Hammond (Southwest Maple Ridge): The 2026 Neighbourhood Guide

What Hammond Actually Is

Hammond is one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Maple Ridge, first laid out as a township in 1883 (City of Maple Ridge). It sits in the southwest corner of the city, hugging the Fraser River east of the Pitt Meadows border near 203rd Street, with Lougheed Highway to the north & the river to the south. The pocket grew up around the Hammond Cedar Mill, where the first mill was built in 1908 & which closed in 2019 (Global News). That mill anchored generations of working families, & the original mill-house grid of craftsman bungalows, 1900s cottages, & character homes is what gives Hammond its distinct old-town look today.

If you walk Wharf Street or Maple Crescent, you'll see the bones: small lots, mature trees, the historic Hammond firehall, the Hammond Community Centre, & a riverfront edge that most of Maple Ridge doesn't have. The mill site is being lined up for industrial use, & the Golden Ears Business Park just west in Pitt Meadows, home to an Amazon delivery station, brings jobs & truck traffic to the area. Hammond sits in a real transition: heritage residential on 1 side, working industrial on the other, & a city slowly figuring out what comes next.

Scale-wise it's small. A few hundred detached homes, a handful of condo & townhouse projects along the Lougheed corridor, & a tight grid of older streets that feel nothing like the newer master-planned pockets in Albion or Silver Valley. That's either a feature or a flaw depending on what you want.

*Southwest Maple Ridge MLS HPI Benchmarks, August 2026. Hammond sits inside that area, so use them as a guide, not a Hammond-only figure. Commute is Maple Meadows to Waterfront on the West Coast Express.

Who Hammond Is Best For

Hammond is not a neighbourhood you stumble into. The buyers who land here usually have a specific reason. Here are 4 buyer types it tends to suit:

• •Lowest-entry detached buyers: Hammond sits in Southwest Maple Ridge, where the detached Benchmark was $1,015,300 in August 2026, below the Maple Ridge-wide $1,177,800 (MLS HPI). If your ceiling is about $1.1 Mil & you refuse a townhouse, this belongs on your shortlist.
• •Character home buyers: Original craftsman & bungalow stock from the 1900s through the 1940s, much of it on small lots with mature gardens. If you love wood floors, real woodwork, & a porch you can sit on, the City's Hammond Heritage Character Area marks the streets with the most surviving heritage character from the old Port Hammond township.
• •Pitt Meadows & Coquitlam commuters: Hammond is the closest Maple Ridge pocket to the Pitt River Bridge & Lougheed Highway, which means quicker access to the Lougheed corridor toward Coquitlam Centre, Burnaby, & Vancouver than almost anywhere else in the city.
• •Employment-driven buyers: The Maple Meadows industrial area & Pitt Meadows' Golden Ears Business Park, where Amazon runs a delivery station, are a short drive west. If you or your spouse work there, the commute is measured in minutes.

Real Estate & Housing in Hammond

Hammond's housing stock is split into 3 distinct buckets, & understanding which one you're shopping in matters more here than in most Maple Ridge neighbourhoods.

Heritage character homes are the headline. 1900s craftsman, 1920s & 1930s cottages, & post-war bungalows on small lots in the original Hammond grid around Maple Crescent, Wharf Street, & the streets backing onto the river. Southwest Maple Ridge's detached Benchmark was $1,015,300 in August 2026 (MLS HPI), & character homes land either side of it depending on size, condition, & how much of the original woodwork survives.

Newer infill detached shows up in pockets along the northern half of the neighbourhood, mostly 80s & 90s splits & 2-storeys. These are the conventional family-home option for buyers who like the location but don't want to take on a heritage renovation.

Townhouses & condos are a smaller part of the inventory, mostly clustered along the Lougheed corridor on the north edge. The August 2026 Southwest Maple Ridge Benchmarks were $581,400 for townhouses & $388,500 for apartments (MLS HPI). Inventory is thin, so plan to be patient if you're targeting attached.

The mill site is the wildcard. The Hammond Cedar Mill closed in 2019, its new owner Conwest cleared unsafe structures after a 2022 port authority review, & the riverfront land is now marketed as an industrial lease site. Expect jobs & trucks there, not riverfront condos. On the residential side, the Hammond Area Plan the City adopted in 2017 guides what gets built (City of Maple Ridge).

Schools & Families

Hammond's catchment elementary is Hammond Elementary, at 11520 203rd Street. It's a community-oriented school with 411 students in 2021 (SD42). Catchment for secondary varies by exact street, with most of Hammond feeding into Westview Secondary (20905 Wicklund Avenue, Maple Ridge) or into Maple Ridge Secondary (21911 122 Avenue) further east (SD42). Confirm catchment by address with SD42 before you write any offer, because the boundary lines around Hammond are not intuitive.

Beyond catchment, Hammond's smaller school size means parents see each other at drop-off, the playground, & the community centre on the same morning. For French Immersion, SD42 runs Early French Immersion at 4 elementaries (Eric Langton, Laity View, Maple Ridge Elementary & Pitt Meadows Elementary), each with its own catchment, & it continues at Maple Ridge Secondary & Pitt Meadows Secondary (SD42). Private alternatives include Maple Ridge Christian School (a 5 to 7 minute drive) & Meadowridge School (an IB World School, about 15 minutes east on 240 Street). Ridge Meadows Hospital is roughly 10 minutes away by car along Dewdney Trunk Road, which is closer than from most of Maple Ridge's newer eastside neighbourhoods.

Commute & Getting Around

Hammond's commute math is unique inside Maple Ridge. Sitting at the western edge of the city, you skip 10 to 15 minutes of crosstown driving that the rest of Maple Ridge has to absorb. Pitt Meadows is right next door, the Pitt River Bridge into Coquitlam is a short drive west, & once you're on Lougheed you're in Coquitlam Centre in 25 to 30 minutes off-peak.

For West Coast Express commuters, the Maple Meadows station (20010 Dunn Avenue, on the Maple Ridge side of the Pitt Meadows border) is the closest stop, roughly 7 to 10 minutes by car from Hammond, which makes it closer than Port Haney for most Hammond addresses. From Maple Meadows it's a 50-minute one-seat ride into Waterfront in downtown Vancouver. The Port Haney station is also reachable in 10 to 12 minutes if you prefer that platform.

Driving to Vancouver in rush hour is still a Lower Mainland commute, expect 60 to 75 minutes via Lougheed or the Trans-Canada through Coquitlam. The Golden Ears Bridge to Langley & Surrey is only minutes away & toll-free since September 2017 (BC Gov News), which keeps Hammond viable for buyers with a Surrey or Langley work address as well.

Outdoors & Nature

Hammond's outdoor life is shaped by 1 fact: you live on a river. The lifestyle here is quiet, river-adjacent, & dog-walker-friendly, with Hammond Community Park, its ball diamonds, & the outdoor pool at the centre. The neighbourhood is small & flat enough that almost every street is bikeable, & the bigger park experiences are all a short drive away.

• •Maple Ridge Park: The City's big destination park on the South Alouette River at 232 Street & 132 Avenue, about a 15-minute drive. Mature forest, an off-leash dog area, & pink & chum salmon spawning every fall (City of Maple Ridge).
• •Neighbourhood parks: Hammond Park, Jordan Park, Tolmie Park, & Emmeline Mohun Park are all in the Port Hammond area (City of Maple Ridge).
• •Hammond Stadium: Anchors youth baseball through the warmer months. The City plans to move the big diamonds to a new park on the Maple Ridge Golf Course site & build a new aquatics & recreation centre at Hammond Community Park (City of Maple Ridge).
• •Pitt River dyke trail system: A 20-minute drive across the bridge buys you long, flat, scenic walks & rides through the Pitt-Addington Marsh & on into Pitt Meadows farmland.

If you want trailheads & alpine access, Golden Ears Provincial Park is 25 minutes east up 232nd, & UBC's Malcolm Knapp Research Forest opens up another 5,000+ hectares of trail running, mountain biking, & quiet old-growth walking. Hammond's geography means you trade direct trailhead access for river views, but the connecting drive is short either way.

Lifestyle, Shopping, & Amenities

Hammond is not a destination neighbourhood for shopping or dining, & that's part of the appeal for the people who choose it. Day-to-day grocery & retail run is into Pitt Meadows, where Meadowtown Centre, Save-On-Foods, & the Pitt Meadows Athletic Park sit a short drive west. The nearest Costco is in Port Coquitlam. For the bigger shop or the date-night options, Maple Ridge Town Centre & Valley Fair Mall are 8 to 10 minutes east along Lougheed.

Inside Hammond itself, the historic Hammond firehall is a recognisable local landmark, & the Hammond Community Centre runs the social calendar with after-school programming, seniors' fitness, & seasonal events. Coffee & casual food are a short drift north to the Lougheed corridor or across to Pitt Meadows; the neighbourhood's character is to live quietly here & drive 5 minutes for everything else.

Employment is closer than the residential character suggests. Amazon's delivery station in Pitt Meadows' Golden Ears Business Park opened in 2021 with more than 100 jobs (Maple Ridge News), & the Maple Meadows industrial park draws trades, logistics, & light-manufacturing jobs. The closed Hammond Cedar Mill site is being marketed for industrial lease, so expect more working waterfront there, not a mixed-use riverfront.

What Works & What Doesn't

For how flood, railway noise, and the commute play out across Maple Ridge, see Why You Might Regret Buying a Home in Maple Ridge.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Hammond actually the cheapest part of Maple Ridge for a detached house?

It's one of the cheaper ones. Southwest Maple Ridge, which takes in Hammond, had a detached Benchmark of $1,015,300 in August 2026, against $1,177,800 for Maple Ridge as a whole (MLS HPI). Whonnock acreage can be larger but typically runs more total dollars; Cottonwood & Albion run higher per square foot. The catch is condition: many of these homes are 80 to 100 years old, & you're buying character, not turn-key.

What happened to the Hammond Cedar Mill?

Interfor closed the Hammond Cedar Mill in 2019. The site was sold to Conwest, which removed unsafe structures after a 2022 port authority review, & the riverfront land is now marketed as an industrial lease site. Expect industrial use there, not housing.

How close is the Amazon facility & does it affect daily life?

Amazon's delivery station is in the Golden Ears Business Park in Pitt Meadows, a short drive west of Hammond. For households with someone working there, the commute is short. For everyone else, the trade-off is truck traffic on the surrounding arterials. The further east you live inside Hammond, the less you notice it.

Which schools serve Hammond?

Hammond Elementary is the catchment elementary for most of the neighbourhood. Secondary catchment varies, with portions of Hammond feeding Westview Secondary in west Maple Ridge & others feeding Maple Ridge Secondary. Catchment lines around the western edge are not intuitive, so confirm by exact address with the SD42 catchment lookup before you go firm on any property.

Should I worry about the flood plain along the Fraser River?

Some Hammond addresses sit inside the Fraser River flood plain. This affects insurance availability, lender requirements, & in some cases construction-elevation rules for renovations or rebuilds. It's not a disqualifier, plenty of homes inside the flood plain trade & finance fine, but it's a question you must answer with your lender & insurance broker before you go firm.

Is Hammond a good long-term hold or am I buying into a transitional area?

Both can be true. Hammond is one of the most clearly transitional pockets in Maple Ridge, with the mill site, the industrial corridor, & a residential heritage character all in active conversation. For a 7 to 10 year hold, that transition is part of the upside thesis. For a 1 to 3 year flip, it's noise. Match the timeframe to the play.

Is Hammond Right for You?

Run yourself through these 4 questions honestly. If you say yes to 3 or 4, Hammond probably belongs on your shortlist:

• •Is detached non-negotiable & your ceiling under $1.2 Mil? Hammond is one of the few Maple Ridge pockets where that math can work.
• •Do you actively want a character home, not despite it? If old-house quirks excite you instead of scaring you, the heritage stock here is the real draw.
• •Are you commuting west toward Pitt Meadows, Coquitlam, or Vancouver? Hammond saves you 10 to 15 minutes a day vs the rest of Maple Ridge.
• •Can you live next to working industrial land? The mill site & the business parks nearby are part of the package, & if that breaks the deal for you, point yourself at Cottonwood or Albion instead.