October 15, 2008

Municipal Election 2008

Massive cost overruns plague Vancouver’s Olympic Village

RICHARD GILBERT

staff writer

The two main candidates for the mayor of Vancouver expressed differing opinions about who will be on the hook for cost overruns at the Olympic athletes’ village.

Gregor Robertson of Vision Vancouver and Peter Ladner of the Non-Partisan Association (NPA) discussed the extra $60 million for the $1 billion southeast False Creek development in the lead up to the Nov. 15 municipal election.

Ladner, a current city councillor, originally voted in favour of the project. According to the CBC, he said he hopes that the private sector developers of the project will be able to finance the overruns.

If this is not possible, he said the city has a plan to underwrite the losses without big tax increases.

Former NDP MLA Robertson expressed concern that the credit problem in the U.S could hit the developer because the project is being financed by Fortress Investment Group, a New York-based private equity company.

He fears that if the cost overruns continue and the financing falters, the city could be on the hook.

Robertson criticized Ladner and the NPA for not following through with plans for social housing on the site after the Olympics.

He said the decision to go with more high-end housing has backfired.

Robertson maintained that the decision made the project more susceptible to a softening real estate market.

Members of Vancouver’s city council held an emergency, in-camera meeting last week to get an update on the project, which included the main athletes’ villages for the 2010 Olympic Games.

Much of the discussion revolved around the city’s obligation in the event the developer, Millennium Development Corp., can’t meet demands from the bank because of cost overruns.

The results of the meeting were not made public.

The Olympic athletes’ village is a 1,100-unit development spread over seven city blocks.

It will become private residences after the games.

The entire project consists of fourteen residential buildings, 70,000 square feet of retail space, a 30,000 square foot community centre and a total building area of 1,400,000 square feet.

The excavation for this project began January 2007 and about 60 per cent of the residences have been sold. The project should be completed by September 2009.

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