City of Vancouver’s Olympic Village debt repaid
Posted April 28, 2014 3:15 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The Olympic Village development has now been paid for in full, according to the City of Vancouver.
The remaining 67 condos have been purchased by the Aquilini Group for $91 million.
Mayor Gregor Robertson says there is a business lesson here:
“Be patient with a valuable asset despite tough circumstances in the market.”
He says the $630-million debt has been paid down and additional $70 million has also been recovered.
“With the recession, Olympic deadlines a challenging build out and financing arraignments that went south. Believing that over time we could realize value from the project and get return to taxpayer,” he adds.
Councillor George Affleck, who was highly critical of the project, is pleased that everyone at City Hall can now move on. “The mayor should be careful in taking credit for selling condos in the Olympic Village. He didn’t do that; we merely oversaw the process.”
Following 2010 Winter Olympic Games, 737 units were up for grabs and sluggish sales caused a lot of concern for taxpayers.
“It didn’t go the way we all wanted, but in the end we did break even,” adds Affleck.
