Commercial Properties at Olympic Village Sold for $45 Million

VANCOUVER — A court-appointed receiver has sold the city-owned commercial properties that ring the Olympic Village’s main plaza for $45 million, and the head marketer expects the remaining residential units of the once-maligned neighbourhood to be fully sold by next September.

The city will receive a “significant distribution” from the sale of the properties — which house every business in the Village except the CRAFT Beer Market and Tap & Barrel bars — according to receiver Ernst & Young.

Tenants like London Drugs, Urban Fare, Legacy liquor store and Terra Breads will remain in place.

The city’s take from the sale to prominent mall owner First Capital Realty — which marketer Bob Rennie estimates is about 85 per cent after taxes and various fees for mortgages, maintenance, Ernst & Young’s work and his company’s marketing — will go toward paying down the rest of the $572-million loan it gave to Millennium Developments, which built the village on southeastern False Creek but then went into voluntary receivership in 2010.

Coun. Raymond Louie heralded the sale as “whittling” down the city’s debt. On Tuesday, neither he nor staff could provide the exact amount still owing, which was estimated to be around $300 million at the end of last year.