Saskatoon Construction III

[Overklll]

Originally Posted by 905er

Why is it that there seems to be a lot of projects either in the works or proposed for downtown Saskatoon, while in Regina there is literally nothing going on and seemingly nothing in the foreseeable future? What is it that has made one city more desirable for investors, business and new residents over the other? I've often wondered.

Have you been to both cities? Saskatoon is much more beautiful, I love the river valley. I'm originally from SW ON, and love water, so the access to the river valley has been a huge positive for us staying here. I find Regina to be very bland in comparison. I loved in Edmonton for a couple of years, and I find it's basically a smaller Edmonton, which I also liked.

It's similar to Edmonton and Calgary. I think without the lure of the mountains, Calgary would be the second option for most.

IMHO

[ArchGuy1]

One of the big attractions that Saskatoon is lacking despite being a relatively popular tourist and business destination is an observation structure for tourists to look out over the skyline and surrounding area. Toronto, Montreal, Niagara Falls, Quebec City, Calgary, Winnipeg, and Vancouver have at least one structure used for such a purpose. One idea for Saskatoon would be an observation tower using the Skyspire product offered by MV Rides. Such a tower in Saskatoon should be 350 feet (105 meters) tall and have gondolas capable of transporting 1,200 people per hour from the ground to the top. Such a tower should include an observation deck with an indoor level and an outdoor level, along with a revolving restaurant on top. It would use a unique design that has not been built anywhere in the world yet and an iconic symbol of the Saskatoon skyline.
https://martin-vleminckx.com/ride/skyspire/

[Overklll]

Double post.

[EarlyByrdProductions]

...who let the Monorail guy into our thread

[Roquentin]

Has anyone else heard the current Highpoint-site rumblings? Sounds promising!

[skyscraper69420]

Originally Posted by Roquentin

Has anyone else heard the current Highpoint-site rumblings? Sounds promising!

What have you heard?

[prairieguy]

Originally Posted by Roquentin

Has anyone else heard the current Highpoint-site rumblings? Sounds promising!

Yes, please....do tell what you are hearing...I have only heard things like 'dead in the water'....

[skeet1991]

Originally Posted by prairieguy

Yes, please....do tell what you are hearing...I have only heard things like 'dead in the water'....

Yes Roquentin please share!! Such a prominent lot that deserves development.

In Phil Tank's recent-ish update on city centre developments, he updated us on the Highpoint site, saying "Victory Majors is still reconsidering plans for the site, but the land is still “in their development queue.”"

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon...e-condo-projects-rental-market-9.7051638

I know Victory Majors has been partnering with Westcliff on their recent developments in Saskatoon. Maybe a higher end Westcliff tower is in the works??

[Roquentin]

Originally Posted by skeet1991

Maybe a higher end Westcliff tower is in the works??

Sounds like it Apartments above office space

(Edit in case it comes up: I don't know if the plans include an observation deck )

[Brutopian]

Originally Posted by Roquentin

Sounds like it Apartments above office space

(Edit in case it comes up: I don't know if the plans include an observation deck )

Any word on timeline? Thanks, Roquentin.

[audisfelicia12]

Originally Posted by 905er

Why is it that there seems to be a lot of projects either in the works or proposed for downtown Saskatoon, while in Regina there is literally nothing going on and seemingly nothing in the foreseeable future? What is it that has made one city more desirable for investors, business and new residents over the other? I've often wondered.

Government city vs. Private Sector city

[skeet1991]

Originally Posted by Roquentin

Sounds like it Apartments above office space

(Edit in case it comes up: I don't know if the plans include an observation deck )

That's great news. Thank you!

Looking forward to more updates on this as information (and images!) start to emerge.

[PrairiePrince]

Originally Posted by 905er

Why is it that there seems to be a lot of projects either in the works or proposed for downtown Saskatoon, while in Regina there is literally nothing going on and seemingly nothing in the foreseeable future? What is it that has made one city more desirable for investors, business and new residents over the other? I've often wondered.

I don't think it is that cut and dry, and there is more going on than private sector vs government towns and Saskatoon having a major river. With this, I am not trying to get a Saskatoon vs Regina debate going, as both cities have their trade offs and punch above their weight in lots of ways, but rather explain what's going on in Regina.

Regina's CMA grew by 31K people from 22'-25' and it experiencing significant growth in manufacturing and other industries. This is a bit less than Saskatoon, but also has significant growth forecasted in upcoming years. It also has a higher per capita GDP than Saskatoon and one of the highest in the country. So its not that nothing is going on in Regina.

Regarding downtown development, Regina is very built up when it comes to office buildings. Even with Saskatoon's River Landing development (which is great), there is significantly more similar class A and lower office buildings in downtown Regina. However, Saskatoon is now significantly ahead with residential development as you mentioned. I think Saskatoon has had a bolder vision for downtown, which has helped attract outside developers and it has some more sophisticated local developers. On the other end, Regina has spent the majority of the 21st century ignoring its downtown with very little public or private investment until very recently. This has lead to much lighter downtown development in the 2010s and virtually none in the 2020s. Most local developers have concentrated on cheap urban sprawl, though very recently a few have started some cool projects in the core.

Regina now has significant downtown infrastructure projects underway, with more planned. It has also very importantly finally made changes to policies around multi-unit buildings. This is recent, but there are already positive results in core neighborhoods around downtown, with significant amounts of projects occurring. The next step would be some larger scale downtown residential developments, which I am hopeful that Regina will see in the next few years, if this momentum continues. It is great to see these larger projects happening in Saskatoon as a model of what can happen in Regina.

[Crisis]

Just as an aside to PrairiePrince's post above, I thought it's interesting that the most expensive area for office rent in Saskatoon is actually the suburban office area in Stonebridge with an average asking price of $26.25/sqft, followed closely by the west end at $26.00 (that's a bit of a surprise). Downtown is asking $20.70/sqft. For Saskatoon as a whole the average asking price for office rent is $21.09/sqft, meaning Downtown is just below average asking price, though it does have somewhat higher occupancy costs than most.
(all figures from ICR's quarterly update newsletter).

Also worth noting is that, at 745,000 sqft vacant, there is more vacant office space Downtown than in the rest of the city combined (359,000 sqft). Guess that goes a long ways to explaining the relatively affordable rent downtown, along with the fact that most of that available space is quite old.

[zeebra]

Downtown office space doesn't include parking, which is why it's cheaper.

[Centrefield]

Originally Posted by zeebra

Downtown office space doesn't include parking, which is why it's cheaper.

If only it was that simple.

The downtown office supply typically has older outdated product not offering modern layouts and amenities. This is also average so if you compared new suburban office to new downtown office the downtown rates would be much higher even without accounting for parking. This is in part due to the high land values in downtown requiring higher rental rates to support new construction.

The rates are also a function of supply and demand. Vacancy rates for downtown are much higher than suburban placing downwards pressure on rents and dragging this average rent in the report down.

[drto]

Changing gears, does anyone on here know why on Saskatoon’s diagram page, where for years we had diagrams for Hallmark Place and both Renaissance Towers, they are no longer there, and the order has changed as they always had the taller Renaissance tower listed before Hallmark Place, which I always thought had its height under-represented even without the antenna? Can anyone in Saskatoon get a good photo showing both Hallmark and the completed Baydo tower 1 for comparative purposes? I’d be surprised if Hallmark isn’t still taller than Baydo even without being upriver and presumably on higher ground. Thanks.

[Brutopian]

https://www.saskatoon.ca/sites/default/f...l-maps/projected_growth_concept_plan.pdf

As of May 8, 2026

[Brutopian]

New infill houses in Saskatoon historic neighbourhoods get mixed response

By Ashley Beherns
Global News
May 18, 2026

Some of Saskatoon’s oldest neighbourhoods have houses that have been standing since the late 1800s.

But a lot of those houses are seeing new neighbours that look a whole lot different.

Century-old homes with big porches and unique features are being joined by those with modern finishes, boxy looks and big windows.

One local historian worries it’s becoming too much.

[........]

Read more:
https://globalnews.ca/news/11854538/infill-houses-saskatoon-historic-neighbourhoods/

[Brutopian]

Paulson: Tight market brings multiple offers, warnings of eroding affordability

A west-side house listed for $330,000, attracted 13 offers and sold for $367,500 cash with no conditions; and one in the southeast listed for $450,000 with ten offers and sold for $515,000.

By Joanne Paulson
Saskatoon Star Phoenix
May 19, 2026

[........]

Read more:
https://thestarphoenix.com/opinion/colum...offers-warnings-of-eroding-affordability