Eight years after the Olympic Winter Games Vancouver 2010, the Canadian city and its residents continue to benefit from hosting the historic international event. How handy! By submitting a comment, you accept that CBC has the right to reproduce and publish that comment in whole or in part, in any manner CBC chooses. “We often say real estate is all about location, location, location, but what the Olympic Village has taught some of us is that it really is all about timing, timing, timing,” he said. HCMA Architects is responsible for the design, which achieved a LEED Gold certification. Take a look at these eerie present-day photos of five former Olympic venues. All rights reserved. Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia, hosted the Winter Games in 1984 — just eight years before a civil war would ravage the country. Darryl Lamb, a brand manager at Legacy Liquor Store, which was one of the first businesses to open in the village in 2011, always thought the ghost town image was overblown. With the eyes of the world on the Olympic Games, it's no surprise that a number of groups have used the occasion to stage protests, but only once did the Games trigger a protest focused specifically on the issue of athletes boinking each other. Anyone visiting Vancouver’s Olympic Village today is likely to see cyclists riding along the seawall, residents walking dogs, shoppers leaving stores with purchases and others sitting outside on benches or at the Terra Breads café, enjoying coffees or sandwiches. The first phase of upgrades to BC Place Stadium were completed just in time for the Games, with $65 million in renovations focusing on improved concessions, washrooms and suites, and improved accessibility and directional signage. At the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah, a conservative, pro-abstinence, anti-abortion group called Generation Life organized five days of protests against the Games. Construction began in 2006, but it hit a major snag in 2008 when the private developer’s construction financing source, a New York-based hedge fund, stopped funding the project due to the recession. The landmark building — designed by Seattle-based LMN Architects and Vancouver-based MCM Architects and DA Architects + Planners — was built both on land and over water on pilings. This SkyTrain line, which opened about six months before the Games, was an immediate success upon opening, with actual ridership levels years ahead of original forecasts. Here's the dirt on what we've come to know. As the 2012 Olympic Games get under way at last, see the transformation of the area around Stratford, east London, in … Due to the base’s tight footprint, the venue had a relatively small Olympic capacity of 7,700 spectators. Go back a decade and the site was anything but the bustling, successful neighbourhood that it is today. Subscriber (zemistor / Flickr), Sign up for our newsletter to get exclusive content, contests, and perks direct to you. Both facilities were used by 10,000 accredited media personnel. One unnamed male swimmer told ESPN he prefers soccer girls because they're "all hot, and they dress like rock stars." Before Vancouver's Olympic Village became what it's now widely considered — a pretty but expensive place to live, work and hang out — it was the subject of heated debates. During the Games, the West Building was the hub International Broadcast Centre, while the East Building was the Main Press Centre. We reserve the right to close comments at any time. "I've always said be patient and watch it evolve over time, and frankly, it's evolved into a success story much quicker than even I expected.". If you have a story for us, email impact@cbc.ca. Eric is this guy, who was seen walking around with a pouch packed with condoms at the 2016 Games in Rio. In April 2006, when Vancouver city council approved Millennium Development’s $193 million bid to buy city-owned land and build the Olympic Village, real estate marketing whiz Rennie was part of the package. Pseudonyms will no longer be permitted. The provincial government spent $2.5 million renovating UBC Robson Square into a 30,000-sq-ft International Media Centre for an estimated 3,000 unaccredited media personnel.