Economists say it reflects the strength of economy, expect it to continue through this year

Derrick Penner
Sun

Real estate sales remained brisk provincewide in January, the B.C. Real Estate Association reports, with total transactions up almost 13 per cent from the same month a year ago.

Realtors racked up 5,238 Multiple-Listing-Service recorded transactions in January, compared with 4,626 in January 2005.

The increase does not reflect statistics for the B.C. Northern Real Estate Board, centred in Prince George, whose figures were not available at the time of the report.

“Buyers seem to have lots of confidence,” Dave Barclay, president of the B.C. Real Estate Association said in an interview. “The economy is still strong, and I think our expectations are that it’s going to remain strong throughout Canada.”

The dollar value of real estate transactions in January increased by 42.3 per cent to $1.9 billion reflecting higher prices. In a news release, the B.C. Real Estate Association said nine of its 12 member real estate boards reported double-digit increases in the value of transactions recorded in January.

The Kamloops real estate board experienced the biggest gain in sales. BCREA figures show that 199 transactions across Kamloops represented a 51 per cent increase over the same month a year ago. The value of those transactions, just under $40 million, was 96 per cent higher than January 2005.

The Fraser Valley saw the next biggest gain. The valley’s 1,089 sales represented a 38 per cent increase in units changing hands. The value of those transactions, at $404 million, was 73 per cent higher than the total value of real estate sold in the same month a year ago.

Helmut Pastrick, chief economist of Credit Union Central B.C., noted that B.C.’s real estate market slowed at the end of 2004, so 2005 got off to a sluggish start before roaring off to record levels by the end of the year.

Pastrick expects that February and March will also experience more sales than the same months of 2005, however his forecast assumes that sales in later months of 2006 will come in lower than their corresponding months a year ago.

Pastrick’s expectation is that total unit sales in 2006 to change little from 2005, or even decline by as much as two per cent.

Pastrick said that on a seasonally adjusted basis, factoring out seasonal trends, B.C.’s real estate market hit a peak in about August of 2005 and has eased off since then. However, it remains active.

“The indicators are that the housing market, in my view, is going to hold up reasonably well,” Pastrick said. “I expect the market to put together another solid year.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

Peter Mitham
Other

Draft policy says income from operations should go back into parks

Larry Pynn
Sun

Golden Ears in Maple Ridge, Duffey Lake between Mount Currie and Lillooet, and Wells Gray north of Clearwater are among the first proposed sites for commercial lodges in parks under a controversial new B.C. government policy, according to provincial freedom-of-information documents.

The documents, obtained by the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, contain a draft policy also suggesting that any such lodges must be compatible with park management plans, that proponents may have to fund environmental studies, and that the public and first nations must be consulted.

The process of granting permits for commercial lodges would likely be opened up to competitive bids only where there is more than one application at the same location. And lodges are not meant to be exclusive to guests, but open to the general public, including restaurants.

Government income from such operations, amounting to perhaps three to five per cent of lodges’ gross revenues, should go back into park management, according to the draft policy dated May 2005.

Conservationists have decried the provincial policy as an ill-advised effort to commercialize wilderness areas. WCWC campaigner Gwen Barlee said in an interview that lodges should be located on the periphery of parks, not inside where they compete with natural values.

“Lodges are not appropriate recreation,” she said, adding she is concerned that the public won’t be sufficiently consulted on the issue. “Parks are about protecting and preserving our environment.”

The FOI documents suggest an 80-bed four-season resort is in the works for Golden Ears, a park that is extremely popular with family campers from the Lower Mainland in summer, along with a “high-end” lodge for Stevens Lakes in eastern Wells Gray park.

If successful, the proposed lodge at Duffey Lake would represent the first sign of commercialism along an 83-kilometre route that is known for its scenic viewscapes and is rated the third-greatest motorcycling highway in southern B.C. by the best-selling book, Destination Highways B.C.

“What idiot is responsible for this idea?” asked book co-author Brian Bosworth.

He noted the Duffey Lake Road is a major tourist draw for motorcyclists, including Americans, because it features “not one bit of development once you climb up into the high country.

“Obviously, as one of the rare destination highways in B.C., it should be preserved free of the blight of any such ‘progress’ as lodges, ski hills, etc., if it’s going to maintain the character that draws raves from and makes it famous among riders.”

The FOI documents suggest the province views lodges in parks as “part of a strong and sustainable tourism industry.”

But the documents also warn that permits will only go to “appropriate and viable” operations where issues such as access — which could range from road to helicopter and float plane — as well as water and waste management have been resolved.

“As ultimate owner in perpetuity of parks, the province will be the bearer of environmental risks, and therefore will prudently seek to minimize these in committing to selected projects,” the documents read.

“Since parks are culturally sacred places, there can be significant socio-political risks associated with any program that affects such places. The province would be prudent to design a process that minimizes these risks.”

Currently there are 165 “roofed accommodation facilities” in the provincial park system, including 92 cabins or huts, 50 lodges, 17 shelters, five resorts and one ecolodge.

The province’s new commercial lodge strategy is designed to provide clearer ground rules for future such developments in parks.

Judy Klima, protected-areas recreation enterprise manager for the B.C. Environment Ministry, referred comment to the ministry’s communications manager, Dan Gilmore.

He cautioned that the documents released in the FOI request are draft only, and that no definitive timetable has been set to have the commercial lodge policy implemented.

The ministry is meeting with various stakeholders on the issue Wednesday in Vancouver.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

BE ALERT: Owners need to stay aware of how strata handles accounting

Tony Gioventu
Province

During the past few weeks our office has received numerous complaints from owners and strata councils concerning theft or misuse of funds from the strata corporation.

MJ in Abbotsford wrote: “Our council treasurer refuses to provide us with the copies of the bank statements, cancelled cheques, or any financial information.”

A property manager in Kelowna has recently been discovered to be creating false companies for the purpose of filtering funds from strata accounts.

In both circumstances the amounts were considerable, but fortunately both the strata corporation and the management company have managed to recover all of the funds. It is critical for strata corporations to create a policy or bylaw that, in addition to the Strata Property Act, sets standards for the handling of funds.

STRATA LAW: The Act requires that all monies must be accounted for, whether as an operating fund, contingency reserve fund or special levy account.

Both the Strata Property Act and Real Estate Services Act require that copies of bank statements, certificates of deposit and cancelled cheques must be maintained as part of the strata records.

Those same records must also be made available for inspection if requested by an owner, or copies of the same must be made available on request.

TIPS: Here are a few signs to look for if you have doubts about your funding.

– Make sure your annual financial reports show the opening and closing balances of your operating accounts and contingency reserve funds.

– The council should review the monthly financial statements in comparison to the actual monthly bank statements.

– Decisions should be made by council and recorded in the minutes that describe the method of banking. It may be contracted to the management company or it may require multiple signatures of council members, but make sure everyone is clear on the procedures.

– Interest on funds is also a frequent abuse. Whenever the strata invests their funds they should also clearly identify how the money is being invested and where the interest is being applied.

– Finally, are you paying for the right expenses? Someone should review the expenses and make sure they are valid and actually apply to your strata. A few moments of care can save thousands in losses.

Tony Gioventu is the executive director of the Condominium Home Owners Association (CHOA). Contact CHOA at 604-584-2462 or toll-free 1-877-353-2462, fax 604-515-9643 or e-mail [email protected].

© The Vancouver Province 2006

Bob Ransford
Sun

The population of Greater Vancouver will double to almost four million people by 2050. Creative thinking is needed to manage growth and keep our special corner of the globe livable.

Often I have talked in this column about how we can make our homes, neighbourhoods and cities more livable. I have tried to describe in understandable terms innovative new housing technologies and urban design principles that can help us manage the growth we will inevitably experience in decades to come.

Once in a while, I have taken shots at those who look at the challenges of urban growth only in terms of their narrow self-interests, sitting on the sidelines until they perceive a threat in their own backyard and then reacting vociferously.

The fact is the status quo of continuing urban sprawl with its growing traffic congestion won’t do if we want to protect our envied quality of life. The emotionally-driven confrontational decision-making that flows from increasing civic disengagement and self-interested reactionary neighbourhood movements hold little promise of better urbanism.

Thoughtful choices and calculated trade-offs will need to be made to preserve our local quality of life.

A new public exercise that will examine in almost a microscopic way the building blocks of our neighbourhood and cities holds the prospect of capturing the imagination of those who can make the difference — you –ordinary citizens who care about your neighbourhoods and the role they play in the entire region.

The Sustainability by Design project (SxD), led by planners and landscape architects at UBC’s Design Centre for Sustainability, promises to get beyond the rhetoric and fear about growth and get ordinary people thinking about choices and options.

SxD will kick-off next Thursday with the first in a series of free public forums that will help to fill a void in the regional debate about the future of our livable communities. There has been much talk in the Greater Vancouver region about sustainability and little action.

Part of the problem is defining the goals and translating them into concepts ordinary people can understand. In order to assess sustainability options, people need to be able to visualize them in terms of their impact on housing choice, neighbourhood land use and transportation.

SxD is all about focusing in a visual way on neighbourhoods–new ones that need to be carefully designed and old ones that need to be retrofitted.

SxD will be about asking questions. How will the region accommodate growth? How will housing, land use, jobs and transport be designed, delivered and distributed? How do we ensure continued livability in the region?

The SxD process of community education and discussion, academic research and on-the-ground design is hoping to generate widespread public support for a neighbourhood by neighbourhood, district by district real-life picture of what a sustainable Greater Vancouver region might look like. Taken together, these visual design scenarios can then be applied across the region to achieve smarter growth during the next 30 to 50 years.

Nothing like this has ever been tried before. It involves taking big concepts and testing them with the public and with experts on a local scale, then translating them to apply to an entire region. It is a daunting task, but one that will work if the public gets involved.

It may end up being the crucial ingredient for a more sustainable region.

The first SxD evening forum will be held on Thursday February 23 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Simon Fraser University’s Surrey Campus at 13450 102nd Avenue in Surrey. The two other forums will be held on March 2 and March 6th same time and place.

For further information visit www.landfood.ubc.ca/sxd

Bob Ransford is a public affairs consultant with COUNTERPOINT Communications Inc. He is a former real estate developer who specializes in urban land use issues. Contact him at: [email protected]

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

VANCOUVER I They’re aimed at people moving from single family, detached homes

Michael Sasges
Sun

CREEKSIDE

Location: Main at Prior, Vancouver

Presentation centre location: 106 Keefer (at Columbia), Chinatown

Hours: Noon – 5 p.m., Sat – Thu

Telephone: 604-689-5222

Web: creeksidefalsecreek.com

Project size: 23 storeys, 148 high-rise and low-rise residences and 17 townhouses

Residence size: 734 sq. ft. – 1,820 sq. ft.

Prices: From $395,000 on homes still available for sale

Developer: Bosa Development Corp.

Architect: Perkins

Warranty: National

– – –

At Creekside, the Bosa development company is going out with a bang. At more than 1,100 square feet on average, the homes are uncommonly big for high-rise homes. That makes them a worthy conclusion to the Citygate new-home community on the east shore of False Creek, across Main Street from the old CNR railway station.

Just over 1,000 homes will be located in Citygate once the Creekside buyers move in. About 2,000 people will live in the community then, city hall estimates. Almost 24,000 square feet of retail has been built along Main; a Skytrain station is located there, under the VanCity office building.

For city hall and the local development community Citygate is/was a pioneering initiative and partnership. Almost 200 of the homes are non-market or co-op homes, for example. Thornton Park, between the railway station and Main Street, is the beneficiary of Bosa money. The substance of the Creekside solicitation to new-home shoppers — “life without compromise”– is a creature of a density decision city authorities made 16 years ago.

“It created our niche in the market . . . and our owners’ [niche] in the resale market,” Bosa’s Dennis Serraglio comments of the 1,000-home limit city hall imposed on Citygate.

While developers have reduced the size of new-construction downtown-homes over the years to ensure affordability, Bosa at Citygate either has not or has not reduced as much.

“What we’re really pushing is that we’re building large livable units, units that people who are sizing down from single-family [detached] homes can easily fit into,” Serraglio says of the company’s Creekside no-compromise pledge to shoppers.

“We’ve got certain parameters for master bedrooms, for example; we make them a minimum of 14 [feet] X 13 [feet]; living rooms, dining rooms, a minimum of 24 feet by at least the 12, 13 foot width. So we’re saying don’t compromise livability to downsize.

“The market, for affordability reasons, really has had the units shrink and shrink to the point where you’re putting in your dishes sideways in a lot of these kitchens, vertically instead of horizontally.”

Construction economies of scale have guided Bosa’s solutions to the affordability challenge, Serraglio says. Every fourth apartment in the high-rise component of Creekside, for example, is a two-bedroom plan. Nineteen of them, and all their electrical and mechanical, are stacked atop each other in the northeast corner; their 17 ”mirrors,” atop each other in the southeast corner.

The history of Citygate is a chronicle of changing new-home-shopper expectations and attitudes over two decades. “It’s pretty well standard, even in the suburbs now, that granite is the countertop of choice,” Serraglio comments.

Bosa didn’t need an options manager 15 years ago to receive and execute buyer preferences. It does now, partly because of buyer expectation, partly because it is selling mostly to buyers who will occupy the homes they are buying, not rent them out to others. ” . . . we won’t move walls and plumbing stacks, but we’ll give them alternate granites and cabinets and carpet and flooring,” Serraglio says of the options manager’s work.

He says he has not experienced the same “green building” demands from buyers that other developers have reported. He expects, however, the demand to grow.

“This project went through city hall probably 2 1/2 years ago. . . . there weren’t as many guidelines back then. [But] as more guidelines come in and as more is expected of developers, the public, as they go and shop around, will come around in their expectations will come around as well. It’s still early.”

The townhouses in the Citygate community may be the most enduring symbol of changing buyer attitudes. (City hall likes townhouses and shops anchoring downtown towers, as “eyes on the street,” a preference that made Citygate an educational tool.)

“They are a lot more popular now,” Serraglio says. “When we started, when I joined the company, in 1990 the first phase [of Citygate] was under construction. The last units in Phase 1 and Phase 3 were the townhomes. We almost couldn’t give them away. The people who were moving downtown were leaving their houses. They didn’t want stairs.

What happened? “I think people just started moving into them and people came to visit and realized, they’re a good alternative to the single family [detached] home. And now they’re the most popular units. You can live downtown in almost a detached home.”

The eight Creekside townhouses on Prior Street are a real test of buyer attitudes. These are big homes, with their own two-car garages under and generous roof decks and all-window studios on top, but they face the Georgia Viaduct. Only one had been bought by last week. Most of the Creekside project, however, has been bought.

The history of Citygate is also a chronicle of price movement over two decades – and not always upward.

To induce people to buy in a then derelict area, Bosa sold the first homes “at probably a 20-per-cent discount” from the three or four other competing high-rise products on the market 15 years ago, Serraglio recalls.

He remembers the square foot average price in the early years was about $370. He also remembers it later declined to about $270 when Asia-Pacific economies slumped after the 1997 currency crisis over there. The square foot average (asking) price at Creekside is about $540, Serraglio reports.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

Five major construction projects are being pushed ahead this year to provide Canadian athletes with two years training without pressure from their competitors

Jeff Lee
Sun

This year the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic organizers and their partners will be pushing hard on five major construction projects that need to be finished in time for the 2008 training season.

It’s all part of a pledge to help Canada break its at-home gold medal drought by giving Canadian national teams two years’ training on the facilities without pressure from their competitors.

This spring, the major footings will be built for the Whistler Sliding Centre, home of the bobsled, luge and skeleton track; the University of B.C. hockey rinks, the Richmond speed-skating oval, and the Whistler Nordic Centre, where four ski and jumping events will take place.

The cities of Vancouver and Whistler will also break ground this year on their two athletes’ villages, and planning work is proceeding on several other sports venues, including a new curling rink in Vancouver and snowboard and alpine ski facilities at Cypress Mountain on the North Shore and Blackcomb Mountain in Whistler.

Earlier this week we published reports on the progress of construction at the Nordic Centre and the Richmond oval. Here’s a roundup of other projects on Vanoc’s radar screen this year.

WHISTLER SLIDING CENTRE

When the Whistler Sliding Centre opens for testing in the winter of 2007, it will join a rarefied group of bobsled, luge and skeleton tracks. There are currently only 13 of the specialized sporting facilities in the world, and Whistler’s will be the most modern.

Construction of the $55-million, 1,450-metre concrete track will get underway this spring once snow recedes from the south side of Blackcomb Mountain.

It’s a technically challenging and intensive project, involving nearly 100 kilometres of refrigerated piping inside the length of the U-shaped track. The track itself will be composed of spray-on gunite concrete.

Last year, Emil Anderson Construction won a $13-million contract to clear the site and build the access road that will wind from the base all the way up to a 50-sled parking area, men’s start and short warm-up track. Some services were also installed before the snow chased the contractors down the mountain.

Over the winter, Vanoc put out requests for proposals to build the track and liquid-ammonia refrigeration system.

It received five expressions of interest for the refrigeration contract and pre-qualified four of them, according to Steve Matheson, Vanoc’s vice-president of venue construction. Ten construction firms also submitted bids for the track work, with five being pre-qualified.

The track contract will be issued by the end of February, Matheson said.

Building a winding concrete chute that can safely carry the world’s top sledders down a steep mountain slope requires a huge amount of technical skill. Getting the design of the tight curves wrong can spell disaster. But with only two dozen or so tracks like that in the world, there’s not a lot of demand for professional bobsled track designers. In fact, according to Matheson, he knows of only two.

Vanoc hired one of those, German engineer Udo Guergel, who designed all of the tracks for the 1998 Nagano, 2002 Salt Lake and 2006 Turin Olympic Games.

Guergel’s plan calls for a track almost a mile in length, with 16 corners and no long straight stretches. Racers will hit speeds of up to 130 kilometres an hour over the course, which has a vertical drop of 175 metres. The average time will be about 50 seconds.

Another fun fact: at that competitive speed, bob and luge sleds, which weigh about about 590 kilograms and 90 kilograms respectively, develop massive gravitational forces as they round the corners. The track has to be designed to withstand a G-force of five, and keep the athletes from flying out of the curves.

In November 2004, a consortium headed by general site contractor Vancouver-based Stantec Architecture Ltd. was hired to put into practice Guergel’s mathematical design. The company’s experts participated in the design of the Salt Lake track. The consortium includes Stantec Architecture, Stantec Consulting, Stonefield Development, Van Boerum & Frank Associates, Inc. and R.H. Strong & Associates Inc.

The site will have space for 12,000 spectators, mostly along the access road. There will also be three parking lots and seven buildings, including a guest services building and a control tower. The track itself will have several start lines for men’s, women’s and junior competitions.

UBC ARENAS

Before construction of two new Olympic-sized hockey rinks can begin at the University of B.C.’s Thunderbird Winter Sports Complex this summer, bulldozers, will have to raze three of four existing arenas.

Hockey will halt at the complex at the end of April, and likely won’t resume until November or December at the earliest.

The existing 1,200-seat main rink is being retained. But it will never see a single Olympic game played; instead, it will serve as an operations and media centre to the two new sheets being built nearby.

The larger of the new ovals will be a 7,000-seat arena where many of the Olympic games will be played in 2010. The other will be used as a practice sheet.

The project was first billed as costing $40.8 million, of which Vanoc will provide $35.8 million. UBC was to provide the remaining $5 million, but last week increased its budget to $9 million to allow for new dressing rooms and a restaurant at the existing arena.

It is also getting $1 million in materials and services from Rona, the hardware retail chain, which is one of Vanoc’s premier sponsors.

The ambitious project is complicated by the fact the centre is heavily used by many groups, including the 1,200-member Thunderbird Minor Hockey Association, recreational hockey leagues and the university’s own intramural sports program.

Originally, UBC planned to demolish all four arenas. But a community and user-group backlash and a study of the university’s ice needs caused UBC to change its plans.

Also complicating the construction process is a faulty ground-heating system under two of the soon-to-be demolished arenas. The result was that the arenas’ ice plant froze the ground up to four metres deep. It will cost UBC about $800,000 to remove the affected soil.

In January 2005, UBC hired Kasian Architects of Vancouver and Bird Design-Build Ltd., a subsidiary of Bird Construction, a Canadian company, under a design-build contract. They put forward a 240,000 square-foot concept. The university has since scaled it back by 10 per cent, saving $3 million.

The design now calls for 7,000 Games-time seats, with 4,800 permanent seats.

Kasian-Bird came up with a design that orients the main and practice arena towards Westbrook Mall. The old main arena will sit at the back, around which there is a cluster of offices, team rooms, the ice plant and mechanical services.

The large oval will be built on an existing parking lot north of the university’s playing fields. A new, four-storey, 1,600-stall parkade is being built adjacent to the complex. During the Olympics half of those stalls will be reserved for Vanoc use.

The practice sheet should be finished by the summer of 2007. The main oval will be in operation by the summer of 2008, giving Canada’s hockey team at least two seasons to train before the Olympic Games.

VANCOUVER ATHLETES VILLAGE

The main athletes village for the Olympics has been caught up in a political and financial argument over how much and what type of post-Olympics housing should be built on the site on the southeast corner of False Creek.

Plans to select a developer among four qualified bidders have been put off until later this spring. In fact, city council’s decision in late January to increase the amount of market housing to lessen the demand for government subsidies will require a new public hearing into the area’s official development plan.

As a result, the four bidders are having to submit two proposals each — one for the post-Olympics housing mix as it was first envisioned by the last council, and one for a new mix that would include 80 per cent market and 20 per cent social housing. No decision is likely until March.

Under the old scenario, the city was to contribute $50 million from its Property Endowment Fund to help underwrite up to a third of the site’s 2,800 units as “modest income housing.”

The village is being built on a former industrial site at the head of False Creek and, like most other Olympic villages, will be turned over after the event for public use. Vanoc is contributing $60 million to the cost of development, but the city is responsible for the entire project.

Jody Andrews, the city’s project manager, said he doesn’t believe the late council changes will delay plans to turn the village over to Vanoc in November, 2009.

This year, the city will issue contracts for installation of services.

The current official development plan envisions a fairly defined set of buildings on the site, stepping up from low near the water to as much as six storeys near First Avenue.

As a result, the city can proceed with the site servicing, including roads and rebuilding the waterfront walls, even if it hasn’t yet selected a general contractor, Andrews said. In late January, it approved a site servicing budget of $1 million.

The city hired Stantec Engineering to design the site. Last fall the city short-listed five companies to do the actual development.

However, one of those, Concert Properties, withdrew after public concerns were raised about its chairman, Jack Poole, who is also chairman of Vanoc.

The four remaining companies are Concord Pacific, The Millennium Group, Wall Financial and Windmill Development.

For the Olympics, Vanoc has created a four-zone area, orienting the village entrance at Quebec Street. That’s where the obligatory bus and transportation hub will be.

Farther to the west, at the waterfront, will be an “international” zone where media and athletes can mix. Just to the south, and further west, will be the highly secure village itself, composed of about a dozen buildings.

And at the far western end will be the Olympic “back of house” operations such as laundry, food services and other facilities.

Main access will be through the Quebec and Terminal corner, although several security exits will be built into street-ends linking to Second Avenue. Under the Olympic proposal, a security envelope will be erected around the entire village, extending to the lane on the south side of First Avenue.

The street itself will be put behind a security fence for the period of the Games, although pedestrians will have a walkway on the outside to get to existing businesses.

In mid-January, the city closed a portion of the seawall cycling and walking route that runs through the site, rerouting it out and around near First Avenue. The seawall likely won’t reopen to the public until after the Olympics, because the area will be under construction.

In December, the city awarded a $265,000 contract to JJM Construction of Delta to remove about 275 pilings and the remains of a wharf near the heritage Salt Building, which is being retained and renovated.

WHAT TURIN IS DOING:

BOBSLED, LUGE AND SKELETON TRACK

Location: Cesana Pariol, 90 km from Turin.

Course length: 1,435 metres, with a 114-metre difference in height.

Spectator capacity along the course: 7,130 (3,624 seated).

Number of events: 8 (three bobsleigh, two skeleton, three luge)

Distance to Athletes’ Village: 28 km.

Post-Games use: training and competition venue.

Cost as of 2005: 77.29 million euros ($108.7 million Cdn)

Of note: The new track has 19 curves, 11 to the left and 8 to the right. It was moved from its original proposed site in 2001 because of geotechnical problems. Construction started in June, 2003 and all facilities were finished in fall, 2005.

ICE HOCKEY

Location: Palasport Olimpico, (main), Torino Esposizioni (secondary), Turin

Description: Palasport Olimpico is a brand new arena in central Turin. Torino Esposizioni has two temporary surfaces in a renovated fair pavilion. One is being used for competitions, one for practice. All have International-sized rinks of 30 by 60 metres.

Spectator capacity: Palasport Olimpico, 12,116; Torino Esposizioni, 6,165.

Number of events: all men’s and women’s ice hockey events.

Distance from Athletes Village: 2-3 km.

Post-Games use: Palasport Olimpico, part of a larger renovated sports and stadium complex, will be used for main sporting events. The other venue returns to use as a fair pavilion.

Cost: Palasport Olimpico: 90.25 million euros ($126.7 million); Torino Esposizioni, 10 million euros ($14 million)

Of note: The venue programs in Vancouver and Turin are reversed: in Turin, the main hockey hall is new; in Vancouver, GM Place will be the site of the main events. Vancouver’s secondary and practice arenas will be new facilities at UBC.

Construction and renovation of both Turin facilities began in July, 2003.

MAIN ATHLETES VILLAGE, TURIN

Site: Former Mercati Generali (General Markets), a sprawling 90,000-square-metre site near the Fiere Lingotto, the former Fiat factory that is now the main Olympic media centre. New housing for more than 2,500 athletes, coaches and support staff, in 39 buildings. Designed to high environmental standards, it includes photovoltaic electricity generation and solar panel systems.

Facilities: logistics centre, shopping centre, training facilities, parking, medical centre and massage facilities. Two restaurants, one for athletes and assistants and one for staff and volunteers.

Post-Games use: Will be turned over to the city of Turin for a combination of housing and research and technology services.

Cost: 140 million euros ($196.5 million), of which 105 million euros ($147.4 million) came from federal government and the rest from the city.

Source: Jeff Lee

© The Vancouver Sun 2006