Courtesy MSN – Full Article: http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=23530429&page=0
“For the 2010 Winter Olympics, about 3,000 of the world’s best athletes (and officials) took over a corner of downtown Vancouver, British Columbia — not to mention the little city that skiers and bobsledders created 70 miles north, in Whistler. Such Olympic villages can be billion-dollar creations that are in the world’s spotlight for just a few weeks.
So what happens to these glamorous villages when the athletes pack up their medals, memories and dirty laundry to fly home?
If the planners have done their homework and everybody keeps their promises, the villages are in for a long and productive post-games life. But that’s not always how it works out. Here’s our look at the afterlife of several villages from the past few decades.
Vancouver: The best (and costliest) village ever?
With its Olympic Village, Vancouver is certainly gunning for one of the most dramatic transformations of a site — and it looks like it may succeed.”