Bill Blais

President & CEO at Maclab Development Group

Speaker

Bill Blais is the President and CEO of Maclab Development Group, an Edmonton based real estate company. His 26 year career has focused on real estate development, including mixed use multi family development, land development, office conversion, hotel development. Recently at Maclab Development Group, the focus includes the following:

• Design and development of Laurent and Eleanor, a two-tower project located adjacent to the University of Alberta campus and with connectivity to the bus transit centre and LRT.
  • Laurent provides 493 student housing beds in a mix of Studio, 2-bedroom and 4-bedroom units. After much study and time analyzing student housing projects this development put students mental, physical, and emotional well-being at the forefront with thoughtful design. This design includes, natural light, operable windows, in suite air conditioning, amenity and study areas including a fitness facility, secure bike storage, study rooms, common areas and a rooftop lounge. Fully furnished suites with ample storage space have been designed in this project. A management team and platform has been developed to operate, maintain, and lease this asset with the intention of rolling this platform out to several new student housing projects.
  • Eleanor provides 260 rental units in a mix of 1- and 2-bedroom units and 12, 3-bedroom townhomes. As a typical apartment building, this project will provide housing for both students and young professionals.
• Design and development of the Parks project located on 108^th Street and Jasper Avenue. This project is nearing the completion of phase one, a 366-unit tower that will ultimately be a 1,000-unit development. Located on Capital Boulevard, the project will serve both Norquest and MacEwan students along with professionals in the government district. The project is being developed next to the City of Edmonton’s new Urban Warehouse Park. Upon completion, the Parks will provide access to Edmonton’s Corona LRT station.
• Acquisition of Mill Woods Town Centre, a 56-acre enclosed mall that under Maclab will become Edmonton’s largest private redevelopment, creating a mixed use, transit-oriented development. This project will see over 6,000 housing units developed with active main floor frontages of both townhouses and retail.
• Management and oversight of the Maclab Development Group rental portfolio throughout Western Canada and the Northwest Territories.

Bill is an active volunteer with UDI sitting on their Nodes and Corridors committee and with NAIOP on their Multifamily committee. Bill is a previous board member of the Fort Edmonton Management Company, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Canadian Home Builders Association Edmonton and is a Past Chair of the Board of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, prior member of the Alberta School of Business Alumni Association.