Natalie Voland has been working outside of the traditional real estate box for more than 20 years. With her social work background, she has created a unique vision to use real estate projects as a tool of economic development and urban regeneration, leading to the creation of over 3,000 new jobs. She is passionate about taking single use, historical buildings and retrofitting them for entrepreneurial uses. As a Quebec leader in social innovation through B Corp Certification based on triple bottom line practices, Natalie works collaboratively with strategic partners to redevelop communities. She holds a portfolio of approx. 1.5 million sq.ft with over 500 SMB’s, including start up incubators and advocates for leadership of inclusions.
Her latest creation is retrofitting of one of Montreal’s oldest churches into a hub of social innovation called Salon 1861, which uses business skills and contacts to help integrate the collective experiences of Little Burgundy residents, non profit community groups, Universities and business leaders, to rebuild an economically viable and sustainable livable city of Montreal.
One of Natalie’s next projects its to redevelop 1.6 million square feet of Griffintown into walkable city based on the philosophy of Jan Gehl of human centric design with sustainable materials, local job creation and teaching opportunities of a living lab to use the build environment to make inclusive cities.