Following a successful career with prominent property developers such as WSP, Windmill Development Group and most recently Colonnade BridgePort, George struck out on his own last May, launching consulting firm George Partners.
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With a milestone birthday approaching, Ottawa real estate executive Justin George decided a bold move was in order.
Following a successful career with prominent property developers such as WSP, Windmill Development Group and most recently Colonnade BridgePort, George struck out on his own last May, launching consulting firm George Partners.
His mission: to spearhead projects in the non-profit and multi-residential sectors that would help address growing community needs such as better health-care facilities and affordable housing.
While it was rewarding work, George quickly realized being a one-man band had its drawbacks.
“It’s quite lonely to be doing this working on your own,” he told OBJ in an interview last week. “It’s lonely, it’s burdensome in terms of the amount of things that you’re shouldering. But the reason to do it is very compelling.”
George’s passion for community-oriented projects ultimately led him to join forces with a pair of seasoned developers who had collaborated with him in the past and shared his vision – Andrew Thomson, president of Toronto-based real estate advisory and development firm True North Group, and Jennifer Murray of Ottawa-based project management company Terrain Development Consulting.
On Jan. 2 – George’s 40th birthday – they officially incorporated a new firm called Kadus Group.
“It felt like the right time to do it,” George, the company's managing partner, explained. “We made the leap, and we haven’t looked back.”
George refers to the new organization as a “collective” of like-minded real estate entrepreneurs, who each bring impressive credentials to the table.
George helped plan the early stages of Windmill’s Zibi waterfront community in Ottawa and Gatineau before serving as head of development at Colonnade BridgePort, the city’s largest privately owned property manager.
From its home office in Toronto, Thomson’s firm has overseen the development of tens of thousands of apartment units as well as hundreds of millions of square feet of commercial space across North America and beyond.
Murray, meanwhile, spent more than a decade in senior management roles at Minto Communities before launching her own company, which has helped get projects such as Avenue 31’s million-square-foot National Capital Business Park off the ground.
George says Kadus Group’s goal is to forge alliances with not-for-profit institutions such as Perley Health and Ottawa Community Housing, two of its first clients, and private developers that are looking to build multi-residential complexes and other projects that benefit the community.
“We’re intentionally being selective,” George said.
With six staffers in Ottawa and two in Toronto, the organization is part project manager, part proptech incubator and part investment services consultant.
For example, its other partners include Justin Ferrabee, a veteran of the financial services sector who spent the past two years as Colonnade BridgePort’s chief operating officer.
Job one for Ferrabee will be figuring out how to use the latest technology to get projects done cheaper and more efficiently – something, George notes, that is not often a top priority in his profession.
“The real estate industry fundamentally hasn’t changed that much for the better part of 30 or 40 years,” he said. “It’s starting to change slowly, but … the implementation of technology is still not there. The amount of companies that are still using pen and paper or fax is astoundingly high.”
Kadus Group, on the other hand, is all in on proptech. To that end, the firm is partnering with BuyProperly, a Toronto startup whose platform allows individual investors to buy a stake in residential and commercial properties such as apartments and industrial buildings for as little as $500, using artificial intelligence to pinpoint the best market opportunities.
George says new technologies could help unlock new sources of financing for multi-residential projects and other developments that were shelved when rising interest rates and soaring inflation drove up construction costs.
“At the moment, given the economic environment, a lot of projects that have the potential to really benefit the city of Ottawa are on pause because (developers) don’t have access to the right capital sources,” he said.
“We actually see it as a bit of an opportunity for smaller investors. If you’re a small investor, there are some fantastic projects with strong fundamentals. Oftentimes, these small investors don’t know how to get access to deals and the developers don’t know how to get access to these small investors. We see it as an opportunity to create that linkage and solve that problem for them.”
Kadus Group also hopes to nurture the next generation of proptech entrepreneurs. Ferrabee will oversee an incubator that aims to work with a “handful” of fledgling enterprises each year to help them get their technology to market.
“Often, there are groups that have really great technology and great ideas,” George said. “They just don’t have access to the right network, they don’t have access to the right funding sources. There’s a real synergy between connecting our clients with new, up-and-coming technology, but also helping that technology accelerate and grow in the marketplace so that the whole marketplace can function more effectively. It’s something that we’re all excited and passionate about.”
Currently headquartered in a small office at Spaces’ Zibi co-working facility, the organization hopes to eventually add partners across Canada.
Now that his dream is taking shape, George is quick to credit his previous bosses, Windmill founder Jonathan Westeinde and Colonnade BridgePort chief executive Hugh Gorman, for inspiring him to pursue his own entrepreneurial passions.
“I’ve learned a lot from these leaders, about real estate, but also about being a leader and how important that responsibility is,” he said. “I’ve always been fortunate. I perhaps could have done this sooner, but if I had done it sooner, I don’t think I would have the benefit of everything I learned from the people that I’ve worked with.”
