The Vancouver Olympic Village

According to VANOC's latest update on the status of the Vancouver Olympic Village, construction won't begin until late this year or in early 2007.

As of November 2005, a short list of four developers submitted their detailed RFPs for the Olympic Village site, while the winner was supposed to have been selected in January of this year. So far, however, there's been no word yet on whose bid won, nor on what they have planned for the future site. (The picture below is simply a preliminary artist's conception).

Among the things we do know: the Olympic Village will be the first project to be completed within the larger redevelopment of the Southeast False Creek neighborhood. The broader project will cover an 80 acre area when it is completed by 2018.

One of the main features of the original Vancouver Olympic bid was the promise to create an Olympic Village that would serve as "a model of environmental, social and economic sustainability." This includes the requirement that all buildings be built according to gold or silver LEED standards of environmentally friendly construction.

In total, a minimum of 564 housing units will be built for the Olympic Village, along with commercial and retail space. Temporary structures will also be going up at the site, which will subsequently be removed after the Paralympic Games finish in April 2010. Reconfiguration of the athletes' accomodation will also occur, as the housing units are converted to be sold to the public.