Millard Properties: Locations and Ownership

[Arnie M]

At 1:10 into the video it shows old footage and there is a flat bed truck hauling away a trailer on the bed plus a covered trailer. Wonder if the covered trailer is the one that belonged to MM? Wonder who owned the other trailer?
Here is another picture.
View attachment 74216

Yes that is the trailer the (stolen) motorcycle was in , had a few cosmetic changes (paint) ... the other trailer on the deck of the towtruck is most likely stolen as well (why else would they haul it away) ... it also has been re-painted , including the wheel rims , it would be able to haul a small car or Jeep or BobCat etc , I bet if you scraped the grey paint off it would be U-HAUL orange underneath , or something similar.

The woodchipper was also repainted that same grey.

 

[MsSherlock]

Here is the clip from CTV news that shows the current state of inside of the hangar. Looks like they are doing a bit of renos to the office area?

http://www.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=605285

"Very important airport", "Congestion in the GTA"- reasons why Waterloo is a prime location. IMHO, WM was right on with his business plans- should have been, could have been, would have been. IMO, this move by Chartright negates all the earlier commentary about WM being off his rocker and DM foreseeing doom and gloom on the horizon. WM knew what was possible- if only he knew how to hire a CEO. MOO

 

[cansleuther]

Yes that is the trailer the (stolen) motorcycle was in , had a few cosmetic changes (paint) ... the other trailer on the deck of the towtruck is most likely stolen as well (why else would they haul it away) ... it also has been re-painted , including the wheel rims , it would be able to haul a small car or Jeep or BobCat etc , I bet if you scraped the grey paint off it would be U-HAUL orange underneath , or something similar.

Like this one? https://instagram.com/p/Z7en6Fo22u/?taken-by=krucifix14

 

[SnooperDuper]

"Very important airport", "Congestion in the GTA"- reasons why Waterloo is a prime location. IMHO, WM was right on with his business plans- should have been, could have been, would have been. IMO, this move by Chartright negates all the earlier commentary about WM being off his rocker and DM foreseeing doom and gloom on the horizon. WM knew what was possible- if only he knew how to hire a CEO. MOO

I don't think WM or DM were really great project managers...sure, if you throw enough money at something, you can get it to go, but with WM/DM's rather lacking managements skills, did WM have enough money to bankroll the project until it caught fire?

 

[matou]

Like this one? https://instagram.com/p/Z7en6Fo22u/?taken-by=krucifix14

That doesn't look like the one in the video at all.

 

[SnooperDuper]

Trailer from the incinerator?

 

[cansleuther]

Trailer from the incinerator?

That trailer has white rims: http://storage.torontosun.com/v1/dynamic_resize/sws_path/suns-prod-images/1297417638271_ORIGINAL.jpg?quality=80&size=650x

 

[Arnie M]

Like this one? https://instagram.com/p/Z7en6Fo22u/?taken-by=krucifix14

Close , the one being hauled away from the hangar is the next larger size , has fold down ramps , and could haul something as heavy as a Bobcat. Good find nevertheless.

 

[Arnie M]

"Very important airport", "Congestion in the GTA"- reasons why Waterloo is a prime location. IMHO, WM was right on with his business plans- should have been, could have been, would have been. IMO, this move by Chartright negates all the earlier commentary about WM being off his rocker and DM foreseeing doom and gloom on the horizon. WM knew what was possible- if only he knew how to hire a CEO. MOO

I agree , back in 1990 when CM & WM got out of the airline business they realized it was more profitable to be in the hangar rental-leasing-repair business and that worked well until Pearson squeezed them out

The Waterloo building put WM back into the hangar business , and by extension was going to install a crew of maintenance engineers and be a certified MRO , but he would have managers and staff to run that part of it , WM was not an engineer , did not have to be , he simply had the wherewithal to put up a building . Plenty of Professional engineers would love to work at a long term stable place like that , they have gone thru their share of airlines opening and closing

And yes , one good CEO could have run the whole thing for WM .

 

[Arnie M]

Trailer from the incinerator?

................ NOPE .................

I don't think WM or DM were really great project managers...sure, if you throw enough money at something, you can get it to go, but with WM/DM's rather lacking managements skills, did WM have enough money to bankroll the project until it caught fire?

A new business like that would certainly bleed some cash for a year or two , and I am sure they were already feeling it , it is not an undertaking for the faint of heart. But aviation is a small community , once the word got out business would start to trickle in , remember the basis for everything is the fact that Pearson (for example) becomes more congested and more expensive every year , WM was in a prime position & location to take advantage of that , albeit slow to get rolling.

And even if all those plans failed he would simply lease the whole building to someone like Chartright , they needed a Waterloo just as much as Waterloo needed them.

 

[Kamille]

Like this one? https://instagram.com/p/Z7en6Fo22u/?taken-by=krucifix14

Is this person a suspect in this murder case?

 

[Alethea Dice]

"Very important airport", "Congestion in the GTA"- reasons why Waterloo is a prime location. IMHO, WM was right on with his business plans- should have been, could have been, would have been. IMO, this move by Chartright negates all the earlier commentary about WM being off his rocker and DM foreseeing doom and gloom on the horizon. WM knew what was possible- if only he knew how to hire a CEO. MOO

Or a good business development consultant. Or had gone with an FBO instead of an MRO.

Wood says he last met with Dellen Millard in March, three months after he had taken over the company following the death of his father, Wayne Millard.
They talked about Millard’s plans for the future of the company, which Wood recalls as potentially including a new tenant or different commercial business within the confines of the 50-year lease.

http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/activity-at-millard-air-hangar-not-what-airport-boss-expected-1.1302652

Left to manage that legacy, Millard says, he turned his attention to the business — but not without resentment.

"I took it all pretty hard. It was a responsibility I didn't want at that time. I was angry at (my father) for the things I had to do because he wasn't there to do them."

He planned to turn the company's new hangar into a "fixed base of operations" — a kind of hotel for airplanes offering parking space, fuel services and car rentals.

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/4292468-jail-interview-dellen-millard-says-he-didn-t-kill-tim-bosma/

The building once owned by Millard Air is the largest hangar at the Waterloo Region International Airport and will now house what's referred to in the aviation industry as a fixed based operation, or FBO.

"For a lack of a better term it's a hotel for airplanes," airport general manager Chris Wood said Thursday. "So when the businessman or businesswoman flies in for the day, the FBO offers services like fuel, hangarage, maintenance, pilot facilities, weather briefings, parking spaces, things like that."

Chartright plans to move its helicopter maintenance repair operations from Toronto into the facility, where the company has outgrown its hangar capacity.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/chartright-air-group-takes-over-former-millard-air-hangar-1.3019314

JMO

 

[swedie]

Or a good business development consultant. Or had gone with an FBO instead of an MRO.



http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/activity-at-millard-air-hangar-not-what-airport-boss-expected-1.1302652



http://www.thespec.com/news-story/4292468-jail-interview-dellen-millard-says-he-didn-t-kill-tim-bosma/



http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/chartright-air-group-takes-over-former-millard-air-hangar-1.3019314

JMO

:sigh: I highly doubt there was anything wrong with the business development consultant who was hired. What was AS to do, take DM by the hand like a child and show him how to clean up his toys? There was only so much he could have done to get things moving and if DM wasn't listening and reacting to this consultant's advice, his hands were tied. Could he have ran to WM and tattled on DM? Sure and maybe he did? Perhaps DM couldn't take the flack he got from his father after AS spoke to WM and the end result was WM getting a bullet to the head?

Seem some people have a bad taste in their mouths for AS (someone they don't even know) because he wasn't afraid to come forward and speak the truth about DM, some feel he was disgracing DM. I think perhaps AS was doing it the American way kwim.

Bottom line is it was DM's fault MA failed not AS's. And it's also DM fault he is sitting in jail charged with three murders. It's his fault IF the Millard name is being dragged through the mud. It's DM's own fault he left overwhelming evidence for LE to collect, proving his guilty and resulting in the AG granting permission to proceed straight to trial. All JMO.

 

[MsSherlock]

Or a good business development consultant. Or had gone with an FBO instead of an MRO.



http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/activity-at-millard-air-hangar-not-what-airport-boss-expected-1.1302652



http://www.thespec.com/news-story/4292468-jail-interview-dellen-millard-says-he-didn-t-kill-tim-bosma/



http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/chartright-air-group-takes-over-former-millard-air-hangar-1.3019314

JMO

IMO, Alethia, it would take more than a bunch of us sleuthers on this forum to ever understand the MRO business like WM did. To insinuate that WM's team of specialist didn't have the ability to do their job is borderline slanderous IMO. WM assembled a team- he had experience, vision and commitment. WM BOUGHT his son as much help as he could ever imagine was needed- all in an effort to make sure that the MRO was a success and that DM could decorate his desk with a CEO name plate. IMO, WM knew exactly what he was doing.

On one hand he could simply write DM a check for a few million and watch him spend away and end up coming back to him to take whatever he had left over for his own retirement, or, he could invest it in a substantial business, where DM was a figurehead, feel important and collect a paycheck! It was a win/win for WM. IMO, WM may have been feeling a bit embarrassed by the inability of his son to be successful at anything, especially after he was recognized as a flying prodigy. This MRO may have been WM's way of satisfying himself that his son wasn't really a failure. MOO

 

[swedie]

From one of Ann's articles, this was in the comment section. I am leaning toward believing DM had some kind of mental issue growing up and his parents were aware, treating him with kid gloves. Some possible tell tale signs; eating dog biscuits, the school picture of him making a goof face, dropping out of school, his claim he only found a couple teachers interesting, his jail house correspondence, just to name a few. Seems his parents needed to guide and rescue him, paving life's path for him instead of letting him find his own way as an adult. DM failed at flipping houses and went back to the nest looking to his dad to pave the next path for him. DM never followed through on his post secondary education; culinary, computer animation, make up. The fact he was set up with the woman who become his ex fiancée, by their mother's, IMO seems weird/bizarre. Gives me the impression DM also needed parental assistance at finding a mate. MOO.

The ambition tattoo DM sports could signify just the opposite IMO.

So was the break up of this relationship a trigger in DM’s life? It seems to me the crazy reckless life started after this timeframe?

Reply ↓

AnnB
on August 18, 2014 at 1:22 pm said:
It certainly looks like it could have been.

It seems there was a lot of pressure on Millard being applied by his parents.

First, they moved to set up the new Millardair business despite the fact they knew their son wasn’t particularly interested in aviation.

And then his mother set about finding him the right girl. Remember, he was only 25 at the time of his engagement, which is quite young.

All this to say, I think the parents were concerned and trying to help him because they knew he had problems.

http://www.annrbrocklehurst.com/2013/12/dellen-millards-engagement-photos.html

To an outsider, Millard lived a life of leisure. Raised as an only child by divorced parents, he dabbled in various careers but never committed himself to one.
He dropped out of Toronto French School before getting his high school diploma because “there were only a couple of teachers I found interesting.”
It was a correspondence course through a small, alternative school in Toronto called Subway Academy that landed Millard the diploma that his parents insisted he get.

His professional resumé depicts an incongruous collection of career aspirations.
He took college courses ranging from makeup artistry to culinary arts to animation, he says.
For a time he bought houses for renovating and flipping — a career path he says abandoned when he realized he was only breaking even.

http://www.canadaka.net/link.php?id=81563

 

[Juballee]

IMO, Alethia, it would take more than a bunch of us sleuthers on this forum to ever understand the MRO business like WM did. To insinuate that WM's team of specialist didn't have the ability to do their job is borderline slanderous IMO. WM assembled a team- he had experience, vision and commitment. WM BOUGHT his son as much help as he could ever imagine was needed- all in an effort to make sure that the MRO was a success and that DM could decorate his desk with a CEO name plate. IMO, WM knew exactly what he was doing.

On one hand he could simply write DM a check for a few million and watch him spend away and end up coming back to him to take whatever he had left over for his own retirement, or, he could invest it in a substantial business, where DM was a figurehead, feel important and collect a paycheck! It was a win/win for WM. IMO, WM may have been feeling a bit embarrassed by the inability of his son to be successful at anything, especially after he was recognized as a flying prodigy. This MRO may have been WM's way of satisfying himself that his son wasn't really a failure. MOO

If WM set it up for DM to be a figurehead, why is DM taking the brunt of the blame for the failure then? If it was WM who wanted his son to have a CEO name plate, would it really be any surprise if DM wasn't as into it as WM? DM certainly didn't seem to act like a self important CEO according to friends, maybe that wasn't his thing. All my opinion only.

 

[matou]

Don't forget taking nudie pictures of girlies in the hangar, hanging off of the aircraft @ 18 years old. JMO There's a career.

 

[Juballee]

I think we've discussed this before, it wasn't a career aspiration for DM, he was asked to take the photos of the nudie girl for the nudie girl, I remember that she was the one that posted them herself. That was the nudie girl's career, not his. And that was long before the move to the new hanger.

 

[SnooperDuper]

Don't forget taking nudie pictures of girlies in the hangar, hanging off of the aircraft @ 18 years old. JMO There's a career.

ha!

The things I wonder about the MRO are:

- It was budgeted to cost $6.4M and it ended up costing one and a half times that. Where did the "and a half" come from - the family coffers or the bank? I think the whole deal around the 6-plex suggests it came from the bank.

- What was the burn rate of this operation? It seems from LinkedIn that the MRO was about 3/4 staffed (where expected final total staff = 20). How many thousands per month did it cost to keep the hangar powered, supplied, and staffed with high cost professionals? How many months did it take to burn away a million dollars? How much money burned away from the occupancy permit date in February to WM's death in November, 8 months? This operation was all set to go but had no clients. How long could WM afford to sustain this state when in the end, it took 3 years 3 months to put a business in place in operation in the hangar?

- WM did experience some failures in this project as he failed to pick up a couple of contracts that they were wrangling for. In fact another MRO operation had launched in Windsor within the same time frame, and it failed (at first) too. Sure, build it and they will come, but will the wait kill your company? Again, was WM financed well enough to withstand the wait for business contracts? Was the Windsor MRO not too close for comfort?

- Yes Waterloo Region has been waiting for a growth spurt for a while, but I think that WM's investment coincided with a downturn in the tech community (frequent users of the airport), a downturn in the number of flights at the airport, etc. Things are turning around again here: Blackberry had dumped a huge amount of property but it has all filled up again, with the right kind of tech darling companies too. Welcome to the new economy ha ha. Things go down, things go up, lather rinse repeat. I think WM was doomed for a long wait because simply put WM built in the beginning of the local downturn.

 

[Alethea Dice]

IMO, Alethia, it would take more than a bunch of us sleuthers on this forum to ever understand the MRO business like WM did. To insinuate that WM's team of specialist didn't have the ability to do their job is borderline slanderous IMO. WM assembled a team- he had experience, vision and commitment. WM BOUGHT his son as much help as he could ever imagine was needed- all in an effort to make sure that the MRO was a success and that DM could decorate his desk with a CEO name plate. IMO, WM knew exactly what he was doing.

On one hand he could simply write DM a check for a few million and watch him spend away and end up coming back to him to take whatever he had left over for his own retirement, or, he could invest it in a substantial business, where DM was a figurehead, feel important and collect a paycheck! It was a win/win for WM. IMO, WM may have been feeling a bit embarrassed by the inability of his son to be successful at anything, especially after he was recognized as a flying prodigy. This MRO may have been WM's way of satisfying himself that his son wasn't really a failure. MOO

I didn't say that WM's team didn't have the ability to do their job. Only that his business development consultant failed to bring any business in. The excuse of the "toys" in the hangar doesn't cut it for me. Unfortunately, we'll never know how fast the "toys" may have been removed had a potential customer been found who wanted to do a tour. Another thing we'll never know is what might have happened had WM bought his son a business that he had more of an interest in. Regardless, DM seemed willing to give it a try since he was the one attending the negotiation and planning meetings.

http://www.ourwindsor.ca/news-story/4485947-big-hangar-bold-plan-total-disaster-inside-the-secret-millard-negotiations/

JMO