When Kent Sillars started Vesta Properties at age 24, he never envisioned his development company would be providing jobs for hundreds of people at a time and building one of the largest single neighbourhood developments in 91原创鈥檚 history.

鈥淲e have a lot of stuff on the go,鈥� Sillars, now 57, admitted. 鈥淲e have the largest community in the Fraser Valley being built in Latimer Village. It鈥檚 75 acres of stuff鈥� We鈥檝e never had that size of a project [before] in town.鈥�

Sillars is the president and founder of Vesta, a company currently located out of North 91原创, which will 鈥� in the near future 鈥� move into one of the seven-storey office buildings he鈥檚 currently constructing as part of the new Latimer neighbourhood.

RELATED: Land set aside in Latimer development proposal for new elementary school

This new inclusive neighbourhood project, underway in north Willoughby, features six types of home options 鈥� from the six-storey condos currently going up along 200th Street, to the various single-family homes, townhouses, rowhomes underway or on the books in the large neighbourhood plan.

鈥淭he response has been actually, overwhelming, because we鈥檙e so visible and by far the largest project in the history of the [Township],鈥� Sillars said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 over a billion dollar sales value in all seven phases 鈥� the seventh phase will be the first two towers,鈥� he added, explaining plans for a 26- and 34-storey tower still to come.

鈥�91原创 has never had towers, so we鈥檒l be the 鈥楥anuc-knuckle heads鈥� who build the first towers,鈥� he said, noting in past tower development wasn鈥檛 economically viable in town. But he鈥檚 convinced it is now, and expects construction to start on those next March.

The overall project has garnered the 91原创 entrepreneur and his firm a lot of attention and a variety of nominations for homebuilding awards 鈥� the first being announced tonight with the

RELATED: 91原创 homebuilders take home multiple 2020 HAVAN awards

is up for a variety of individual awards in Saturday night鈥檚 Georgie Awards, shortlisted for everything from design of their display suite to best multi-family kitchen.

But what has Sillars sitting on the edge of his seat is the fact his company is up for two of the more elite Grand Georgie Awards 鈥� both for single-family and multi-family home builder of the year.

The company has been runner up for a Grand Georgie four times in past, but has never won. He鈥檚 holding out hope that will all change this weekend.

Here it is, the link to this Saturday鈥檚 Georgie Awards virtual gala beginning at 6:00PM. Open to everyone and no need to register, this link is all you need:

鈥� Georgie Awards庐 (@georgieawards)

鈥淚t鈥檚 frustrating. We鈥檙e hoping we can pull it off this year. On Saturday night, we鈥檒l find out鈥� we have a chance to do some damage on the awards,鈥� he added with a chuckle. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a pretty big project, so it鈥檚 good to get some recognition for our staff, our trades, our consultants. There鈥檚 probably 400 people working on Latimer Village.鈥�

Further accolades:

Planning to sign in for the online Georgie presentations Saturday, he said 鈥淚 think it would be unusual if we didn鈥檛 win something, but who knows鈥� I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 been a single year we didn鈥檛 win something. But鈥� we want to win鈥� one of the Grand Georgies, there鈥檚 not very many of them, and that鈥檚 really hard to do.鈥�

While the majority of the accolades befalling Vesta are for the Latimer Village project this year, he expects the Brookswood Mills single-family development at 204th Street and 28th Avenue in Fernridge 鈥� along with Latimer 鈥� will be recognized next year.

In the meantime, the firm is also up for 10 awards from the .

Winners won鈥檛 be known until the end of April, but several 91原创 builders 鈥� including Vesta 鈥� have been confirmed finalists in the latest HAVAN housing excellence awards competition.

Late last week, the Homebuilders Association Vancouver unveiled a list of some 80 developers, construction firms, and designers up for recognition in the 12th annual industry awards.

OTHER AWARD CONTENDERS

That list featured local companies in many of the 56 awards categories, including ., a custom builder that鈥檚 a finalist in two categories (best custom home $1.5-$2 million, and best new space) for their Take Me to Church project in Fort 91原创. Lindan is also up for a few Georgie鈥檚 on Saturday.

Four local multi-family builders are also shortlisted. That includes , which is up for best townhouse/rowhouse development for a project called Frame.

. is in the running in seven HAVAN categories, including two grand awards, for their Wilder Crossing project. Similarily, they鈥檙e on the shortlist for at least two Georgies this weekend (best display suite design, marketing campaign, landscape, sales centre, multi-family kitchen, multi-family townhouse development and enivronmental initiative).

The other categories include best townhouse/rowhome development, best outdoor living space, best multi-family amenity space, best interior design display suite, best marketing campaign, best multi-family residential community, and multi-family home builder of the year.

is a finalist in three categories for two properties.

It is in the running for best townhouse/rowhome (fewer than 1,800 square feet) for Luxia, and contenders for best townhouse/rowhome (more than 1,800 square feet), plus best townhouse/rowhome development for the Evergreen project. This company is also up for a customer satisfaction award through the Georgie Awards.

厂耻谤谤别测鈥檚 is the fourth multi-family contender for a HAVAN award. It鈥檚 a finalist in the best townhouse/rowhome development, for the Fraser project in Murrayville, and up for best marketing campaign for its work on Central, also in Murrayville. The third award nomination is for multi-family home builder of the year. At the provincial level, Zenterra is also up for excellence in housing affordability.

Dominating primarily in the single-family builder categories for HAVAN, Vesta Properties is up for a total of 10 nominations, including two HAVAN grand awards, and they鈥檙e all for the Latimer project.

The company is a contender in the best single-family detached home (fewer than and more than 2,400 square feet); the best single-family detached home development (of more than 10 units); plus best interior design for display home for its A-plan duplex, The Stafford, and The Wellington single-family projects.

Congratulations to the 2021 finalists!
BCIT School of Construction and the Environment is proud to be a supporting sponsor.

Take a look at the incredible homes: and watch the awards live on Friday, April 30!

鈥� BCIT SoCE (@BCITSoCE)

Vesta is also in contention in the best townhouse/rowhome unit categories (both more than 1,800 square feet) for the C and D plans for rowhomes at Latimer Village.

And in the HAVAN grand prize categories, Vesta in the running for best single-family residential community and single-family home builder of the year awards.

Spotlighting the best new-home construction, renovation, and design projects in Metro Vancouver, the awards showcase what HAVAN CEO Ron Rapp describes as 鈥渂reathtaking鈥� custom-built homes, laneway homes, whole home, townhome, and condo renovations, single- and multi-family developments, outdoor spaces, and the latest in high-performance building technology, plus innovation to maximize the land built on with affordable housing solutions.

鈥� Stay tuned for local results from this weekend鈥檚 Georgie Awards

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