Tippy Mah, a longtime Whitehorse businessman, has successfully completed the purchase of the Financial Plaza located at 204 Lambert St.

“This purchase deepens my family’s financial commitment to the Whitehorse community,” Mah said in a press release shortly after the Nov. 1 purchase went through. 

The Financial Plaza had previously been owned by Tutshi Financial Developments Ltd.

No significant changes are expected with the ownership change.

For many years, Mah and his financial partners have been investing in Whitehorse, and currently own significant commercial/retail space downtown.

“My family also owns a large piece of vacant land in downtown Whitehorse which we will develop at the appropriate time,” said Mah.

In 2013, Mah and his partners completed the development of Mah’s Point at Jarvis Street and Second Avenue.

The 54-unit condominium tower plus ground floor retail space was the largest development of its kind in the Yukon at the time. 

Mah’s Point 2 – an eight-storey condo development – had been planned for the vacant piece of land Mah and his partners own on Second Avenue. It was suspended last year when it did not get the number of pre-sales required for a substantial principle investment for the project.

The ground-floor level would have had commercial space, with the eighth storey featuring four larger penthouse units of two or three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The largest of those units would have been 1,349 square feet.

In between, each floor would have featured six, two-bedroom/two-bathroom condos, each averaging 1,000 square feet.

Mah first came to the Yukon in 1964, arriving in Watson Lake and partnering in the Belvedere Hotel.

He relocated to Whitehorse in 1965 and acquired an interest in the former Taku Hotel. Mah built the Town and Mountain Hotel at Main Street and Fourth Avenue in 1977 and operated the business until he sold it in 1986. Also in 1977, he purchased the Main Street commercial building located at 204/206 Main.

In 1991, Mah and his group further acquired the Royal Centre (known as the Royal Bank building) plus the old Shannon Hotel on Jarvis Street. It was renamed the 202 Motor Inn and later expanded to include 30 more rooms and retail space. The “202” was sold in 2012.

Although mostly retired, spending more of his time in Vancouver, Mah retains a home in Whitehorse and has many friends and business associates here.

“The Yukon gave me opportunities I could only dream of as a young man, and I consider it a privilege to be in a position to continue investing here in my retirement years,” said Mah.