Musing Urbanist on Tour - Vancouver Olympic Village

Following a previous article on the Vancouver Olympic Village back in 2010 (and seen here), I could not pass up a visit on my recent trip to the city. With my visit coinciding with the one year anniversary of the Winter Games, the media was full of reflective stories on the legacy of the event. Unfortunately this reflection was not wholly positive as it focused on leaked emails surrounding the death of Georgian luge competitor Nodar Kumaritashvili and the ongoing troubles of the Olympic Village. Unsurprisingly, I have chosen to focus on the latter.

Pricing the Market

Following the exodus of the 3,000 Olympic athletes and officials in February 2010, the 600 apartments in South East False Creek were placed on the market. Very little happened. As a result the developer (Millennium South East False Creek Properties) went into receivership, owing the City of Vancouver approximately $740 million in loans. At a time of fiscal tightening in the public sector, the local tax-payers are understandably desperate to see a return on the investment. As a last role of the dice the City have slashed prices to stimulate activity and try to overcome the 'ghost town' feel. With some prices cut by 50% and a rebranding exercise underway, it appears there is light on the horizon with the developer claiming that 128 units have since been sold over the course of a weekend (see here).



During my short visit the lack of commercial activity was notable. Very few of the promised retail occupiers have started trading from the ground floor units (although the standalone liquor store may have been a sign of the times!). This is understandable as until the Village is populated with sufficient people and visitors there is no demand for groceries and restaurants. Therefore the City will be hoping that the recent sales, though representing a loss, will be enough to kickstart commercial interest and activity will snowball from there.

Key lesson to learn - the developer bought the land at too high a price. This required the apartments to be sold at levels which were not appealing to the local market. Vancouver is awash with condominium developments and the Olympic Village offers very little to distinguish it from surrounding schemes.

Design Review

Reading Owen Hatherley's masterful deconstruction of much of Britain's recent waterside urban regeneration (here) weeks before my visit prepared me well for what the Village offers. The scheme provides all the notable characteristics that define much of recent high density urban development. Overly small apartments - tick. Token splashes of colour on external elevations - tick. Wind swept public space with misplaced public art and street furniture - tick. Whilst the overall lack of people did not help the ambiance, I felt it offered nothing different to what I have seen in Greenwich, Salford, Leeds or Newcastle.


Most of all, the Village felt isolated and out on a limb. Downtown Vancouver is across the water but it feels worryingly distant. Being a grid city, Vancouver finds it hard to connect up the key parts of the city with a mass transit system. The metro and bus system are both too infrequent and lack the coverage required to connect the Village to other parts of the city. Whilst the Village benefits from the Sea Wall walkway, it still felt frustratingly disconnected.

Post-Olympics Planning - Lessons from Vancouver

With concerns having already been raised about the post-Olympics planning in London (here), it is prudent to look at the example of Vancouver and the current problems with their Olympic Village. Vancouver hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics and by all accounts was judged to have done an excellent job, despite some early reservations (here). The Olympic Village is part of an area known as South East False Creek and follows a long line of large planned mixed use neighbourhoods close to Downtown. The Millennium Water's sustainability credentials have been much trumpeted and is talked of as a 'model of sustainability'. But here is the problem. Whilst 257 of the lower end apartments have been sold, there are still 480 unsold! The remaining apartments were built to high end specifications with the latest fixtures and fittings and were expected to sell at close to $2,000 per sqft. But so far no buyers.


The City Council are in a tough postition as they lent the developer $731 million, of which only $200 million has been recouped. With sales flagging it looks as though apartments may be sold at a fire sale price in order for the City Council to try and recoup some value. So what was once seen as the jewel crown of the Olympics legacy is now threatening the political careers of many involved. There are some excellent articles on www.citycaucus.com which focus on the past politiking surrounding the village and the current troubles with how best to progress the scheme.

Any lessons for London? Vancouver couldn't have predicted the apartments would go onto the market at a time of economic downturn, but this argument falls down because prices appear to have remained strong across the wider city despite global financial troubles. A key lesson is the level of affordable housing. Whilst initial policy referred to a 60% provision of affordable units, the final figure appears closer to 10% in Vancouver. For a city with problems of affordability and homelessness this is particularly disappointing. With two years to go, London is promising 50% affordable units for the athletes village - it will be interesting to see how this develops post-2012.