Three properties in Burnaby assessed for a total of less than $15 million sold for $40 million in May, and a pair of duelling lawsuits over the property deal has exposed details of just how much increased density in the Metrotown area is worth to developers.
On July 5, businessman Wen Xue Wang sued Vancouver Home Park Realty Ltd., agent Laura Zhao and her personal real estate corporation, and company president Raymond Zhao in BC Supreme Court.
Wang claims he retained Laura Zhao when he bought three properties on Sussex Avenue in Burnaby. Prior to the sales and subsequent assignments, Wang claims the Zhaos had him sign a “bonus agreement” that he didn’t understand.
Wang, who is of Chinese ethnicity and cannot understand, read nor speak English, claims he was induced to sign the agreement under false pretenses after discovering that $300,000 was “erroneously deducted from his portion of the assignment fee.”
Vancouver Home Park Realty claims Wang owes more than $1.5 million in commissions under the listing agreement.
The company’s lawyer refused to comment on the lawsuit.
Casey Weeks, a vice-president with Colliers International who handled the sale of 6585 Sussex, said he couldn’t comment on the lawsuits. But Weeks said the deal’s price and assessed values of the properties are so far apart because the current zoning allows for a 40-storey highrise on lands currently occupied by low-rise rental stock.
“When you go from a very low- or medium-density site to a highrise site, it’s going to fetch a much higher price, and that’s what happened.”
