Managing Partner Paul Golini, Jr. tells Construction Digital how this company has grown to become a premier developer of planned communities
By Kevin Doyle
Award-winning Empire Communities of Thornhill, ON has made its mark in all sectors of the region’s new home building industry. Through the years, the family-owned company has built a stellar reputation for its superior commitment to customer service and unmatched attention to detail.
“We’re involved in the low-rise and high-rise residential, luxury new homes, affordable housing, commercial and industrial markets,” says Managing Partner Paul Golini, Jr., who owns and operates the company with fellow Managing Partners Andrew and Daniel Guizzetti. “The business was founded by the Golini and Guizzetti families. We’re the second generation.”
Empire Communities was formed as a development company by Paul Golini, Sr. and the Guizzetti’s late uncle Andy. The eventual transition from residential land development to residential construction only seemed natural.
The company has worked meticulously to create a corporate structure that allows it to properly plan, manage and execute effectively. Its ability to manage and mitigate risk sets is a major competitive advantage. Its staff of professionals is experienced in budgeting, forecasting, contracting and pricing product appropriately for varying markets. A skilled internal sales force provides exceptional customer service and maintains consistency throughout the purchaser’s experience.
“We started with a master planned community in Dundas, Ontario of more than 800 units. So we had our start and the partners have been hands-on since the beginning, involved in every aspect of development. We started the High-Rise Division in 1997 and our first project was Empire Place, a three-tower community with 415 units in Vaughan,” explains Golini Jr.
Creating a successful community of new homes requires more than just building it. Finding the right site, envisioning the finished product, planning the layout, blending it with the existing environment, installing an efficient infrastructure and igniting a true sense of community are all vital ingredients. That is why the Golini and Guizzetti families changed the firm’s name from Empire Homes to Empire Communities.
Paul Golini Jr. firmly believes the foundation up work experience of the Managing Partners provides Empire Communities with a clear competitive advantage. That is evidenced by numerous industry honors such as the President’s Award from the Ontario New Home Warranty Program (TARION) for Outstanding Service and Achievement and, more recently, the Community of the Year Award for its Wyndfield and Riverland master-planned communities.
“Our experience gives us a perspective that some developer/builders may not have. The ability to understand all aspects of a project is now part of what differentiates us. From land acquisition through to market research and project launch, we’re involved every step of the way,” he says. “We also take pride in our ability to be hands-on in the contracting stage. We know what’s going on with costs and materials and we do all of our construction in-house. We don’t use general contractors. We see projects through to delivery and beyond. We’re in it for the long term and we stand by our word.”
SUPREME INNOVATORS
When the recession hit full force in early 2009, rather than battening down the hatches and riding through, Empire Communities took a bold step by launching the Fly Condos project in
Toronto last spring.
“In the dead of winter, when most developers had scaled back marketing efforts and no one was launching projects, we decided to take a calculated risk. We re-designed the suite configurations to make them smaller and we re-priced the building to be very competitive. Our intention was to excite the first-time buyers out there waiting for the perfect opportunity to buy. We coupled that with a strong marketing campaign anchored on the tagline ‘Now is The Time to Buy’,” Golini details.
The results have been spectacular with more than 400 sales to date (over 85 percent sold since May 2009). “The success of our launch created momentum in the local market and allowed other developers to see that opportunities existed. It sort of jump-started the condo market,” he adds.
PREMIER PROJECTS
Wyndfield: Located in Brantford, this public-private partnership is Empire’s anchor project. “We have 1000 homes constructed and another 1,500 to go. We’re working with the municipality as a partner. We’re incorporating parks and schools and we’ve constructed a bypass roadway for the city,” Golini notes.
Homes range in size from 1,178 to 2,800 square feet and are priced from $209,900 to $320,990. The community is located minutes from downtown Brantford and Laurier University. Golini says the planned community concept is of great value to buyers.
“We control the streetscapes, where the parks are and where the schools are planned. With planning controlled, you end up with a better product. There are not many companies in Canada that take this approach. We have a vested interest in the community looking as good five years down the line as on the day we sold the first house,” he says.
As part of the Wyndfield project, Empire Communities donated a building lot to Habitat for Humanity, then built a Habitat home for a local family in need. The company has also launched Wyndfield West with a new collection of detached homes starting at $199,000.
Beyond The Sea: This $250 million master planned high-rise community features more than 830 units in three striking glass towers on the Etobicoke waterfront overlooking Lake Ontario. Units range in size from 584 square feet (one bedroom) to a 1,435-square foot penthouse suite with two bedrooms and a den. Prices range from the low $200,000’s to over one million dollars.
According to the corporate website, Beyond The Sea is “a place where you can commune with nature and yet surrender your senses to the conveniences of the city.”
Beyond the Sea was Toronto’s fastest selling community in 2007 selling almost 700 units in 6 days. Empire won Best Urban Sales Office by the National Association of Home Builders and Best Sales Team – High Rise by BILD.
The Estates of Wyndance: This gated community in Uxbridge features 125 estate homes with a minimum lot size of 17,000 square feet (85x200) and a championship golf course designed by Hall of Famer Greg Norman.
“We’re one of the first to bring a Greg Norman designed course to Canada. The community was designed to be attached to the course and all buyers receive a membership. Gated communities are not common in Canada. This is for a very upscale market,” Golini
points out.
Wyndance’s rural location includes gazebos and gardens. Marble from the quarries of Southern Italy and exotic woods from around the world were used in crafting these spectacular homes. Bungalows and two-storey designs range in size from 1973 sf to 4265 sf. with prices starting from the mid $600,000 range
Riverland: This master planned community will ultimately include 1,000 homes along the banks of the Grand River in the Kitchener-Waterloo region that is home to some of Canada’s premier technology companies, including BlackBerry developer RIM and Toyota.
“We range from town homes for first-time buyers up to larger homes. The sales office was built as a community center which we will gift to the town of Breslau. As we’re selling the community, we’re able to add amenities by working closely with the city,” Golini explains.
A small collection of towns is being offered at a starting price of $194,990 and full size detached homes starting at $235,990.
GREEN MEASURES
You would have to look long and hard to find another construction firm in Canada as committed to green building and sustainable practices as Empire Communities. Golini, in fact, is chairman for the Green Committee of the local Building Industry and Land Development Association.
“We were one of the first ENERGY STAR builders in Ontario and one of the first to build with ENERGY STAR as a standard, using all product lines in our low rise locations, from town homes to estate lots. We made the commitment to do it across the board. It required great time expenditure as well as re-learning how to build a better box. Everyone from designers and architects to contractors to site personnel had to be re-trained,” Golini says.
The company has earned Green Builder of the Year recognition in Hamilton, ONT and won Green Builder of the Year accolades from EnerQuality Corporation, which delivers the ENERGY STAR program in Ontario. It also participated in a LEED for Homes pilot project.
Empire Communities was also directly involved in construction of the Archetype Sustainable House, the greenest house in North America, located at the Living City Campus at Kortright in Vaughan, ON. The house is being used as a teaching tool to help minimize ecological footprints
“Kortright is one of our largest conservation areas. We donated our contractors and ENERGY STAR specialists as part of our commitment to sustainable building practices. Numerous delegations from the United States and Europe have traveled here to tour the house,” Golini says.
DAILY OPERATIONS AND PEOPLE
Whether building condominiums or planned communities, Empire Communities distinguishes itself by delivering on its promise.
“We’ve been working on our brand for years. It’s something we pay attention to; we’re focused on the great value it represents. We’re not in and out of a project for the quick sell. The consumer knows we’re there for the long run and that we stand behind our product,” Golini says.
The company offers a variety of delivery methods. Contracting, budgeting, costing and construction are performed in-house. “We’re involved with all facets of the business. We’re in charge of our own destiny from customer service to our relationships with municipalities,” Golini asserts.
Empire often partners with outside architectural firms such as Grazani and Corazza Architects Inc. and E.I Richmond Architects Ltd. It also maintains long-standing relationships with a stable group of sub-contractors in the specialty trades such as plumbing, HVAC, electrical and framing. Otherwise, it performs its own work.
The company takes great pride in its safety initiatives, holding bi-weekly meetings to assess and evaluate measures in place. In-house Safety Coordinators are present on all sites. “We take safety very seriously and we’ve dedicated the resources necessary to making sure it’s at the forefront of everything we do,” says Golini.
IT improvements include automation of reporting and construction scheduling. The goal is to provide real-time access to data and reports via a web-based system. The company utilizes 3D modeling in sales and marketing campaigns for its high-rise developments but, when it comes to single-family homes, Golini prefers the tried-and-true method of providing potential customers with a model home
walk-through.
Empire Communities has recently purchased York Excavating and brought it under the company umbrella to provide environmental remediation work. “It belonged to my partners’ father and is one of the most experienced leaders in the business. They were responsible for the work at Rogers Centre (formerly SkyDome), the Air Canada Centre. It’s a strategic purchase and quite an added value for us,” Golini says.
Many of Empire Communities’ 150 employees have been with the company for a number of years. Two years ago, when the company engaged in a six-month exercise to recalibrate its mission statement, management actively sought the input of every employee. “We believe the only way to sustain our business plan and deliver the product we want is by focusing on and involving our people,” Golini notes.
Community involvement extends beyond the construction process. “Because we’re so intertwined with the community, we’ve developed great relationships with the high schools and colleges. We provide work-term opportunities and internships and we’ve definitely found that great synergies are created when we work with the local schools,” Golini says.
LOOKING AHEAD
As the company evolves, Golini says it will do so in a well-planned manner. “As much as everything we do is about taking risk, we’re still conservative in our plans. We believe in strategic and disciplined growth and we have the ability to manage and mitigate risk. We’re fortunate to have strategic partnerships with investors and lenders that have allowed us to grow, another of our advantages,” he says.
Expansion seems to be on the horizon, including into the United States. “We plan to expand geographically within Canada and the U.S. We were in Ft. Lauderdale in the early ‘90s developing commercial properties and we’re certainly open to working south of the (Canadian) border again,” Golini concludes.
Which leaves only one question for potential customers: “Where in the Empire do you want to live?”
FACTS AT A GLANCE
COMPANY NAME: Empire Communities
MANAGING PARTNERS: Daniel Guizzetti, President; Paul Golini Jr, Executive Vice President; Andrew Guizzetti, Executive Vice President
OPERATIONS: Empire Communities is involved in the low-rise and high-rise residential, luxury new homes, affordable housing, commercial and industrial markets.
ESTABLISHED: 1993
EMPLOYEES: 150
REVENUE: +CAD$300 million
Exec Digital Magazine
View Digital Corporate Profile of EmpireCommunities in Construction Digital February 2010