Vancouver Magazine

News and Features

Up False Creek - continued

By Frances Bula published Apr 1, 2009

Rennie has been at their side throughout these Olympic Village travails as the Maleks try to work their way through what was supposed to be their most impressive accomplishment of all. So has their father, reminding them that they have a good project and that they need to rise above the short-term pain.

But they still have a few more bitter pills to swallow. One, the loss of authority over the project. Their father believed in giving them freedom to make their own mistakes. Increasingly anxious city overseers do not feel the same way, as the Olympics deadline approaches. Nor are those overseers going to be willing to do the Maleks any favours that make it appear taxpayers are merely bailing out a development company. That means the city, risking its credit rating to borrow for the project, is unlikely to give the brothers a very favourable interest rate—just barely favourable enough not to drive them into bankruptcy (which could void the 250 condo presales). That sets the scene for a No Exit drama of the first order. It may look in future months as though it’s about money, but it’s really about control and respect. As many people who’ve been pulled into the Olympic Village orbit have observed, the development has become a Spartan “return with your shield, or on it” scenario for the Maleks.

“I’ve asked them the question every which way: ‘If you were given the option to take your $70 million out of this and go home, would you go?’ And they keep saying, ‘No, we have to do this for our business, for our family, for the province,’ ” says Ward McAllister, who heads the city-appointed developer committee recruited to monitor the Maleks’ progress. He’s astounded at their doggedness and willingness to gamble everything.

“They’ve got the farm in this deal, completely.” That would be all of their personal and corporate assets—not worth as much as they used to be, as city officials have noted. But still the farm. And why? The pragmatic, and somewhat bemused, McAllister can think of only one reason. “Face. It’s all about face.” VM