Parallax Development Corporation is a real estate development company that has diverse assets throughout Canada and the United States. They pride themselves on their varied portfolio and their ability to get things done. They began as a company that was primarily concerned with the development of retail shopping plazas, but today they have become so much more.
This developer was originally started by Owen Lawson over 30 years ago. He and his partners approached real estate development with a sense of frivolity and companionship that rubbed off on Owen’s two sons, Stafford and Nigel. Behind the boardrooms and contracts, Owen and his partners would go into the ground level of the construction sites and bet on things like how many rats they could catch.
Although they always knew that they wanted to pursue the real estate industry with their father, Nigel and Stafford also knew that it was important to earn it on their own terms rather than being handed something because of their birth.
Stafford always aspired to join his father, and he proved it by taking jobs in construction in high school. The jobs were far from glamorous, as he mostly picked up garbage in the construction sites and filed off paint from radiators. After high school, he completed an Undergraduate degree and McGill University, and then a Master’s of Science in Real Estate Development at Columbia University in New York. This is where he met his future business partner Michael Binder.
Together Stafford and Michael approached Owen about new ideas in which to take the company, and they joined the company shortly after graduating from Columbia.
Nigel chose to become a lawyer and graduated from the University of New Brunswick Law School. He practiced real estate law until he felt he was ready to join his family’s company in 2010. Both brothers understand the importance of hard work and post secondary education.
Since Stafford, Nigel, and Michael joined Parallax, the company has gone from a front-end development company that focused on retail, to a company that now sees projects all the way through to completion with a wide and varied portfolio. They have gone from focusing on retail plazas to having a portfolio that comprises of street front retail, office buildings, mixed-use facilities, high-rise and mid-rise residential buildings, and public-private partnerships. The portfolio culminates in 75 completed projects with an additional $200 million in various stages of development. They have also gone beyond the Toronto market and now hold assets throughout Canada and the United States.
This is a nimble and creative company that has proven they can see a multitude of projects through to completion without being constrained to a single market, or even a single nation. With Owen’s experience, and Stafford, Nigel, and Michael’s youth and ability to anticipate the future, this is a company that is sure to continue going far in the industry.
