A dominant Northern builder, landlord and hotelier, Mike Mrdjenovich is currently most active in Iqaluit where, among other things, he’s developing the Kamotiq property. Milan (Mike) Mrdjenovich began his construction career as a journeyman electrician in Yellowknife three decades ago. He formed his own company, Territorial Electric, in 1976 and soon after began developing projects. Over the years he’s built hundreds of thousands of square feet of office, commercial and residential space in the North through Nova Builders and Nova Construction. He also has ownership interests in hotels in Iqaluit, Inuvik and throughout Alberta through Nova Hotels. Along the way, he’s made a few enemies in high places, but he’s never been one to back down. Now operating from Edmonton, he has eight projects on the go in Alberta, two in Yellowknife and five in Iqaluit. Up Here Business caught up with Mike recently and, between interruptions from his ringing cellphone, asked about doing business in the North.

On voting with his dollars by buying properties in Nunavut:
I’ve been gambling up in Nunavut for almost 20 years and I’ve been building. I have to admit Nunavut has been good to us. We’ve made money and we are still making money in Nunavut.
The government has been a primary tenant throughout. We’ve been successful in providing a product they want for the cheapest price on the market. How did we manage to do that? We’re a little bit more efficient than the other guys and we pass the savings on. We’ve developed an expertise in operating in the North, but it’s not easy. You have to be self-sufficient. You can’t depend on anybody. If you depend on the next guy, good luck.

On his current projects in Nunavut:
In Iqaluit we just finished the Nova Inn Hotel and Conference Centre. We’re working on a 24-unit cluster housing project, a 30-plus-unit office space and a five-unit row house. We are also just finalizing drawings for a 35,000- to 40,000-square-foot office building for Iqaluit. It’s going to be on the property where the Kamotiq Inn was. We don’t have tenants yet but we feel optimistic that there is a shortage because the government is scattered all over with 2,000 square feet here and 3,000 square feet there. They’re in these cubbyholes all over the town. I feel confident that if we build the building it will fill up very quickly. The government of Nunavut will be the primary tenant and some private companies.

On working in Iqaluit:
It’s tough but this year especially it’s been tougher because of the shortage of skilled labour. Also the government restricts how many hours locals can work, that way they can employ more people, I guess. I don’t know the idea behind it. I don’t go into politics.

So we bring a lot of guys from the south. I have a framing crew working exclusively for me for 25 years. Thirty guys, not all in one place. Right now we’re building a hotel in Fort McMurray but they’re all over. They’re from Winnipeg and we fly them everywhere. I have electricians from Winnipeg. I have plumbers from the Ottawa Valley and Toronto. We have people from all over.

On working with the City of Iqaluit:
I don’t want to say anything because it might come and bite me, but it’s getting better. They want bylaws and procedures like they have in downtown Edmonton and Ottawa or down east. But it’s not downtown Edmonton. It’s not downtown Toronto and you have to give and take. They started a few years back to be so rigid that it was impossible and they turned a bunch of people off but I think they’re getting better now.

I think they’re realizing that all they did was run the cost of construction up with all the regulations and this and that. It’s fine to implement energy efficiency standards and say there are certain ways buildings have to be facing and so many units per so many square feet, but then it doesn’t become economical and it drives the price up on the rent.

Somebody has to pay it and we just pass the cost along to the end user, which is the people renting. In most cases it’s government and it’s just not feasible. They have to have rules and regulations but they have to find the happy medium.

On opening the Nova Hotel and Convention Centre and future plans:
We’re running around 75 per cent occupancy, which is excellent for that property which just opened six months ago. I guess everything’s for sale but I can’t see it in the near future. Nova Hotels have 15 hotels. We’re growing. We have 13 operating all the way from Canmore, Alberta to Saskatchewan to Northern Alberta. We sold only the two in Yellowknife: Chateau Nova and Nova Court.
Nova Hotels is owned by 994552 NWT Ltd., which is owned by the Mrdjenovich Family Trust, owned by my four children. I’m just guiding them now. They’re running the company. They have hired management and it looks like they’re doing a good job. I’m keeping an eye on them. I build for them and charge them a little fee but they’re self-sufficient and working fine. Three of the kids are actively involved in the company and one is taking hotel management in Australia.

On ownership of Iqaluit’s Navigator Inn:
It’s been a good property for us. It’s an older property but we didn’t pay big money for it and we feel it’s doing a job for us and that property is a potential development down the road but we’re not promising anything for now. It has the four nice new suites at the back. That’s where I stay when I go there.

On operating in Yellowknife:
In Yellowknife we’re building a four-storey office building on 52nd Street. We’re working inside there right now and we’ll wait until the weather improves to do outside work.

Yellowknife is a very socialist town and it shows. It voted NDP and it’s understandable: government employees and everything. I never had luck in Yellowknife. You had a council made of [Kevin] O’Reilly and all that group, a bunch of tree huggers who think money grows on trees.

If you’re in the private sector they think you’re loaded and have so much money it’s endless, that as soon as you build one building you’re a billionaire. That’s not necessarily true. You’re gambling and putting your money on the line hoping that this building will fill up.

I’ve rented only one and a half of the floors of the new office building I’m building on 52nd Street. I still have two and a half floors empty. I’m gambling, spending $10- or $11-million on a building, hoping that somebody will come along and rent it, but they don’t see it that way.

They don’t see the time and effort we put in and that’s been Yellowknife all along and I know that. I’ve made some major good moves but I’ve made some stupid moves in Yellowknife as well. I’ve sold some buildings, like Diamond Plaza, under value because I got angry and emotional. Then I woke up the next day and said ‘why did I do that?’ One time we were major landlords but I got pissed off at these tree huggers.

I moved down south and that was probably the best move I ever made. The company started working mostly down south. Here you’re a small fish in a big ocean and nobody watches you under a microscope. Up there as soon as you control a little bit of the market they worry, but they don’t see the good things I’ve done, like every time there’s zero vacancy and rents start going up I go in and pop up a big building, and sure enough the rents come down in the older buildings.

They say ‘look at the money he made.’

On his plans for the former Bartam Trailer Court property in Old Town, Yellowknife:
Editor’s Note: Mrdjenovich’s previous effort to have the Bartam property developed as a senior’s home was defeated in 2000 as a result of pressure from citizens’ groups that wanted the waterfront land to be used for tourism and parks.

We’ve decided to build about 18 high-end condo’s. They will be selling for someplace around $600,000. They’re between about 2,500 and 3,000 square feet. We have the development permit and we’re going to start something this spring.
We’re going to build a foundation and hope to finish this year, maybe by Christmas or a little after Christmas.

On his business philosophy
To work hard, keep the nose clean if you can, sometimes you can’t. I think hard work will sooner or later pay off. I am plugging along now for 31 years since I started my first business in 1976. I was an electrician by trade. I started a company called Territorial Electric then I ranged into construction and development and have been doing that since.

On his various hobby farms in Alberta and British Columbia:
I have about 1,500 head of bison and about 1,200 head of Black Angus cattle and that’s what I do in my spare time. I also have a few elk. I sell the animals at auction. Some are in Fort St. John, some Peace River, some Valleyview, some Stony Plain, all over.

I was born a small farmer in Croatia, of Serbian descent. I came to Canada as an immigrant in 1968. The whole family had $200 in our pockets. Me and my brother worked hard and moved up North and made some money and invested. Now I have family involved in the business and I’m busy.