Saskatoon Construction

[circle33]

It might be a paved parking lot, with bright yellow lines.

But seriously, it is great to see the core area condo market so strong. I just hope downtown will still have room for us commoners.

[Echoes]

Originally Posted by macca

"When we approached city council with this project, they were very receptive and we basically made commitments to each other," Monachino said in a telephone interview from his summer cottage in New Jersey. "We said, 'If you help us out with the taxes on this project, we'll not only convert the Eaton warehouse to beautiful lofts but also build townhouses next door.' "

And that's just what Monachino and Foster are about to do on a patch of industrial land directly south of the Eaton warehouse. Monachino says he plans to build five two-storey loft-style townhouse units -- ranging in size from 1,700 to 1,900 square feet -- with high ceilings and exposed piping once the city changes the land zoning. Monachino is aiming to get the foundation started later this summer so that buyers could move in by next winter.

^So the Caswell Hill townhouse mystery is solved! That will definitely add to the area even more and increase the population and street appeal. Caswell is well on its way. Now for the bus barns to move...

The article also likened the recent transformation in Caswell Hill to what happened in City Park about a decade ago. Could somebody enlighten me on that? Was City Park fairly run down and shady a couple of decades ago?

[Jonitecture]

went on a bike ride today, look around the university and downtown. lotsd happening! for the heath sciences addition/makeover are they covering up that ugly brutalist building or just adding on beside it?

[circle33]

So I've heard through the rumour mill that the former Motion Picture and Sound building (between Moores and the Scotia Centre on 2nd) is being converted into high end condos. Can't verify or find any details.

I imagine if anyone on here knew anything about it, they would have said something by now.

[macca]

Good news, circle. More people on 2nd Ave is great. That gravel lot behind the new Affinity building is an ideal site for a mixed use building.

So at what price point does a new condo tower become feasible in this market? I love all these conversions, they are great for our core. But the Rumley is looking at near million dollar condos. Is it really not possible to make money in a new building with say, 500k condos?

[Jonitecture]

any condos are good! i hate the scotia centre will all my blood, damn them!

[swilley]

Drove by Affinity CU today, looks like they are finally putting some cladding on the parking garage. Perhaps the same screening that is on the top?

[drm310]

Originally Posted by swilley

Drove by Affinity CU today, looks like they are finally putting some cladding on the parking garage. Perhaps the same screening that is on the top?

To enhance the "prison chic" look, no doubt. It has to be one of the ugliest buildings in the city.

[Jonitecture]

To enhance the "prison chic" look, no doubt. It has to be one of the ugliest buildings in the city.

Affinity Credit Union? i have too disagree, have you seen the amount of ugly concrete brutalism this city has?

[circle33]

Yea, one has to put in a hell of an effort to approach the ugliness of the Avord Tower Parkade.

[jaysfan99]

How about the Sturdy Stone biulding, Medical Arts building on Spadina, or the Murray building at the U of S. They are all pretty UUUGGGGLLLLY.

The U of S residences on Cumberland are just scary ugly!!

Originally Posted by circle33

Yea, one has to put in a hell of an effort to approach the ugliness of the Avord Tower Parkade.

[Jonitecture]

How about the Sturdy Stone biulding, Medical Arts building on Spadina, or the Murray building at the U of S. They are all pretty UUUGGGGLLLLY.

The U of S residences on Cumberland are just scary ugly!!

i actually think the sturdy stone building is soo ugly its almost uniquely nice, it is sort of a icon i think. speaking of brutalism, the plans for the addition to the health sciences really hides the old hidious building and goes along with the original design of the university. with some modern ot looks like.

[joelpiecowye]

I heard on the radio today that Saskpower is planning to build a new zero emissions power plant in saskatoon. Does anyone have any more info on this?

[joelpiecowye]

i heard on the radio today that saskpower is planning to build a new zero emission power plant in saskatoon, does any one have more information on this?

[swilley]

Sorry no info on that, but this sounds good....

Saskatoon Office Vacancy Rate Hits Record Low

Written by Jim Mattern - 600 Action News-Local First
Monday, 16 July 2007

A strong Saskatoon economy is contributing to the lowest office vacancy rate in more than 20 years.

According to the latest report, the vacancy rate sits at 5 per cent, but is still among the highest in western Canada. The rate in Calgary is 1.5 per cent, Edmonton 5.3 per cent, and Regina at 3.3 per cent. Tom McClocklin, President of Collier McClocklin Real Estate says at the same time the city has the lowest rental rate at 23 dollars per square foot compared with Calgary's 55 dollars, Edmonton's 34, and Regina's rate of 24.75 per square foot of Class A space.

McClocklin says with companies supporting the city's booming economy expanding, office space will continue to be at a premium which should spur construction. But he says that will take much higher rental rates, and three or four years before more office space is available.

[shmakim]

Originally Posted by joelpiecowye

i heard on the radio today that saskpower is planning to build a new zero emission power plant in saskatoon, does any one have more information on this?

Did they mean Saskatoon specifically, or Saskatchewan? I know SaskPower has plans to build a "clean coal" facility at Boundary Dam, way down by Estevan. Check out http://www.saskpower.com/cleancoal/

It sounds pretty exciting. For all the talk of wind and solar, Saskatchewan sure has a lot of coal available, which is cheap and has worked well for a long time, except it's so dirty. If this technology lives up to its hype, it could make for a big export technology to assorted developing nations.

[CCF]

http://www.cjme.com/index.php?p=ntnews&action=view_story&id=9192

Interesting. This is similar to one of the research facilities present at the U of R Research Park.

[macca]

This article neatly explains how/why Saskatoon may get some office tower construction, and what the road blocks are. Rents must go up to make new construction feasible. Simple. With actual numbers! A similar article dealing with condo towers would be nice.

City centre's lease rates remain low
Building of a new office tower unlikely at current levels
Murray Lyons, The StarPhoenix
Published: Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Real estate prices for houses and commercial land may be soaring here, but signing onto a lease in a downtown office building is still one of Saskatoon's bargains.

With a vacancy rate of five per cent downtown, even the best space in Saskatoon is only commanding about $14 per square foot for a year's lease, according to the latest quarterly office survey conducted by Colliers McClocklin Real Estate Corp.

Overall lease rates in Saskatoon are up nine per cent in the past year, says Colliers McClocklin president Tom McClocklin, Jr., who adds that rental rates would have to double to around the $30 per square foot yearly to justify a new office tower being added to the downtown skyline.


As a result, it is not likely any investment group would build a new office tower without a large key tenant. While McClocklin says he is cheering for Cameco Corporation to work with a developer and build a new corporate head office downtown, he says doesn't know whether a Cameco head office tower would also contain additional floors for rent to other tenants.

Without new construction, McClocklin says it is possible a situation could occur in the next few years where demand exceeds supply and leads to a dramatic rent increase such as what occurred over the past two years in Calgary, where downtown office rents doubled from $20 a square foot to today's $40-plus in a market with only 1.5 per cent vacancy.

"Office space is really a supply and demand commodity," he said. "Because the lead time is so long to build an office building, you get to a point where we are now, where rents are going up.

"We're not there yet, but we're starting to run out of office space."

That is in contrast to McClocklin's personal reference point of 1996, when he started working in the commercial real estate sector and downtown office space vacancy in Saskatoon was above 25 per cent.

In terms of general purpose office buildings, Saskatoon has only three structures that fit the industry designation of being Class A downtown office towers, criteria that includes the building being at least 10 storeys and having at least 100,000 square feet of total space. The three buildings are Saskatoon Square, the Princeton Towers and PotashCorp towers.

In those three Class A buildings, there is currently just 3.4 per cent vacancy -- or 15,025 square feet of the 440,000 square feet total space still open for rental. Law firm Priel Stevenson Hood recently committed to taking 9,4000 square feet in the Princeton Towers.

However, the Saskatoon Health Region could not find enough additional space within the Saskatoon Square building to move additional administrative staff being relocated from the Royal University Hospital buildings as the new Health Sciences complex takes shape and displaces non-clinical uses. As a result, the health region is moving these administrative support functions into 22,000 square feet in the Avord Tower, a block away from where its CEO and other senior staff are located in Saskatoon Square.

Health region vice-president Sandra Blevins says architectural studies into the new health sciences complex show that it makes little economic sense to put administrative support services into expensive clinical space that has special heating and air conditioning requirements. Blevins says not all of the Avord Tower space is being leased long-term, as the health region has the ability to convert space in the former nurses' residence next to City Hospital to office functions.

McClocklin points out the vast majority of downtown office space is comprised of Class B space such as Avord. Despite the designation, he points out that the office interior space is often just as good as Class A. For example, the move of Priel Stevenson Hood leaves 6,500 square feet open in the HSBC Building at 21st Street and Fourth Avenue, a four-storey Class B building that is less than a decade old.

Operating costs in Saskatoon are almost as low as the rents, with the total cost of occupying Class A office space in Saskatoon quoted at $23 per square foot yearly. By contrast, Calgary total quoted rent costs are $55, according to the Colliers McClocklin survey. In Regina, where government and Crown corporations lease a lot of the downtown office space, rent and operating costs total $24.75 per square foot.

"Our operating costs are much lower than Regina," McClocklin points out. "In fact, they are the lowest in the country. Taxes are about $4 a square foot in Regina and just $2 in Saskatoon."

[joelpiecowye]

yes shmakim on the radio it said that is was going to be saskatoon, it said that they are deciding if they should be still using coal. I hope he is right but it could be just a rumour he heard from someone.

[circle33]

You should all be greatful to have a guy like me here forever scanning the newswires for unimportant non-stories, like this one

Looking At Groceries For Downtown Core
July 17, 2007

With more and more people moving into Saskatoon's downtown core, one interest group is looking at how big the need is now for a grocery store in the area.

The Partnership wants to team up with the City of Saskatoon in conducting a feasibility study, which will measure that need and compare it to other cities.

Executive Director Terry Scadden believes that such a study could then be used as a tool to entice a company to set up shop downtown.

However, Scadden believes a Superstore or Sobey's will have no place downtown. He says a smaller store is better suited to meet the needs of residents downtown.

The Partnership has written a letter to city hall about the study. Adminstration is looking into it.

Rod English reporting.

Link - Gormley.com