Being in control of his own destiny is something Keith Brideau (BScEng'03) has always aspired to. His father, who worked in construction all his life, repeatedly told him it was important to work on his own terms.
With that advice, Brideau pursued an electrical engineering degree at UNB and, not long after, enrolled in the faculty’s Technology Management and Entrepreneurship program. “I wanted to become a more wellrounded person and differentiate myself,” recounts Brideau. “So I took all five courses, some of which were MBA level, and they opened my eyes to business. It was really a fascinating experience to combine tech expertise with business skills.”
After graduating, Brideau went to work at NB Power’s Point Lepreau generating station, but it wasn’t long before Deloitte came calling. He joined the firm to practise risk management and during his time there, obtained the Certified Information Systems Security Professional, and Certified Information Systems Auditor designations, all the while, spending his evenings and weekends in the real estate market as a side gig. His first purchase was a townhouse for $54,000 that his father and uncles helped him fix up for free. That flip allowed him to get started on what would become a successful and exciting calling for Brideau.
“I was spending more and more of my free time learning about real estate and flipping houses. It was where my real passion was, so I eventually took it on full time.” Brideau realized there were opportunities in the historical, but often half-vacant commercial properties in uptown Saint John, which were built after the Great Fire of 1877. But he needed financial partners with more capital to get into those kinds of projects. He remembered what a business person he had met in Toronto had once said to him: “Partner with people who have a lot more money than you do.”
How did he find those investors? He took to social media. Brideau often scanned the ‘For Sale by Owner’ section of Kijiji looking for properties, and he figured that if he was doing that, so were real estate investors. He created a bold ad that said he was looking for large investors to partner on exciting opportunities in real estate and that he had a vision for the future of uptown Saint John. He posted his ad across the country and was fielding inquiries within two hours. He found a partner and they invested in their first large property: Aberdeen Hotel, formerly Old Provincial Building, built in 1893. They purchased it for $1 million and, over the course of two years, renovated it into 15 high-end apartments, offices, and a microbrewery, several bars and restaurants.
That was the beginning of his company, Historica, which is restoring buildings and transforming the city’s uptown landscape by taking vacant or rundown urban properties and turning them into vibrant apartments, retail and office spaces. “I really wanted to leverage the character, beauty and potential of this historic city, and create a vibrant downtown-type of environment similar to those you find in a big city like Toronto. When I would stay for two weeks at a time doing business in downtown Toronto, it was such a cool way to live. You can walk everywhere and soak up the energy and creativity of so many great businesses and restaurants and pubs – it’s a fantastic lifestyle. That’s what I wanted to do — build a lifestyle, not just develop a building.”
"I want to build a lifestyle, not just develop a building.”
Historica’s motto is ‘Live. Work. Play.’ Brideau’s vision is to build cool places to live, in an area where residents can walk to work and play in their own neighborhood after work. It seems like he’s been successful at that in only 11 years. Historica now owns 21 buildings concentrated in uptown Saint John that are combinations of residential apartments, retail, office space and food services.
“You can make a big impact when you concentrate your efforts in one area,” he states. “It’s really exciting to see the progress we’ve made in a small amount of time. And it’s so much fun to go from working with my father on that first flip to working with him every day on these large projects. He was my first employee!”
Brideau says that UNB gave him the confidence and the fundamental building blocks to go after his dream. “UNB really brought out the best in me and taught me that I could compete with anyone. I learned to work collaboratively, think critically and problem-solve. I made many like-minded friends during my time there. UNB is a great institution and my experience there was priceless.”
