All options open in bid to fill Olympic condos

Share

The new managers of the Olympic village will be looking at all options for recovering Vancouver's $740-million investment, including selling off blocks of units in heavily discounted bulk sales to offshore investors.

"There's no silver bullet to sell 480 condos at once," Bob Rennie, who has been marketing the village, said on Thursday. He is likely to continue in that role after the announcement Wednesday that the city and the private developer have agreed to put the project in receivership. "The discussions are, do we rent some out, do we discount, do we do a bulk sale? I have people that are ready to buy now in bulk. But it's about revenue."

Other sources say that buyers from Belgium to Singapore have expressed interest in acquiring blocks of condos ranging from 40 units to 200.

But that kind of sale, which usually brings in less revenue than individual sales or long-term rentals, will have to be weighed against the other options.

There will be factors besides price as the city and receiver Ernst & Young decide on the village's future. Mr. Rennie and others said all of the sales options will have to be carefully presented and marketed to create a sense of momentum and optimism on the site.

Although renting is something that would typically not be considered for luxury condos, Mr. Rennie said it may be necessary.

"You don't normally do that at this price point, but we really need to populate the village."

London Drugs and Urban Fare were supposed to have opened stores in the village by the end of the year, but that was delayed because so few people have moved in to the 1,100-unit complex, and because the city has had difficulty getting a non-profit operator to run the rental buildings.

In the meantime, reaction has been mixed to the news that the city has essentially taken over the village after Millennium Development agreed to place the project in receivership.

Councillor Suzanne Anton of the Non-Partisan Association was critical of Mayor Gregor Robertson, saying he had promised to save the village but had let it go into receivership instead. He constantly "dragged the project down" by calling it a train wreck and a problem, she said.

Others who have previously criticized the city's handling of the Olympic village project, such as Urban Development Institute director Rob Macdonald, declined to comment. Mr. Macdonald said in a published opinion piece recently that the city's poor management of the project, under three different councils, had cost the developer money.

But developer Peter Wall, whose company has a close connection with Rennie Marketing, issued a statement saying he is delighted with the leadership the mayor has shown.

"I believe he has now set the right direction for the future of the South East False Creek neighbourhood," Mr. Wall said in his statement. "The city now has the best choice to maximize revenue."

Mr. Rennie also praised Peter and Shahram Malek, the brothers who own Millennium Development, for having come to an agreement with the city.

"Instead of fighting this out in court, they made a decision at their own peril to protect the asset," he said. "They should be given credit for that because very few would do it."

The move to receivership on Wednesday followed weeks of difficult negotiations between the two sides. The village's condo-sales plan had essentially stalled as of September over a proposal to lower the prices significantly on some units.

The city wouldn't approve the proposal until Millennium showed that it could provide enough assets to cover the loss that would result. Millennium was reluctant to do that.

So the two started talking about receivership, but that, too, got deadlocked in negotiations over how much Millennium should give to the city in return for leaving the project.

The agreement to ask consensually for receivership came late Wednesday as the city was preparing to apply to the court to have a receiver appointed.