ONE YEAR AFTER : Barcelona Struggles With Debt, High Taxes in Post-Olympic Era

Jordi Vallverdu’s job is to find tenants for Montjuic Olympic Stadium and the Sant Jordi arena--the centerpieces of last year’s Summer Olympics.

It’s no easy sell in a country mired in a recession probably worsened by Olympian spending for the Games.

“There’s no doubt the economic crisis here coincided with the end of the Games,” said Vallverdu, the managing director of Barcelona Promocio.

The private corporation set up four years ago to manage sports venues built for the Games has made a profit every year, Vallverdu said.

The firm also manages two other sports facilities used in last year’s Games. Sant Jordi is the moneymaker. Without it, the other three would be money losers.

“This year we’ll make a profit again, but we’re working 20% to 30% harder to find bookings,” Vallverdu added, standing on the stadium’s all-weather track.

The Pittsburgh Steelers and San Francisco 49ers drew 45,000 for an exhibition game in the stadium this month. Prince is expected to fill the place for a concert later in August.

Across the street at Sant Jordi, concerts by U-2, Dire Straits and Sting keep the bills paid.

The Games closed Aug. 9, 1992, and almost everyone in Spain’s second city proudly proclaimed them a sporting success. The Olympics glamorized the city and left behind Europe’s most extensive urban renewal project and world-class sports facilities.

While most of the venues are used for sporting events, the d’Horta Velodrome, which doesn’t hold enough cycling races to support itself, has doubled as an outdoor dance club.

But there has been a price to pay, both in money and in aesthetics.

The public debt from the Games is about $1.4 billion. The debt is being shared by Barcelona and the central government in Madrid. It is to be paid off by 2009.

“For the average citizen, the most important thing was the new highway system that now rings the city,” said Orfeo Suarez, a journalist with the daily La Vanguardia. “This city is hemmed in by the sea on one side and mountains on the other, and before, traffic was awful.”

Across Spain, unemployment has soared to 22%, the highest in the European Community, along with a rising budget deficit and negative economic growth predicted for this year.

In Barcelona, taxes are up. More than 5,000 angry merchants demonstrated at city hall when a business tax was increased by 30 percent.

“We might have overdone it a bit,” said a cab driver, echoing a common opinion. “We had the Olympics here, the World’s Fair in Seville. That’s a lot in one year. Now we pay.”

Government agencies and private investors spent $9.3 billion to prepare the Mediterranean port for the Games. About $875 million went to build sports facilities, the rest for infrastructure like highways and a new airport. The private sector invested $3.2 billion and the public sector $6.1 billion.

Barcelona’s dream-like 19th century Art Nouveau architecture still captivates, but there’s more steel, concrete and glass than before. Some see a white elephant in the Olympic Village that housed more than 9,000 athletes.

“Some of us believe they built some things that didn’t fit in here and won’t have lasting value,” said Rosa Bartolome, 27, a travel agent.

The 12-square-block Olympic Village is a virtually uninhabited complex of apartments and parks. The deserted urban landscape is striking in a country with Europe’s most vibrant street life, and its modern steel and wood sculptures seem very large and out of place.

All but a few of the 2,000 apartments are still looking for owners willing to pay between $200,000 and $500,000 for relatively small flats. The area has a new beach and new harbor just a five-minute walk away that also is part of the Olympic restoration.

“You go through here at night, it’s all black and you see no lights on in the windows,” said Miguel Chale, who lives in an adjacent neighborhood with his wife, Arantxa Gonzalez. “It’s a bit sad now the way it’s abandoned. We couldn’t afford it, but I hope they find buyers.”

Enrique Calvo, 27, moved into an apartment three months ago on Avinguda D’Icaria, the main street in the area, and is pleased to pay only $900 a month in rent.

“It’s close to work, it’s quiet and my wife likes the beach nearby,” Calvo said. “The real estate market here is in crisis. I’m sure when the prices come down they’ll sell and then you can say (the Olympics) were a total success.”