Good news! Now that shops and restaurants have opened up in the former Millennium Water Olympic Village housing development it’s no longer the creepy ghost town in the middle of the city!
Not only are there signs of life down there, the city actually looks like they’re starting to shrink the big ball of debts they acquired when they took responsibility for the project.
This progress is hard won and comes thanks to a number of efforts including:
-The city lowered property tax for businesses
-In February 2011 prices were dropped 30%
-In August an additional $5k in incentives offered to buyers
The city isn’t saying how much they still owe on the village, but the debt at the end of 2011 was $462 million. Most of the extra expenses are from repairs for building deficiencies and marketing costs.
It looks like there is now just over 25% of the condo stock that remains unsold, but the receiver has put a block of rental units up for sale. The buyer will be required to maintain those units as rentals for 20 years.
“The purpose and benefit of the sale of the rental buildings is to generate cash to repay the loan payable to the secured lender [the City of Vancouver],” said a statement from Ernst & Young. “It is particularly advantageous to undertake such now while interest rates remain low, the rental buildings at The Village on False Creek are fully leased and there remains an active pool of potential and interested buyers.”
The receiver also got permission from the court to put the project into bankruptcy, if needed, a move that it says is not being contemplated right now but “gives … the flexibility to consider the option of generating value from SEFC’s operating tax losses.”
Read the full article in the Globe and Mail.
