According to the people that hate the west coast, you know the Globe & Mail; they are reporting that the 2010 Olympic village developer, Millennium is being bailed out by the City of Vancouver (COV).
According to the Globe’s Gary Mason, “The village is destined to become a residential complex after the Olympics but most of the condominiums have yet to be sold.” Really, last I checked phase one sold out over a year ago and phase two has sold pretty well with only some of the higher priced units left. The entire project is about 62% sold, however, keep in mind the final phases have yet to go on sale. Way to check the facts.
I am not worried at all that the city is going to lose any money. Why? Well they have a trick or two up their sleeve via retaining ownership of the land. Hence, they will get their money back.
Millennium will have to take the hit (if any) as currently it’s about 7% over budget. Further, being over budget is nothing new to developers, especially with the escalating commodity and labour costs that we’ve experienced the last few years.
The land originally sold for $193 million, which at the time was considered to be a little steep. Also, keep in mind the city has yet to see the money from the developers.
Now I know all the doom and gloom individuals in this city are going to have a field day with this story as they do with any negative news story related to the Olympics. Well talk all you want, it will not change a thing. The Olympics are coming in a little over a year, by that time the economy will be out of its current “sad” state. However, I ask you when there are help wanted signs plastered all over the place, how bad is it right now?
It will get worse, but compared to rest of Canada, including the mighty Alberta, BC will fair much better. Thank the Olympics and the spending that surrounds it for that.
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