When the curtains close on the 2010 Games, many of the residences built to temporarily accommodate the nearly 4,000 athletes and team officials in Whistler will be renovated to become both affordable and luxury housing.
“(Sustainability) is not just the ‘green’ part, it’s the social part — housing families,” said Eric Martin, chairman of the Whistler 2020 Development Corp.
The 20 three-bedroom townhomes in Whistler’s Olympic and Paralympic Village, for instance, are currently bare-bones buildings that lack appliances and serve as little more than a place to sleep. After the Games, hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances and gas fireplaces will be installed, upping the market value to roughly $850,000.
On the other hand, 80 units of modular housing — which currently look like school portables with small bedrooms inside — will be transformed into affordable housing for the homeless and drug or alcohol addicted.
