^ OMG you've nailed it.

Anyone have any skills making memes?

They cannot force someone to build. They can ban surface parking lots (as they have done in Regina) but not retroactively. In Regina they have made several exceptions to the rule, so it hasn't worked out so well. Also in Regina numerous buildings have been demolished since the ban and several of them have ended up as weed gardens (i.e. no development and no parking lot). In the meantime you can pay over $300/month to park downtown and there is almost no angle parking like in Saskatoon.

couldn't the city designate the downtown as a special ares setting up borders and taxing empty lots that had buildings on them at the same rate as ones with buildings or does that sound to much like communism

I am pretty sure the City is not allowed to do this - not permitted under legislation. Municipalities, especially in SK, are still fairly handcuffed by the province. The solution to the parking/empty lot problem is creating demand - nurturing our home grown tech scene (and making sure they don’t leave), and having some sort of strategy to attract established companies here. I don’t blame BASF - what makes Saskatoon better than Calgary?

On another note, instead of spending money on a “World Trade Center” sign, north prairie should have replaced their signs on the neighbouring lots that say “Office building - possession 2016”

I was at the Saskatchewan Real Estate forum here in Saskatoon on April 30th and thought that I'd share one takeaway from the day. Probably surprising to most posters on here, the opinion of people from outside of Saskatoon is that this city has a pretty vibrant downtown core. That observation was made not just in comparison to Regina (most agree that the Queen City has virtually nothing happening after end of business) but to other cities across the prairies as a whole.

Sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees when we're standing in the middle of the forest....

^i don’t disagree that our downtown is kicking ass. There’s always room for improvement though - especially with how many silly surface lots and the odd dead lot like the one kept dead by North Prairie for what, a decade now while we watch North Prairie build commercial buildings that’s sit empty in Stonebridge for 5 years? I know people from Nutrien that PARK at 25th and 2nd in those now open lots that had something on them ten years ago - hopefully with the increase in parking at River Landing Nutrien but no real tangible announcement of any new offices moving downtown we will hopefully see a huge drop in demand for permanent parking spots downtown and those surface lots won’t be such cash cows and that will be the incentive for these rich folk to stop being so selfish and build to benefit our downtown?? I just think simple legislation would push the market quicker. These folk speculating on downtown real estate and just leaving them bare or with parking is doing no one but themselves good... :shrug: heck I’d even be happy if they love parking so much - build a parkade with retail on the main level. If these people spec buying want to not be such a detriment and want to be serious about their passion of buying a downtown lot specifically for parking, give us a beautiful parking lot lol

The tax assessment rules are set provincially by SAMA. Municipalities are not allowed to make up their own rules. Municipalities can allow exemptions and they can set the general mill rate. Otherwise they are pretty handcuffed as stated by skyhigh.

I agree there should be more flexibility to tax these lots at higher rates, especially brownfields that can sit idle for decades.

Could the city decide to withhold tax re-appraisals for X years after teardown on commercially zoned properties?

From my experiences with property owners, the decision to transform a building into a parking lot arises from a combination of vacancy and high mill rates. Therefore the tax bill reduces substantially if its turned into surface parking...

If a teardown doesn't get reappraised for X years after being demo'ed it would do two things: (1) incentivize against surface parking and (2) incentive expanded building. Expanded building would be incentivized it would amount to a tax subsidy on infill. Furthermore, this measure would mostly target commercial infill because it would apply only to properties that have been demo'ed.

This has always been my thought. Could the city do this?

Brighton Tenants
 

Any news on new commercial tenants or construction updates for Brighton? Last time I was in Saskatoon it looked like the Save On Foods and Keg were coming along nicely but I'm not sure what else is being done there.

The City could not. The Province would have to change the law. The City has some discretion on demo permits, but it is limited.

I wish all developers “cared” about design/city building/etc. as much as you, and the other people on this forum do. But most don’t. It’s a business, and it needs to make business sense above all else...

Ok, check this out. A quote from the Brighton website (link below): “Brighton Marketplace. Being part of the largest master-planned community in Saskatoon has its perks, and one of them is the ease of shopping. Welcome to the Brighton Marketplace, 235,000 SQFT of convenience and amenities at your doorstep.
Located at the intersection of College and McOrmond Drive, we invite you to explore a visionary outdoor shopping experience, come to life. Brighton Marketplace is an unmatched retail experience being developed in the City of Saskatoon. A one-stop-shop to indulge all your senses!

Sounds awesome hey? What does this make you dream of?....


http://brightoncommunity.ca/

so this is what Visionary and unmatched are...!

7-11!!!!
Shoppers drug mart!!!!
Save on foods
Tim hortons!!!!!!
Urban cellars
SaskTel store
A&w
Sally beauty supply
Good earth coffee
Pet valu
Cooke insurance
Subway!!!
Motion fitness
Ultracuts!!!
Panago
A dentist and optometrist

Super exiciting! :burstbubble:

A bare parking lot or a empty building with no tenants is a sign those people have too much money on their hands and are terrible business people or if they cant afford to upgrade it, they need to sell to someone who will utilize it. The old police station upgrade is a perfect example. I actually know the profits they were making on the elevated and indoor lots and it easily could have stayed that way. Luckily they were more ambitious than just sucking parking fees - compared to some other land holders in our beautiful downtown that are wrecking it for everyone. Commercial lots continue to get built in the suburbs and just like my office - once they’re in the suburbs, it’s so damn hard to get them back downtown.. so hard.

My god. What an amazing list of stores which would revolutionize this city if this was Prince Albert.

Well, it would appear that Urban Capital got the message (thank goodness):

https://www.highpointsaskatoon.com/

I’m always impressed when an organization is willing to backup and fix mistakes.

edit

Brighton Village Centre
 

As Brighton is filling in I'm finding the village centre concept difficult to wrap my mind around. It appears there are two multi-story buildings shown with lots of glass and one rendering shows a plaza with a lot of activity... what are the actual planned uses that will draw this many people there (especially with the "outdoor marketplace" that has all the retail ammenities nearly a km away)? Their website says something about a skating rink, is that inside one of these two buildings in the centre? Is it a planned community centre and if so will there be a library, fitness facilities, meeting/conference rooms or anything like that?

edit

Everyone needs to be realistic.

There will not be a notable commercial construction in downtown Saskatoon for at least 10 years after River Landing is built out. By notable, I am referring to something over 5 stories, which is really not notable by any stretch of the imagination.