Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Vancouver Olympic Village: $1 Billion Ghost Town


(snippet)
Today, six months after the 2010 Olympic Games, the village resembles a ghost town.
Walking down the empty streets last Saturday afternoon, it was hard to find anyone actually living in the $1.2-billion former Olympic Village.
Even the security guards conceded there’s not much to do at the “showcase” Millennium Water development, where only 254 condos have been sold.
“It’s weird,” said Heather Eddy, who recently moved into a rental unit at West 1st and Columbia. “It’s almost living in a futuristic police state. All you see is police cars driving around and people on bicycles.”
Eddy, a 24-year-old pastry chef, said she believes the village was opened too early.
“It’s very much like a ghost town,” she added. “I’m scared to walk down the streets at night.”
Near the renovated Salt Building, Mitch Williams described himself as a “lookie loo” checking out the views.
“This place is spooky,” said Williams, a 41-year-old telecom worker from Port Moody. “It’s like a sci-fi movie. I don’t see any patio furniture and there’s nothing on the balconies.”

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2 comments:

  1. Another edifice to what happens when the genius of central planning meets real world markets. The Olympics always leave a trail of poorer citizen and civic leaders who really think they have done something

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  2. Sorry, Gregor, just too pricey. Hell, you can get a nice cozy 1920s era crackshack off Hastings for $1.5 mil. Gotta drum up more Chinese investors-this is gonna make us British Columbians look sooo uncool! lol

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