Olympians, past and present, visiting Vancouver for next month's Winter Games, will get a chance to experience a slice of the city's old Chinatown with a decidedly modern twist through the recent renovation of the area's oldest building.

Located at 51 East Pender Street, right in the heart of the Canadian city's vibrant but aging Chinatown, the Wing Sang Building built in 1889 has been painstakingly been brought back to life after a four-year restoration and an investment of more than 10 million Canadian dollars by local real estate marketer Bob Rennie.

The 27,000-square-foot space, which is actually two separate buildings in the original three-storey structure on the street and a six-storey building in the back, is being used as a private gallery to house the property king's extensive art collection and offices for his real estate business.

During the Winter Games starting Feb. 12, the facility will be used by the World Olympians Association as a reunion center to allow sporting greats to socialize and entertain. The association boasts more than 100,000 alumni of winter and summer Olympics.

Unlike the beautiful side of Vancouver that city officials want the world to see during the sporting spectacular, what visitors to the Rennie Collection at Wing Sang will see is an area in transition. The building is only one block away from Hastings Street, Canada's poorest address, where drug addiction is rampant and prostitutes and the city's growing army of homeless wander the streets.

The once-vibrant Downtown Eastside that once boasted shops, department stores, theaters and nightclubs, is now a virtual no-go area for most city residents. But there are signs it is slowly coming back to life with a rash of buildings under renovation.

Using the word "balance" frequently, the 52-year-old Rennie, who has made millions marketing condominium developments around the city over the past 35 years, said his group was working seriously with the Vancouver-based Street home organization to find shelter for the homeless. He admits, however, it's a challenge and forecasts in the next five years there will be a " notable balance."

"There's a real conscious effort. My goal by moving my business and my museum into Chinatown is clearly to bring balance to the street. The most important thing we can have is the fortunate walking down the street with the less fortunate. I don't need the billionaire and I don't need the drug dealer, but I'm trying to get that center fabric really, really balanced," he said.

"By putting in a caf next door (to the Wing Sang), having a museum here, having my real estate clients come here, it is a very polite balance to the street. To bring balance to any neighborhood you don't need huge gestures, you need gentle gestures. Vancouver' s been very good to me. I've sold real estate here for 35 years and I want to participate in the change."

In touring Rennie's new headquarters, the renovated Wing Sang is an impressive step in the right direction. Originally built by Yip Sang who came to Canada in 1881, the Guangdong migrant made his fortune in labor contracting, bringing in Chinese workers to build Canada's railway, import/export and property.

Originally constructing the Wing Sang Building as a two-storey for his fledging business, the structure was subsequently expanded to a third storey in 1901. A six-storey addition was built in 1912 to house the Yip family that included four wives and 23 children.

With the Yip clan now standing at more than 800 members worldwide, when Rennie bought the buildings in 2004 for 1 million Canadian dollars, the back building had been derelict for about 15 years, while the front building was in relatively good shape.

During renovations, the original red brick walls were fortified and left exposed, extensive glass roofing was created to let in the natural light and a rooftop garden, or a "sculpture park" as Rennie calls it, was added. The roof today features the sculpture "Glass Pavilion" by U.S. conceptual artist Dan Graham. High up on the outside wall is a 25-meter-long neon slogan "Everything is going to be alright" by British artist Martin Creed. It is only artwork that can be seen outside the building and will be visible from the Olympic Village, a site Rennie is marketing the sales of, a few kilometers to the south.

Rennie, whose vast collection numbers more than 1,000 pieces, is featuring shows by contemporary artists he has patronized over the years. Included in the collection are Thomas Houseago, Richard Jackson, Amy Bessore, Glenn Ligon, Robert Beck, Rodney Graham and Ian Wallace, among others. He is currently showing pieces by Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum.

Standing in front of a five-meter-high globe that Hatoum has created where all the continents are neon red, Rennie said a large part the artist's works deal with identity, race and prejudice. He adds the illuminated continents indicate that when one country or place has a problem "we all have a problem."

"We think what's going on in Haiti or Iraq is isolated, with prejudice in the world, it's not. It's an important piece." Rennie said he wanted the Downtown Eastside, a short walk from where the medal presentations will be held nightly at BC Place during the Olympics, to be included in the Games.

"That is why I gave the building to the World Olympians. I was a big advocate for the Olympics and the reason why is because Vancouver is not a head office city, we're not a financial center, we don't have manufacturing. We're in the service industry and we rely on tourism. I felt the investment in the Olympics protected my grandchildren, ensured jobs for the future."

He recognized that not everyone in the city agreed with staging the Olympics as there has been much grumbling by locals who oppose the unknown billions of dollars being spent to stage what they see as a two-week party, with the bill to arrive later.

"We spent the money when we had it in the old economy, from 2002 when we threw our hat into the ring for the Olympics, to 2008. That was probably the largest economic boom any of us will ever live through, so we spent the money during that time," Rennie said.

"I'm glad we spent the money when we had it. We (now) have the Canada (metro) Line to the airport and other buildings that will leave a permanent legacy."