B.C. Place Stadium to Live beyond Vancouver 2010

B.C. Place will seat 55,000 spectators for the Olympic Ceremonies. (VANOC)(ATR) A source in Vancouver tells Around the Rings that B.C. Place Stadium, the aging domed stadium that will host opening and closing ceremonies for the 2010 Olympics may be spared from demolition post-Games.

David Podmore, chairman of provincial taxpayer-owned stadium operator B.C. Pavilion Corporation, has apparently told staff that he wants the stadium to live on after the Games. Podmore presented his vision for the future during a year-end staff meeting.

Since he was hired in April, Podmore has studied whether to renew, remove or replace the stadium, built in 1983.

A source says Podmore told staff that renovations would include major work to restore or replace the roof, but he did not indicate if the project would be done before the Olympics or how it would be financed.

Podmore did not return repeated phone calls for comment.

The stadium popped into the news earlier this year when an avalanche of snow, ice and slush ripped a hole in the air-supported, Teflon-coated, fiberglass roof. Five snow alarms were ignored and the steam-heating system wasn’t used for cost reasons. No injuries were reported, but the disaster prompted a fresh debate over the money-losing stadium’s future. The stadium sits on prime property in the downtown of Canada’s hottest real estate market. It was valued at $51 million in 2006.

Podmore led the successful “yes” campaign in the 2003 civic plebiscite on Vancouver’s 2010 bid. He is president of Concert Properties, a real estate development company headed by VANOC chairman Jack Poole. Podmore and Poole are both close associates of B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell.

Written by Bob Mackin

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