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The current Lansdowne Centre was built in 1977 and is slated for demolition in 2025 to make way for an extensive residential tower project.
Screen grab from Google Maps
Lansdowne Centre’s past, present, and future
By Samuel Cheng
Published 2:03 PDT, Fri October 28, 2022
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Richmond’s Lansdowne Centre mall is home to multiple clothing, food, and homeware stores.
But the name Lansdowne predates the current mall. Built in 1924, Lansdowne Centre’s predecessor was a horse racing track called Lansdowne Park. It was the second horse racing track in Richmond after Minoru Park was built in 1909.
Its original intention was to get around the provincial government restrictions on the length of the horse racing season, as well as increasing tax revenues for the municipality of Richmond. Needless to say, the establishment of Lansdowne Park was a huge success as it doubled the length of the racing season.
At the time, Richmond was known for industries such as farming, fishing, canning, timber, and manufacturing. The city attracted many workers and industry professionals to work and live in Richmond.
The presence of Lansdowne Park benefitted the city by increasing its revenue, and it also tapped into Richmond’s huge potential as a city. It turned Richmond from an industrial-focused city into a culturally diverse entertainment destination.
Lansdowne Park was forced to cease its operation after the land was bought out by the city in 1958. The horse racing track was turned into a local neighbourhood park until its final transformation nearly two decades later.
In 1977, the current Lansdowne Centre was built. Over the course of many years, multiple stores have come and gone. Many anchoring stores like Earl’s, Toys “R” Us, and Best Buy have remained over the years.
A major redevelopment project was proposed for Lansdowne Centre in 2017. It is an extensive seven-phase plan to revamp and reconstruct the area into multiple residential towers that can house up to 10,000 people.
Demolition of the current mall is scheduled for 2025.
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