Six real estate boards across the province have banded together to form the B.C. Commercial Council (BCCC) in a bid to unify British Columbia's organized commercial real estate industry.

BCCC chairman Eugen Klein says it's important to have all commercial realtors under one umbrella, "so that not only do we understand what's going on in the downtown markets, but also what's going on in agri-business in Chilliwack, what's going on with oil exploration up in Fort Nelson, what's going on in Dawson Creek.

"Those (are) the types of questions people are interested in getting answers to, and through the real estate boards, the commercial realtors can answer them," says Klein, a Vancouver-based real estate broker.

The BCCC aims to give office, industrial, agricultural and other non-residential properties a greater presence on the world stage as the 2010 Winter Olympics approach.

Eugen Klein

Klein, who is also the Greater Vancouver board's commercial division president, says the council will develop partnerships between industry and government to bring more real estate investment and business into the province.

It plans to act as a voice for commercial realtors and the public on political issues such as taxation, and distribute statistics on commercial transactions and other related matters - such as brownfield properties and wetlands - to the public.

Unlike residential real estate, there is no single body that distributes data on commercial transactions because most properties are not listed for sale.

Various real estate agencies put out their own quarterly and annual reports on sales, vacancy rates, buildings under construction and other factors.

The six participating real estate boards - Greater Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Chilliwack, Vancouver Island, Victoria and BC Northern - account for 85 per cent of all property listings.

"What was happening in the past was that commercial realtors, under various real estate boards, were just conducting their business and each board would have a (separate) voice," says Klein.

Some commercial real estate industry insiders who were contacted by Business Edge declined to comment on the new group's creation.

They suggested the BCCC will have little effect, because local boards focus on residential real estate.

"That's a common misunderstanding, because the residential market has been so strong and so many condominiums have gone into that," says Klein. "It's definitely a perception that's out there, but the perception of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, for example, of which I am a member, is that real estate is our profession.

"So that includes everything from commercial real estate to residential real estate to property management consulting - all the various disciplines that are associated.

"Our mandate is from raw land to finished community."

Klein, also a commercial realtor with Vancouver-based Royal LePage City Centre, says many agencies known for residential sales are getting into commercial transactions.

"If you look at Re/Max Commercial, for example, they're coming on strong in the commercial entity and haven't been known for that in the past," says Klein. "Royal LePage is in many communities with its Cushman & Wakefield affiliate. Colliers, A.J. Barnicke, Avison Young are all members of the real estate board and are realtors under the real estate board.

"So this is really just formalizing that (connection.) We're not a company, we're an association."

He says the council will act as a professional association for commercial realtors, similar to an accountants' society or the provincial law society that represents lawyers.

Although the council is providing a website (www.cls.ca) on which to list commercial properties, it does not plan to provide a listing for all commercial properties similar to the Multiple Listing Service.

The council hopes to work with other real estate groups such as the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties and Urban Development Institute; separate business groups like the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, chambers of commerce and the Vancouver Board of Trade; city planners, and other organizations.

"It's not a competitive, it's more of a collaborative approach," says Klein.

He says the council will also give the public and government more comfort in dealing with a commercial realtor.

"Governments don't usually like to partner with private companies because there's bias and there's favouritism and things like that," says Klein.

"But here's a way which commercial realtors can be represented in encouraging that investment (through) a sort of non-denominational entity. "That's the distinct advantage that the B.C. Commercial Council has."

(Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)