A new Fairfield Inn & Suites and TownePlace Suites by Marriott hotel, with 150 rooms, will be a major component of the $120-million Fraser Gateway Centre development in the City of Chilliwack, just outside Metro Vancouver.

The announcement of the branding for the hotel, issued Monday by Vancouver-based Denciti Development Corp., comes as the firm prepares to kick off the next phase of development at the multi-phased, mixed-use site this fall. The hotel is to be open by summer of 2025.

The dual-branded Fairfield / TownePlace hotel will be built and operated by P.R. Hotels and Meridian Development. It will be the first Marriott property in the Fraser Valley and the only one between Kelowna / Kamloops and Metro Vancouver.  

“Marriott is a trusted and respected hotel brand and we are thrilled to partner with P.R. Hotels and Meridian Development to bring this much-needed accommodation to a key location in Chilliwack,” Garry Fawley, Denciti’s CEO, said in the announcement. 

The Fairfield and TownePlace hotel

It will be located at 43971 Industrial Way, at Chilliwack’s Highway 1 interchange at Lickman Road.

The hotel will be a key anchor for the Fraser Gateway Centre, a 12.4-acre development in the city east of the urban core of Vancouver, and will become the largest hotel in Chilliwack.

The building will stand six storeys and comprise about 80,000 square feet of space, Jeff Krivoshen, the CEO of P.R. Hotels, told RENX in an email exchange. The allocation will be a 90-room select-service Fairfield inn & Suites and a 60-room extended-stay TownePlace.

The hotels will feature meeting space, a business centre, a pool / hot tub and fitness centre in addition to parking.

The announcement comes as travel activity has picked up across the country, causing a burst of activity in the sector after several down years during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“There was a return to travel and tourism across British Columbia in 2022 and a resulting resurgence in the demand for hotel rooms,” Krivoshen said in the announcement. “Building a hotel is a significant investment. 

“We chose this location because we see promise in Chilliwack and are committed to growing with the community for the long term.”

New hotel announcements have been made in several cities across Canada and other major properties are changing ownership as investment activity also increases.

These include the Rimrock Hotel and Resort in Banff, Alta., and the Fairmont Hot Springs Resort in B.C.’s Columbia Valley.

Denciti's Fraser Gateway Centre

The hotel is part of a larger development on the property which includes retail and commercial/industrial uses.

Denciti acquired the 12.4 acres in September 2021 and has been working toward this development ever since. It received a development permit for the new hotel from the City of Chilliwack on June 20. 

The balance of the property already contains a Tim Hortons location and will feature both an Angry Otter Liquor Store and Cannabis Connection in the 15,000-square-foot commercial centre.

A gas station is also planned and will include about 3,000 square feet of additional retail.

The industrial component will comprise three multi-bay light industrial buildings with a combined area of approximately 160,365 square feet. They’ll be divided into 25 industrial strata units. 

“Denciti has received lots of interest on the units and a sales campaign could begin as early as this fall,” a Denciti spokesperson told RENX in the email exchange.

Industrial land remains in high demand

Demand for industrial land continues to be strong in both Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, where industrial vacancy rates are under one per cent.  

Chilliwack has also been the second-fastest growing census metropolitan area in Canada, with a growth rate of 11.2. per cent over the 2016-'21 census period. 

The development will help Chilliwack meet the demand for industrial property while providing opportunities for business growth and employment in the region. 

“The plans for this top-tier site align squarely with our objective to see under-utilized properties in the community redeveloped to support increased economic activity,” said Brian Coombes, president of Chilliwack Economic Partners Corp., in the announcement.

Denciti Development Corp. is a Vancouver-based company creating urban industrial, commercial and residential developments. The firm has delivered over $2 billion of real estate across Canada.