The organizers of the Olympic Games, scheduled for next summer in Paris, received the keys to the newly built Olympic Village on Thursday, on schedule, boosting confidence that they will be ready for the Games.
The Olympic Village was inaugurated with an opening ceremony in northern Paris, where the president of the organizing committee, Tony Estanguet, received a symbolic key to the complex in front of dignitaries, including French President Emmanuel Macron.
“The commitments we made in 2017, we have kept them,” Macron told reporters. “You have completed the Olympic Village on time, on budget, and with social and environmental exemplarity.”
The organizers are expected to spend the next four months outfitting the village with more than 300,000 pieces of furniture and decor, before the first wave of athletes arrive on July 18.
The site includes about 40 low-rise tower blocks, and will feature a 24-hour restaurant, an alcohol-free bar, a recreation area, and training facilities.
The French state contributed €646 million ($700 million) of public money, with the rest coming from France’s biggest property companies, which developed different parts of the 52-hectare (128-acre) site.
After the Olympic and Paralympic Games, a third of the 2,800 apartments will be sold to private homeowners, a third will be used for social housing, and the rest will be for rent, including to students.
Each building is different, with striking variations in facade design and color.
“We wanted the architectural diversity that is characteristic of European cities,” the president of the Games’ infrastructure delivery group, Solideo, Nicolas Ferrand, told the French president.
The Seine-Saint-Denis area is one of the poorest and most crime-ridden areas in France, and is the focus of public investment for the Games.
