After closing out a year of milestones and achievements, Guelph-based Skyline Group of Companies has one more accomplishment to celebrate.
The real estate acquisitions, management and investment company officially turned 15 on Jan. 27. With three solid real estate investment trust (REIT) products collectively managing over $1.3 billion in assets, and a team of over 400-strong, Skyline and its founding partners have come a long way since 1999.
“It seems like only yesterday that we were buying our first rental property in our hometown of Guelph,” says Jason Castellan, Skyline’s CEO and co-founder. “We have so many eople to thank—we couldn’t be where we are today without their help and support from along the way. It feels surreal to be speaking of the size and magnitude to which we have grown.”
Skyline Inc. was officially incorporated 15 years ago, but the real estate business of the three Skyline founders began seven years earlier, with the purchase of a single student rental house in Guelph.
Brothers Jason and Martin Castellan soon met Roy Jason Ashdown, and the three teamed up, quickly amassing properties across the city.
In 1999, the same year Skyline got its name, it established its first head office in the front room of one of its rental houses.
Today, Skyline is proud to call Guelph’s historical Gummer Building its head office.
In partnership with the City of Guelph, Skyline rescued the building from demolition after it was badly damaged by fire in 2007, restoring the original architecture and adding luxury apartment suites to the top three floors.
In the past year, Skyline proudly accepted awards from both the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario (ACO) and Federation of Rental Housing Providers of Ontario (FRPO) for its restoration of the building.
