Work is expected to begin almost immediately on the first phase of a massive $65 million redevelopment plan for the northeast corner of Vancouver's False Creek.
Vancouver city council approved the multi-million dollar redevelopment Thursday night that includes a new retractable roof for B.C. Place, the 25-year-old stadium that will be used for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2010 Olympic Games.
More immediate aspects of the facelift will add a new art gallery and roughly 130,000 square metres of housing, retail and business space to the area.
The province has already committed $50 million to the art gallery project.
PavCo, the crown corporation that controls B.C. Place, wants to replace the inflatable roof with a retractable version, with work to begin after the 2010 Olympic Games conclude.
Vancouver's Olympic organizers have been intimately involved in the upgrade plan, including replacing the roof. VANOC is chipping in $4 million dollars on top of the Crown Corporation's $65 million.
In May, B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell confirmed the stadium would get a new retractable roof to replace the leaky Teflon cover which was blown open in a windstorm in January 2007.
The first covered stadium in Canada, B.C. Place, was built in 1983 to rejuvenate the False Creek area.
