Plenty of wealthy business tycoons have kicked the proverbial tires and pondered buying the 450 or so remaining units at the troubled former Olympic Village.
Vancouver Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini, for example, told Business in Vancouver (See: “Wealthy bullish and bearish on Olympic village bulk buy potential” – issue 1111; February 8-14.) that he is keen to buy the units at the right price.
Insiders believe many other local developers have also investigated purchasing the units at the site, now known as Millennium Water, but expected to be rebranded simply The Village within the next month.
Other wealthy Vancouverites have a soft spot for the project but believe other investments have a better long-term payoff even if the price for the units is slashed by about one-third, as is expected, when sales of the units restart next month.
“My Lululemon stock (TSX:LLL; NYSE:LULU) is doing so well. I see no desire to sell it to buy into the Village as much as I love it,” said Lululemon co-founder Chip Wilson, who continues to own about one-third of the yoga-wear giant.
Wilson’s net worth dropped from more than $1.5 billion before the economic downturn to less than $200 million at the recession’s nadir. It is now estimated to be in excess of $2 billion.
Wilson sold 48% of Lululemon for $108 million to two private equity firms in 2005. He shed a further 12% two years later as part of the company’s IPO. Since then, Wilson has told BIV that he has “given” shares to employees. (See “Net worth plunging, but those who have got are still giving” – issue 1012; March 17-23, 2009.)
Lululemon stock surged more than 1,100% between March 2009 and February 2011.
Outside Lululemon, Wilson is active in the two charities he started: imagine1day and Chip’s Not Dead Yet Memorial Mile.