Our company began in the very early 1900's when our founder, Bert H. Grant, emigrated from England as a young, energetic and single artisan with a dream of success in a new country. We still own and manage buildings built by our founder in the 1920's and subsequent years. In 1947, Bert F. Grant joined the company and carried on the tradition started by his father. The third generation was represented by Bert A. Grant, who joined the company in 1971 and retired in 2021 after serving the company for 50 years. Bert C. Grant, who started with the company in the year 2000, is the current President and CEO and represents the fourth generation in the business. We are a private company and all shares are held by the family.
Crestview Investment Corporation is the main holding company that owns our properties. The management of these properties is done by its sister company, Lawrence Construction Co. Limited. Bert F. Grant Management Limited was incorporated in 1962 to provide our property management expertise to third parties. Besides our current portfolio, Lawrence Construction and one of our former companies, Southeast Building Corporation, was involved in the development of single family homes in Markham, Bowmanville, Oshawa, and in the Toronto area in Scarborough, Downsview and Weston. In August of 2008, Crestview opened its first self storage facility, Vanguard Self Storage, in Peterborough, Ontario and its second in 2022 in Richmond Hill. Our current portfolio includes over twenty high-rise and low-rise apartment complexes, as well as over a million square feet of industrial, office, and retail.
The Crestview mission statement states that we are "A family enterprise providing quality real estate solutions for life". There are many aspects to our corporate philosophy that form the foundation for our interaction in our industry, community and environment. We take a long term perspective to our business and our properties by respecting the past while remaining forward looking. We grow our business at a sustainable rate to remain financially responsible and successful to balance quality for our residents and tenants and, for our shareholders. The pride we take in our properties shows in the level of maintenance and quality of service we provide to our residents, tenants and clients. This hands on approach helps to differentiate our properties from our competitors.
Crestview's pride in ownership and family frame of mind extends beyond the bricks and mortar and affects the way we treat our employees, trades, tenants, advisors and clients. Our clients can rest assured that we will treat their assets with the same long term care that we do our own properties. As landlords, we are proud to live up to our obligations by managing in compliance with all applicable legislation and are members of and support a number of industry related organizations. We give back to our community through numerous charitable donations to local and industry specific charities. In 2011, the shareholders presented the Leaside Gardens Arena with a legacy gift in honour of Bert F. Grant and the existing ice surface was renamed in his honour. We are interested in protecting our environment for current and future generations with our Green Works policy.
The company acknowledges 1927 as our founding year, that being when Bert H. Grant started operating under the company name of Lawrence Construction. We still own and manage a property on Mount Pleasant Road that is one of the first projects constructed by Lawrence Construction.