Vancouver needs reality check on athletes village: former mayor

A former Vancouver mayor says city council needs a reality check when it comes to the Olympic athletes village controversy.

On Friday, Mayor Gregor Robertson said the city's taxpayers could be on the hook for as much as $875 million to complete the project unless city council can reopen a loan given to the developer or find new financing.

The City of Vancouver has been covering the costs of the project since the New York-based hedge fund Fortress Investment Group stopped advancing funds to Millennium Development Corp. in September.

Former mayor Phillip Owen said city council is falsely presenting the project as a loss for the city.

"That might be true if the land and the 850 units, when finished, are worth nothing," Owen said. "The spin is just absolutely ridiculous. We need to have some reality from city hall."

Owen said talk of Vancouver losing millions of dollars on the project the previous city council approved is just the current council painting a worst-case scenario.

"At the end, we're going to have 800-odd condominium units on 17 acres of land on a beautiful waterfront area of Vancouver. That's gotta be worth something," Owen said.

"I've got children and grandchildren. I'm not worried about them having to be hammered in any great way in future ways because cities can ride this out."

The real cost of the project won't truly be known until after the Olympics are over.

Condo sales were expected to be lucrative after 2010, but with the economic slowdown and sagging real estate market, only 30 per cent of the units have been sold.

The city is holding a meeting Monday at City Hall to inform the public about the risks the project will bring.