A host of major changes are in the works for the east end of False Creek where 2,200 Olympic athletes will be housed
Frances Bula
Sun
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the beating heart of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Here in east False Creek, where we expect the world to arrive in just under five years, we have on our south shore a dirt-dumping facility, the about-to-fall-down buildings of the city works yard, and a decor best described as “early abandoned industrial gone to seed.”
On the north bank, which 2,200 Olympic athletes living in our village will see every morning, we have an equally compelling expanse of industrial fill, whose main feature is the large rectangle of asphalt used previously as a storage space for the Molson Indy — our own little piece of south-central L.A. right here in Vancouver.
Looks bleak, you say? Well, yes.
But these Cinderellas and their pumpkins are about to be transformed in a fashion that will be startling even for a-new-building-a-day Vancouver.
In fewer than 1,800 days, this forgotten corner of the city will arrive at the ball decorated with parks, seawalls, refurbished streets, community centres, boathouses, banners, and a shiny new “green” athlete’s village — an environmental model of sustainable development — with a mini-shopping complex attached.
Condos will sprout, new roads will materialize, and by February 2010, the harbour will bustle with water shuttles carrying thousands of people between the village and the downtown.
All of that will happen at the same time as a raft of city projects surrounding east False Creek also come to a head: the ambitious Woodward’s complex, the Richmond rapid-transit line with a stop at Second Avenue, the Carrall Street greenway, the plan to introduce more housing into Chinatown, a remake of Second Avenue, so that it becomes part of a U-shaped “great boulevard” that connects with Pacific, the creation of a new identity for the formerly industrial False Creek Flats, and the redevelopment of the Plaza of Nations.
The whole image of the downtown’s eastern end will change, says the city’s director of current planning, Larry Beasley.
“It will turn from an image of crisis to an image of optimism. And the Woodward’s project will be a beacon for that.”
But, ironically, the Olympics may actually force some plans for transforming this part of the city’s mini-harbour to be put on hold temporarily, particularly on the north side.
One of the biggest questions is what will happen to the park planned for the northeast corner of False Creek, a park that Citygate residents have been waiting for with growing impatience over the past several years.
The park board’s director for the Stanley district, Jim Lowden, has always had dreams of turning that part of that area into a unique space for city celebrations and events.
“The city lacks formal celebration sites,” says Lowden, who jokes that he’s been working on False Creek for 20 years and he’s not going to retire until he sees the park finished. “This area makes a nice amphitheatre for the east end of the creek — it’s like a giant set of naturalized bleachers.”
It could become the home to dragonboat festivals and any number of water-oriented events.
But he says the indications he’s had so far from the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee — Vanoc — are that it wants a big, clear space of hard surface. As well, there’s been talk of Concord Pacific temporarily relocating its sales centre to that final piece of its land.
“It’s kind of up in the air now. We’re all wrestling with how much we can get done, given Vanoc’s needs and Concord‘s sales needs. Unfortunately, they don’t produce a single, clear answer.”
That same uncertainty is surrounding the Concord site just east of the Plaza of Nations, which is supposed to see either a commercial or residential development.
The city’s director of real-estate services, Bruce Maitland, said Olympic planners are excited about the idea of being able to shuttle athletes by ferry to the north side for B.C. Place events and for entertainment in Yaletown.
“If we bring athletes across on a ferry, we would have to have a security zone on the north side,” he said. “We would also need a large area behind B.C. Place for staging and that would have to be secure too. So that area may not be much more attractive than it is now because of the need for ‘back of house’ space.”
None of that is welcome news to Concord.
“We would like to see those lands developed,” says company spokesman Matthew Meehan.
Finally, on the south side, private developers are still in negotiations over what they will be allowed to build — if anything — inside the area defined as the Olympic security zone. Those developers are champing at the bit to get going on projects that promise to go for prime prices.
Realtor Bob Rennie says that area is going to become the city’s new Coal Harbour, with stunning views of the city. For those who get to build ahead of 2010, it will also provide front-row seats for the Olympic bustle around False Creek.
Some owners along Second Avenue are free to go ahead. But Olympic planners have set up a 100-metre “security zone” around the athletes village where they have said no new building can take place. The line means that owners with property along First are inside the zone.
But while some pieces of the puzzle are uncertain so far, what is guaranteed is that the city’s $50-million investment in this first part of southeast False Creek, along with the Olympic money that will be poured in, will set the stage for everything that follows.
“Through the village,” says Beasley, “you’re going to be able to discern the neighbourhood of the future.”
BIG CHANGES IN STORE BEFORE OLYMPIC ATHLETES ARRIVE:
The east end of False Creek now described as ‘early abandoned industrial gone to seed’ is to be transformed in a way that will be startling even for a-new-building-a-day Vancouver. In less than 1,800 days it will get a shiny new athletes’ village, new roads, parks and condos.
