Burnaby's Three Industrial Nodes — Big Bend, Lake City and Still Creek Compared
Burnaby sits between Vancouver's squeezed core and the big-box hubs of Surrey and Delta. Its three industrial nodes are built out, each serves a different user, and picking the wrong one costs you on rate or function.
October 1, 2026 · 2 min read · By Samuel Brahem, in association with NAI Commercial
The Burnaby numbers
Burnaby holds about 28 million sq. ft. of industrial inventory, third in the region behind Surrey and Richmond. In the Q2 2026 brokerage reports its vacancy averaged about 4.9% and availability 7.2%, above the Metro averages of 4.3% and 5.8%. Net asking rents averaged about $19.67 per sq. ft., close to Vancouver proper at $20.10 and above Surrey at $18.66 and Delta at $17.91. The loosening comes from older stock turning over, not from new supply.
Big Bend
Roughly 9 million sq. ft. along the Fraser from Boundary Road to Cariboo Road. M-2 zoning allows manufacturing that is restricted elsewhere, and the 1970s and 1980s stock offers heavy power, yard and crane service at the lower end of the Burnaby rent range, with 18- to 24-foot clears and some newer infill at 28. Recent demand: construction suppliers, food processors and distributors priced out of Vancouver. Single-tenant assets with term trade at 4.75% to 5.25% cap rates; short-term or deferred-maintenance buildings trade wider, and environmental history along the river needs checking.
Lake City
About 6 million sq. ft. in the northeast, mostly 10,000 to 40,000 sq. ft. buildings and multi-bay strata. Owner-users compete for 2,500 to 8,000 sq. ft. units; regional strata pricing sat around $450 to $527 per sq. ft. in Q2 2026, off the 2022 peak. Printers, mechanical contractors, specialty food and last-mile operators pay near the Burnaby average for space 20 minutes from downtown, with SkyTrain at Lake City Way.
Still Creek
The Highway 1 corridor between Boundary and Willingdon has shifted toward film, television, technology and the suppliers that serve them, with municipal support for intensification. It is the most expensive of the three nodes. Standard warehouse users usually find better value in Big Bend or Lake City; investors here are buying mark-to-market upside and redevelopment density.
Burnaby's three nodes are at build-out. New supply means redevelopment, and that is slow.
The read
- Heavy manufacturing, yard or large plates: Big Bend.
- Small bay, service businesses, owner-user purchases: Lake City.
- Media, tech, Highway 1 visibility: Still Creek, at a premium.
- Under 40,000 sq. ft. there is real choice, with more than 10 million sq. ft. available region-wide. Larger functional blocks stay hard. Start 12 to 18 months before expiry.
