It’s late on a Friday afternoon and Urban One Builders president Allan Beron stands on a metal platform looking out to a deserted construction site at the Arbutus Shopping Centre, where his company is embarking on one of the largest redevelopment projects in the history of the Vancouver west-side neighbourhood.
“On a long weekend, the site shuts down a bit earlier than usual so it’s quiet here,” he said, referring to the February long weekend that has just started for his workers.
“I just wanted to give you a sense of what we’re doing.”
Inside a meeting room at the shopping centre, Beron revealed that his company has about 15 projects on the go that have a combined budget of more than $800 million. Still, his company has operated largely under the radar since Beron co-founded the venture in early 2012 along with four former co-workers: Brent Olund, Blair Winsor, Jason Woods and Edwin Chann.
Much of the scarce media attention that Urban One has achieved centred on the company’s legal squabbles with Trump International Hotel and Tower Vancouver developer Holborn Group.
Holborn filed a lawsuit against Urban One in January 2017 alleging that the company contributed to delays in building the tower by failing to perform “with the degree of care, skill and diligence that would be expected of a professional construction manager.”
Urban One counter-sued Holborn and another company that is controlled by Holborn CEO Joo Kim Tiah, claiming that those companies owed Urban One $835,059.10 for providing contract management services.
Beron told Business in Vancouver on February 9 that the companies settled the lawsuits out of court and that Urban One was paid in full.
“It’s not an acrimonious relationship,” Beron said of Holborn and Tiah.
“They filed a claim but nothing happened with that. It’s settled.”
He added that he could foresee future work for Tiah-related companies.
Tiah concurred, telling BIV in an email, “I would consider working with them again.”
“We managed to resolve our differences and we are on good terms,” Tiah said.
Urban One was a relatively new entity in 2012 when Holborn contracted it to build what was then an unbranded twisty tower with a $180 million budget and the cachet of being one of the last structures to be built that the late celebrated architect Arthur Erickson had designed.
Urban One’s five principals had a wealth of construction experience among them, from work at past companies such as ITC Construction Group, from which they all defected to form Urban One.
But before Holborn contracted Urban One, the only project Urban One had embarked on was a $7 million condominium project known as Kits West, on West 4th Avenue.
“The rationale was to go cradle to grave in a smaller project that we could finish in 12 months,” Beron said of Kits West. “The average project size for larger projects is two to four years.”
Once Holborn took that leap of faith in the Urban One startup, other developers also started to come calling.
UBC Properties Trust hired Urban One to build the $60-million Phase 2 of its $165-million Ponderosa Commons.
UBC Properties Trust was pleased enough with Urban One’s work to award the company a second contract – to build its Brock Commons Tallwood House, which at 18 storeys is the tallest wood building in the world.
Urban One is also building multiple projects for Larco Investments Ltd., including the Arbutus Shopping Centre redevelopment as well as a mixed-use project in North Vancouver.
Two projects are also underway for Millennium Group, which is likely best known for being the initial developer of Vancouver’s Olympic Village.
“Allan is professional and has got a well-organized company that offers good service, good communication and a good safety response,” said Reliance Properties CEO Jon Stovell, who contracted Urban One to build a 22-storey rental building at 1687 Davie Street.
“This is the first job they’ve done for us and it’s early on, but I have no reason to believe that they won’t do a great job.”
Stovell’s confidence in Urban One stems in part from his having dealt with many of the company’s principals when they were at ITC.
Indeed, Beron believes relationships are key to business success.
He has also gone out of his way to integrate technology to make the construction process more efficient. Extra time is spent at the beginning, after initial architect drawings have been submitted.
“We’ll model the building to the point where you can put on 3D virtual-reality goggles and simulate walking through the building,” he said. “That way you can visualize everything.”
Those virtual-reality walk-throughs bring the building to life in a way that helps Urban One staff detect potential problems before construction is complete and get a sense of aspects of the construction that had not been considered during the initial concept design.
Born in South Africa, Beron, now 48, came to Canada with his parents after finishing high school in Johannesburg.
It was the late 1980s, and white-minority rule was nearing an end in a country that was rocked by extrajudicial killings and resistance to its apartheid system of racial separation.
Beron said his father, Irwin, was a manager in a company that sold components to electricians, and he simply wanted a better life for his children. So he came to Canada despite not having a job lined up.
Allan Beron completed a political science degree at Toronto’s York University before completing necessary courses to become a chartered accountant and getting a job at what is now PwC Canada.
His MBA from the University of Toronto added another dimension to his business understanding.
He then transitioned from accounting to finance, eventually getting into the construction industry as chief financial officer at ITC.
He and his wife, Andrea, are raising three teen boys, who, Beron said, are active in a wide range of sports.
Indeed much of Beron’s spare time is consumed by watching his kids play everything from soccer to basketball to football while his own physical activity tends to come from early-morning workouts.
He attends industry events held by organizations such as the Urban Development Institute and the Vancouver Regional Construction Association and is a past board member at Ronald McDonald House BC.
With Urban One having so many projects on the go, however, Beron has scaled back donating his time to community organizations.
The company employs more than 100 staff and is adding new employees each week, Beron said.
“I appreciate that it’s tough as an immigrant coming in,” he said. “We’ve done well bringing people into the industry who have experience outside [Canada] and to help them here.” •
