Olympic Village condos discounted 30%

Vancouver's so-called "condo king" has unveiled the repricing plan for the troubled condominium project at the former Olympic Village site.

Known as the marketing expert behind thousands of condo sales in B.C.'s Lower Mainland, real estate marketer Bob Rennie said 230 units will go on the market starting Friday, with an average price-reduction of 30 per cent.

"We are protecting future values by only bringing the 230 for sale," said Rennie. "And we are also protecting the homeowners that have already purchased by really having an orderly sale."

'We have a ghost-town cloud over the Village.'—Condominium marketer Bob Rennie

The cheapest unit under the new marketing scheme is a studio condo priced at $339,900. The most expensive unit that will be on offer is a three-bedroom luxury condo priced at $4.1 million.

The 1,100-unit development was completed in the fall of 2009 and was first used to house athletes during the 2010 Olympics. Several months before completion, the developer ran out of money and the City of Vancouver had to step in with a $700-million bailout.

Village on False Creek

The developer could not keep up with payments on that loan and the project went into receivership in November.

Purchasers picked up 265 of the units in pre-sales.

Rennie said 59 units now cost under $500,000 and 61 units cost between $500,000 and $750,000. Another 51 units costs between $750,000 and $1 million and a final 59 units cost more than $1 million. The remaining 114 units currently for sale will be rented out to help populate the village, and later the company will put several dozen more, pricier condos on the market.

Originally marketed under the name Millennium Water, the development now has changed to The Village on False Creek as part of the latest rebranding.

The initial slow sales tarnished the reputation of the 25-building project, which Rennie said it's his job to repair.

"We have a ghost-town cloud over the Village," he said. "You have all written about it. We've all heard about it. And I have to remove that cloud."

Rennie said it's his initial goal to try to sell 60 condos in 60 days and he might already be more than halfway there. Last week, he did some market testing and got offers on 31 units, he said.