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News Events Vancouver Winter Olympics Preparations
| Vancouver Winter Olympics Preparations |
| Friday, 07 March 2008 | |
 2010 may seem like it’s a long way off, but in Vancouver they’re already getting ready for the Winter Olympics – boosting a major building boom in British Columbia that’s pumping millions into Canada’s economy. In a recent article, the New York Times took a look at the changing face of Vancouver, and found that the entire town is getting a major face lift.High-class hotels are under construction in Vancouver, which has been seeing an explosion in new construction. British Columbia as a whole saw over 800 major projects, worth an estimated 135 billion Canadian dollars, in the second half of 2007. Olympic venues being built or renovated for the games include a new speed-skating facility south of the city, a new curling complex, and Hillcrest/Nat Bailey Stadium Park. $2 billion Canadian dollars have been spent on a rapid-transit train that’s slated to be completed by the Olympics, providing service between the airport and downtown Vancouver. Occupancy rates in greater Vancouver’s 25,000 hotel rooms is estimated to be around 73 percent in 2008, ranking it second among Canadian cities after Calgary – and that’s two years before the Olympics hit town. As most of the city’s high-end hotels are smaller, boutique properties, new hotels are under construction, like the Kol Hotel Group’s Loden Vancouver, which will offer 70 rooms, six suites and a “rock star penthouse” in 1940’s inspired design. A 236-unit residential tower opened next door to the hotel last year, and is also managed by Kol. Also in the works: The five-star, 415-room Fairmont Pacific Rim Vancouver, which will occupy 22 floors of a 48-story tower in Coal Harbour, and the 119-room, green Shangri-La Hotel, which will occupy the first 15 stories of Vancouver’s tallest – 61 stories – building and will have silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification (as well as a Tibetan themed spa). Vancouver’s famed Hotel Georgia, a 1928 landmark, is undergoing a complete renovation and is set to reopen in 2010. You can read more in the New York Times article, here: http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/travel/13headsup.html?ref=travel |
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 07 March 2008 ) |
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