The developer stated at the time that the latest designs went to Council for approval that the office tower portion would be starting in the spring.

Good to hear.

Although still waiting to hear some new 'news' about the progress for this year on the RiverLanding project, at least another developer (from Victoria, BC) has bought property for development as part of the overall River Landing development area by the river. This is by the Farmers Market. This guy seems to have very good reputation and credibility, so am optimistic this project actually WILL occur. :tup:

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/busine...536/story.html

Seems to me, shouldn't we be hearing something soon from Nasser about when shovels will be in the ground for RiverLanding Village??...thought they were targeting Spring 2013. If so, you would think detailed plans should be shared soon. :shrug:

Yeah, I'm pretty sure they said the office building would be going ahead asap... no?

I can't decide if this is good news or not...:shrug:

http://www.saskatoonhomepage.ca/plan...el-y/itemid_21

Sounds like nothing will be happening until late summer or fall at the earliest. Also, they seem quite indecisive as to what will be constructed first, which seems a bit odd to me. You think that part would at least be determined by now.

I sure hope this will not be another 'wait and see' of something that never happens....:(

Really don't get how the city of Saskatoon has let Lake Placid and now Nasser tie up the city's prime piece of real estate this long (six years), surely someone else must have been interested and something may have already been built on that site.

The only other "something" that might have already been built there, is this.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_9PHYIvlIYd...pa%2Bhotel.jpg

They're not looking for just something. If we're going to do something spectacular, it has to be done right. That's why they're being so ridiculously lenient. I'm sure there could have been 100's of other rinky dink developments that could have been built there in the mean time. Not interested.

If someone legitimate came along with all their funding in place, I wouldn't be surprised if they dropped Nasser like a bag of dirt. That being said, he seems to be getting his ducks [very slowly] in a row.

I think the challenge for this developer, or any developer for that matter, is that with big projects like these they need to secure tenants for the office tower, and sell condo's for the condo tower. The larger the structure the harder the target. Frankly I am not suprised they are not ready to move ahead yet, sales can be a slow grind, Saskatoon is not Toronto where condos get built on spec. And a developer can announce a planned start date but it is all dependent on sales.

We've seen the same thing in Regina with a couple of projects, Capital point (Hotel and condo) and an office tower that was supposed to have the largest square footage in the province. Both announced start dates a long time ago and neither has started. Despite the 'boom' in the province it is still all relative. Saskatchewan is still a relatively small province and as such, demand for these things is also limited and will take time for them to come to fruition. I understand your frustration though!

this is starting to become a joke. i know i sound impatient. but it really is. do it like alberta. build the dam thing already create jobs. let our company build this things.. but however i guess theres lots of stuff still to cover. ha they should put some overtime in on this whole design thing.

I'm in commerce at the U of S and I was told by a couple well-connected classmates that John Nasser has no intention of building on this site unless he can secure tenants. Apparently, he does not have the passion for this project his father does and is happy sitting on it and collecting parking revenue indefinitely, for 20 or 30 years, as my classmate said.

These are just rumors, so take them for what they're worth. I hope they're wrong - this would be an amazing project if it went through.

I believe at one point in time there was a clause in the sales agreement between the city and the developed that said, within a certain amount of time construction must start or the property would revert back to the city. That said, this project has had enough twists and turns that I don't remember what the conditions were at the end of the day.

Shit. What a weasel.

After all the time and money invested on and around the River Landing site the city of Saskatoon deserves better. When Nasser's time limit to build expires the parcel of land needs to be sectioned off and sold to legitimate builders one project at a time.

To be honest with you, why would he build if he can't secure tenants. I've posted on this in the past, but with a large development like this they have to secure tenants in advance of proceeding with construction. It would be bad business practice if they didn't.

I do have a question though, why is the father no longer involved?

Unless you have a couple hundred million of your own money to risk on constructing a project without a confirmed return on your investment, then I'd temper my criticism of Nasser's pragmatic approach to this development. While I doubt that it will be allowed to simply sit as a parking lot for 20 years, I'd also be very surprised if the City takes any quick action that may discourage the proposed River Landing development. If Nassers & their investors need more time to secure tenants, then I'd expect the City to grant them the time.

Remember that this is Atchison's legacy project. I'm sure he's not wanting to start from scratch with another developer (again). After all, a man can only keep getting re-elected for so long. Whereas a woman (Mayor Hazel McCallion of Mississauga) can apparently be elected at least 12 times.

capital point is a gong show. From what i've heard sgi has contacted royalty Developments about leasing out over half of the 450 000 sq ft the building. they are particularly interested because of the large floor plans.

Oh CRAP!! Just read an article in Star Phoenix today that was discussing some of Saskatoon's current construction projects and the impact of winter on their schedules. In that article, reference is made to the Riverlanding project being developed by Victory Majors (Mr. Nassers company).

He is quoted as saying "I wouldn't anticipate anything going in the ground this year....there are hurdles, but no roadblocks, it's a lot of planning. We're really excited about this."

He also indicated that "planning is slower then expected and the company is still working with potential tenants and looking at project specifics. A detailed final plan needs approval from the city before construction begins, and that plan is likely to be submitted in spring 2014."

So, at best, we will not see any action on that site until summer or fall of 2014. My optimism for this project has now been dashed. I believe Riverfront office building will go ahead before Riverlanding on the Galaxy theatre site, and that Nasser is quickly loosing opportunities for potential tenants. Time to move on..... :(

It's disheartening to hear, but not terribly surprising that construction won't begin this year.

The article says they're "working with potential tenants and looking at project specifics." We don't know the full story behind what's going on. They could be working with a major hotel brand or major office tenant with very specific needs that need to be ironed out.

A $250 million project is a major undertaking for Saskatoon. That number could be higher as I believe that valuation is now years old. If I was behind this project, I wouldn't start digging until all my ducks were in a row.

For what's it worth, Nasser's comments are positive and optimistic.

I lost hope a long time ago. I'm going to die of old age before anything gets built there! Even if and when something does, it won't be good enough to offset the disappointment that's accumulated over the last six years.

Let's hope that Delta Hotels decides to go there. They have decided to differentiate themselves from the other hotels by having state of the art hotels with all the latest communication gear in every room. In several cities that has resulted in them selling off there existing hotel and building a new property.