Charan Sethi has no idea why someone would burn one of his company’s condo developments to the ground, but he’s vowing to rebuild.

“Neighbours were happy with us. The city was very happy with us. I think we were doing a pretty damn good job,” said Sethi, owner of Richmond-based Tien Sher Group of Companies.

Sethi spoke to reporters Thursday morning, just steps away from where a three-alarm fire gutted a building that was part of the Quattro development on 138 Street near 107A Avenue in Whalley.

Investigators are trying to determine the cause of the fire – the second in that building in two days – and are currently deeming it suspicious.

Police have no suspects but are planning to speak with neighbours and construction workers who were on site at the time to get a sense of what happened.

“Why somebody would do this, I don’t know,” Sethi said. “We’ve been going through our minds trying to figure out if we’ve upset someone.”

“It’s pretty heartbreaking, because all my people put their heart and soul into this.”

The massive fire sent clouds of thick black smoke into the air that were visible across the Lower Mainland.

“It was quite the fire. It was fully involved,” said Marco Carnello, who was working at his law office on E. Whalley Ring Road when the Quattro blaze broke out just before 4 p.m. Wednesday.

The building – valued at about $30 million – was largely wood framing, with no drywall installed yet, providing plenty of fuel for the fire.

The fire engulfed the second building of Quattro’s first phase, and also leapt over a firewall to the first building of phase one, causing minor damage.

A crane was also caught up in flames.

“It’s still standing,” Carnello said. “We were thinking it might melt and fall.”

Power was cut off to about 4,400 homes in the area on Wednesday and service to many homes was still out on Thursday morning.

This is the second blaze at this location in the past two days.

On Monday afternoon, a smaller fire, which officials also called suspicious, was set on the first level of the same four-storey building at 13789 107A Ave.

The first fire – started using paper in the framed structure of a corner bathroom – was extinguished by site personnel before it caused any major damage.

Quattro is a six-phase, 10-acre residential apartment project which, when complete, will include approximately 1,100 homes.

Marketers bill it as the largest, multi-phase development in Surrey.

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In February 2007, Quattro’s first phase sold out in four hours.

In May of this year, phase two of the development – 109 apartment suites – sold out in under four hours.

Almost 10,000 people have registered for the third phase.

Fire crews were extinguishing hot spots late into Wednesday night and were continuing to monitor the situation Thursday morning.

Fire investigators and the RCMP remained on site Thursday.

Sethi is pleading with clients who have already bought condos in the razed building to be patient, though he added he’s not aware of any option that would allow them to get out of their purchase agreements.

“We certainly want to rebuild what we lost and we’re hoping our buyers will be patient enough to hang in with us,” Sethi said. “As soon as the insurance (company) settles the matter, we’ll be in there ready to go.”

rstarr@surreyleader.com