Well, that's too bad. Woulda been nice to see something a little more substantial there. Even if they did something like the subway on college where they put a few apartments on top of it.

Hopefully Tim Hortons doesn't announce they'll be building their next location on the lot kiddie corner from there.

I tend to agree with this assessment. We have such an abundance of parking lots downtown that I’ll take some of these smaller projects to at least fill the space and make that part of “downtown” look less like a small town. Obviously I too wish it was something more substantial but for now I’ll accept that. My hopes are still higher for the site of the former Patricia hotel across the street. I wouldn’t expect to see anything too exciting there but a mid-size development would be fantastic in this economy.

I am perfectly okay with having a new one storey building there that adds some retail space to the area. My issue is with the building form and placement on the site - the placement of the parking, setback from the street, and the ultimate insult - a drive thru window and car lane forming the building's interface with 2nd Ave. It's a suburban style development plunked down in our downtown.

Now I'm not naïve and I accept that these retail spaces need parking, and that we are a number of years from transitioning away from this kind of formulaic auto-oriented development on many of our main commercial corridors. BUT, literally 2 blocks away is the new Monarch building at 2nd & Queen that is an example of commercial infill on a main street done right. It can be done folks.

So I don't begrudge the property owners for making the investment, or landing a tenant like Starbucks (good for them). And some new services in the area can't be a bad thing. But I am still free to say: this is crap, and our downtown deserves better.

Another thing I love about this new downtown starbucks is the drive thru - with that being basically in the back alley, there's more of a deterrant for crime. I'm actually very excited for this - the 7/11 and Circle K are very scary to go to late at night - more eyes in that area are great.

The highest crime area of city park and downtown is easily identified in that area. I walked from RydeYXE to downtown through 5th Ave the other day at dusk and didn't feel safe. This is very good for the downtown - that corner doesn't deserve a starbucks. The drive thru demographic of people driving downtown for coffee is very different from the people walking into the coffee shops we have all over downtown. All around this is great from a crime deterrant perspective. I consider crime and people's perception of parking costs as the highest disincentivizers to development in our downtown.

Too bad that location won't have mixed use... but at least a one story can be knocked down in a couple decades when there is a demand for something more valuable there. I'm somewhat troubled by the affect this will have on traffic and pedestrian safety there, but meh I guess.

This could end up like the Drive Thru fiasco that Tim's was/is on 33rd by Kelsey. That is a major crap show for traffic too...had to install barriers to prevent cars from crossing road....but have seen cars sit there forever trying to access back onto 33rd!

I can't believe city could not have had some say in allowing a drive through in that location??

Whatever....

What’s up with the Baydo project on Broadway?

I think it makes it look more like a small town. Nothing says small-time like poor planning and development.

I differ from the "this is better then nothing" perspective. If it was temporary, like putting up a tent, that would be different. But the likelihood of anything being built on downtown property now being demolished,when things improve to build something better. just is not realistic.

Once we settle for this less then adequate build on a piece of prime real estate, we will have to live with it. I hate the amount of gravel parking lots we have downtown, but I would still rather wait it out for a decent build that actually adds something to our downtown architecture then go ahead with small strip mall. I agree with a previous poster that a strip mall is something for the burbs, not your downtown core.

Just MHO....

BTW...I don't get into Midtown Mall often...have there been any noticable changes in there since Food Court and Shoppers?

I walk by 2nd Ave Starbucks daily on my route to work - lots of cars downtown parked outside picking up their mobile orders, but if a parking guard was there they'd be ticketed which is a joke. A Starbucks drive thru "near" downtown is very good for people driving into work downtown. I have two starbuck's 1.5 blocks away from me at my office, but when it's winter I don't go to them because walking in the winter will always suck - which is a huge deterrant to opening a coffee shop in Saskatoon when your sales suffer in the winter and you rely on foot traffic (and 50% of people on here hate skywalks).

This is not a prime lot. I personally avoid this area like coronavirus, I was attacked right there when someone came out of the back alley in the middle of the day only 3 years ago (that back alley would be part of the drive thru!) - our crime is now at a record high in Saskatoon. This intersection is very high in crime, and we should be grateful a business like Starbucks is going there to create more eyes to surround that rough neighborhood. This is very good for that corner.

I emailed them on Friday, and was told they're still expecting to be completed in Spring of 2021. I was also able to get a PDF of the unit floor plans, but not sure how I can put that on here.

Just take a screenshot, crop it, post the jpeg through the proper way.

Totally agree. The strip between the 7-Eleven and Circle K is riff-raff central. At night it's very sketchy. This will at least add a little more normalcy to the area during the daytime. And as you say, there are far better lots to host the dense, mixed-use developments we all want in the core. This is a small lot on a crappy, busy intersection. I'd even go so far as to call this urban by Saskatoon's standards. Imagining residential there is such a pipe dream, at least for the foreseeable future.

Anyway, if the developers could make more money there with another type of development, why wouldn't they? I'm not likely to support the businesses there, but this is Saskatoon, and people want their coffee and donairs, and they want parking and drive-thrus. The developer knows their market, that's all, and there's nothing wrong with that, even if we might wish for something better.

In minor development news, this corner lot at Clarence Ave and Osler Street is up for rezoning to allow a 4 unit townhouse.

The rendering is cartoony but with high quality materials it could be decent:

https://postmediathestarphoenix2.fil...trip=all&w=640

Per the SP: https://thestarphoenix.com/news/loca...inary-blessing

Perfect unit for that busy street! Clarence reminds me of Vancouver's street coming from the airport to the downtown via a cab - Granville Street. I think Clarence one day could be as covered in pine and hedge folliage to beautify it as much as Vancouver's.
https://i.imgur.com/rCfeiy5.png

These look similar in style to a 2 unit townhouse brick unit that already exists on 11th Street East between McKinnon and Clarence. Face onto Albert Park. Fit in nicely with the neighborhood. (sorry, don't have any pictures)

https://www.google.com/maps/place/10...4d-106.6445381

Ouch. It looks like a knockoff of the Ronald McDonald House down the street. And what an odd rendering. The angle of the driveway makes it look like this will have the mother of all curb cuts and a three-foot drop from sidewalk to driveway. Too bad there isn't a back alley for parking access.

I'd debate that it looks like any of the antique style buildings on the more beautiful streets of New York or Boston.

https://i.imgur.com/eQCM9YP.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/uFayb4b.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/KrBHJ9D.jpg

Haha, oh gosh! I admire your optimism, and I certainly share your hope that this will turn out well. The rendering looks a bit more Walt Disney than Bed-Stuy to me, but renderings can be deceiving in ways both good and bad, so who knows.

At least it's more promising than 880 Broadway, though! Yech! :yuck: It's somehow worse than the Luxe!