A
battle over a pro-
posed $3-billion, four-
season resort on the
slopes of Garibaldi
Mountain is reaching a fevered
pitch, with the B.C. Environmental
Assessment O•ce (
BCEAO) nearing
completion of its review and the
provincial government expected
to give it a thumbs up or down by
early this year.
Dubbed Garibaldi at Squamish,
the project was „rst conceived in
the 1990s by Wolfgang Richter, a
former Lower Mainland high-
school teacher and National Film
Board staŽer with no previous
property or resort development
experience. Richter, founder
and vice-president of Garibaldi
at Squamish Inc., now has two
big-name „nancial backers: the
Aquilini Group, which owns the
Vancouver Canucks and a diverse
portfolio of other real estate, hos-
pitality and agriculture holdings,
and Northland Properties, the
Gaglardi family enterprise that
includes the Dallas Stars hockey
team, Revelstoke Mountain Resort
and Sandman Hotel Group.
The unlikely coalition (the
Aquilinis and Gaglardis famously
went to court for control of the
Canucks) promises a resort of
more than 20 lifts, 6,500›metres
of commercial space, 1,500 hotel
rooms and more than 2,000 resi-
dential units at the Brohm Ride
village site overlooking the city of
PAUL JOSEPH FEBRUARY 2016 BCBusiness 13
T HE MON T HLY IN FOR MER
TMı
"Our goal is to build a stronger
venture capital industry here.
We want to be able to build those
companies that will be worth
$1 billion and to build head
ofces here"
–p.19
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 6
Mountain of Opposition
R e a l E s t a t e
Garibaldi at Squamish promises to turn B.C. into an international
ski mecca, according to proponents. That is, if it ever gets built
by Andrew Findlay
INSIDE
Happiness at work ... High-ying chefs ... Paul Lee's big bet on venture capital + more
ResoRt of DReams
Jim Chu, a VP with the
Aquilini Group, is
pushing for a new
resort in Squamish
"Ninety per cent of
[Garibaldi's] visitors
will be cannibalized
from other operators.
The development is not
viable in terms of terrain
and snow, and there's
too much real estate."
– David Brownlie,
president and CEO of
Whistler Blackcomb
Dubbed Garibaldi at Squamish,
the project was „rst conceived in
the 1990s by Wolfgang Richter, a
former Lower Mainland high-
school teacher and National Film
Board staŽer with no previous
property or resort development
Aquilini Group, which owns the
Vancouver Canucks and a diverse
portfolio of other real estate, hos
pitality and agriculture holdings,
and Northland Properties, the
Gaglardi family enterprise that
includes the Dallas Stars hockey
team, Revelstoke Mountain Resort
and Sandman Hotel Group.
The unlikely coalition (the
Aquilinis and Gaglardis famously
went to court for control of the
Canucks) promises a resort of
more than 20 lifts, 6,500›metres
Mountain of Opposition
Garibaldi at Squamish promises to turn B.C. into an international
ski mecca, according to proponents. That is, if it ever gets built
"Ninety per cent of
[Garibaldi's] visitors
will be cannibalized
from other operators.
The development is not
viable in terms of terrain
and snow, and there's
