MBTW o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2005-12-10 published
Marco MUZZO was visionary in industry
Legendary developer enjoyed 50-year career
'His word was as good as his signature'
By Pat BRENNAN,
Special To
The
Star, Page N2
It was 7 a.m. on a Saturday and the steady rain was into its
third day.
Standing at the bottom of a deep excavation of what used to be
Greenwood
Race
Track, Marco
MUZZO was covered in mud. He was
trying to find a way to get loaded dump trucks up the steep,
dirt ramp that has become a river of mud.
He employed 3,500 people, was one of Canada's biggest land developers
and richest citizens, but the man was fully in his element solving
problems in the bottom of a mud hole.
MUZZO built many thousands of homes in southern Ontario, as well
as thousands of acres of industrial and commercial buildings
and it's unlikely there is a stick of lumber or a panel of drywall
installed in any of those structures that didn't have its purchase
order come across his desk.
And despite this kind of hands-on attention to the most ordinary
of details, Marco
MUZZO was considered one of this country's
most visionary builders. He died earlier this week at his home
after a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 73.
The mud hole at Greenwood Race Track at Queen St. E. and Woodbine
Ave. became The Beach Neighbourhood, one of Toronto's most spectacular
new home developments.
When MUZZO and Fred
DEGASPARIS, a close friend and partner in
many of his developments, launched the $200 million housing project
in June 1997, it was the largest active urban renewal project
in North America.
MUZZO owned a variety of companies in the development and building
industry. Despite being one of the largest residential developers
in the country, he was virtually unknown by consumers. Neither
his name nor image appeared on any of the dozens of his companies
he controlled.
"The buyers are the deciding factor and I think smart buyers
mostly rely on two things -- location and the bottom line,"
MUZZO
said in a Toronto Star interview in 2000.
Pemberton was his highrise condominium developer. It has erected
dozens of large condo projects around the Greater Toronto Area
since he launched the firm in the mid-'90s. The company was named
after Pemberton Ave., where he erected his first highrise as
the sole developer.
He once owned a large chunk of Camrost Developments, a prominent
highrise developerheaded by David
FELDMAN.
MUZZO operated all his firms from his office at Marel Contractors
in Vaughan. Marel was the only company that hinted at his name.
Marel is one of Canada's largest drywall contractors and its
name is a blending of Marco and Elio. Elio was his older brother
who died in 1997 at age 75.
Elio arrived in Canada from Italy in the early 1950s from the
family farm just outside Venice. After getting established in
Toronto as a plasterer, he sent for his younger brother.
"When I arrived in Toronto I spent the first three months in
Elio's basement building a plaster wall," said
MUZZO. "
When he
came home at night he'd come down and check my work. Then he'd
rip it down and say do it again. He wouldn't let me go to work
as a plasterer until he felt I was good enough," said
MUZZO.
After becoming one of Canada's largest builders,
MUZZO would
still talk with pride about his talent as a plasterer. He talked
about the time in the early '60s when he went to help a family
on Christmas morning. Their upstairs bathtub had overflowed and
ruined the dining room ceiling below.
"The woman of the house was very upset because she was having
her whole family over for Christmas dinner later that day and
the ceiling was lying on her dining room table,"
MUZZO said in
an interview.
"I spent much of Christmas day getting that ceiling looking good
again. I could smell the food cooking in the kitchen. The ceiling
had been finished with an elaborate rosette. She wanted it back
and so did I. I did a good job on that ceiling," said
MUZZO more
than 30 years later.
MUZZO was very close to his brother Elio. Although he was one
of Canada's wealthiest men, he drove his brother's old Cadillac.
Elio's children wanted their dad to give up the old pickup he
drove and bought him a new Cadillac. After two weeks in the Caddy,
Elio wanted his old truck back because the Caddy hurt his back.
So Marco took his brother's car and drove it long after his brother
passed away.
"I had great respect for that man," said Mississauga Mayor Hazel
McCALLION. "
His word was as good as his signature. He was a tough
negotiator -- just like me -- but he was fair and honest. You
never had to question whether he would do what he said he would
do. Marco was aware of the tiniest details. He knew everything
that was happening in his empire, in every corner. Everything
he did; he did well, because he had pride in his work. He leaves
a great legacy."
MUZZO put together a consortium of builders to buy Mississauga's
Erin Mills from Cadillac Fairview and create an award-winning
community.
MUZZO had great respect for the working man too, said Ucal
POWELL
head of Local 27 of the International Carpenters Union and Allied
Workers.
"He employed thousands of our members as carpenters and drywallers.
He treated them fair. He demanded good work and if you supplied
that, you got respect and you got work."
"The last time I saw Marco was on September 20 at what I think
was one of his finest development achievements," said Toronto
Councillor Kyle
RAE. "It was at the opening of the sales office
for his Uptown condo at Yonge and Bloor. After all that he has
done for the fringes of the city, I was pleased to see him bringing
a spectacular-looking condo to the heart of the city -- right
where the two subway lines cross. It think it will be another
great legacy for the man," said
RAE.
"I have never respected any man more," said architect Gary
WATCHORN
of MBTW, a land planning firm. "He was such a visionary. He could
see opportunities everywhere. He set very high standards for
everyone associated with his companies, but he was also fair
and compassionate."
"His death is the biggest loss to our industry ever," said Desi
AUCIELLO, president-elect of the 1,400-member Greater Toronto
Home Builders' Association. "He was way ahead of his time. He
was a unique individual and an iconic figure. We've all heard
it before that he was tough, but fair. He was old school in that
his word was his bond."
Home builder and developer Tony
GUGLIETTI of Townwood Homes was
a close friend.
"He had such great passion for people. This city will never know
all the generosity, all the quiet philanthropy he did for people,
for charities, for organizations," said
GUGLIETTI.
"He was the grandfather of the development industry in this city.
He had more influence on development in this city over the past
50 years than anyone I know; but what a lot of people don't know
is that he was also a great humanitarian."
M... Names MB... Names MBT... Names Welcome Home
MBTW - All Categories in OGSPI