British Columbia

Western Investor named Surrey as the No. 1 centre for Western Canadian real estate investors in its first annual Top Ten Towns, which will be published in the November edition of the leading commercial real estate publication.

Calgary-based Bellstar Hotels and Resorts Ltd. has added another B.C. resort to its management portfolio. This time it's Comox Bay Marina & Residences, a natural fit given the popularity of Vancouver Island with Alberta buyers.

The Haida Enterprise Corp. (HaiCo), owned by the Haida Nation, has bought controlling interest in West Coast Resorts (WCR), which has five high-end fishing resorts along B.C.'s west coast.

Construction spending in B.C.

BC Hydro has chosen Edmonton-based Valard Construction, owned by U.S.-based Quanta Services and Burns & McDonnell, also a U.S. company, as contractors to design and build the Northwest Transmission Line (NTL).

Construction spending in Canada over the next year will be dominated by private-sector and non-residential work as cash-strapped governments cut back on institutional buildings and debt-heavy consumers shy away from buying new homes, according to the

SmartCentres, Canada's largest retail developer, has broken ground on a new 117,000-square-foot shopping centre in Mission.

The notorious Ranch Motel in Prince George - where police visits are a near daily occurrence - has been bought by a group of Vancouver investors who now face a showdown against undesirable tenants.

BC Hydro is adding enough renewable electricity to power 70,000 homes annually thanks to four new bioenergy projects located in Chetwynd, Fraser Lake, Fort St. James and Merritt.

Victoria-based Partners Real Estate Investment Trust (Partners REIT) has bought the Evergreen Shopping Centre in Sooke for a reported $15.8 million.