The next chapter in the ongoing saga that is the Olympic Village has been written and it leaves us wanting more. The troubled sales at the village never picked up beyond the grand re-opening leaving 450 or so units still for sale. Despite having the greatest and most successful project marketer in the city (Rennie Marketing) and the biggest show the coldest months of the year can put on (the 2010 Winter Olympics) to showcase them sales never went beyond the paltry 36 units signed up in May.

Millennium Developments failed to meet their obligations to the city to repay loans, and after reportedly tense negotiations, have elected to walk away (or get pushed away) placing the project in the fully questionable hands of the city and the receiver Ernst & Young. They will now be in control of all the sales and marketing.

So what now? No one doubted the project. No one denied the quality, amenities, and desirability. No one claimed that Bob Rennie and crew were doing a poor job. It was, and is, a great product with great sales people behind it. No, what people balked at was the price, pure and simple. It was too darn expensive. Need proof? Wall Centre False Creek, currently a water filled hole in the ground across the street from the OV, has sold nearly 400 units in four towers in the past six weeks! The reason? Price. Oh, and it’s marketed by Mr. Rennie who reached out to the pre-sale buyers from the first iteration of the once canceled project and who managed to get most of those buyers back with redesigned suites and lower prices.

The OV can’t redesign their suites, nor can they go attract speculators under a pre-construction potential for profits. The OV is built. It is complete. It is ready to be occupied. And it is too darn expensive.

Millennium and Rennie were prepared to go forward with new incentives in September but without the city approval they were unable to implement them. Here’s where I am concerned. The city has effectively pushed the Maleks out (Millennium’s principals) and taken over a project that they were unwilling to lower the prices on. Now they plan to sell them… how?

Previous receivership sales have been very successful but only at dratically reduced prices. H+H was up to 40% off. Sophia, the same. Both were developed by a questionable developer who was stripped of the projects when unethical sales practices occurred. Both liquidations were handled by the Bowra Group very successfully, but again at dramatically discounted prices. Both also occurred before the HST which, without doubt, impacts the sale of the OV where taxes could easily add up to more than $100,000 on most of the remaining units. But the city will be wary of reducing prices to clear out the remaining units when all the funding comes from our taxes.

The whole time they were under construction, amidst the concerned voices that they were too ambitious, authoritative voices repeated the mantra that no money would be lost. Then that was amended to “with two to three years” in the hopes that the real estate market would bounce back. Excuse me? Bounce back from where? We are at (or near) all time highs! I guess what they’re hoping for is that prices continue on a blistering (and unsustainable, in my opinion) pace that has occurred over the past 10 years.

So here is where we are: Millennium, the developer, is out. The city through their Receiver Ernst&Young are in. Rennie? Haven’t heard from. Ironically enough I did receive an email (as all realtors did, I’m sure) inviting us to a social drink, a chance to win an iPad, and an opportunity to hear him speak at the Wall Centre False creek and the remaining 28 opportunities there. Gloating? Maybe. A shot at the ghost town across the street? You make the call (who holds a marketing party with 90% sold out?). Meanwhile the image at the top has been altered by me to read “underwater” and while I toyed with the idea of changing the “Green is Gold” tag I figured with the city taking over and being as green and new to this as they are, well, they better hop that Green is Gold.

We all await the next chapter of this exciting saga!

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