An international destination shopping and entertainment district on a scale never seen before in Richmond is part of a $4 billion development wave sweeping over the city centre.
Mayor Malcolm Brodie revealed Tuesday at a Shaping our City chamber of commerce luncheon that the biggest ever single development application has dropped at city hall.
The plan involves a four million square feet site on 30 hectares of vacant former industrial land at Duck Island, just southwest of the River Rock Casino.
Proposed by Chinese-based Jingong International Development, the project is called Vancouver International Plaza (VIP) and includes six high-end hotels, 1.1 million square feet of office space and a 450,000 square foot trade and convention centre.
It also includes a riverfront walkway and plaza, and piers reaching into the Fraser River, as well as a park, sports courts and gardens and a dock for ferries running to destinations up the Fraser River.
The plans if approved; a process which could take several years are already being touted as a rival for international destinations such as the Staples Centre entertainment district in Los Angeles and similar operations in Sydney and around the globe.
Referring to a map highlighting where the $4 billion worth of new residential and commercial development is now under construction, being marketed or going through the planning approval process, Brodie said the Duck Island application is an indication of the intense level of interest Richmond is generating in terms of global investment.
Its in the very early stages and will take a long time to go through the process, Brodie told chamber members at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel.
But it does illustrate the significant potential were seeing in the city right now.
Gary Pooni of Vancouver-based Brooke Pooni Associates, which is acting as VIPs project manager said he couldnt yet place a ballpark figure on the scale of the development because its at such an early stage.
Were still looking at all the economic impact studies for this and the scope of the project, Pooni said.
Following on from the Olympics and Canada Line, Richmond is the next big city thats to be put on the international stage.
This will be an international entertainment complex. The competition would be truly international.
We will be talking to the public in the very near future about the ideas we have.
The vast majority of the development and investment in question, Brodie pointed out, either surrounds or skirts the Canada Line or the Olympic oval district.
Its all under control he assured; is designed to densify around the city centre and is very much in line with Richmonds City Centre Area Plan (CCAP).
The CCAP was drafted several years ago to deal with the citys projected population spike from the current 200,000 to 280,000 in 2041.
To put the expected concentrated growth into perspective, the city centres population density right now is 5,459 people per square kilometre. By 2041, that figure is forecast to almost double.
But will still trail, Brodie indicated, way behind the likes of Vancouvers west end, which sits at 21,834 per square kilometre.
The plan has always been that we would take the growth by densifying the city centre area, Brodie said.
Weve been telling developers the closer they build to the Canada Line, the more density they can have.
They key to managing this growth is careful and sound planning. The CCAP is designed to improve the quality of life and sustain a balanced economy.
Brodie said the citys vision for the city centre is to build up, not out into the citys rich farmland.
Another significant application in the works for the city centre is at the so-called Brighouse village area, behind the Canada Line station, where 350 units in two towers will be built.
The adjacent Scotiabank, said Brodie, plans to move into one of the towers, allowing TransLink to raze the old bank and build a bus mall between No. 3 and Buswell roads.
In terms of tourism, the mayor no doubt piqued the interest of many hotel owners in the business crowd when he revealed there are applications for 16 hotels in the works right now.
This is just a glimpse of our city in the future, Brodie concluded.
