Part of Whistler’s Olympic Village will be reborn as supportive apartments in Whalley, B.C.’s housing minister announced yesterday.
The Timber Grove apartments, a 52-unit, three-storey supportive rental apartment complex, is part of a 156-unit Olympic housing legacy in six towns and cities across the province from modular sections of the Whistler Olympic Village.
“The (Olympic) legacy is kind of cool,” said Rich Coleman yesterday, overlooking the concrete foundation of the future development.
“We’re going to get a public benefit from something that otherwise would have just been used for a short period of time.”
Coleman said early in the Olympic planning process — when Whistler decided it didn’t want a permanent village — his ministry began chatting with VANOC about using modular units. They then designed the modules so that they could be reconfigured post-Games from the 300-or-so dormitory-style beds used by the athletes into independent (albeit small, at 355 square feet) apartment units.
The modules were purchased by the province for about 30 cents on the dollar. It resulted in savings, in the case of the $12.7-million Whalley development of 20 to 25 per cent, or about $4 million.
