This old house

David Jordan | Image: Phillip Chin | Published: June 01, 2008

Falling in love with your work can be an occupational hazard if you’re a real estate developer. Just ask Rich Ilich, president of the Townline Group of Companies. “As a builder, I do tend to get excited about some of the things we build and end up moving,” he admits with a laugh. “But I promised [my wife] Lauren we won’t do that too much more.”

For Ilich, who made headlines this spring with the announcement of plans to develop the Fantasy Gardens site in Richmond, a passion for development obviously goes beyond simply squeezing the most dollars out of a parcel of land. The quiet 50-year-old is reticent to talk about himself but comes to life when he describes a unique design element or an especially beautiful piece of remote waterfront property at another.

Ilich has a particular penchant for heritage buildings, as witnessed by Townline’s purchase in 2004 of the iconic Hudson’s Bay building in Victoria. He has also converted a couple of Yaletown heritage buildings to loft-style condos. “It’s just a passion,” Ilich says of heritage restorations.

“There’s a real texture – tactile stuff you can experience at the pedestrian level. There are wonderful monuments all over the city to architects, but they often don’t speak to the street. As a layman, I appreciate the 20-foot-down perspective of the city, and I think most of the heritage buildings have a lot to offer at that level.”

Opportunities for heritage restoration, however, are limited in the Lower Mainland. Indeed, only about 25 per cent of Townline’s work involves restoration; the bigger chunk involves townhomes, low-rise condos and single-family developments in suburbs such as Richmond, Burnaby, Surrey and Langley. That’s not to say Ilich is averse to highrise urban living. In fact, he becomes animated when describing the open-floor plans slated for a new condo tower at the corner of Seymour and Nelson streets in Vancouver – and seems positively eager to fire up the barbecue as he describes the 200-square-foot decks. “Just because people live in a small space,” he says, “it doesn’t mean they want to go out every night. They do want to have friends over.”

Ilich comes from a prominent Richmond family; his father, Milan, got his start in the paving business and has been a prominent member of the community, largely through the philanthropic work of the Milan and Maureen Ilich Foundation. Milan was at one time

owner of the Vancouver 86ers soccer team and a part owner of the Vancouver Giants hockey team. (No, former MLA Olga Ilich is neither Rick’s mother nor sister; he laughs at the number of times he’s had to correct that particular misunderstanding. She was formerly married to his dad’s brother and remains a good friend of Rick’s.)

Today Ilich lives in a new house in Richmond with his wife Lauren and three sons – two toddlers and a teen. However, when he starts describing a development underway just outside of Nanaimo, it’s easy to imagine that this suburban idyll may be but one more stopover. Says Ilich wistfully: “It’s one of the most fabulous little pieces of earth I’ve seen in a long time.”