It might seem premature to write about the 2015 Pan Am Games given the fact that the four-year countdown to the day we welcome 10,000 athletes into the city has just begun, but we all know that time flies.

Frankly, it’s not uncommon for the condominium development cycle to take that long from concept to completion.
Apart from all the competition venues, one of the biggest games legacies will be the athletes’ village on the Toronto waterfront.

Shortly, we will be learning which development consortium will win the right to build approximately 2,000 units, and not long after that, we’ll get to see what those buildings and suites are going to look like.  

The athletes’ village will be an integral part of the emerging mixed-use community unfolding over the next decade.
Between those buildings and the many others that are currently on or coming soon to the market, the waterfront area is quickly becoming one of the city’s most talked-about neighbourhoods.

It doesn’t hurt that all buildings within the Athletes’ Village will achieve a minimum LEED Gold certification, solidifying Toronto’s spot as one of the greenest cities in North America, but with the residential development comes a whole mix of commercial uses, combined with wonderful public spaces and art.

I’m pleased to note that whoever gets the nod to develop the athletes village will be a member of our association and the companies on the short-list are all blue chip brand names capable of delivering the buildings on or ahead of schedule.

Considering the way time flies when you’re building condos, that’s a very good thing.

Stephen Dupuis is President and CEO of the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) and can be found on Twitter (twitter.com/bildgta), Facebook (facebook.com/bildgta), YouTube (youtube.com/bildgta) and BILD’s official online blog (bildblogs.ca).