City of Richmond moves to acquire Watermania aquatic centre through expropriation ahead of lease expiry

The City of Richmond is moving to take ownership of Watermania — one of the largest aquatic centres within the municipality — through expropriation, setting up a dispute with its private landlord as the property’s long-term lease approaches its expiry in March 2027.

Watermania — a highly popular regional-calibre facility best known for its indoor wave pool with two long waterslides, and featuring a 57-metre-long competition pool with a movable bulkhead — is located at the Riverport Sports and Entertainment Complex in southeast Richmond.

It is adjacent to Silver City Riverport Cinemas, Splitsville Bowl Riverport, and Richmond Ice Centre, which are all within the Riverport complex.

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While the City operates Watermania as a public recreation facility, it does not own either the building or the land beneath it. Since its completion nearly 30 years ago, both are leased from a private landowner, making the municipal government the facility’s tenant and operator.

That arrangement stems from a decision in the 1990s to pursue private financing for achieving the new aquatic centre. Richmond voters had approved borrowing about $20 million in a 1993 referendum to build a publicly-owned aquatic centre on City-owned land.

However, City Council subsequently cancelled that conventional capital project strategy, and explored other options that greatly reduced the upfront costs because it wanted to avoid taking on additional debt.

City Council ultimately selected a proposal from the Riverport Sports and Entertainment Complex developer, which agreed to finance construction of the aquatic centre and lease it to the municipal government. Watermania opened in 1997, with the City subsequently taking on the responsibility for operating it.

The arrangement allowed the City to provide a major recreation facility without purchasing land or paying the upfront construction costs. In return, the Riverport complex developer gained the City as a long-term tenant to enable active commercial and public uses for what was a 35-acre industrial site. It helped attract other recreational uses and entertainment businesses to Riverport, including the adjacent movie theatre complex, bowling alley, ice rink complex, various restaurant businesses, and even the primary training facility for the NBA’s Vancouver Grizzlies at the time — the building that is now home to Extreme Air Park.

But 30 years later, with the lease set to expire in early 2027, the City is now trying to take on a new approach to secure the facility’s future as a public recreation facility, as opposed to reaching a new lease agreement to continue to pay annual rent for the site.

Records retrieved by Daily Hive Urbanized earlier this week show the City’s formal expropriation notice, dated July 3, 2026, was filed with the Land Title Office on July 6. It identifies 14300 Entertainment Blvd. Investments as the registered owner.

According to the City’s notice, the municipal government states that acquiring the property would serve the public interest by ensuring Watermania continues providing “essential community services in the form of a public indoor aquatic centre and fitness facility, and supporting responsible long-term financial and asset management by acquiring the fee simple interest in the land.”

The notice allows for the recreation services to be provided directly by Richmond or through another public authority, person, or organization acting on its behalf, on land owned by the City following expropriation.

However, the notice does not provide a purchase price or compensation offer.

A formal independent inquiry on the expropriation has been initiated by the private landowner, and it is scheduled to begin in late November 2026.

In a statement to Daily Hive Urbanized yesterday upon inquiry, outgoing Richmond Mayor Malcom Brodie asserted that the municipal government is determined to secure the facility’s future through this move.

“Expropriation is used very infrequently by the City and is avoided whenever possible. Watermania is an important recreation facility for our community, and the City’s goal is to secure its long-term future,” said Brodie.

“As this matter is currently before an independent inquiry, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time. We respect the process and look forward to a fair outcome.”

It remains unclear whether anticipated future capital costs also influenced the City’s decision to pursue ownership, as Watermania approaches three decades of operation and faces the ongoing need to upgrade and replace the aging structure, building systems, and aquatic mechanical equipment as they reach the end of their useful lives.

Beyond the wave pool and 57-metre-long lap pool, other amenities include an extensive waterplay area within the wave pool, spectator seating alongside the lap pool for competitions, a fitness centre, one- and three-metre springboards, a five-metre diving tower, two large whirlpools, a steam room, and a sauna.

According to BC Assessment’s latest assessment roll, Watermania has an assessed value of $49.4 million, comprising $27.41 million for the land and $21.99 million for the building. These figures reflect its estimated market value as of July 1, 2025.

How the ongoing Aboriginal title dispute could affect that valuation remains uncertain. In August 2025, BC Supreme Court Justice Barbara Young provided the Cowichan Tribes with Aboriginal title over approximately 740 acres of public and privately owned land to the north and east of the Riverport complex.

The City of Richmond, the federal and provincial governments, Musqueam First Nation, and Tsawwassen First Nation have appealed the decision. However, the Cowichan Tribes have also filed their own appeal, seeking recognition of Aboriginal title over the full 1,846 acres covered by their original claim. These competing appeals could take many years to resolve — first going through the B.C. Court of Appeal, and then potentially later the Supreme Court of Canada for the absolute decision over the matters.

A map previously provided by the City shows that the broader claim area of 1,846 acres includes the Riverport complex — including Watermania.

BC Assessment’s 2027 assessment roll, expected in January 2027, will reflect property values as of July 1, 2026. As this will be the first annual roll with a valuation date after Justice Young’s highly controversial ruling, it could provide an indication of whether the resulting uncertainty has affected property values in the area. It remains to be seen whether Watermania’s land assessment, and those of neighbouring properties, will decline. Any changes would also need to be considered alongside broader real estate market trends.

The proposed takeover of Watermania follows the City’s 2019 acquisition of the adjacent Richmond Ice Centre, which brought both the building of six ice rinks and its underlying land into the municipal government’s ownership.

As previously reported by Daily Hive Urbanized, like Watermania, the 1994-built Richmond Ice Centre was privately developed and leased to the City for public recreation. When its lease came up for renewal in 2019, the City successfully pursued a purchase to secure the facility’s long-term future.

At the time, the City said the money previously spent on annual lease payments would help fund renovations and infrastructure upgrades, allowing Richmond Ice Centre to continue operating for several more decades. The purchase added six municipally-owned ice rinks directly under the City’s purview, alongside the two ice rinks at Minoru Arenas and the two ice rinks within Richmond Olympic Oval.

The Riverport complex developer originally offered to build Richmond Ice Centre as four ice rinks, if the City agreed to operate it under a long-term lease. City Council accepted an initial 10-year lease, subsequently extended to 25 years. Richmond Ice Centre opened just one year after the agreement was signed, and it later provided two more ice rinks than the City had originally planned, as it was later expanded to six ice rinks.

The City gained the ice rinks in a much shorter timeframe than if it had built the facility itself, and it did not have to pay the significant upfront costs of buying the land and paying for construction, unlike a typical publicly-owned and operated community and recreational centre project — such as the 2020-opened, $80-million Minoru Centre for Active Living.

The perceived success of Richmond Ice Centre in the 1990s helped shape Watermania’s development and business model.

The original financing and ownership arrangements for Watermania and Richmond Ice Centre differ from those of the Richmond Olympic Oval, which was built as a City-owned facility in time for its original use for speed skating competitions in the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Richmond Olympic Oval’s construction was supported by federal and provincial contributions and municipal funding, including proceeds from nearby land sales. It also has a different operating structure, as it is managed by a private company wholly owned by the municipal government, with a City-appointed board of directors. That corporate structure keeps the facility under municipal ownership and control, whereas the City began its involvement with the two recreational facilities at the Riverport complex as a tenant and operator of privately-owned properties.

The City operates four public swimming facilities, with Watermania and Minoru Centre for Active Living providing year-round indoor swimming, complemented by seasonal outdoor pools at South Arm and Steveston.

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