Carma Developers

Carma Developers, founded in 1958, is a Canadian residential land developer with master-planned communities throughout Canada and the United States. Its head offices are located in Calgary, Alberta where it is the largest residential land developer in that city.

On March 31, 2011 Brookfield Residential Properties Inc. (NYSE, TSX: BRP) announced the completion of a merger that combines Brookfield Homes Corporation with the residential group of Brookfield Office Properties consisting of Carma Developers and Brookfield Homes (Ontario) Limited.

The company was founded in 1958 by a group of 45 iconic Calgary-based home builders including Tony Usselman, Albert Bennett, Ralph Scurfield, Howard Ross, and Roy Wilson who got together to purchase bulk quantities of land to be used for housing developments in the booming young city of Calgary. Usselman and Bennett were the largest initial shareholders with each holding 20%.

In the 50 following years the company built close to 60 communities in Calgary, the first being the community of Rosemont where houses sold for between $18,000 and $22,000. The company grew rapidly during the economic boom of the 1960s and 1970s, using the funds from sales to buy other pieces of land, soon expanding past Calgary, and into the United States as well. Real estate bubble

In 1970 Usselman sold his shares to Nu-West "with the stipulation that Nu-West would never take complete control of the builder/shareholder relationship." Other builders, too, sold or re-distributed their shares, and in 1972, when Carma went public, the company had developed and sold more than 11,000 residential lots and developed 500 acres (200 hectares) of serviced land for multi-family or commercial development.

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