Carma Developers, founded in 1958, is a Canadian residential

land developer Land development is the alteration of landscape in any number of ways such as: * Changing landforms from a natural or semi-natural state for a purpose such as agriculture or housing * Subdividing real estate into lots, typically for the purpose ...

with master-planned communities throughout

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and the

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. Its head offices are located in Calgary,

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

where it is the largest residential land developer in that city. On March 31, 2011

Brookfield Residential Properties Inc. Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is a Canadian multinational company that is one of the world's largest alternative investment management companies, with over US$725 billion of assets under management in 2022. It focuses on direct contro ...

(NYSE, TSX: BRP) announced the completion of a merger that combines Brookfield Homes Corporation with the residential group of Brookfield Office Properties consisting of Carma Developers and Brookfield Homes (Ontario) Limited.

History

The company was founded in 1958 by a group of 45 iconicCalgary Herald: Developer celebrates 50th anniversary of founding in Calgary
/ref> Calgary-based home builders including Tony Usselman, Albert Bennett, Ralph Scurfield, Howard Ross, and Roy Wilson who got together to purchase bulk quantities of land to be used for

housing developments A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Popular throughout the United States ...

in the booming young city of Calgary. Usselman and Bennett were the largest initial shareholders with each holding 20%. In the 50 following years the company built close to 60 communities in Calgary, the first being the community of Rosemont where houses sold for between $18,000 and $22,000. The company grew rapidly during the

economic boom An economic expansion is an increase in the level of economic activity, and of the goods and services available. It is a period of economic growth as measured by a rise in real GDP. The explanation of fluctuations in aggregate economic activit ...

of the 1960s and 1970s, using the funds from sales to buy other pieces of land, soon expanding past Calgary, and into the United States as well. Real estate bubble In 1970 Usselman sold his shares to

Nu-West Nu-West Group Ltd. was a Canadian growth-oriented house building company that grew into an internationally diversified conglomerate. In 1957 Nu-West Homes was a small, privately owned, house-building company operating in Calgary, Alberta. In 196 ...

"with the stipulation that Nu-West would never take complete control of the builder/shareholder relationship." Other builders, too, sold or re-distributed their shares, and in 1972, when Carma went

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, the company had developed and sold more than 11,000 residential lots and developed 500 acres (200 hectares) of serviced land for multi-family or commercial development. By 1979, 75% of the company's shares were owned by Carma members, including Nu-West, which owned 48 per cent of the shares. In 1980, Carma bought Allarco Developments, a huge publicly traded holding company controlled by

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

surgeon Dr. Charles Allard, and Carma instantly became a billion dollar company, active in everything from

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s and investments to auto sales. Things began to get tough in the early 1980s when the

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brought in the

National Energy Program The National Energy Program (french: Programme énergétique national, NEP) was an energy policy of the Canadian federal government from 1980 to 1985. Created under the Liberal government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau by Energy Minister Marc ...

(NEP), which didn't allow Albertans to sell

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

to the Canadian market at world prices. This policy decimated Alberta's

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. People left Alberta in droves and almost no one bought homes, with existing owners walking away from mortgages. Real estate prices plummeted and the industry collapsed. Carma had 500 employees in 1983, declining to just 17 by 1985. Carma was able to negotiate with the banks to keep certain assets to get rid of debt. They downsized, recapitalized, and under the direction of Murray Fox, who was hired in 1983 as chief financial officer, the company got back to the original business of developing residential land and again flourished despite the odds. By 1987, Brookfield Properties, headquartered in

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, saw the potential in Carma and bought into the company. Today Brookfield owns 100% of it. Carma bought Nu-West's Canadian operations in 1989, and Carma's growth has been noteworthy ever since, with master-planned communities in every quadrant of the City of Calgary, offering parks, extensive residents' associations with amenities, commercial space, lakes, and shops within easy reach of neighbours.

Bibliography

* Max Foran, ''Expansive Discourses: Urban Sprawl in Calgary, 1945-1978'' (2008) * Susan Goldenberg, ''Men of Property: The Canadian Developers who are Buying America'' (1981) * Marie Morgan, ''From the Ground Up: A History of Carma Developers'' (1998)

References

{{Reflist
Calgary Herald, 16 March 2009San Marcos Record, 8 June 2006HistoryLink.org: Colman Building (Seattle)

External links

Carma Website
Real estate companies of Canada