Rick Ilich is poised to redevelop the Fantasy Gardens site. Mark Patrick photo
Erika Simm
Richmond Review
June 20, 2008
As the vision and plan for Fantasy Gardens is being developed, I am very uplifted that this property’s new owner is Rick Ilich, president of Townline Homes.
Here is a developer with sensitivities toward site impacts on people, traffic, heritage and the environment. If anyone is able to make it work from a business point of view, it is him. His thinking is way ahead of its time, and his company is known to be able to handle difficult sites with great consideration.
B.C. Business issue June 2008 features Rick Ilich under “High Profile” as saying: “As a builder, I do tend to get excited about some of the things we build.” It speaks about his passion to develop heritage buildings like the iconic Hudson’s Bay building in Victoria. The magazine states: “For Ilich, who made headlines this spring with the announcement of plans to develop the Fantasy Garden site in Richmond, a passion for development obviously goes beyond simply squeezing the most dollars out of a parcel of land.” This is a wonderful compliment coming from his business peers.
In the mid 1990s, Townline Homes received an award from the city for the successful townhouse development of a “most difficult site” at Dover Crescent, a site which borders the major intersections of No. 2 Road and Westminster Highway. Today, few people know that Rick Ilich’s townhouses at Dover feature closets that fit elevator kits to make the second floor wheelchair accessible. Few people know that the view corridors that run through the development have linear textured stones installed to guide the seeing impaired.
Or that his townhouses were the first townhouses in Richmond, as far as I know in the Lower Mainland, to have a recycling facility installed. At the time there was no recycling available for townhouses or apartments.
I know this because I worked with him on a citizens committee for the Dover development.
Mr. Ilich has a real can-do attitude, he is innovative and co-operative. Plus he is a “home-grown” Richmondite we all should be proud of. At Fantasy Gardens, he has a variety of mixed uses and OCP guidelines to work with, and with his invitation of citizens’ input, I trust him to make good and smart decisions.
View Full Story: Fantasy Gardens couldn’t have a better owner [PDF]
