You may know of the Terry Hui who is a mover and shaker in Canadian real estate. You may know of the powerful Vancouver tycoon who rubs shoulders with the likes of Hong Kong billionaires Li Ka-shing and Victor Li.

And you may know of the man who, as chief executive of Concord Pacific Group Inc., had a vision to give Vancouver's skyline a multibillion-dollar facelift and is pulling it off in magnificent fashion - as well as developing the $1.5-billion Concord CityPlace in Toronto, billed as the largest urban residential development in the history of the city.

Now, these aren't your ordinary run-of-the-mill projects.

The 45-acre Toronto waterfront development by Concord Adex - a wholly owned subsidiary of Concord Pacific - will eventually boast 20 towers containing 7,500 condos, all hovering near Rogers Centre and the CN Tower.

Bayne Stanley, Business Edge
Concord Pacific CEO Terry Hui is a big-picture thinker - Concord Pacific Place in Vancouver, above, and CityPlace in Toronto reflect his grandiose urban vision.

The Concord Pacific Place project in Vancouver, on the former Expo '86 site on the north side of False Creek, is double the size with 9,100 residential units planned over 204 acres, plus retail and commercial space.

But there is another side to Terry Hui that may confound the likes of a Donald Trump. That's the Terry Hui who loves to tinker, to fix things you won't find in Rich Guy magazine, to toy with cranky motors and gadgets and to cruise the streets - on an electric scooter, of all things.

Hui's great source of pride? While at university in California in the 1980s, he owned a fleet of beater cars that helped satisfy his passion for mechanics. It seems they weren't much to look at but, to the son of wealthy Hong Kong transportation magnate K.M. Hui and an electrical engineer, they were something to behold.

1. What was your boyhood dream?

"I always wanted to be a scientist, so all my science teachers were my mentors. When you are a young kid, you don't appreciate the intricacies of people. But the teachers understand the mystery of life and how the universe works. Those are the kinds of people I admire."

2. While studying physics and electrical engineering in university, did you see yourself working as a scientist or engineer?

"When you think about being a scientist, it's probably an interesting life, but it's a tough life being a researcher. It takes a lot of commitment. You stay in the lab every day."

3. What did your father teach you about business and life?

"He taught me a lot. He's a hard-working man. He loves what he does. He's a very passionate businessman."

4. What did you do after graduating from university?

"I moved up to Vancouver (from California) and I wanted to start my own high-tech company. Like most immigrants at the time, the easiest investment you can make is real estate. So my father bought a property and I was going to help him on the side, doing some development. That's how I got started in business (with the family's company, Adex Enterprises Inc.). I was fresh out of school and I was doing everything at the jobsite. I was the superintendent, awarding contracts, accounting, mixing concrete. It was a great learning experience."

5. How did you initially get involved with Concord Pacific?

"Victor Li (son of Li Ka-shing, who then was majority owner of Concord Pacific) was a roommate of my best friend in high school and they were generous enough to let me get involved. My family was a minority shareholder of Concord Pacific in the early days. Then, I became more involved once our family became a larger shareholder in the company."

6. What have you learned from Li Ka-shing?

"Mr. Li is a very wise man. It's almost impossible to pinpoint a single area of excellence in his entrepreneurial career.

7. How did the vision for Concord Pacific Place come about?

"This development effectively makes up the south side of the skyline of the city, and there's never been anything important like that. It's not one man's vision. A lot of people have a stake in it. There were many, many public hearings. I always see myself as ... well, how would I put it? I call myself sometimes a catalyst in that process. It's almost like a catalyst being a scientist. Energy friction creates action and makes things happen smoother and faster."

8. How does it feel watching a project of such enormous magnitude unfold?

"When you are in the middle of it, it's hard stepping back and thinking about that. I can probably tell you better when it's all complete. Generally, we are happy with the progress. Originally, it was 10 to 15 years (to complete). Now, we're in our 18th year and it's more like 20 to 25 years. Based on today's value (of the real estate on the site), when it's all complete it would be probably worth about $6-$7 billion. We're probably about 60 to 70 per cent toward completion. In today's value, the CityPlace project (in Toronto) is probably worth close to $2 billion."

9. Would you welcome an offer for these major projects at this stage?

"Well, the company's plan is to build and develop. We are not land speculators. We develop and build.

"But those are all tough questions, you know, because I'm a businessman, right? Right price ... but it's not part of the plan. It's not part of the plan."

10. How much of the company do you personally own?

"Ahhhh. That's family business. I want to keep that private. Two years ago, my family bought Concord Pacific and took it private. At this time, we (Hui family members) are (the sole owner of the company). We have a great team here and it was not a tough decision (going private)."

11. How do you protect yourself against fluctuations in the real estate market in building a multibillion-dollar project?

"When you're in a long-term project, you have to allow for a cash-flow cushion and run out financing conservatively. That's the key in dealing with different market cycles."

12. Is there still good value in the Canadian real estate market?

"I've travelled throughout the world and we're probably one of the cheapest markets. When you look at Europe, London, New York ... in global terms, I think we are probably very near the bottom. I can say that, with knowledge. In Vancouver, specifically, we don't have a lot of land geographically. We're restricted by the ocean. There's a limited supply of land - a natural limit of supply."

13. How do you, as an entrepreneur, capitalize on the exploding Chinese economy?

"The family is looking at some property in China in Shanghai. Real estate is a longterm investment and if you pull up a 10- to 20-year curve, I think there's what I call a bouncing-up-the-stairs curve. I think the growth will be tremendous. You just need to look at the facts. For instance, the average salary in some parts of China is maybe 10 to 20 per cent of what it is in Canada."

14. What do you consider your strength to be as an entrepreneur and what advice would you offer a young entrepreneur?

"(Laughing) I think a lot about my weakness. I'm not very good at self analysing. My weakness? Sometimes, I'm too much of a problem solver and I always look at how to improve things. And sometimes I drive the members of my team crazy.

"I'm always saying, 'How can we improve, how can we improve, how can we improve?' My advice is to have the courage to give before you take. After a meeting, you want somebody to say, 'Let's do another deal.' " 15. Are you a workaholic like many successful entrepreneurs?

"If I came in to the office every Saturday and Sunday like guys like Jimmy Pattison (owner of the Pattison Group), I'd feel very guilty. I take my weekends off. There are social meetings with my business colleagues but I don't come into the office. I like things like exploring Mother Nature and dabbling in extreme sports like kiteboarding or wakeboarding. Anything with speed and a lot of fun."

16. Is your lifestyle anything as extravagant as Donald Trump's?

"I would not think so. I prefer a low profile. I'm an engineer. I'm a scientist. So I like things that work well. So a lot of times it's not what the value of it is. I've bought an electric scooter. I love them. I just love them. They're a well-designed product. It's like a little scooter that the little kids push on the road, but I enjoy it a lot because it's a nice piece of machinery. When I was in school, I liked to fix cars but I can't do that anymore. When I was in school, I had four cars and three of them added up (in total value) to $1,000 and I fixed them. I love making things tick."

17. What are you proudest of from your career?

"When you are running a small business, like I did when I started out, you are mainly learning how to put things together and how to solve a problem. And when the business grows, you are dealing with people. My training is as an engineer, physicist and scientist. So through my career what I've learned the most is how to deal with people. When you come to do a deal with someone, it's not about what you want. It's knowing about what the other person wants and how you can be of value to that person because no person is going to do something that is not going to help them."

18. What are you investing in these days, outside of your company?

"I still make some investments in high tech. We have an investment in Maximizer Software (a company of which he is chairman) and Novus Communications (an Internet and cable TV provider). I also do a little bit of venture capital investing. There's one interesting company called D-Wave (a Vancouver-based quantum computing company). They supply quantum mechanics to computing. It's a small investment where I love to go to their meetings, because that's my interest. This is leading-edge technology - the next generation of computer. That is the future."

19. Do you think you'll still be working when you're older, like your father?

"We'll see where the future lies. The future is unknown and that's what makes it interesting, right? I'll be working, but I don't know whether I should call it working or being reactive in making things work and participating in making things click. I try to be as passionate in my work as my father. He loves business. He worked every day."

20. How do you define success?

"I think health is important, a balanced life and having great relationships with all the people around you. Peace of mind comes from great relationships with people around you. I like to see things working. I like to see things clicking smoothly. A sense of achieving something is important. In my mind, making things work and making things tick is a great feeling."

IN PROFILE: TERRY HUI

* Title: President/CEO, Concord Pacific Group Inc.; chairman, Maximizer Software.

* Born/raised/age: Hong Kong/41.

* Family: Single.

* Education: University of California at Berkeley, undergraduate degree in physics; Santa Clara (Calif.) University, master of science, electrical engineering.

* Career: Hui has spent his entire career in real estate development with his primary focus on Concord Pacific since that company's inception in 1986. He has been president and CEO since 1992.

* Moonlighting: Hui is a director of Husky Energy and the Vancouver Board of Trade. He is on the advisory board of the University of British Columbia's faculty of commerce and business administration. He was appointed by the prime minister to represent Canada on the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperative) business advisory council for 1996-97.

* Accolades: In 2002, Hui was the recipient of the Queen's Golden Jubilee medal for outstanding commitment toward creating new and successful sustainable urban communities.

* Pastimes: Extreme sports.

THE COMPANY: CONCORD PACIFIC GROUP INC

* Profile: Concord Pacific is a real estate company currently developing two of North America's largest community projects - Concord Pacific Place in Vancouver and Concord CityPlace in Toronto. The two projects are currently estimated to be worth $5 billion and $1.5 billion, respectively.

* Ownership: Hui family.

* Concord Pacific Place: This 204-acre Vancouver waterfront development on the former site of Expo '86 combines housing for approximately 15,000 people with more than 50 acres of public parks and three kilometres of seawall walkway. It is being called North America's largest master-planned community.

* Concord CityPlace: This project is billed as the largest urban residential development in the history of Toronto.

* Website: www.concordpacific.com

* Head Office: #1900,1095 West Pender St., Vancouver, B.C., V6E 2M6.

* Phone/Fax: 604-681-8882/895-8296.

(Gyle Konotopetz can be reached at gyle@businessedge.ca)