BC Rail is selling off industrial parks and prime real estate and making millions.
Once the biggest rail company in British Columbia, BC Rail is now run by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. It sold off its trains 10 years ago and leases its track to CN. Its mandate is to sell off any property not related to its ports and rail operations, according to information from records released through the B.C. freedom-of-information law. Disposing of surplus property is part of the province’s asset disposal policy.
Between 2005 and 2015 the company sold more than 400 properties. BC Rail gained $144 million from the sales and they’re predicting they’ll sell more surplus land in the next two years, according to information that came from records released through the B.C. freedom-of-information law. In last year’s budget, they estimated they’ll have yearly proceeds of $2.5 million with gains of $1 million between 2015 and 2018.
BCR Properties, the subsidiary of BC Rail that sells its surplus property, sold 11 properties in the past year. Properties in Squamish, Pemberton, Prince George, Mackenzie and Fort St. John have generated proceeds of $4.6 million and gains of $1.9 million, according to an email received from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.
Before any land can be put on the market, the province has to do any necessary environmental clean-up. For example, a former BC Rail North Yard site took more than six years to complete environmental clean up. BC Rail has worked with Lorax Environmental and Envirogreen Technologies to clean the land to make it safe to sell to the public. BC Rail’s current surplus properties don’t require cleanup.
Larger properties are also sometimes broken up into smaller parcels of land for easier sale. Right now BCR Properties has three properties publicly available for sale through the Cushman and Wakefield real estate company: industrial land in Dawson Creek; an industrial park in Prince George; and retail and office-zoned land in Squamish.
The asking price for the Dawson Creek land is nearly $400,000, while the Squamish and Prince George prices aren’t listed.
(*) What is the information? This is information about what BC Rail is and its strategic goals for the future.
(*) From which department did these pages come? These pages come from the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.
(*) Why was this information helpful? This information was helpful because it laid out why BC Rail is selling off surplus properties.
(*) What is the information? This is information about BC Rail’s surplus property sales in the past and their plan for the future.
(*) From which department did these pages come? These pages from from the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.
(*) Why was this information helpful? This information was helpful because it provided specific numbers and dollar amounts relating to both what BC Rail has already sold and want it estimates it will sell in the future.