Pacific Reach is a diversified investment company, a developer, and a family business.
Abdul and Shamim Jamal immigrated to Canada from Tanzania in the early 1970s. Shortly thereafter, they bought a share in an IGA grocery store in Chilliwack, British Columbia. They re-invested their income in a chicken farm and sold eggs to restaurants in the Lower Mainland.
In the 1980s, the Jamal family used the proceeds from the farm to buy a motel in Surrey. This was the start of a real estate enterprise which, through decades of hands-on work, would eventually grow into a leader in BC’s real estate industry.
The family’s second generation, led by Azim Jamal and Joe Moosa, founded Pacific Reach in 2014 as a way of diversifying beyond the hotels and retirement homes they already operated. Their vision: to buy and build high quality apartment buildings, hospitality venues and commercial properties at prices below their intrinsic value, and bring out their potential through targeted investment.
Today, Pacific Reach owns properties in Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Chicago, amounting to over 1,800 apartment units, 1.4 million square feet of commercial space, and 1,215 hotel rooms. Included are two of Canada’s finest hotels: the Hotel Georgia in Vancouver and the Ritz-Carlton in Toronto, as well as a 517-unit residential building, the Quay, on Toronto’s waterfront.
Pacific Reach also maintains a capital markets division, dedicated to investments in both public companies and private assets. Its strategy is based around a controlled mixture of value and growth targets. The hands-on expertise the company has gained in the real estate industry is the engine of its REIT portfolio, which has substantially outperformed its benchmarks since its inception.