$1m left in kitty after construction
Province
Workers stand Thursday in front of Whistler’s Athletes Centre, which will be available to visiting teams after the games. BONNY MAKAREWICZ — THE PROVINCE
When builders of the Olympic Village here hand the keys to 2010 Games organizers weeks from now, there will be more than $1 million still left in the bank from construction.
“I suspect there will be between $1 million and $2 million left,” Eric Martin, chairman of the Whistler 2020 Development Corp, which built the $161-million village for the resort, said Thursday.
That’s heady news in a time of recession — and given that the construction took place in one of the hottest markets in history.
Martin, who along with other WDC board members got $1 a year in salary, said there were significant challenges along the way.
At one point, the resort contemplated building a temporary village instead of the new neighbourhood that’s scheduled to become affordable housing after the Games.
“It was a tremendous challenge, but I think we had a very good business plan,” said Martin, who works at Bosa Development.
Unlike Vancouver’s athletes village, the Whistler plan called for many contractors to be used — ensuring the risk was spread out.
The village will house 2,850 Olympic and Paralympic athletes, officials and coaches in new
duplexes, apartments and townhouses on the 40-hectare site.
The homes are nestled near the Cheakamus River, just south of town. Built to green standards, they will use heat recaptured from the nearby waste-water treatment plant.
The site also includes a $34-million Athletes Centre, made up of a 100-room lodge and 20 townhomes, which will be used after the Games to house visiting teams as they train and compete at the resort.
VANOC, the 2010 organizers, contributed $37.5 million to the village project. The balance was financed through the resort, which will recoup its investment by selling off many of the units after the Games. So far, 90 per cent are sold.
The site will be expanded at Games time to include several huge tents that will house the medical clinic and the 24-hour dining hall to feed up to 1,200 people at a time. As a sponsor, McDonald’s will have a restaurant in the facility, though many other foods will be available.
The furnishings have also been selected, including the beds — the No. 1 concern to athletes.
“We probably tested 100 different mattresses before we found one that we felt was comfortable,” said Nejat Sarp, vice-president of villages and services for VANOC.
Athletes will also get a cozy goose-down duvet and 240-thread-count sheets — “what you would find at a four- or five-star hotel,” Sarp said.
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