Ok, this should hopefully be the last Olympic Village story for a while, but manx posted a link to more coverage of the uphill climb that the city faces to break even on construction costs and get paid for the land:
Inside city hall, officials are encouraged by the interest in the Olympic condos. But privately they express fears the city won’t recover the $170 million it is owed for the land on which the Olympic village stands.
Taking the land costs out of the equation, there may be the prospect for break-even, or a slight profit, on the construction price tag. But some serious challenges remain for this star-crossed real-estate deal.
The first is the HST, which will be applied to the new condos July 1.
Early buyers will no doubt be spurred on to make a deal before Canada Day, to escape the added HST costs. But the post-HST world could dampen buyer interest.
Vancouver city hall certainly thinks so. Officials have been lobbying the provincial government for an HST holiday, to help the city minimize the $1-billion project’s losses. The province has responded with a flat no.
The other challenge is the time frame of the Olympic sales plan.
It’s anticipated that sales of the remaining 474 condos will be stretched out over two years, to ensure there is no glut that might push down prices. The problem is the rising cost of credit.
Read the full article over at the Vancouver Sun.
