Justus Veldman: developer brings vision to Sault brownfield redevelopment.

• Date: 01 February 2015
• Author: Helwig, David

When Justus Veldman first started poking around the old St. Marys Paper property in Sault Ste. Marie, he stayed at Fern Delarosbil's guest house on the banks of the Goulais River.

It's a beautiful spot with an outdoor hot tub and one of the area's best private beaches.

Delarosbil doesn't allow just anybody to stay at his place.

You have to be "interesting," he said.

Veldman, the former farmers' market vendor who's transforming the Sault's 120-year old paper mill into a multi-use urban village, is nothing if not interesting.

First, there's his curious obsession with footwear.

"I want to write a book on shoes," he says. "One of the things that I do before I walk into any meeting is look at someone's shoes."

In order to do a complex development like his Mill Square public/private partnership deal in Sault Ste. Marie, Veldman needs to size people up quickly

"You just have to look at their shoes," he says. "Ninety-nine-point-nine per cent of the time, you'll be correct."

Curiously, it's hard to get a fix on Veldman's own choice of footwear.

He's been...