Municipal Law Real Estate Law
Edward L. "Ed" Wilson
Recognized in Best Lawyers since 2009 Awarded Practice Areas
Biography
Ed practices in the areas of real estate and municipal law, with a focus on real estate development. He advises clients on a wide range of projects, including industrial site development, heritage designation and density bonusing arrangements, shopping centre rezonings and redevelopments, office and industrial parks, condominium projects, strata title hotels, and mine site development. His experience also includes the subdivision and sale of pulp and saw mills, municipal downtown redevelopment, and commercial lease negotiations for both landlords and tenants.
He has been involved in large land assemblies, subdivisions, bare land strata plans, air space parcels, real estate acquisitions, financings, sales, and the structuring of ownership and transaction models. Ed works closely with sellers, buyers, and developers on commercial, residential, industrial, resort, and financing matters, and also advises on environmental issues related to real property.
Ed is recognized as a leading authority in British Columbia on strata corporation windups, having completed dozens of windups including the province’s first court-approved windup. He has served on multiple committees proposing changes to strata property law, including the BC Law Institute’s committee that recommended changes to the Strata Property Act that allowed for more the flexible rules facilitating windups.
His experience also includes advising on energy-related projects such as cogeneration plants, run-of-river generation facilities, electrical transmission lines, natural gas pipelines, and LNG plants. Ed has further advised on the development of standard form documents in the real estate, strata management, and mortgage broker sectors, and supports professionals in those industries on regulatory matters.
Overview
Vancouver, British Columbia
- English
- British Columbia, 1983
- Canadian Council for Public & Private Partnerships - Member
- Mortgage Brokers Association of B.C. - Member
- National Association of Industrial & Office Properties - Member
- SPA – Strata Property Agents of British Columbia - Associate Member
- Urban Development Institute - Member
Vancouver, British Columbia
- English
- British Columbia, 1983
- Canadian Council for Public & Private Partnerships - Member
- Mortgage Brokers Association of B.C. - Member
- National Association of Industrial & Office Properties - Member
- SPA – Strata Property Agents of British Columbia - Associate Member
- Urban Development Institute - Member
Client Testimonials
Awards & Focus
Recognized in The Best Lawyers in Canada™ 2026 for work in:
- Municipal Law
- Real Estate Law
Awards:
- Chambers Canada: Real Estate - British Columbia
- Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory: Property Development, and Property Leasing
- The Continuing Legal Education Society of BC: 2007 BC Leaders in Learning Award
- Martindale-Hubbell International Law Directory: AV Peer Review rated
News & Media
Additional Information
- Experience
Ed has particular expertise with respect to the unique land issues which arise in relation to the acquisition of and on-going access to linear projects.Ed’s recent representative experience includes:
Providing BC Hydro with legal assistance in connection with the strategic acquisition of Statutory Right of Way interests over private property for the purposes of the Dawson Creek/ Chetwynd Area Transmission (DCAT) project.Acting for one of Canada’s major pipeline companies with respect major natural gas transmission projectsAdvising on obtaining rights to use provincial Crown land for an LNG terminal in the Douglas Channel Energy Partnership in the development and permitting of their LNG project in Douglas Channel, including issues relating to the City of Kitimat’s land use controls. Providing another project proponent with legal assistance in connection with the strategic acquisition of Statutory Right of Way interests over crown land and private property for the purposes of a proposed linear project having its terminus in Kitimat. Providing a mining corporation with legal assistance in connection with the procurement and/or acquisition of various land tenures over crown land and private property for the purposes of various linear infrastructure components serving the project (including roads and electrical transmission lines). Negotiated long term ground leases and development agreements with Port Metro Vancouver on behalf of warehousing and logistics firms, cement and aggregate terminal operators, and grain terminal operators. Familiar with B.C. expropriation procedures and have assisted numerous clients in such matters.Assisted clients on other projects requiring various form of crown tenures (licenses, work permits, leases, rights of way) or interests in private lands (such as option to purchase, purchase agreements, lease etc.).
Ed has also assisted clients in such projects as:
Redevelopment of industrial sites to permit multi-family residential usesHeritage designation and density bonusing arrangementsRezoning and redevelopment of shopping centresDevelopment of office and industrial parksDevelopment of numerous condominium projectsDevelopment and marketing of strata title hotelsMarketing of real estate projects located outside of BC in BCRestructuring of strata corporation bylawsDevelopment of mine sitesSubdivision of pulp mills and saw millsAssisting municipalities on the redevelopment of downtown urban centresLease negotiations for a wide variety of tenants and landlordsDrafting standard form documents to be used by members of professional associations in the real estate fieldAdvising owners of industrial properties to market their properties for higher and better usesNegotiating long term ground leases for industrial users
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