Andrew Li's Blog

The troubled Olympic village condominiums that seem to be talked about every week in local news are once again being put up for sale.  The difference this time around: an average price cut of 30%, and a name rebranding.  What was once called the Olympic Village with 70% unsold units saw 128 units sold in just four days.  The village, is now Known as “The Village on False Creek”, eliminating the word “Olympic” from its name removes some of the negative publicity associated with the developers past financial troubles as stated by UBC Prof James Brander on News 1130.

Another key issue surrounding the village is the original 250 units set aside for affordable housing.  That figure, which was later cut to 125, placed a black spot on what was supposed to a shiny new product of Vancouver’s Olympic legacy.  Although it is obviously important to consider including social housing projects when using Tax-payer’s money to fund luxury creek side condos, it is nearly impossible to market that plan to the high income earners who are the target market for this product.  The end result was the inability to sell a poorly branded village for the high price that the city wanted.

By branding the village as a high-income neighbourhood without any social-housing units, initial sales probably would have been a lot better.  Tax-payers may have profited, which city council could’ve used in developing social housing projects elsewhere.  In the current situation, city councils can only hope for minimized losses on the project.