Vesta Cares

Vesta values neighbourhoods

Vesta Properties is an award-winning integrated developer and builder that has been around for almost 30 years. Carefully managing the entire building process, Vesta works with experienced teams of trusted local trades and suppliers.

Vesta goes beyond building homes, to creating neighbourhoods by integrating lifestyle features such as parks, ponds, pathways and schools. Seeing these neighbourhoods enjoyed by families brings Vesta President, Kent Sillars, great joy. “When I drive through these communities and see people living in them, walking their dogs and playing with their kids in the playground, that’s pretty cool,” shares Kent. “We’re putting a footprint on society and we have to do it responsibly.”

With more than 4,000 homes built in over 40 communities in the Fraser Valley and Greater Calgary, Vesta Properties has come a long way from its small beginnings. Kent, a chartered accountant who qualified at age 24, left the firm he was working at to start a small real estate business. “We started building houses and we were successful. We grew rapidly, actually,” says Kent. “When we started, the office was in the loft of the rented apartment I lived in in New West. It was pretty modest beginnings.” Kent and his team realized that to really put a dent in the industry, they needed to control their own land supply. The company grew significantly when it expanded into Greater Calgary in 1999.

Giving back charitably to every community they build in, Vesta has been a generous supporter of NightShift Street Ministries in Surrey since its own modest beginnings. Since 2004, NightShift has been reaching out to homeless and hurting people with a hot meal and compassion. The ministry also provides emergency counselling and nursing, along with drop-in programs during the day.  “We got involved with NightShift shortly after day one in 2004. We went out and saw the outreach and there were over a 100 people there,” remembers Kent. “It wasn’t just food that was being handed out, there was also a Christian message to help people. Back then, there was nothing around (in Surrey) quite like it. It was instantly successful.”

One of NightShift’s largest corporate sponsors, Vesta initiated the first “Matching Pledge Challenge” and, over the years, has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the ministry. Kent also served on NightShift’s Board of Directors for almost eight years. “We have been blessed with a reasonable amount of success,” shares Kent. “But let’s face it, there are some people in life who are dealt horrific cards. So, we help those people and we feel very strongly about that.”

Thank you, Kent Sillars and Vesta Properties, for being a home builder who cares.