Vancouver View -- $1 Billion Olympic Village; B.C. Place Stadium Renovations

Vancouver taxpayers will be required to fund the False Creek Olympic Village. (City of Vancouver)Vancouver's Billion Dollar Baby

City of Vancouver taxpayers are "on the hook" for all the cost of the $1.075 billion Canadian Southeast False Creek Olympic Village, Mayor Gregor Robertson said on Jan. 9.

Robertson, who won the mayoralty Nov. 15, was delivering on a campaign promise to disclose details of the $84 million emergency loan made Oct. 14 behind closed doors by former Mayor Sam Sullivan’s council.

"The decisions of the previous city government have put the city at enormous financial risk,” Robertson said in a city hall news conference.

Robertson described a "complex three-way agreement" made in 2007 by the city, developer Millennium and New York-based Fortress Credit Corporation. The city, he said, made a $159 million financial guarantee and broad "completion guarantee" that effectively made it the project developer.

Fortress, a division of struggling Fortress Investment Group, balked at $105 million in cost overruns and hasn’t paid Millennium since Sept. 15. The city’s monthly bridge financing ends Jan. 15, meaning construction could stop in February unless the Fortress loan is restructured or new financing is found.

The 1,100-unit condominium project needs $384 million for completion, but Robertson said it remains on target for a Nov. 1 handover to VANOC.

"They are running dangerously close to bankrupting the city," said 2010 Watch's Chris Shaw.

B.C. Place Costs Through the Roof

The British Columbia government announced Jan. 9 that it would spend $306 million for rejuvenating B.C. Place Stadium, the taxpayer-owned Olympic stadium that cost $105 million.

Weather-related problems prompt British Columbia officials to upgrade B.C. Place stadium. (B.C. Place Stadium)"It's certainly a superior investment to the alternative: tearing it down and having probably triple the cost to replace it at another location,” said B.C. Pavilion Corporation chairman David Podmore.

No capital upgrades were planned when the International Olympic Committee chose the Vancouver bid in 2003. The government of Premier Gordon Campbell said the air-supported fabric roof did not need replacement until after it ripped and collapsed under the weight of snow on Jan. 5, 2007.

Fast-track replacement of the roof was delayed until after the Games, but building renovations and structural reinforcements to enable the switch will be finished before 2010. It is supposed to be financed by land leases, sponsorship and new events, but the funding formula won’t be made public until spring.

Stadium workers scrambled to keep the roof up during the December 2008 snowstorms. When the roof’s snow melting system didn’t work, staff propped open dampers with plywood to heat the roof on Dec. 17. Two days later, air pressure plummeted, triggering emergency alarms.

…Briefs

…Port of Bellingham commissioners approved the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's 2010 Olympics Coordination Centre at Bellingham International Airport during their Jan. 6 meeting. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will baseits 2010 Olympic operations at Bellingham International Airport in Bellingham, Wash. (Port of Bellingham)The port is spending $2.3 million to renovate almost 25,000 square feet of office and warehouse space at the International Trade Building by June 15. DHS will rent it for $983,000 a year for two years. It will be in operation before the July 31-Aug. 7 World Police and Fire Games in Vancouver.

…Prices for luxury suites in B.C. Place Stadium, General Motors Place and Pacific Coliseum range up to $264,000, but are only available to government and corporate sponsors. A 12-seat suite for all B.C. Place Stadium ceremonies is $53,300 while a 20-person box at all GM Place hockey games is $221,400. Tickets are included, but food and drinks are extra. The Canadian public has to wait until mid-2009 for another chance to buy regular event tickets, but the ticket window reopens for governments, sponsors, NOCs and IFs Jan. 15-June 19.

… VANOC foreign ticketing agent CoSport told customers on Jan. 6 that it sold 43,004 tickets from a pool of 48,433 in the U.S. The Far Hills, N.J. company's parent Jet Set Sports shifted 15,000 tickets from its sponsor allotment to satisfy the public demand. CoSport received requests for 166,800 tickets and delayed its lottery by an undisclosed firm so that it could increase the inventory.

… Edmonton company Newwest Travel is offering accommodation during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics aboard a luxury cruise ship across from picturesque Stanley Park. The 2,240-passenger Norwegian Star will be at Vancouver Wharves Feb. 10-March 2, 2010. Rooms range from $2,010 for four nights in an inside stateroom to $14,000 for six nights in a Garden Villa Port or Mountain View cabin. Service fees, port charges and taxes are extra.

… The German NOC, one of the biggest delegations expected at Vancouver 2010, said “nein” to Whistler. Space in condominiums was available, but the Germans wanted 100 hotel rooms under the same roof and will instead stay in Vancouver.

…Teck, the Vancouver mining giant that is supplying the metals for Vancouver 2010 athletes' medals, announced 1,400 layoffs on Jan. 8. The company is wrestling with a $10 billion debt from a coal acquisition and may have to sell its gold assets.

With reporting from

Bob Mackin in Vancouver.

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