The story of Maclab Enterprises reflects that of modern Alberta. The name Maclab comes from the first three letters of Mactaggart and La Bruyère. Sandy Mactaggart, a Scot and Jean de La Bruyère, a Frenchman, met as roommates at the Harvard Business School in 1950. They decided on the name of their company before they knew what they would do.  They chose to establish it in Alberta, where oil had recently been discovered because they determined the province to be the area most likely to prosper during their lifetimes.

Maclab Construction Company Limited, the original company of the present Maclab Group, was incorporated in Edmonton, Alberta on April 14, 1954. In the first year of operations it built forty-four houses in the Dovercourt subdivision, on which it lost $393.91. In its second year of operations the company built eighty-nine houses in Argyll, only one of which was on somebody else’s lot. In 1957 the first residential multi-family project of ninety-four units was built. It is still owned by the group today and remains as an example of the company policy of retaining ownership for the long term.

The group continued to build and expand into several cities in Western Canada. Maclab planned the first luxury highrise apartment building in Edmonton, but unable to obtain financing, built the second ordinary one. In these years it constructed the first highrise office building in Red Deer, the largest apartment complex in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat. It built in Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria.

Today, Maclab Enterprises is the largest privately held residential rental property holder in Alberta and the Northwest Territories. The company continues to be active in residential and commercial rental properties and provides professional property management through Midwest Property Management. With several subdivisions underway, the companys land development group offers opportunities to homebuilders in the Edmonton Capital Region. As well, Maclab owns hotel properties in Edmonton, Jasper National Park and Yellowknife which are managed by Coast Hotels & Resorts.

A cadre of dynamic real estate and finance professionals with Alberta roots and broad experience runs the company. Bruce Bentley, the President and CEO and Allan Carr, Senior Vice President Property Management joined Maclab in 1995. Maxine Klak who joined Maclab in 1997 was appointed to the position of Vice President Finance in the fall of 2000, Sylvia Harder was named Vice President of Maclab Land Development in 2003. Greg Greenough, who joined Maclab in 1959 and served as President during the 70's, 80's and early 90's, is Chairman Emeritus.

Good fortune, strong cash flows from a diversified asset base, together with basic conservative management, have enabled Maclab to escape many of the pitfalls affecting leveraged property companies. We continue to believe in the opportunity and growth potential of Alberta, Western Canada and the United States. We intend to continue expanding and developing our land bank in the Edmonton Capital Region, growing our hotel division within Western Canada and pursuing real estate and investment opportunities in Western Canada and the United States.

As an experienced, well financed, diversified and entrepreneurial company, well respected in our community, we feel particularly able to participate in the future development of Western North America.

[back to top]

The growth of the company has paralleled the growth of the Edmonton community, and our employees have enjoyed participating in sports and in cultural activities. At a time when new institutions were forming, Maclab was fortunate to participate in the original creation of the Edmonton Art Gallery, the Citadel Theatre, the Kinsmen Field House, the Opera Society, The Commonwealth Games Society, and the Boys’ and Girls’ Club.

Members of the company have been or currently are directors and officers of Economic Development Edmonton, the Citadel Theatre, the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, Habitat for Humanity – Edmonton, the Winspear Foundation, the Canadian Olympic Association, the Urban Development Institute, the Canadian Equestrian Federation, the Edmonton Downtown Development Corporation, the Edmonton Eskimo Football Club, the Fort Edmonton Historical Foundation, the United Way and many boards and councils associated with the University of Alberta and the University of Alberta Alumni Association.

We have donated climate controlled exhibition space to the Edmonton Art Gallery, a one hundred-acre nature sanctuary to the University of Alberta and a thrust stage to the Citadel Theatre. We have endowed several Fellowships at the University of Alberta, full scholarships for Alberta under-graduates at Harvard University, and partial ones for Albertans attending the Harvard Business School.

[back to top] 

Maclab Enterprises
Suite 3400
10205 – 100 Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada T5J 4B5

Telephone: 780-420-4040
Fax: 780-428-1397

E-mail: info@maclab.com

[back to top]