As director with Millennium Development Corp, Malek has played an important role in shaping the multi-million dollar City-in-the-Park, a highrise development in Burnaby, which has been recognized as an exemplary new community.

Designed by Vancouver architect Arthur Erikson back in 1989 City-in-the-Park is still a work in progress with three highrises completed, two now under construction and two towers to be built sometime in the future.

A formal European-style garden covering two acres of the 16-acre site contains a reflecting pool, five fountains mass planting of flowering plants and shrubs and plenty of green space.

"When we first bought this site, there was a new SkyTrain station [Edmonds Station] and there was virtually nothing else there so it was basically virgin territory for starting a community that could be planned from the very beginning."

Now, although several stages from completion, Malek believes the development delivers that important sense of community that buyers seek when choosing a new home, but may not always find in a highrise.

Residents at City in the Park live in big-city-style highrises, enjoy a park like suburban setting and have pretty well everything they need within easy walking distance.

Developers and planners from other parts of the world have visited the community to learn from it and last year it received the Livable Region Award for Excellence from the Greater Vancouver Regional District in conjunction with the Urban Design Institute.

In presenting the Award for Excellence Gordon Price, Vancouver City councillor and GVRD director, said: "City-in-the-Park combines high urbanism with suburban amenities - just what is needed to appeal to those whose choices would otherwise be limited to a traditional low density product."

Said Price: "City-in-the-Park" makes living in a transit-oriented community extremely attractive and it does so in a suburban context."

Several factors make City-in-the-Park work so well, according to Malek.

* Public transport. Edmonds SkyTrain station, just a five minute walk away and the bus depot next to it, allow people to come an go easily. You don't need a car to live or visit there.

* Community food store. Peppers Market, which stocks gourmet items, fresh produce and basic staples and serves up light meals, is housed in a red brick building with clock tower designed to look like a turn of the century railway station. On sunny days residents can be seen sitting outside sipping cappuccino.

* Green space. Eighty per cent of the site is dedicated to green space. "The parks and the landscaping and formal gardens foster a sense of community," Malek says. "Particularly the garden in the center, which is a very open and accessible space for people to sit in the sunshine, read books, walk around and meet their friends. That has really helped the sense of community."

* Distinctive design. Although they are all highrises each building has it's own architectural style avoiding tedious repetition and each has its own elaborate amenities giving residents a sense of being in a single enclave. Even the suites are different although they all share popular features like nine-foot ceilings and attractive finishes.

Having a single developer implement the master plan helps maintain the consistency.

Arthur Erikson was involved in design aspects of the first building, The Savoy. The later buildings owe their originality to Vancouver architects Lawrence Doyle and Stuart Bell, Malek says.

"We have tried to keep a common theme but still make each building look different," Malek says. "Each building has a totally new plan."

"As a result people take pride in their building. It's different than all the others yet its part of the same community and no one can say my building is better than your building, because they are all different."
In the initial stages not everyone shared the developer's enthusiasm for a formal garden.

"Some people involved in the process saw it as too imperial or forbidding, but once we were over that hurdle, things went very smoothly," says Malek. The municipality of Burnaby has been extremely supportive, playing an important role in making the vision a reality.

The gardens predominately grass and hedges were designed to be fairly low maintenance and a volunteer gardening committee plants the annuals and seasonal flowers each year.

For anyone wondering why the developer stuck exclusively to highrise construction, Malek says it was essential to achieve the density and maintain the green space.

"At one point in time, it was suggested that their be some townhouses and the residents made it very clear that they wanted to preserve the open spaces and have only highrises."

City-in-the-Park appeals to people of all ages. "We call it cross generational", says Malek, "We have designed the units in a way that there are different types for different lifestyles. We have units for empty nesters and also for young professionals. We have units appealing to single people and even some units for families. It makes the community a lot livelier."