Olympic Village To Be Converted To Mixed-Use Space (So The City Can Make Its Billion Back)

With the close of the Vancouver Olympics, preparations are underway to turn the athletes' village into a thriving waterfront community. And that had better work, or the city's gonna take quite a hit:

The depressed real estate market has marred the village project since its inception and threatens to hinder plans for the future. It was built on city-owned land by a developer who was supposed to privately finance the venture and then convert it to luxury condos after the Games, paying the city for the property. But then the credit crisis hit -- Vancouver was particularly vulnerable -- and the city had to provide a $434 million bailout to the developers. In all, Vancouver spent about $1 billion in costs on the athlete's village.

If this sounds problematic to you, one more hangup at the end of a snafu-infested series of events, just imagine the fun when Russia takes over.