Broke, No Partners, One Derelict Plaza: How He Built a $2B Portfolio ? First Bricks // Ian Quint

In 2014, Ian Quint bought a derelict, 80% vacant plaza in Longueuil with none of his own money. Today he runs a $2 billion portfolio spanning Canada and the US.Ian Quint is the founder and President of Brasswater (formerly Groupe Quint), a Montreal-based industrial, retail and office investor with over 13 million square feet owned across Canada and the US. He walks through that first deal: no capital, a vendor who told him point blank he was "a nobody," and a two-day closing extension he was refused outright. From there, the conversation moves into how Brasswater actually operates today: why 80% of his deals this year happened in the US instead of Quebec, why he says the first answer from Canadian government is always no, and why he calls ground-up multifamily development "financial engineering," not real value creation.This is a conversation about what it actually takes to build from nothing in an industry Ian himself calls "cutthroat," and why he still thinks buying the right asset at the right basis matters more than any amount of capital behind you.About First Bricks:First Bricks is a podcast about the real estate industry, and the people who built it. Host PJ Goupil, founder and president of Fox Real Estate, sits down with the operators, developers, brokers, and institutional investors whose decisions have shaped skylines across North America. The goal is simple: surface the wisdom that's locked behind closed doors and never makes it into books, panels, or LinkedIn posts.About the Host:PJ Goupil is the founder and president of Fox Real Estate (foxre.co). Fox is a multifamily turnaround firm built for institutional owners with assets that aren't performing. Unlike traditional property managers and consultants, Fox takes the keys, runs the building, and gets paid on the value it creates, not on hours, not on retainers. The firm operates across Canada and the United States, with a single accountable team handling leasing, marketing, operations, and financial reporting. Fox also acquires and operates multifamily assets on its own account, applying the same playbook as an owner.