Surrey city hall\u2019s property acquisitions process has come under a microscope in the wake of accusations related to a \u201cquestionable\u201d real estate transaction, a \u201cbail out\u201d for a land developer, a call for a judicial review, and a councillor calling for a full-on police investigation.<\/p>\n
In response, the City of Surrey\u2019s communications department issued a press release July 9 including a summary of property acquisitions from June 2025 to July 2026 that indicates city hall had achieved a \u201ctotal cost avoidance\u201d of $23,016,269 through 12 real estate deals.<\/p>\n
The aim, the press release states, is to \u201censure Surrey residents have accurate information about how municipal land purchases are evaluated, negotiated and approved.\u201d<\/p>\n
It says the City of Surrey avoided the $23,016,269 in higher land acquisition costs \u201cthrough independent appraisals, market analysis and negotiations\u201d with the process reviewed by multiple city hall departments \u2013 including environmental, engineering, legal and financial teams \u2013 and council\u2019s approval secured prior to completion.<\/p>\n
City hall\u2019s crap blizzard began June 30 following the public reveal of a land swap involving three taxpayer-owned parcels of land for a site in Whalley to build a 10,000-seat arena. Former mayor and Safe Surrey Coalition mayoral candidate Doug McCallum accused Mayor Brenda Locke of \u201cbailing out\u201d the developer with Surrey rate payers taking a hit. \u201cLand in City Centre currently trades at $8 to $10 million an acre,\u201d McCallum noted. \u201cBrenda Locke paid $23.3 million.\u201d Locke denied any \u201cbail out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councillor Linda Annis, mayoral candidate for Surrey First, jumped into the fray, charging that taxpayers \u201cgot the short end of the stick and ended up paying $28 million more than the assessed value of the arena site.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then Imagine Surrey mayoral candidate Mike Starchuk joined in, announcing on July 6 he will file a petition in B.C. Supreme Court seeking a full judicial review of Locke\u2019s \u201ccostly, unprecedented land-swap purchase to enable a downtown arena.\u201d<\/p>\n
A new battlefront emerged on July 5 with Conservative Party of Surrey mayoral candidate Honveer Singh Randhawa claiming city hall paid $6.8 million in a \u201cquestionable transaction\u201d for a 13.07-acre property at 7580 152 Street. He noted it had been listed for $4.9 million and sat on the market for two years until finally selling for $3.35 million a few weeks before the City of Surrey then bought it for the higher price.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccording to information provided, the property was listed for approximately $4.9 million, remained on the market for approximately two years, went through significant price adjustments, and was recently sold (corporate share sale) for approximately $3.35 million,\u201d the real estate lawyer stated. \u201cWithin only a few weeks, the same property was reportedly acquired by the City of Surrey for $6.8 million.\u201d<\/p>\n
Surrey businessman Kuldeep Bansal issued a press release on July 8 stating he was a co-owner of the property at 7580 152 Street \u201cright up until the share sale closed on May 1, 2026, for $3.35 million\u201d and \u201cwithin weeks, the same property was sold to the City of Surrey for approximately $6.8 million, nearly double what it sold for.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis deal was done in the dark,\u201d Bansal charged. \u201cIt\u2019s time somebody turned the lights on.\u201d<\/p>\n
City of Surrey communications spokeswoman Laura Baziuk told the Now-Leader on July 10 that the property \u201cwas never listed for $4.9 million and was never sold prior to the City\u2019s purchase in June. The last sale before that was back in 2022. So, the claims of the property selling recently for $3.35 million, and that it was listed for $4.9 million, are inaccurate.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Nationwide Realty Corp.\u2019s website data updated July 10, the listing info indicates a price of $4,950,000 with a sold date of Oct. 11, 2022. Bansal said the \u201csale was dropped.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was bought by a mosque,\u201d he said. \u201cThey never closed.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to BC Assessment, the 2026 land assessment for the property as of July 1, 2025 indicates a total value of $2,933,000. The previous year, it was assessed at $2,965,000.<\/p>\n
According to a statement issued by city hall on July 6, attributed to its corporate services department, the negotiated purchase price of $6.8 million was \u201csupported by an independent third-party appraisal prepared by Colliers Canada and was approximately $1 million below the appraised market value, representing strong value for taxpayers.\u201d Further, it reads, \u201cThe claims made by Mr. Bansal are inaccurate and do not reflect the facts of the City\u2019s acquisition of 7580 152 Street.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the heels of this hot mess, Safe Surrey Coalition Councillor Mandeep Nagra called for a \u201cfull police investigation\u201d into the purchase. \u201cAfter becoming aware of the full circumstances of how this transaction unfolded, I do not believe it can be brushed aside,\u201d Nagra said. \u201cSomething is not right here.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to city hall\u2019s summary of the council-approved acquisition, the sale was completed June 19, the appraised value was $7,860,000, the purchase price was $6,800,000, the \u201ccost avoidance\u201d was $1,060,000 and Colliers International Realty Advisors Inc. did the appraisal. The seller was 1341678 B.C. Ltd.<\/p>\n
The Now-Leader requested an explanation from the City of Surrey concerning the profound discrepancy between the $7,860,000 appraised value and the $2,965,000 assessed value. City hall replied with a statement attributed to the corporate services department noting that BC Assessment values \u201care used for taxation purposes, while independent appraisals are prepared for specific transactions and consider property-specific factors and current market conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s common for these values to differ, particularly for unique properties where factors such as size, location and permitted uses can have a significant impact on market value,\u201d the statement reads. \u201cFor 7580 152 Street, the independent appraisal considered the property\u2019s size, location, access and permitted recreational and agricultural uses, resulting in an appraised value of $7.8 million. The City negotiated a purchase price approximately $1 million below that appraised value.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Surrey city hall\u2019s property acquisitions process has come under a microscope in the wake of accusations related to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793423,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[903,49,48,87674],"class_list":["post-794029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}