Richmond Centre mall redevelopment debuts with light-show Christmas tree | Daily Hive

CF Richmond Centre mall redevelopment debuts with a light-show Christmas tree that is Metro Vancouver's tallest

Inaugural Christmas tree lighting at CF Richmond Centre's new Park Plaza on Nov. 20, 2025. (Kenneth Chan)

An outdoor Christmas tree at the southwest corner of the CF Richmond Centre property stands apart from all others in Metro Vancouver.

At 78 ft. tall, it is officially Metro Vancouver’s tallest Christmas tree — soaring two ft. higher than the Vancouver Art Gallery’s annual holiday tree and a full 18 ft. taller than Surrey Civic Plaza’s. But its impressive height is only part of the story.

This is also Metro Vancouver’s most high-tech Christmas tree, featuring thousands of vibrant, programmable LED lights capable of producing dazzling holiday shapes and sequences. The light show is choreographed to a soundtrack of beloved Christmas classics, creating a joyful and immersive festive experience.

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In front of a crowd of several hundred people, the light show made its debut last night during the mall’s official tree lighting ceremony event.

CF Richmond Centre’s tree will remain in place through Dec. 31, 2025. Over this period, every day, the three-minute light show synchronized to music will play at 2 p.m., 4 p.m., 6 p.m., and 8 p.m.

The brand new Christmas tree at CF Richmond Centre stands apart from all others in Metro Vancouver.

Not only is it the tallest at a height of 78 ft., but it has thousands of programmable LED lights.

The debut of the 3 min-light show synched to music. 🎄https://t.co/SDYHlTkUbF pic.twitter.com/0dQ1DUn17D

— Kenneth Chan (@iamkennethchan) November 22, 2025

This light show Christmas tree represents a major investment by Cadillac Fairview (CF) in seasonal placemaking and in activating the mall’s new landscaped public plaza, called “Park Plaza,” located within a brand new high-density, mixed-use residential and commercial district currently taking shape on the property. As well, this plaza — purposefully designed to host community events and programming — is further activated year-round by several large permanent playful public art installations.

If you have not visited CF Richmond Centre in awhile, you likely have not seen some of its newly completed major changes.

More specifically, construction has now reached completion on the first phase of the mall redevelopment, situated along the western side of the property — fronting Minoru Road.

cf richmond centre park plaza christmas tree 2025

Inaugural Christmas tree lighting at CF Richmond Centre’s new Park Plaza on Nov. 20, 2025. (Kenneth Chan)

Known as “RC at CF Richmond Centre,” two large mixed-use buildings featuring multi-storey commercial and residential base podiums, with residential towers reaching up to 14 storeys, have now reached completion. Occupancy was reached on these homes earlier this year, and the first residents have moved in.

The redevelopment’s first phase replaced a large surface vehicle parking lot, one of the mall’s parkade structures, and a previous portion of the indoor mall, which involved the demolition of the previous Sport Chek store wing.

In the third quarter of 2025, Sport Chek reopened in a new replacement space, within a smaller footprint at its previous location at the southwest corner of the sprawling indoor mall building. Totalling 46,000 sq. ft., the store is similar in size to its previous space, but it now spans two levels.

The 2025-opened Sport Chek at CF Richmond Centre. (Kenneth Chan)

The new sports apparel store features dual access: from inside the mall and from a new exterior entrance along Park Road — an internal street newly added to the site that spans almost the length of the indoor mall building. It is located next to a major new entrance into the indoor mall from the plaza where the Christmas tree stands. This plaza entrance also leads to the mall’s new sprawling underground parkade, which provides parking for both the development’s new residents and for mall visitors.

Underground parking for mall visitors is limited to four hours, with nearly 800 public vehicle parking stalls and a mobility hub with battery-electric charging stations near the entrance.

The new pedestrian-friendly internal street of Park Road spans the length of the indoor mall building, and it is activated and framed by retail/restaurant units on the ground level of both new mixed-use buildings, ranging from smaller to very large commercial units. Currently, based on its web listings, CF is looking to lease the spaces in the new building immediately adjacent to the plaza, where there is nearly 40,000 sq. ft. of available retail/restaurant space across nine commercial units, including one unit that is more than 13,000 sq. ft.

cf richmond centre redevelopment park road november 2025 1

The new Park Road retail strip at the RC at CF Richmond Centre redevelopment. (Kenneth Chan)

cf richmond centre redevelopment park road november 2025

The new Park Road retail strip at the RC at CF Richmond Centre redevelopment. (Kenneth Chan)

Inaugural Christmas tree lighting at CF Richmond Centre’s new Park Plaza on Nov. 20, 2025. (Kenneth Chan)

New underground parkade, part of the RC at CF Richmond Centre redevelopment. (Kenneth Chan)

The introduction of such a large outdoor retail component to CF Richmond Centre is not entirely dissimilar to Silver Drive at Station Square, Brentwood Boulevard at The Amazing Brentwood, or Sawmill Crescent at River District.

The future second phase of the mall’s redevelopment will transform the eastern edge of the property, replacing the remaining parkade, the former Sears footprint, and existing surface parking areas. Some site preparation work has already been taken for the second phase, particularly the recent demolition of the brick building wing that previously housed Sears.

This second phase — closest to SkyTrain’s Richmond-Brighouse Station — includes buildings up to 14 storeys, featuring retail and restaurant spaces at street level with residential uses above and additional underground parking.

Upon the full completion of the entire redevelopment, the various new mixed-use residential and commercial buildings will effectively form a horseshoe shape around the existing indoor mall building.

GBL Architects is the project’s lead design firm. CF also partnered with Vancouver-based Shape Properties — the owner and developer of The Amazing Brentwood and City of Lougheed (former Lougheed Town Centre) — to pursue the project.

Major construction work first began in 2021. Altogether, the entire $2.1-billion, multi-phase redevelopment adds roughly 2,300 homes to what was originally built as a suburban-style mall on a 27-acre footprint, including about 2,000 strata market ownership condominium homes, and approximately 300 secured purpose-built rental homes. There will also be about 3,900 vehicle parking stalls — serving the needs of both residents and mall visitors — within two underground levels directly beneath the new mixed-use buildings.

The west and east entrances to the mall’s indoor galleria are currently being upgraded. To improve accessibility and walkability, the galleria and its entrances will remain open during SkyTrain operating hours — extending beyond regular mall hours — to provide seamless pedestrian access between Richmond-Brighouse Station and the new homes and businesses on the west side of the property. In effect, it will function as a mid-block east–west pedestrian corridor.

First phase buildings of the RC at CF Richmond Centre redevelopment, rising on the west side of the indoor mall. (Kenneth Chan)

2019 artistic rendering of the CF Richmond Centre redevelopment. (GBL Architects/Cadillac Fairview/Shape Properties)

Based on the rezoning, this project will generate a total of 1.9 million sq. ft. of residential space for thousands of residents and over 360,000 sq. ft. of new retail/restaurant space, producing a net gain of roughly 70,000 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant space on mall property. All of this is contained within 12 towers with shared base podiums.

CF Richmond Centre’s indoor mall has nearly 600,000 sq. ft. of floor area, including 330,000 sq. ft. of leasable commercial retail/restaurant space. As of September 2025, it has 191 shops/food outlets, with $1,425 retail sales per sq. ft. and $3,124 food court sales per sq. ft.

It remains to be seen what will happen to the former Hudson’s Bay wing at the northern end of the mall, where the department store previously occupied approximately 170,000 sq ft across two levels.

The mall first opened 1964 as Richmond Square, with the Hudson’s Bay wing subsequently opening in 1966. The indoor mall that exists today is largely a result of the 1989 amalgamation of the various retail properties into Richmond Centre.

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