Nearly 2,000 hotel rooms planned for Richmond Night Market site development into an entertainment district

In May 2024, Richmond City Council approved the official community plan (OCP) amendments and the rezoning application for the mammoth waterfront project to develop the Richmond Night Market site into an entertainment district with a wide range of mixed-use commercial-only uses.

As previously reported by Daily Hive Urbanized, the 22-acre undeveloped “Duck Island” property — used for the seasonal night market attraction and a surface vehicle parking lot — next to SkyTrain Bridgeport Station and River Rock Casino Resort would see nearly a dozen mid-rise buildings up to 12 storeys.

BC-based Jingon International Development and Middle Eastern developer Cayan Group intend to build 538,000 sq ft of entertainment space, 908,000 sq ft of office and institutional space, 622,000 sq ft of retail and restaurant space, and 1.32 million sq ft of hotel space.

Both companies have formed a joint venture, Cayan Pacific Management, to oversee the development of the Richmond Night Market site.

Metro Vancouver’s second-largest cluster of hotel rooms

In a subsequent interview with Daily Hive Urbanized, Cayan Pacific Management project lead Kevin McNaney stated that the hotel space component could provide up to 2,000 hotel guest rooms, depending on the final room size mix.

This represents a staggering number of hotel rooms — equivalent to downtown Vancouver’s existing Sheraton Wall Centre (740 rooms), Parq Vancouver’s JW Marriott and The Douglas (517 rooms), Hyatt Regency Vancouver (650 rooms) combined, or five times the number of hotel rooms found within the adjacent River Rock Casino Resort (400 rooms).

Aside from downtown Vancouver, this project would effectively create Metro Vancouver’s second-largest cluster of hotel rooms.

It would also help address Metro Vancouver’s hotel room shortage, meeting 10% of the projected deficit of 20,000 rooms over the coming decades.

According to an early 2023 report by local tourism bureau Destination Vancouver, it is estimated that Metro Vancouver needs an additional 20,000 hotel rooms: 10,000 within Vancouver and 10,000 in other parts of the region. The shortage is expected to start during the peak season in 2026 within Vancouver and then extend to other times of the year and other areas of the region in the following years. It is also important to note that this shortage is likely more severe now, as these hotel room estimates were made before the provincial government’s new policies limiting short-term rentals, such as Airbnb.

“That’s 10% of the regional demand that we can accommodate on our site, right beside Vancouver International Airport, onto SkyTrain stations, right by downtown Richmond, and 15 minutes by train from all of the amenities and convention space of downtown Vancouver,” McNaney, a former City of Vancouver planner, told Daily Hive Urbanized.

Existing condition of Duck Island:

Future condition of Duck Island:

Up to 2,000 hotel rooms are planned across all three phases of the redevelopment, with McNaney highlighting that the first phase is primarily designated for hotel uses. Additionally, there could be even more hotel rooms if the office and institutional spaces are converted to hotel space, based on market demand.

“We have our choice of use based on what the market wants, which is kind of what you need to do for commercial development, because it’s built slowly over time. You need the flexibility, and the City of Richmond been great at accommodating that flexibility in the zoning,” he continued.

“The City is also interested in not doing tons of office space on this site because they don’t want it to compete with the core of Richmond City Centre, and we’re fine with that.”

As previously reported by Daily Hive Urbanized, the project is working with global chain Hilton as the major hotel partner. McNaney notes that at the moment, Hilton has been identified as the partner for the hotel uses in the first phase only.

The plan is to offer a range of hotel types, including high-end luxury hotels, four-star business hotels, and three-star tourist hotels.

A notable retail and dining destination

In addition to about 568,000 sq ft of hotel uses in the first phase, which accounts for 43% of the project’s entire hotel component upon full buildout, the first phase also incorporates 333,000 sq ft of upscale retail and restaurant uses, 298,000 sq ft of entertainment uses, 394,000 sq ft of office and institutional space, and a 30,000 sq ft City-owned community amenity space.

Another key component of the first phase is the expansive cross-shaped galleria, which McNaney describes as the project’s year-round covered indoor hub for entertainment, dining, and shopping.

He says high-end retail will be a component of the project’s retail mix, given the success of the nearby McArthurGlen Vancouver Airport Outlet Centre, which recently signalled it is ready to pursue the third and final phase of its outdoor shopping mall, generating about 66,000 sq ft of additional retail space.

“There’s huge demand for retail and for high-end retail. We also see unique retail brands from Asia and the Middle East and entertainment experiences from Asia that can be mixed into these various uses, so it won’t be traditional retail alone,” McNaney told Daily Hive Urbanized.

McNaney added that a “very careful and deliberate” process will be used to select brands and businesses for the ground-level retail, restaurant, and entertainment spaces, ensuring that the extensive public areas attract ample pedestrian activity.

“We’re not just going to open up the leasing. We’re going to be very strategic and creative to make sure the site is animated at all times of day,” he said.

McNaney notes that the Cayan Group, which has headquarters offices in Dubai and Riyadh, brings extensive experience in developing major waterfront hotel and office complexes, expertise in urban design and architecture, and connections to major brands like Hilton. The project’s architectural design firm is Arcadis.

Altogether, the first phase will generate about 1.62 million sq ft of floor area or half of the entire project.

Site plan for the first phase of development:

Site plan for the first three phases of development:

New riverfront public spaces

The first phase, located mainly at the centre of the site, includes completing the River Promenade along the property’s one-km-long border with the Fraser River shoreline.

Through this first phase, 11 acres of public and open spaces will be introduced, which includes the “Crossroads Park” underneath SkyTrain’s Middle Arm Bridge over the Fraser River towards Vancouver International Airport (YVR).

The original concept included a vehicle roadway as part of the River Promenade, but this has since been replaced with a pedestrian-only waterfront public space — which will feature active retail, restaurant, and entertainment uses on the ground level — with a 4.7-metre-tall flood-protection dike.

“I think it’s going to be quite unique. It’d be like a mixture of sort of a New York City High Line experience mixed with the San Antonio Riverwalk experience, kind of a hybrid of the two on a publicly accessible, expanded waterfront, elevated waterfront across the entire building interface to the water. It’s really like a double waterfront experience,” said McNaney.

Another visually distinct element of the original concept featured large, landmark-quality buildings on the riverfront, partially situated on land and partially extending over the water on pilings.

McNaney said these structures over water could be pursued in a future fourth phase over the long term, as the environmental considerations for such construction will likely take longer to figure out.

These structures suspended over the water were originally planned for museum or cultural centre uses.

However, McNaney notes that there is also the possibility they could see convention centre uses, as well as additional retail, restaurant, and hotel spaces.

To realize the overall development concept that includes this long-term fourth phase over water, the developers would need to acquire the southernmost parcel currently held as Crown lands from the provincial government. This same parcel, located next to Sea Island Bridge/Bridgeport Road, contains the drastically reimagined concept of the Richmond Night Market.

Future of the Richmond Night Market

“We’ve been working very closely with the production company that puts on the Richmond Night Market, and we did this phased plan with them. They’re very valuable tenants and they’re a very valuable cultural experience in Richmond,” he said.

“We fully appreciate the huge support from the public and from the city that the night market has, and we also see them as just a real point of animation. Part of the beauty of this site without the residential uses is it can be bright, it can be fun, and it can make a bit of noise.”

Currently, the outdoor night market footprint near the south end of the property uses about 3.4 acres (148,000 sq ft), with the remainder of the development site uses for surface vehicle parking to support event staff and attendees.

The development team has created configurations for how the Richmond Night Market as it exists today could remain on the site during the first two phases of construction. The outdoor night market’s footprint would be shifted slightly further south, bordering Sea Island Bridge/Bridgeport Road. Some surface vehicle parking lots would be retained during the first phase, until construction begins on these sites during the second phase. The outdoor night market would also have access to the development’s underground parking.

The outdoor night market would continue to have a footprint of 3.4 acres throughout the first and second phases of construction.

However, the outdoor night market, as it exists today, would change significantly during the third phase of construction, which would use the southernmost parcel of the property. The food and beverage stalls, merchandise, and programming would be integrated into the public spaces between the new buildings, reducing the market’s size to 2.3 acres (100,000 sq ft).

At full buildout, the intention is to “reimagine” the night market within a new “Market Hall” building at the southern end of the property, with the seasonal night market event turning into permanent market attraction within 66,700 sq ft of indoor space and 5,000 sq ft of spillover outdoor space on the adjacent market plazas and river balcony.

Existing condition of the Richmond Night Market:

Potential future phased reconfigurations of the Richmond Night Market during construction:

“It’s really meant to replicate a similar type of experience and vibrancy, but giving them some shelter and things like utilities, water, and sound systems and lighting and all this stuff they put in on a temporary basis. We see building that infrastructure early to make sure that animation thrives,” said McNaney.

“The new market is not intended to be entirely indoors. It’s kind of an indoor/outdoor experience type thing where the square and the publicly accessible open spaces and perhaps even the park, with the City’s authority, would be integrated into that function. It could be sort of a spillout space, like roll up doors opening depending on the weather and what the vendor is.”

The outdoor night market first relocated to this property in 2012, and its current three-year lease on the site for the seasonal attraction expires in 2026. With as many as 250 vendor booths and close to 100 food stalls, this night market sees up to approximately 10,000 visitors per night and employs approximately 1,000 people on a seasonal basis.

Improving pedestrian links to SkyTrain Bridgeport Station

When it comes to meeting the project’s transportation demand requirements, McNaney says they will provide only the amount of vehicle parking required as stipulated by the municipal government, but no more.

“Given the number of hotels we’re building on the site, most of the people there likely won’t have vehicles,” he said.

Instead, the intention is to focus on active transportation improvements, specifically improving the pedestrian linkages between the site and SkyTrain Bridgeport Station and the bus exchange.

The developers have reached a memorandum of understanding with the Musqueam First Nation, which owns the adjacent properties, including the land beneath the SkyTrain’s elevated guideway and the River Rock Casino Resort. In collaboration with the First Nation, the initial ideas for enhancing pedestrian linkages include creating a cultural experience with lighting, art, and cultural interpretation in the space under the guideway, which will directly connect to the plaza of the development site.

According to TransLink statistics, Bridgeport Station saw 3.15 million annual boardings in 2023, making it SkyTrain’s 20th busiest station out of a total network of 53 stations. It averaged 9,300 boardings on weekdays, 8,000 boardings on Saturdays, and 6,700 boardings on Sundays/holidays.

The new Capstan Station, opening later in 2024, is also within walking distance from the development site, located just to the south.

With the OCP amendments and the site-wide rezoning application approved by City Council this past spring, Cayan Pacific Management is now shifting to performing the detailed design work of the first phase, with the development permit application potentially achieved by late 2025 and construction starting in 2025/2026.

Some green building design features will entail green roofs, rooftop solar panels, and a new district energy facility.

The first phase of 1.6 million sq ft of floor area could potentially be built in the next four to five years.

The entire multi-phased project, including the potential additional fourth phase over the water lots, could take 10 to 15 years to complete. However, McNaney notes that the project’s pace will ultimately depend on market conditions.

Upon full buildout, the entire district could be home to as many as 11,000 on-site jobs, generate $119 million in additional annual spending from the on-site working population, and generate $15.6 million in additional annual property tax revenue, including $10.3 million for the City of Richmond.

Residential uses are not being pursued for this project due to municipal land use policies — which stipulate commercial-only uses for an entertainment district — and given that the site’s location is directly under the flight path of YVR’s North Runway approach.

As for the origins of the site’s “Duck Island” name, it originates from the area’s history as a separate island called Duck Island until the 1930s. The island was then filled in for industrial use, and an aggregate plant, which produced construction materials including concrete, operated there until the 1990s. After the plant closed, the land was sold and began to be assembled for what is now this project.

The area’s previous east-west bridge between Lulu Island (Richmond’s main island) and Sea Island (YVR) cut through Duck Island, until it was replaced by the Moray Bridge, built in 1957, just to the south. This swing bridge now serves as the Sea Island Way eastbound arterial road crossing over the middle arm of the Fraser River. The Moray Bridge is nearing the end of its lifespan, and the provincial government is in the early stages of planning its replacement.

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