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Ivan Beljan is turning old building into new jewels, old strip malls into new hubs, and forgotten back alleys into new shopping areas.

Little wonder Beljan is known as Edmonton’s most innovative developer.

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He was born to construction. He is from the north side of Edmonton, the son of a Croatian immigrant, Ante Beljan, who spent his life as a construction concrete specialist, with his son hearing all about it and sometimes working odd jobs at various sites.

His father worked long hours and always told his son, “If you don’t go to school, you’re going to end up in construction.”

Photo by David Staples / EDMwp

But even as a kid, his son was always looking at buildings and trying to figure out if they could be built differently or better.

“I always re-imagined things,” he says.

After studying engineering at the University of Alberta, Beljan worked as a project manager for PCL. But he had an entrepreneurial streak, so after helping to build the new recreation centre in Spruce Grove, he bid on and won the contract to set up the centre’s food concession and lounge.