Richmond Industrial — How the Cold Storage Hub Prices in 2026
Richmond is Metro Vancouver's temperature-controlled logistics hub. The land is built out, the premium is real and the pipeline for new cold storage is nearly empty.
June 9, 2026 · 2 min read · By Samuel Brahem, in association with NAI Commercial
Why cold chain landed here
- YVR handles most perishable air cargo entering BC; importers want minutes, not hours, between tarmac and freezer
- Decades of seafood, produce and food manufacturing created a self-reinforcing supplier cluster
- Richmond's industrial zones were built with the grid power refrigeration loads demand — a real barrier in older areas
- The Canada Line and residential density supply multi-shift picking and packing labour
- Facilities concentrate along Highway 99, in Bridgeport and across East Richmond near the Fraser
The numbers
Conventional dry space averaged about $20.26 per sq. ft. net asking in Q2 2026. Existing temperature-controlled space, when it surfaces, achieves $28.00 to $38.00 net, with purpose-built freezer at the top. Vacancy averaged 3.4% against a 4.3% regional figure, and functional cold-storage vacancy is tighter still because much of the nominal availability lacks food-grade infrastructure. Industrial land trades at $90 to $140 per sq. ft., with Highway 99 interchange sites at the upper end.
Turnkey cold storage in Richmond is not scarce. It is nearly absent.
Who is leasing
Food importers moving seafood, produce and meat through YVR and the port; grocery and foodservice distributors serving the Lower Mainland; 3PLs running multi-client cold facilities; and processors pairing production with ingredient and finished-goods storage. Grocery e-commerce has added demand for smaller last-mile cold units, and meal-kit and prepared-food delivery created tenant categories that barely existed ten years ago.
What tenants and investors should do
Tenants: extend search timelines, build flexibility into terms and consider build-to-suit on redevelopment sites.
Investors: cold storage costs 40% to 60% more per sq. ft. to build than dry warehouse, tenants are sticky and renewals run higher, and cap rates have compressed relative to conventional industrial. Underwrite the refrigeration — system age, ammonia versus freon, insulation, electrical — and run Phase I and Phase II environmental on older plants. New temperature-controlled capacity is going to Campbell Heights, Gloucester and Tilbury instead, so Richmond's constraint is likely to hold.
