For the location of the Olympic Village in Singapore, see Nanyang Technological University or 2010 Summer Youth Olympics#Youth Olympic Village'' The Vancouver Olympic Village, is an Olympic Village built by Millennium Development Group for the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2010 Winter Paralympics hosted in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. There are over a thousand units, ranging over a million square feet, that was able to accommodate over 2,800 athletes, coaches, and officials for the 2010 Winter Olympics. The site, a former industrial area which mostly consisted of parking lots, is located on the shoreline at the southeast corner of False Creek, north of Second Avenue between Quebec and Manitoba Streets. Just south of Science World, its waterfront is part of the False Creek Seawall promenade and bike route, and is adjacent to the stations of the Granville Island Heritage Railway, the Spyglass Place pedestrian ferry wharf, the Science World pedestrian ferry wharf and the Main Street and Olympic Village SkyTrain stations.
The Whistler Olympic and Paralympic Village is located in Whistler, British Columbia, it served the 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2010 Winter Paralympics. Smaller than the VVL, it accommodated 2,400 athletes, coaches, and officials with 450 beds made especially with wheelchair access. Site preparation began in 2006 with construction starting in March 2007 and it was completed in Summer 2009.
About
The site has 252 affordable housing units and another 100 units are for "modest market housing". Southeast False Creek is the designation given to the neighbourhood the Olympic Village resides in, bordered by Cambie, Main, West 2nd Avenue, and False Creek. The City of Vancouver projects that Southeast False Creek will eventually become home to up to 16,000 people by 2020. The site currently boasts a 45,000 square foot community centre, named the Creekside Community Recreation Centre.
Construction
Preparation and construction of the site Vancouver began in February 2006. Construction was completed on 1 November 2009 by the Millennium Development Group, and turned over to the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games for use during the Winter Games. On 7 April 2010 it was returned to the City of Vancouver. The village was converted into residential housing, a community centre, daycare, retail, and service spaces. Residents released video documenting major problems with their units, including water pouring out of light fixtures, heat not working, cracks in ceilings, hardwood floors bubbling from moisture and bedrooms too small to fit a bed. More than 60 condo owners at the Village filed a class-action lawsuit against the builder. The lawsuits were subsequently dropped. On December 12, 2014, the City of Vancouver unveiled a plaque honouring Millennium Development Group's role in designing, developing and constructing the Olympic Village, named "Millennium Water Olympic Village". The wording on the plaque states:
"North America's first LEED Platinum community was designed, developed and constructed by Peter and Shahram Malek's Millennium Development Group in time to open as the athletes' village for the successful Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Formerly an industrial site, Millennium Water Olympic Village was the catalyst for the revitalization of the surrounding False Creek neighbourhood and is a testament to the innovation, hard work and community spirit of the Malekyazdi family and hundreds of men and women who helped make this vision a reality."
Funding crisis
On January 15, 2009, Jody Andrews, the deputy city manager overseeing construction of the Olympic Village, resigned. Vancouver city manager, Penny Ballem, said "There was no reason for the public to lose confidence in City Hall over the resignation". Vancouver Mayor, Gregor Robertson, made a request to the British Columbia provincial government to allow the City of Vancouver to borrow additional funds to complete the project. On January 18, 2009, an emergency meeting convened by the BC Legislature approved Bill 47, allowing the City of Vancouver unlimited access to additional funds for the development of the Olympic Village. The estimated new total cost is CAN$1 billion to build VVL, approximately CAN$ 467 million dollars were required by the City of Vancouver to complete the project. The project ran into financial woes late last year as well as the lender, Fortress Investment Group, a New York hedge fund, stopped payments to the village's holding company, SEFC Properties Ltd. Bill 47 is an unusual amendment to the charter for the Olympics in that it changes the original requirement that all additional borrowing is prohibited without a public referendum, and also that it was until this legislation was passed that it was illegal for the City of Vancouver to pursue such financial dealings. The city, in order to meet its Olympics commitments, required extraordinary legislative proceedings to amend the city's charter to allow it to borrow to buy out the loan from Fortress. In November 2010, seven months after the successful completion of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, the village's holding company and the City of Vancouver agreed to place the property into voluntary receivership. A review by Rob MacDonald, a noted Vancouver developer, for the Vancouver Sun, and subsequently by others, praised the developer, Millennium Development Group, for their accomplishment in creating the Vancouver Olympic Village under trying circumstances.
Australia banner controversy
A giant banner hung from the Village by members of the Australian team attracted controversy in early February 2010 when a member of the International Olympic Committee toured the site and expressed concern that it might contravene policy, as the banner is not the flag of Australia but rather depicts a kangaroo wearing boxing gloves. The Australian deputy prime minister at the time Julia Gillard called the request for the banner's removal a disgrace. According to a representative of the Australian team, the flag has been at every Olympic Village since the 2000 Games in Sydney. The image had flown from the victorious Australian yacht in the 1983 America's Cup and is now a mascot of Australia's Olympic teams; the Australian Olympic Committee owns the image's trademark. After IOC president Jacques Rogge discussed the issue with John Coates, chief of the AOC, it was confirmed that the flag could remain at the Olympic Village. "While the IOC is of the view that the display of the boxing kangaroo at the Olympic village is a breach of the IOC rules relating to clean venues, the IOC is not going to request us to take down the boxing kangaroo flag on this occasion," Coates said. The AOC was required to register the image with the IOC. The controversy sparked a demand for a version of the boxing-kangaroo flag at a Vancouver flag shop.
