Pan Am Games athletes’ village construction under way
Published on Friday, 13 January 2012 14:10 | | 
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Toronto, Jan 13, 2012, Shovels are in the ground for a Pan Am Games athletes’ village that will finally realize the decades-long dream of developing the West Don Lands, says Citizenship and Immigration Minister Charles Sousa.Sousa said the 2015 sporting event sparked a private-public partnership project on the contaminated site of the aborted Ataratiri housing project cancelled almost a generation ago.“This project is about building a waterfront community … that will be the temporary home of more than 10,000 athletes,” the minister told 200 people Thursday at the adjacent Distillery District.It will generate 5,200 jobs and, after the Games, leave a legacy of 787 condo and 253 affordable housing units, a 500-student residence for George Brown College, and a YMCA recreation centre in a new neighbourhood nestled between Parliament St. and the Don Valley Parkway south of Corktown.Despite the province’s challenging fiscal situation, Sousa said the ambitious initiative is proceeding because it makes sound business sense.“It’s absolutely going ahead. This is the sort of investments that we want to make in our infrastructure and in our economy,” he told reporters, noting there would be a “payback” because the project would increase the value of nearby land owned by the province.If the Games were not being held here, the minister said developing the 32-hectare site — something promised since the 1980s — would not have taken place for at least another five to 10 years.Ian Troop, chief executive officer of TO2015, said the 41-nation Games would be the “catalyst” for a “redevelopment that will be the envy of the world.”The $514 million athlete’s village, being developed by Dundee Kilmer, is the most expensive component of an event slated to cost $1.4 billion, with money from Ottawa, Queen’s Park and city hall.Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak said he’s “very worried” the Liberals, already scrambling to pay down a $16 billion deficit and threatening cuts this year, will not deliver the Games on budget.NDP MPP Paul Miller (Hamilton East-Stoney Creek) urged the government to “open the books to the public to prove what they are saying is true” about the event’s finances, which he complained haven’t been updated since 2009.Source: The Star
