City of Surrey to relaunch its municipal-owned real estate development firm

Mar 6 2023, 10:54 pm

The rebirth of Surrey City Development Corporation (SCDC) is anticipated to be realized before the end of the year.

Surrey City Council is expected to provide City of Surrey staff with the green light today to resurrect SCDC, which was dissolved in 2020 by then-Mayor Doug McCallum and his Safe Surrey Coalition councillors.

This follows the approval of a member motion in late 2022 by the new makeup of City Council directing City staff to come back with a plan to relaunch the City-owned private real estate company.

Prior to its dissolution, SCDC was responsible for catalyzing economic growth and renewal in Surrey, while also providing the municipal government with a revenue source — all in a financially self-sustaining way. This includes building industrial space at Campbell Heights, and its role in spearheading the 52-storey 3 Civic Plaza and Hotel tower.

In a report ahead of today’s meeting, City staff state the “process to re-operationalize SCDC as a for-profit development company is relative straight forward.”

Following City Council’s previous 2020 decision, SCDC’s assets and operations were transferred over to the municipal government, and its board of directors were replaced by City staff. It is anticipated SCDC’s portfolio transferred to the municipal government is worth about $250 million.

Despite the dissolution, City staff note SCDC and its subsidiaries still remain as companies, and the only asset that SCDC continues to oversee with its development partner, Beedie Development Group, is the Weir Canada Development industrial space project in Campbell Heights.

The next steps to reactivate SCDC entail City Council appointing independent members to the SCDC board, approving SCDC’s board appointment of the president, endorsing SCDC’s strategic and financial plans, and approving SCDC’s appointment of the company’s leadership team.

The independent board members will help guide the company, which will focus on for-profit development in the City Centre, Campbell Heights, Newtown Town Centre, and any other areas or opportunities as identified by City Council.

This specifically includes the SCDC-started planning project of building a significant commercial space development on the “Centre Block” site of North Surrey Recreation Centre next to SkyTrain Surrey Central Station, including the construction of a 738-foot-tall (225 metres), 47-storey office tower — one of Metro Vancouver’s future tallest buildings.

SCDC is also planning a multi-tower project on a City-owned site next to SkyTrain Gateway Station with 1,600 homes.

According to Surrey First City Councillor Linda Annis, SCDC provided the municipal government with $36 million in dividends over a seven-year period.

SCDC was created in 2007 under then-Surrey First Mayor Dianne Watts to develop surplus City-owned lands that provide the City with revenue and also contribute to Surrey’s social and economic development.

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