Surrey city hall’s property acquisitions process has come under a microscope in the wake of accusations related to a “questionable” real estate transaction, a “bail out” for a land developer, a call for a judicial review, and a councillor calling for a full-on police investigation.
In response, the City of Surrey’s 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 “total cost avoidance” of $23,016,269 through 12 real estate deals.
The aim, the press release states, is to “ensure Surrey residents have accurate information about how municipal land purchases are evaluated, negotiated and approved.”
It says the City of Surrey avoided the $23,016,269 in higher land acquisition costs “through independent appraisals, market analysis and negotiations” with the process reviewed by multiple city hall departments – including environmental, engineering, legal and financial teams – and council’s approval secured prior to completion.
City hall’s 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 “bailing out” the developer with Surrey rate payers taking a hit. “Land in City Centre currently trades at $8 to $10 million an acre,” McCallum noted. “Brenda Locke paid $23.3 million.” Locke denied any “bail out.”
Councillor Linda Annis, mayoral candidate for Surrey First, jumped into the fray, charging that taxpayers “got the short end of the stick and ended up paying $28 million more than the assessed value of the arena site.”
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’s “costly, unprecedented land-swap purchase to enable a downtown arena.”
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 “questionable transaction” 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.
“According 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,” the real estate lawyer stated. “Within only a few weeks, the same property was reportedly acquired by the City of Surrey for $6.8 million.”
Surrey businessman Kuldeep Bansal issued a press release on July 8 stating he was a co-owner of the property at 7580 152 Street “right up until the share sale closed on May 1, 2026, for $3.35 million” and “within weeks, the same property was sold to the City of Surrey for approximately $6.8 million, nearly double what it sold for.”
“This deal was done in the dark,” Bansal charged. “It’s time somebody turned the lights on.”
City of Surrey communications spokeswoman Laura Baziuk told the Now-Leader on July 10 that the property “was never listed for $4.9 million and was never sold prior to the City’s 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.”
According to Nationwide Realty Corp.’s 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 “sale was dropped.”
“It was bought by a mosque,” he said. “They never closed.”
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.
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 “supported 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.” Further, it reads, “The claims made by Mr. Bansal are inaccurate and do not reflect the facts of the City’s acquisition of 7580 152 Street.”
On the heels of this hot mess, Safe Surrey Coalition Councillor Mandeep Nagra called for a “full police investigation” into the purchase. “After becoming aware of the full circumstances of how this transaction unfolded, I do not believe it can be brushed aside,” Nagra said. “Something is not right here.”
According to city hall’s 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 “cost avoidance” was $1,060,000 and Colliers International Realty Advisors Inc. did the appraisal. The seller was 1341678 B.C. Ltd.
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 “are used for taxation purposes, while independent appraisals are prepared for specific transactions and consider property-specific factors and current market conditions.
“It’s 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,” the statement reads. “For 7580 152 Street, the independent appraisal considered the property’s 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.”