Saskatoon Construction

[TheCricket]

I just drove by Market Mall on my way home from work tonight and noticed someone has gone a little "happy" with the ICR leasing signage! Looks like they might be ready to put some life back into this old mall. I checked the ICR site tonight prior to posting and they have nothing listed for Market Mall, but there has always been talk of an office tower going onto the property... would be interesting to see what they have in mind. The signage doesn't give the impression that they're just looking for one tenant... but rather... a few.

T.

[circle33]

Originally Posted by TheCricket

I just drove by Market Mall on my way home from work tonight and noticed someone has gone a little "happy" with the ICR leasing signage! Looks like they might be ready to put some life back into this old mall. I checked the ICR site tonight prior to posting and they have nothing listed for Market Mall, but there has always been talk of an office tower going onto the property... would be interesting to see what they have in mind. The signage doesn't give the impression that they're just looking for one tenant... but rather... a few.

T.

I walked through the Market Mall a few weeks back (and boy did it make me feel young). There are a ton of stores for rent; my rough guess would be at least 1/4 of the stores are empty. It's looking pretty sad. The Children's Museum might bring a little more activity in the future, but there's not much sign of it right now.

[kiwi4life]

Originally Posted by Morogolus

I spent 3 days in Calgary this past weekend and I must say it was nice actually seeing cranes and actual construction going on rather than pretty signs with a picture of the building and an empty lot. I don't know who ever said there was a recession going on there, the city seemed to be busting at the seams with new projects.

Just seems we've pretty much wasted a construction season with almost nothing being started other than the university and a Wal-Mart.

Also why is there that piece of Cat equipment that looks like it came from an abandoned construction site in Chernobyl been sitting by the college overpass for 2 weeks? I cringe whenever I drive by it.

yeah exactly, thankyou very much, at leats somone agrees with me that Calgary is def not really in a recession, i live here and work in the construction industry, and i see lots of activity everday. thankyou fo agreeing with me.

[skphc08]

Originally Posted by kiwi4life

yeah exactly, thankyou very much, at leats somone agrees with me that Calgary is def not really in a recession, i live here and work in the construction industry, and i see lots of activity everday. thankyou fo agreeing with me.

A recession in Calgary is like the good times in other cities; that is, hardly a recession at all. Although current observable activity is probably not a good indicator. Those projects were all in the books prior to the recession and mostly all started before as well.

[stooner]

Originally Posted by kiwi4life

yeah exactly, thankyou very much, at leats somone agrees with me that Calgary is def not really in a recession, i live here and work in the construction industry, and i see lots of activity everday. thankyou fo agreeing with me.

I was at Stampede and was surprised at all the construction activity going on in Calgary. That said, things are not always be as they appear on the surface. For example, from the most recent office vacancy report:

Calgary, meanwhile, underwent the highest change in vacancy rates among western cities, soaring from 3.6% in mid-2008 to 9.3% by mid-2009.

Neither Calgary nor Toronto can expect any immediate relief as both will see millions of square feet of new supply coming onto the market over the next 24 to 36 months (seven million for Calgary and five million for Toronto). Both will definitely surpass the 10% vacancy rate in the months ahead, Mr. Argeropoulos said.

Calgary also saw the largest plunge in rental rates, with downtown Class A space collapsing to $30 per square foot from $46.

I shudder to think what would happen if oil prices collapsed below $40 again. Here's hoping it doesn't happen.

[drm310]

Originally Posted by Scruff Bucket

Nice, after they fixed up that (well used) admin building (College Building)!

It's a great building. I work inside it!

Originally Posted by Scruff Bucket

(^^ Is that inside the admin or physics building?)

That's the inside of the old wing of Physics, looking toward the connection to the Geology Building.

Originally Posted by Scruff Bucket

What are they constructing at Place Riel?

There'a a major addition and renovation project going on. You can read about it and see the renderings of the interior and exterior at http://www.renewplaceriel.ca/

[Wyku]

Originally Posted by lbird

Saw that Ibister Park near Farmer's Market is open for business. It's really an underwhelming park, but the small space, 'see-through' concept and concrete berms for the power station aren't much to work with. Green space is always good, however,

Also, I saw that the old 'Venice Shops' downtown that never really took off, on 20th and 3rd, is now sporting 'Edwards School of Business' signs. That's a good location for the downtown campus.

I noticed both of these things on the weekend as well . I thought the new park (unaware of its name at the time) looked pretty nice, given the area, but I agree it's a little sparse. It took me a couple walks past the walls around the power station to actually take notice that the power station was on the other side of them, so I guess they do the job in that sense. I think they're definetely better than a chain linked fence with barbed wire across the tops.

I will say though, the Farmer's Market was INSANE on Saturday! This was the first time I'd been this year and wow was it busier than I remember. It's really great to see that it's such a success and I can't wait for the rest of the development in the area to get going because it's awesome to see so many people out and about really giving the area a great feel.

[EarlyByrdProductions]

Originally Posted by Wyku

I noticed both of these things on the weekend as well . I thought the new park (unaware of its name at the time) looked pretty nice, given the area, but I agree it's a little sparse. It took me a couple walks past the walls around the power station to actually take notice that the power station was on the other side of them, so I guess they do the job in that sense. I think they're definetely better than a chain linked fence with barbed wire across the tops.

I will say though, the Farmer's Market was INSANE on Saturday! This was the first time I'd been this year and wow was it busier than I remember. It's really great to see that it's such a success and I can't wait for the rest of the development in the area to get going because it's awesome to see so many people out and about really giving the area a great feel.

I am so stoked on this area!

I drive by it everyday, and in the last year have seen so many more people on bikes, families together, women walking alone...things i hardly saw only a few years ago!

The whole Ideas Inc building is such an amazing idea, my good friend Ef Pereira opened up a Starlab Recording studios in there and will be making the move in 2 years within the eco village to have a solar powered full size studio when it all goes up.

Everyone one in that building is so stoked on the area, we are all working on making it one of the 'places to be' in stoon.
Free music saturday's ('Live at Riverlanding') every saturday at 2.30pm in Market Square and we are trying to have more activiites on the go soon.
A huge plus to us musicians and others in the arts scene!

Please visit this place if you haven't already!
And please put your input in... it is very rare that a big city can have such an impact on what will be a major destination hangout in the core of the city. So great to see the change we are making being constructed before our eyes.

~j

[lbird]

I have to admit I don't understand the purpose of Ideas Inc. All of the stores are things we have already in the city: photographers, recording studios, etc.. Why is the government spending money to subsidize these new businesses at the expense of existing ones in the same field? When I think of startup space, I think of a place to do science-based R&D, not just more non-wealth-generating service businesses.

[macca]

Minor update at www.275second.com

275 Second will be located in the heart of downtown Saskatoon at the corner of 20th Street East and 2nd Avenue South. The elegant design plans to contribute to the transformation of the South Downtown project and in walking distance to the Farmer’s Market, The Broadway and Victoria Bridge and will be two blocks North of the South Saskatchewan River and the Meewasin Valley Authority. 275 Second plans are to be a Silver Designation in the LEED® Building Standards. The commencement of the project is proposed to commence this summer, with a projected completion date of December 2010.

Despite the fact that they haven't begun construction, they moved up the completion date one month, from Jan '11 to Dec '10.

More details have been released here:

http://www.colliersmn.com/prod/cclod.nsf/publish/4C62A04764733D628525757100774ADB/$File/275+-+2nd+Avenue+South+Package.pdf

I would like to see more retail frontage (doors) on 2nd ave.

[macca]

Originally Posted by Wyku

I didn't know what you were talking about here since J&H is beside Jysk, but it's actually the old CKOM/C95 building that was vacant forever and it looks like they're finally doing something with it (I remember noticing that it had finally been torn down a little while ago). It looks like it's going to be at least 2-3 stories from the looks of the stairwell and possible elevator shaft they're building. Anyone know what this is going to be and have renders of what it will look like?

http://www.colliersmn.com/prod/cclod.nsf/publish/B1206AF455A4FA8E85257600006F062B/$File/3333+-+8th+Street+East.pdf

[drm310]

Meh. Pretty non-descript, but no worse than the other buildings in the area. At least the land is being used for something again.

Originally Posted by macca

http://www.colliersmn.com/prod/cclod.nsf/publish/B1206AF455A4FA8E85257600006F062B/$File/3333+-+8th+Street+East.pdf

[socialisthorde]

Great news on the second avenue project. I just hope the commencing on the commenced commencement commences soon.

Lets just hope that some of the glass doesn't turn into brick or even worse the dreaded stucco.

[kgc087]

It's great to see that 275 is still going ahead!! As said before with this as well as Riverlanding the south downtown will begin a HUGE transformation that will hopefully see the densification of the area as well as more suitable land use. The design of the building has changed slightly from the original plans, on the smaller "tower" the corrigated looking box on the top has changed positions to allow for patio space. It would be really nice to see the developer make a green roof or create a rooftop garden on each tower. That could work quite nicely on the smaller "tower" with the patio; the tenant in that space could have terraced gardens to go alongside the up-high dining experience.

Any word on Riverlanding? It's bizarre that developers in Calgary have been able to resume construction and that developers are proposing condos/hotels in Regina while Lake Placid is still struggling to get things started.

[Morogolus]

I found this article while browsing around Google.

http://owlsandroosters.blogspot.com/2009/07/river-landing-village-delays-and.html

Part I find most interesting is

"In a report to city council on June 22, 2009, Totland recommended “that the time limit for completion of the Construction Requirement in the Sale Agreement for Parcel “Y”, River Landing Phase I, be extended to June 30, 2010 provided that payment in full for Parcel “Y “is received no later than 5:00 p.m., Monday, August 17, 2009."

This is just a blog entry so who knows how reliable it is but according to this we should find out if the whole thing is a bust next week. Which is pretty likely in my opinion, they built the Empire State Building in the time it's taken to even get started on Lake Flaccid.

[macca]

We need to get that guy to board here.

[Wyku]

Should be interesting to see what happens by the end of the day on Monday. I just hope that if they do finally conjure up the the funds that they don't just end up sitting on the land with the City having to (yet again) purchase it back later to (yet again) try and get something FINALLY going on it.

[Morogolus]

Originally Posted by Wyku

Should be interesting to see what happens by the end of the day on Monday. I just hope that if they do finally conjure up the the funds that they don't just end up sitting on the land with the City having to (yet again) purchase it back later to (yet again) try and get something FINALLY going on it.

Seems unlikely they would wait until the last possible day to pay the financing. They're just delaying having to tell all the people that put down deposits and their investors that the project has been scrapped.

[Jerry]

Originally Posted by Morogolus

I found this article while browsing around Google.

http://owlsandroosters.blogspot.com/2009/07/river-landing-village-delays-and.html

Part I find most interesting is

"In a report to city council on June 22, 2009, Totland recommended “that the time limit for completion of the Construction Requirement in the Sale Agreement for Parcel “Y”, River Landing Phase I, be extended to June 30, 2010 provided that payment in full for Parcel “Y “is received no later than 5:00 p.m., Monday, August 17, 2009."

This is just a blog entry so who knows how reliable it is but according to this we should find out if the whole thing is a bust next week. Which is pretty likely in my opinion, they built the Empire State Building in the time it's taken to even get started on Lake Flaccid.

Yes it is very reliable. Saskatoon has been sitting on pins and needles waiting for the 17th.
All we can do is stay positive and hope for the best.
I see he has used my email from Lake Placid and has referenced it back to this site.

[The Bess]

dont know how accurate this is

MULTI-FAMILY DEVELOPMENT Proj: 9079619-5
Saskatoon, Division No 11 SK NEGOTIATED/WORKING DRAWINGS
River Landing Village, between 2 Ave & 3 Ave on 19 St, S7L
$20,000,000 est
Start: September, 2009 Complete: December, 2010
Note: Working drawings are underway. Sub trade pricings are not being sought at this time. Construction may commence in early Fall 2009. Related projects are being followed under Project Numbers 9090203, 9090211 and 9090215. Further update early October 2009.
Project: cast-in-place concrete structural frame, structural steel frame, fuel fired heating system, proposed construction of a 210-unit residential development.
Scope: 200,000 square feet; 21 storeys; 210 units
Development: New
Category: Apartment bldgs

First report Tue Apr 08, 2008. Last report Fri Jun 12, 2009.
This report Wed Aug 12, 2009.