Corporate History
The Hill Companies have a long and impressive history in business that began when its founding company, McCallum Hill Limited, was created in 1903. Founded by Walter H.A. Hill and E.A. McCallum, the company specialized in real estate development and insurance.
Looking back, much of the land development of the City of Regina was overseen by The Hill Companies including: Lakeview, Hillsdale, Westhill Park and currently, Fairways West, Greenside Terrace and Edgewater residential neighbourhoods. Apartment complexes such as Qu’Appelle Village, Medford Mews and Pines of Normanview are also part of the organization’s portfolio. In addition, The Hill Companies developed numerous shopping centres including: Normanview Crossing, Kramer Corner, Lakeshore Mall, and Victoria East Land.
The face of downtown Regina has been ever changing over the years, with the turning point being the implosion of the original McCallum Hill Building which took place on October 31, 1982. Harvard has since developed numerous major commercial projects. In Regina, projects include: Hill Centre Tower I, Hill Centre Tower II, FCC Tower / Agriculture Place, the Bank of Montreal Building, Canada Life Place, and Century Plaza. The official grand opening of Mosaic Tower at Hill Centre III took place on December 7, 2012. The 18 storey office tower features a state of the art conference centre, fitness area, rooftop patio and public atrium space hosting a permanent art gallery. On April 10, 2012, Harvard announced plans to develop Agriculture Place. Neighbouring to the south of the FCC Tower building at the corner of 11th Avenue and Hamilton Street, the new tower marked the completion of the dual tower complex.
Harvard is actively engaged in several retail projects outside of the province. Currents, located in Edmonton, Alberta is one of the organization’s largest developments in its recent history. The master planned community features a 1.4 million square foot hybrid centre hosting a theatre, urban grocer, numerous fashion retailers, and big box stores. Eau Claire, located in one of downtown Calgary’s most prestigious addresses, is a re-development project Harvard acquired in 2004. In conjunction with Currents and Grasslands, Eau Claire is considered to be one of Harvard’s legacy projects. Most recently, Harvard has entered the Manitoba market with the development of Seasons; a 100 acre mixed use development in Winnipeg that features Outlet Collection Winnipeg, a 400,000 sq.ft fashion outlet mall.
In the 1970’s a strategic decision was made to diversify the company’s real estate business by product and location. This resulted in acquisitions and developments in Alberta, British Columbia, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Arizona and Texas.
The Hill Companies are committed to supporting the community and have been active participants in many charitable activities. For example, the principals have been major supporters of Notre Dame College, Wilcox, Saskatchewan, the Paul J. Hill School of Business, University of Regina and Mother Theresa Middle School. There are several other charitable and community activities that are also supported, too numerous to mention.
A company that has been around since 1903 would normally be described as one that is over 100 years old. However, in the case of The Hill Companies they are best described as 120 years young, due to their entrepreneurial outlook, state of the art technology, and willingness to diversify.