$170 million community center?
From today's Sports Business Journal:
The $170 million speedskating facility is exactly what the International Olympic Committee has called for in Olympic venues. It’s an environmentally sustainable building that earned LEED Silver status from the Canadian Green Building Council, and it will be converted into a community recreation facility after the Olympics, thereby guaranteeing it won’t become an unused white elephant.
This paragraph describes the speed-skating venue in Vancouver.
A couple of quick comments. LEED status is not necessarily a good thing. There have been no compelling studies, at least of which I am aware, that suggest that LEED status of SILVER, GOLD, PLATINUM actually pay for themselves. Indeed, an aborted study I worked on a year or so ago suggested that, at least in the US, the probability of LEED status of SILVER, GOLD, or PLATINUM was much higher if the building was built by the public sector or was a bank branch (don't really know how to explain the latter).
Second, LEED certification is a combination of actually impressive architectural feats and a bunch of (potentially) silly issues. For instance, one building can achieve a specific level of certification points by having a water reclimation system and a geo-thermal heating system, both of which might be very impressive and potentially money-saving for the builder and tenants. However, another building can achieve the same certification score by having any number of bike racks out front - an outcome that is not necessarily going to contribute much to "green" behavior (whatever that really means).
Third, to claim that turning the venue into a community recreation center ensures that the building will not become a "White Elephant" is not guaranteed at all. Indeed, how many community centers do we see in disrepair and unused? How many cities would EVER build a $170 million community recreation center?
It gets better:
The result is a community center that will feature eight gyms, two international-size ice rinks, a 200-meter running track and 21,000 square feet of additional training space for martial arts, yoga and other activities.
"I expect this building will easily attract 1 million visitors a year," Johnston said. "That’s unheard of in terms of what other Olympic ovals have done post-Games."
That seems like a lot of space for a relatively small community. One million visitors a year? He "expects"? Hmmmmm.
Recent history (Athens and Beijing especially) suggest that the venues are not used as much as predicted (shock) and can move into disrepair much faster than anyone anticipates.
Good luck to Vancouver. I don't think any sports economist wishes bad upon any Olympics host but it always seems to be an uphill battle to justify the expenditure on Olympic venues and events.
Potentially gated story here
Posted by Craig Depken at 01:04 PM in Sports
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