Richmond's Industrial Market — The Cold Storage and Distribution Cluster
Richmond is where Metro Vancouver's cold chain lives. Flat land, the airport, the port and a fishing-industry legacy built a cluster that other submarkets cannot copy.
June 30, 2026 · 2 min read · By Samuel Brahem, in association with NAI Commercial
Why Richmond
Lulu Island's flat delta terrain takes the heavy floor loads, tall ceilings and reinforced foundations refrigerated buildings need, which hillside Burnaby and tight Vancouver lots cannot. YVR plus Deltaport and Vanterm put air and sea freight on one doorstep; perishables reach a Richmond dock within hours of clearing customs. The Massey Tunnel, Oak Street Bridge and Highway 99 handle the outbound. Decades of fish processing left grid capacity, drainage and zoning already suited to cold use.
Rents and vacancy
Dry warehouse in Richmond averaged about $20.26 per sq. ft. net in Q2 2026. Purpose-built freezer and cooler space runs $28.00 to $38.00 net, with blast freezing and multi-temperature plants occasionally above $40.00. Regional vacancy averaged 4.3% after the 2023 construction wave; Richmond's purpose-built cold inventory is essentially fully absorbed. Wait times are measured in years.
In Richmond cold storage, build-to-suit is the primary route to occupancy, not the fallback.
Who is leasing
- Food distributors and wholesalers needing multi-temperature hubs for restaurants, grocery and institutions
- Cold-chain 3PLs serving manufacturers and importers
- Seafood processors exporting fresh product through YVR
- Produce importers and ripening rooms serving Western Canada
- Pharmaceutical and life sciences logistics, a growing category
Why supply cannot catch up
Remaining Lulu Island parcels bring flood plain, preload and ALR complications. All-in cold storage development now commonly exceeds $350 to $450 per sq. ft. against $200 to $280 for dry warehouse, and the mechanical trades are short. Developers build for committed tenants, not on spec.
For investors and owners
Conventional Metro Vancouver industrial cap rates averaged about 4.4% in Lee & Associates' Q2 2026 report, with quality assets at roughly 4.25% to 5.00%. Cold storage with credit tenants on long leases has occasionally traded below 4.50%. Underwrite tenant credit harder than usual, since re-leasing means another cold user or an expensive conversion, and look closely at refrigerant system age, energy costs and environmental history. Existing Richmond cold owners hold assets that get more valuable every year supply stays stuck.
