Stand at the edge of a freshly graded industrial parcel in the Campbell Heights business park in south Surrey and the shift is palpable. Lots that traded at logistics-use values two years ago are now attracting term sheets from data centre developers willing to pay a premium for the same square footage, zoning, and proximity to a BC Hydro substation. The AI infrastructure build-out has arrived in Metro Vancouver's suburbs, reordering the industrial real estate market faster than many landlords anticipated.

Metro Vancouver's industrial vacancy rate sat below 3.5% as of Q1 2026, already one of the tightest in North America. Data centre demand is inserting a new competing use class into a market with little room to absorb it. For investors, the consequence is clear: sites with the right power access, fibre proximity, and municipal zoning flexibility are being bid up by hyperscale operators, colocation providers, and their associated investment vehicles—all of which operate with a fundamentally different return profile and lease structure than logistics or light-industrial tenants.

Why Surrey, Langley, and Pitt Meadows?

The geography of this land rush is specific. Three factors converge in Metro Vancouver's eastern and southern suburbs that are unavailable in the same combination within Vancouver proper or on the North Shore: large-format land, BC Hydro transmission infrastructure capable of supporting loads measured in tens of megawatts, and proximity to fibre corridors connecting to trans-Pacific submarine cable landing stations. Surrey's Campbell Heights, the Gloucester Industrial Estates, Langley's Willowbrook nodes, and the Pitt Meadows Airport industrial area all meet these requirements.

Power is the governing variable. BC Hydro's interconnection queue in Metro Vancouver now stretches beyond 24 months for large industrial loads, meaning a data centre operator securing a site today cannot guarantee energisation until late 2027 or 2028. For well-capitalised hyperscale operators, this timeline acts as a moat. Developers who secured interconnection agreements in 2023 and 2024 hold a structural advantage over new entrants. For real estate investors, the primary evaluation metric is no longer price per square foot, but queue position.

The City of Surrey has updated land use designations in Campbell Heights to explicitly permit data centre and digital infrastructure uses, a departure from original business park bylaws written for warehousing. Langley Township has adopted a similar approach in its eastern industrial corridors, where larger parcels and lower land costs make the economics of a 50-to-100-megawatt facility more viable.

Lease Structures and Tenant Profiles

Industrial landlords are encountering a tenant class with distinct requirements. Investment-grade providers like Digital Realty or Equinix typically seek ground leases or build-to-suit arrangements rather than standard net leases, with terms of 20 to 30 years. While rent per square foot may be lower on a gross basis than a comparable logistics lease, total lease value is significantly higher due to power density and the tenant's long-term commitment to the site.

Many traditional industrial REITs and private landlords are opting to sell entitled sites to specialist data centre developers rather than navigating the complex process of BC Hydro interconnection agreements and municipal utility negotiations.

The Municipal Tax Calculus

A single hyperscale data centre can generate between $5 million and $15 million in annual municipal property tax revenue, a figure that exceeds the output of most logistics facilities per acre. However, data centres are infrastructure-intensive. Power demand requires coordinated substation upgrades, and water use for cooling remains a factor. Furthermore, the jobs-per-square-foot ratio is lower than that of logistics, a point of contention for councils balancing industrial land allocation with community needs. The Metro Vancouver Regional District's industrial land strategy continues to evolve to address this use class.

The Bottom Line

For investors, the data centre land rush represents a repricing event constrained by power availability. Sites with near-term BC Hydro capacity commitments command a premium. Surrey and Langley remain the best-positioned municipalities, though Pitt Meadows offers credible second-tier potential.

The Highway 15 industrial spine is the corridor to watch over the next 12 months. Development in this area, particularly near the Nicomekl floodplain, faces additional scrutiny from the Agricultural Land Commission and environmental regulators, which may extend timelines beyond 2026. If these regulatory hurdles are cleared, the corridor will likely see significant industrial land value shifts.