The Olympic village condominium development known as Millennium Water was officially unveiled to the public Saturday morning as the City of Vancouver continues its quest to recoup nearly $1 billion from Millennium Development Corporation.
Politicians, developers, and Olympic representatives gathered for the event in the development’s stone-paved court yard facing False Creek. The new seven-block community comprising of 16 buildings was appointed LEED gold or platinum status by the Canadian Green Building Council for its industry-leading sustainable designs.
Vanoc CEO John Furlong and ski-cross gold medallist Ashleigh McIvor thanked the residents of Vancouver for the use of the village. Furlong gave Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson a ceremonial key to the village, which he handed over to Millennium principals Peter and Shahram Malek.
During a speech to a crowd of about 300 people, Robertson suggested there should be no hesitation in buying a unit.
“The competition could be fierce. There are some amazing homes and I understand there was even a grey whale in here the other day checking out the development. I don’t know if it put a deposit on it or not, but Bob Rennie can report on that‚” Robertson said, drawing laughter from the crowd.
Rennie is the head of Rennie Marketing Systems, the real estate marketing company hired by the city to sell the 474 remaining units, which start at $389,000 for a 475 square-foot unit ($819 per square-foot) and end at about the $10.5 million ticket price for a 4,000 square-foot penthouse ($2,500 per square-foot) overlooking all of downtown Vancouver and the North Shore mountains.
His company is not charged with the task of finding renters for 371 units that have been earmarked “market rental or rent controlled‚” as part of the city’s promise to include social housing in the community.
City manager Penny Ballem said the city is owed about $750 million in loans to Millennium as well as an additional $170 million from the sale of land to the developer.
“It was a unique set of circumstances. The city never intended to finance such a large development‚” Ballem said.
Ballem said the city, at this point, is not in the “business to make a huge profit‚” and has offered Millennium incentives in the form of a lower interest rate if it can sell the units and pay the money back sooner than scheduled.
Rennie said it will take about two years to sell all the units, which, of course, includes the 263 units that were sold before 2008 when the housing market collapsed and a recession precipitated the failure of a hedge fund that Millennium initially sought to finance the development thus leaving the city to make the unprecedented loan to meet the Olympic deadline.
“The elephant in the room is we have Millennium and then we have the city as the lender,” Rennie told the media.
The financial agreements that led to Saturday’s event was panned by a small group of anti-poverty advocates led by 23-year-old Maxim Winther, a recent graduate of political science at the University of B.C.
“The original promise (before 2006) of 33 per cent social housing has dwindled to a token amount in the context of gentrification and a citywide decline in available affordable housing‚” Winther said.
He noted homelessness has gone up 12 per cent in the past two years according to a recent study conducted by the city. He also expressed doubts that Rennie can actually sell the majority of the units to people other than foreign real estate speculators.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported Winther’s group had forced the early closure of the open house at 4 a.m. by police after protesting at the entrance.
Prior to that Robertson told the media that the city had in fact met its promises on social housing in the village according to the last proposal submitted in the final agreement with Vanoc. He also was sure the city would see a return in its investment.
“We have financed this project so it’s incumbent upon the developer to return that investment to the city and pay us back. We have, obviously, steps that can be taken in the future if that doesn’t happen. There are standard steps that can be taken in the event of a default on a loan‚” Robertson said.
The public was invited to visit nine suites, each decorated by a different interior designer. The biggest selling points marketed by Rennie’s team include: location, quality of life, and sustainability.
Units are heated and cooled with small capillary-like hot and cold water tubes that run inside the ceiling as opposed to traditional air ducts, which use more energy. About 50 per cent of roof space is covered in plants and grass, which helps regulate temperature as well. Also, 25 per cent of storm water from each roof can be collected underground and used for flushing toilets and watering courtyard gardens. Units also have a smarter in-home energy monitoring system.
Rennie said the typical condo buyers at the Olympic village will be empty-nesters or soon to be empty-nesters.
“When you look at [units costing] into the millions and you look at local incomes it rules out the first-time family home buyer‚” he said.
Tracie McTavish, president of Rennie Systems, also maintained buyers would not be property speculators who would leave the condos empty
Darren White, 35, visited the main plaza area with his two-year old daughter Celia and wife Kim. The family lives six blocks away and White said the new community centre and plaza level stores and will come in handy.
“Im looking forward to it. I think it will add some vitality. It will be nice to have the stores and see the sense of community that will develop at the community centre‚” said White, who added his family could not afford to live in the village.
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