Millennium Water - Vancouver's Last Waterfront Community (Introducing the Southeast False Creek Millennium Development)

Click here for the Millennium Water marketing website.

From industrial work yard to sustainable Vancouver waterfront community

Millennium Water is a new sustainable community that will be situated on the waterfront of Vancouver’s Southeast False Creek (SEFC), a former industrial site. The project has been designated as the home of the Olympic and Paralympic Village Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Games. Environmental sustainability is a priority for Millennium Water, affecting every aspect of the design – the project will be Canada’s first LEED™ Gold neighbourhood, with LEED ™ Platinum being targeted for the community centre.

• Millennium Water comprises seven hectares, a total of 1,122 residential units and 70,000 square feet of commercial space.

• The residential units are a mix of market, rental and affordable housing to accommodate seniors, singles and families.

• All residences are being designed to meet the Safer Home™ initiative, which ensure that housing is safe and accessible to people of all ages and physical abilities.

• The neighbourhood will contain an array of residential, commercial and community amenities.

• Millennium Water is the product of extensive collaboration between the public and private sectors, numerous designers, engineers and consultants and, most importantly, the public at large.

Millennium Water Vancouver - A new kind of community

A diverse community of seniors, young people and families will enliven the Millennium Water neighbourhood and provide a social balance unlike any other residential development in Vancouver. Following the 2010 Winter Games, the 1,122 residential units will be converted to permanent housing – approximately 736 of the units will be sold as market housing, 119 will be rentals, and 253 of the units will be non-market (affordable) housing. Virtually a self-sustaining community, the neighbourhood at Millennium Water will offer a variety of long-term environmental, health, social and economic benefits to residents:

• The promotion of alternative transportation and active living through proximity to transit, designated bicycle and pedestrian areas and car share programs;

• Employment opportunities and day-care facilities located within the neighbourhood;

• Parks, gardens, green roofs and urban agriculture projects to augment the local environment, create recreational opportunities and provide a source of local food production; and

• Enhanced community life through public, shared amenities, such as public art, non-motorized boating facility, community centre, pedestrian plaza and commercial district.

Millennium Water Southeast False Creek - Setting a new standard in Vancouver sustainable design

Millennium Water will establish a new standard for sustainable community development in Canada and North America, with green buildings that use less energy, are based on renewable resources and help protect our environment for future generations. Millennium Water buildings will be a showcase of sustainable development, and will offer an exquisite collection of homes featuring water savings, energy efficiency, eco-friendly materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

• The buildings at Millennium Water are designed to be Canada’s first LEED™ Gold neighbourhood. The waterfront community centre at Millennium Water will be designed to achieve LEED™ Platinum, also a first for a community centre in Canada.

• Canada’s first multi-unit residential "net-zero” building will include residential units and affordable seniors’ housing. The design approach incorporates five key principles of sustainability: health, energy, resources, environment and affordability. The net-zero building will have an aggressive low-energy design, and will use renewable energy systems which allow the facility to produce as much energy as it uses on an annual basis.

• Urban agriculture is incorporated into the landscape design with the intent of creating opportunities for onsite food production and distribution.

• A water use reduction strategy will aim to reduce the use of potable water by 30 per cent below conventional standards, and storm water runoff will be reduced 25 per cent through the use of green roofs, swales and retention ponds.

• Energy is conserved using passive design strategies including operable shading devices to control heat gain, widened stairwells and public corridors to maximize natural lighting, and enhanced building envelopes that reduce energy loss and include high performance rain-screen, insulation and glazing systems.

• Millennium Water’s leading sustainable design exceeds the City of Vancouver’s Green Building Strategy and the sustainability principles of the Official Development Plan for Southeast False Creek.

• Building to Safer Home™ criteria will mean that residential units will be safe, comfortable and adaptable for people of varying ages and physical abilities. Safer Home™ design criteria include features such as widened hallways and stairwells, lowered light switches, and pressure/temperature control valves on shower faucets.

• The Neighbourhood Energy Utility (NEU), a community energy system, will use sustainable heat sources like sewage waste to provide space heating and hot water to all buildings.

Accommodating the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games and its legacy at Millennium Water False Creek

As the Olympic and Paralympic Village Vancouver, Millennium Water will temporarily house an international delegation of approximately 2,800 athletes, coaches and officials. The project is already being recognized around the world as a model for future host cities. Adaptability was key in the design of the Village, as the design team had to find flexible, workable solutions to the challenge of creating buildings with two distinct purposes: accommodating the event, as well as its legacy.

• The Village “overlay period” applies to a six-month “Exclusive Use Period” in which the site will be controlled by VANOC, and includes provisions for temporary housing, dining, fitness and health care facilities, and security.

• Residential suites will be protectively retro-fitted for the duration of the overlay period in order to safeguard luxury furnishings such as hardwood floors and kitchens.

• All of the ground floor commercial spaces will be fitted out to accommodate operational facilities for the athletes.

• Legacy features include silhouettes of athletes that will take shape in the vegetation on the buildings’ green roofs, as well as local street names, including Athletes Way.

Waterfront Park at Vancouver Millennium Water – a post-games legacy for all of Vancouver to enjoy

Waterfront Park represents the first phase of SEFC’s primary park and open space system, and will be a significant addition to Vancouver’s iconic seawall. Through walkways, bicycle paths, diverse seating and gathering areas, the park will provide a variety of vital green spaces that will reconnect SEFC residents and visitors alike with the heritage-rich waterfront, and offer unique and memorable experiences unlike any other in Vancouver.

• The multifunctional waterfront promenade offers recreational and social opportunities, extends the seawall by 650 metres, and connects to green spaces and walkways throughout the neighbourhood.

• Native and adaptive shoreline planting will add a soft edge to the hard elements inspired by the former industrial site. The tidal terraces allow access to the water and pier remnants speak to the site’s shipyard heritage.

• The bridge crossing over the shipyards inlet is inspired by the form of a canoe. The steel grating of the arching deck offers a unique experience when crossing the inlet by allowing views through the decking to the water below, and creates fewer shadows on the water in order to maximize habitat value.

• The habitat island and naturalized segments of the shoreline will host aquatic, riparian and upland ecologies. The island includes vertical snags, native vegetation and a natural shoreline which have attracted perching bald eagles and a variety of waterfowl. The natural shoreline demonstrates the ability to reintroduce natural habitat back into the urban environment; a connecting segment of land will emerge at low tide, providing limited access to the public.

• Herring have laid eggs on approximately 1 km of shoreline starting on Habitat Island and eastward. Marine biologists confirm that the environmental cleanup and shoreline habitat creation is a huge success.

Millennium Water Websites

Millennium Water: www.millenniumwater.com
City of Vancouver: www.vancouver.ca/olympicvillage

For more information, please contact:
Valerie Wan, NATIONAL Public Relations, 604-691-7397, vwan@national.ca OR Richard Gilhooley, NATIONAL Public Relations, 604-638-7451, rgilhooley@national.ca

Vancouver 2010 Olympic Athlete's Village Condos at Millennium Water Development to be Sold May 2010 - Affordable Housing Component May Be Scrapped

Waterfront Olympic Village Condos To Be Sold After the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games at Millennium Water

An announcement in early October 2009 by mayor Gregor Robertson has told the city that the sales for many of the high-end luxury Millennium Water Olympic Village condos will not start until next May 2010, after the Olympic Games. In an interview with the Georgia Straight, Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson explained that the current Vancouver real estate market is still under performing, and therefore, Millennium Development Corp has decided to wait until the market gets a bit better before putting their prime waterfront Vancouver condos on sale next year. This will allow Millennium Water and the 2010 Olympic Village to gain all the media coverage and exposure during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games, which will attract local Vancouver homebuyers, Canadians and international investors into the master planned community. In addition, because the 2010 Olympic Village is still under construction and considered a presale or pre-construction Vancouver condo purchase, many homebuyers are waiting to see what the finished product will look like, to do a walkthrough, feel and touch the finishes and features, and this will not happen until after April 2010. Therefore, the new strategy at the much anticipated waterfront Vancouver condos at Millennium Water will put sales on hold for now in this one billion dollar project. According to the marketers as well as the Mayor, many of the two hundred and sixty six (266) units that still remain unsold at the waterfront Vancouver Millennium Water condo development are of the higher end and represent multi million dollar high-end condominiums and townhomes for sale. These are in addition to the approximate seven hundred (700) Millennium Water Olympic Village condos that have already been sold to pre-construction condominium buyers. According to the latest Vancouver 2010 Olympic reports, approximately four hundred and twenty (420) Olympic Village condos have been completed, inspected, approved and now locked down by VANOC and IOC in preparation for athletes. This is almost half of the eleven hundred (1100) market units and affordable housing units available. In any case, for homebuyers looking to purchase a luxury waterfront Vancouver condo at Millennium Water, you’ll just have to wait until May 2010, before the dreaded HST hits new condominium purchases.

Metro Newspaper and Rennie Marketing Confirm that Remaining Millennium Water Olympic Village Condos to Be Sold Next Year

Citing lower than anticipated market sales values in the southeast False Creek Vancouver real estate district, the developer, marketer and mayor have now confirmed that the remaining market units at the 2010 Olympic Village, also known as Millennium Water False Creek condos, will be sold next May 2010 after the Winter Games. In order to recoup the initial cash investment by the city into this master planned waterfront False Creek development, mayor Gregor Robertson has stated that the city needs a very hot real estate market to recoup some $1.2 billlion spent on building the Olympic Athlete’s Village. With the property market still realing from the global economic crisis, even with the recent upwards spike in sales volume, the sales prices of condo units around the southeast False Creek Olympic Athlete’s Village have not increased enough for the numbers to work. The Olympic Village has been under huge scrutiny due to the ballooning budget that now sits around $1.196 billion, which represents over $250 million more than the original budget of $950 million. Up until October 2009, the Millennium Water condos have been quite successful in attacting Vancouver presale condo buyers. Of the 730 Millennium Water condominiums presented to the public as market units, 226 suites have been sold as pre-construction or presale Vancouver condos at the Olympic Athlete’s Village which represents more than 25%. The total sales of the presale Vancouver Millennium Water condos is priced at around $217 million. As the mayor has suggested, along with Rennie Marketing Systems, all presales will be put on hold for now until May 2010 after the increased exposure and marketing during the Olympic Winter Games.

Affordable Housing at Millennium Water Olympic Athlete’s Village to be Scrapped?

There are rumours around town that the Millennium Water affordable housing component of this master planned Southeast False Creek waterfront community may be scrapped due to the budget overruns and tax burden on Vancouver residents. An official has confirmed that affordable housing and homes at Millennium Water after the 2010 Games may no longer be a certainty after the latest auditor’s report came out this week. The cost of the social housing component here at Millennium Water False Creek community may be scrapped because of the costs, and the projected losses even if all the remaning units of this development are sold next year after the Olympic Games. A city report will be presented to the council later this fall as to the issue of the Millennium Water False Creek social housing component. It was originally proposed that two hundred and fifty two (252) of the eleven hundred (1100) units within the southeast False Creek Vancouver Millennium Water development be for social housing. According to the latest reports, the developer and Rennie Marketing have had lots of trouble selling these waterfront suites at market prices due to the global economic crisis. In addition, with the recent drop in Vancouver real estate prices, the city is now preparing itself for a big loss even with a sellout of all units. The only hope now is to keep the unsold units for after the Olympics, and then launch sales in May 2010.

Will the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Village Be Ready on Time?

The race is certainly on in order to keep pace with a November 1st, 2009 handover date of all condominiums to VANOC in preparation for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. According to the city manager of Millennium Water Olympic Villlage, there are a couple of tight deadlines that are coming up and an update was released in a KPMG status report on the southeast False Creek Vancouver real estate development. The report that was based on details and information back in January 19th showed that Millennium Development was the lowest ranked of the three bidding Vancouver real estate developers before the price was considered, but came out on top due to the fact that they promised to deliver on time and at the best price. So will the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Village be ready? Well, certain things have been changed or left out from the original proposed Millennium Water False Creek development, including a triangular shaped park that was to be located next to the inlet. Another feature of the 2010 Olympic Athlete’s Village that won’t be complete until after the Winter Games will be the dock for non motor boats. Design changes to the parks, plazas, streetscapes, and other factors have already been dealt with, but according to the city manager, some of the Athlete’s Village condo buildings at Millennium Water won’t be complete before the November 1st deadline. One of the three affordable housing parcels at the Vancouver 2010 Athlete’s Village was handed over to VANOC very early, back on October 1st, 2009, another one needs monitoring and the third parcel for the affordable housing Millennium Water residential building will definitely not be ready for November 1, 2009. The expected completion of that affordable housing False Creek parcel is for December 1st. In addition, the completion of the Salt Building is still set for October 31st, but the Civic Centre that was suppose to be due for completion and handover back on July 31st, is not yet done or ready. In the entire master planned Millennium Water Vancouver 2010 Athlete’s Village, about four hundred and twenty of the eleven hundred condo units have already been completed and handed over to VANOC for final inspection.