It has also brought out the critics — many of whom have taken aim at the Olympic Village.
The controversial $1.1-billion development should’ve been an easy sell due to its breathtaking waterfront location and attention to environmental design, but many units sit unsold.
Taxpayers despise the cost to build the project — and point most recently to its $36-million community centre that sits mostly empty.
Despite the piling on, it would be unwise to say the Olympic Village is doomed to failure. Over two decades ago, another prominent city neighbourhood was borne of a major civic event: Expo 86.
The emerging but much-maligned area was Yaletown/False Creek North. The critics then pointed to empty residential towers financed by offshore dollars and little street-level activity or atmosphere.
But who’s writing off that neighbourhood now?
The bottom line is that the Olympic Village — with its density potential, its central waterfront location, and its linkages to transit — will eventually thrive.
As for softening condo sales? Let the free market take care of that.
It may take a decade or more, but this village will live up to the gold standard that its name implies.
