Growing From The Ground Up
Tree Island Yogurt Facility: Scott DiGuistini and Merissa Myles
Founder Story
When Scott DiGuistini and his wife, Merissa Myles, started Tree Island Yogurt, they weren’t chasing a quick win. They were building a company rooted in the Comox Valley, quality-driven, locally anchored, and designed to grow. But as production scaled, one constraint kept showing up: industrial space. The Comox Valley didn’t have enough serviced, build-ready land for businesses that needed to expand without leaving the region.
So DiGuistini seized an opportunity, and helped create the solution: Bevan.
Through Acciano Development, Scott and his partners took on the long, unglamorous work of building a major light-industrial hub in Cumberland—one that gives other owner-operators the same chance Tree Island Yogurt needed: invest, build, and stay local. That meant years of persistence: earning trust, addressing concerns, and building alignment with key leaders across Cumberland and the Comox Valley so the project could move from concept to approvals, infrastructure, and real, serviced inventory.
For buyers, Bevan is both ambitious and practical: a plug-and-play industrial neighbourhood where the fundamentals are in place flat, serviced lots, efficient access, and zoning that supports growth. It’s designed to help businesses reduce uncertainty, control costs, and make long-term decisions with confidence.
And while you’re building your business, you’ll discover why people choose to stay here: an easy commute with no urban congestion, a workforce that wants to put down roots, and a lifestyle that runs from ocean to mountains, trails, rivers, and Mount Washington days when you want them.
John Chislett
Chislett Architecture & Planning
Sharing the Vision
With more than 40 years as a leader in architecture and planning, John Chislett was enticed out of retirement to be part of the Bevan industrial lands initiative. John is the first to tell you he’s ‘no expert’ on the history of the Bevan area but he does know a thing or two about commercial development and land use planning.
Once owned by a series of logging operations, the Bevan lands stood dormant for decades under the jurisdiction of the Comox Valley Regional District. “About 20 years ago the Economic Development Society (EDS) was inspired to initiate some economic development for the region,” explains Chislett. “They were looking to stimulate a number of industrial operations that would be timber and forest related.” Unfortunately, half way through the forest industry went into recession. With the timber industry no longer viable, EDS shifted gears. They took the same concept for the land and refocused it into an eco-industrial village.
Fast forward 20 years, now located in the Village of Cumberland, the Bevan lands have found its’ champions. “They are a group of inspired entrepreneurs with a set of development values that will be exceedingly beneficial for the overall industrial park and the Village fo Cumberland. It only takes one person to have the vision and a group to share it, and here we are - 20 years later.”