! Just because Hui is hard to corner for an interview doesn't mean he should be treated with kid gloves in the story itself. Sutherland is a very good writer, but he was clearly intimidated by Hui here. Next time, bring in a heavy like Peter Newman himself to get the job done!