If all goes according to plan, the Richmond Night Market site could contain approximately 2,000 hotels rooms within a $4.2-billion mixed-use entertainment district.

The 22-acre undeveloped property is located next to the Bridgeport SkyTrain in an area of Richmond known as Duck Island. (The island was filled in to connect with the nearby shore many years ago.)

Richmond Night Market is a highly popular seasonal venue when vendors sell their goods outdoors. The project’s developers have indicated that a permanent year-round indoor market with adjacent outdoor areas could be incorporated into the development eventually.

The project is being developed by Richmond-based Jingon International Development and Middle East-based Cayan Group through a joint-venture known as Cayan Pacific Management, according to multiple reports. According to its website, Cayan Group has head offices in Riyadh, which is Saudi Arabia capital, and Dubai.

Richmond city council approved the project’s rezoning in spring 2024.

Kevin McNaney, the project’s leader, told Daily Hive Urbanized that the exact number of hotel rooms will depend on the size mix.

“That [2,000 figure] is 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 told Daily Hive Urbanized.

In 2023, Destination Vancouver (formerly Tourism Vancouver) reported that the region would need 20,000 new hotel rooms by 2050 to meet demand. 

Hilton is partnering on the project with the develpers.

“Duck Island has all the elements to become a leading international commercial hub and a premier entertainment complex, including multiple hotel brands that can attract business and leisure travellers from every segment,” Matt Wehling, Hilton’s senior vice-president for North America, told Postmedia.

Plans call for 568,000 square feet, or 43%, of the project’s hotel uses to be created in the development’s first phase, according to Daily Hive Urbanized. The first phase is also slated to include 333,000 sf of upscale retail and restaurant uses, 298,000 of entertainment areas, 394,000 sf of office and institutional spaces, and a 30,000-sf city-owned community amenity space.

No residential components will be included because the property lies along a flight path leading directly into nearby Vancouver International Airport’s north runway and homes are prohibited in the area, according to Daily Hive Urbanized.

Montreal-based Arcadis IBI Group is designing the project.

Rendering: Arcadis IBI/Cayan Group/Jingon International Development