He will be remembered for investing in New York City when no else would, or having his company go bankrupt after a massive development in the London Docklands that only time proved justified.
Either way, most people will tell you there are few Canadian developers who have ever had Paul Reichmann’s vision. The legendary developer died Friday. He was 83.
“He was one of the most creative and pioneering people, both in the world of real estate and finance,” said Gary Goodman, a longtime executive who worked with Reichmann. “Look at what he did. He transformed the city of Toronto, the City of New York, the city of London and Mexico (City) with unheard of projects at the time.”
Together with his brothers Albert and Ralph, he founded property company Olympia and York Developments Ltd. which would go on to become a global powerhouse in the 1980s worth close to $14 billion before being forced into bankruptcy in 1992.
The Reichmanns, Orthodox Jews known for protecting their privacy, had fled Europe during the Second World War to escape the expansion of Nazi Germany.
Goodman noted if you look at downtown Toronto today you will see Reichmann’s influence everywhere, including First Canadian Place – the 2.7-million-square-foot building considered a marvel when it opened in the 1970s.
Toronto’s waterfront, now a spectacle of condominiums, was once a mostly abandoned region of the city. “He did the Toronto Star building, he was the first person who ever did anything down at the water,” said Goodman.
New York’s World Financial Center towers bear his stamp.
Well into his senior years, Reichmann was still active and built the 55-storey Torre Mayor tower in 2003, a one-of-kind development in Mexico City which was the tallest building in Latin America until a few years ago.
Torre Mayor, Mexico City
Canary Wharf in London was to be the undoing of the Reichmann family, although many people suggest it was the failure of Margaret Thatcher’s government to deliver a subway line to the Docklands that doomed Reichmann. Today, his vision is taken for granted as it has a become major business centre with 14 million square feet of office space.
“Originally, they were remembered for New York,” said Peter Foster, author of two books about the Reichmanns, referring to the family’s investments when it was feared the city would go bankrupt and property prices were plunging. “They were thought of as magic men and that was a bad thing because the banks just opened their vaults to them or for him.”
Foster noted the Reichmann empire ended up expanding beyond real estate. In 1986, Reichmann and his brothers pulled off what was at the time the largest private transaction in Canadian history with a $2.8-billion takeover of Gulf Canada Ltd.
“None of us is really anxious to become bigger,” said Paul, after the deal was done. “We never do anything for the sake of being bigger, or of wanting more control. You ask, ‘What is it for?’ There is a sense of challenge, the challenge in doing something meaningful. In the end, though, it is an addiction.” Foster said the ambition is probably “what killed” the business in the end. “London is a great success now but an awful lot of money was lost on it,” he said.
Longtime real estate analyst Frank Mayer recalled Reichmann as a giant in the real estate world and not soon forgotten.
“His accomplishments speak for themselves. How many guys have built what he did? He did it in spite of considerable politics. The audacity of Canary Wharf is still remarkable, Try to think of something comparable,” said Mayer.
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