An addition to the previous post...
U of S outlines land use future
By Jeanette Stewart, The Star Phoenix May 27, 2009 8:08 AM Be the first to post a comment
A new vision for land use at the University of Saskatchewan was presented at an on-campus open house Tuesday.
After two separate review processes, administrators have determined which land will remain part of the core campus and which can be opened up to alternate development, marking that land as "endowment" property.
The university owns 18 per cent of the land within a five-kilometre radius of the city's core -- land with diverse and potentially lucrative potential. The 1,865 acres host a blend of campus buildings, research facilities, health care and recreation facilities, commercial developments and housing, as well as providing a large amount of green space within the city.
"Looking at it from an economic lens, some people have called it perhaps the most valuable greenfield potential real estate in the country," said Richard Florizone, vice-president of finance and resources.
The land also has both academic and research potential, and represents the campus' ability to expand.
Lands marked "endowment" include packages of land bordered by the river, the CP rail line and Preston Avenue and parcels of research land near College Drive.
Land marked as "core" includes that already holding most of the buildings on campus. This area has the potential to hold an additional five million square feet of space.
According to James Cook, with the university's corporate administration,
any development of the land would have to have the potential to generate approximately $1.5 billion before the university would consider conversion for commercial purposes. Any changes of this manner would need re-zoning by the city.
"We literally are talking about changes that could take 50 to 100 years to realize," said Calvin Brook, an urban design consultant with Brook McIlroy Inc. who has worked extensively with the U of S.
Florizone cited the big-box shopping centre at Preston Crossing as an example of a commercial use of university lands otherwise not of immediate use to the campus. Preston Crossing generates $1 million annually in scholarship funds.
The land use at the university first came under review in 1999. A land use task force worked on the project in 2007 and 2008. Additional consultations took place in 2009.
The university hopes to partner with the city when it begins its next long-term plan in 2010. By that time, the university expects to be able to open use of its land for public consultation as part of the city's larger planning process.
"If we're able to come to some consensus ourselves, we can then join this broader public consultation," Florizone said. "What we do with it is also very important to the city."
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I don't recall hearing the statement in bold, and I am a surprised, but also disappointed if that is indeed the university's position. $1.5 billion? That's a significant increase from the current $1.5 million the university receives annually from the Preston Crossing lands. Perhaps the value is incorrect, probably meant million.
I could have misinterpreted that statement too. How does one generate $1.5 billion from urban land holdings? It is either sold, or leased to another party. No way that land is worth $1.5 billion. The potential for an increase in value over time is certainly there, but $1.5 billion? They must know something I don't...maybe there is oil/gas or potash below that land.
EDIT: I did some rough calculations using Google to determine price per acre for the endowment lands. A total of 874 acres is designated endowment land. So, to generate $1.5 billion from the 874 acres, an average price of $1,716,247 per acre is required (either selling, or some combination of leasing and selling). For comparison, Preston Crossing is roughly 63 acres total, with an average price per acre being $23,810 (generated annually). All things held constant, if the university leased all of their endowment lands at the current Preston Crossing price, they would generate $20,809,940 annually. In such a scenario, it would take 72 years to realize a $1.5 billion return.
Here is another comparison of City of Saskatoon land values. Lake Placid's River Landing site is 2.24 acres, and the city values it at $4.5 million. The price per acre for that site is $2 million. One has to remember that is downtown waterfront land. Imagining a similar waterfront development as it applies to university lands, we have potential between Circle Drive and the CPR tracks (river to the west), and north of Circle/Attridge and west of Central Avenue (river to the northwest). Just a guess, but the remaining landlocked sites will likely be of lower value than the waterfront sites.
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(please don't flame me)
I think this may be the beginning of a complex land-swap process between the U of S, developer(s), and the City of Saskatoon. 
(24 hour flu of sorts, my dad just had it.).
(not a huge fun of Brad Johner too).
Sorry to disappoint you dsim but there is no such thing as a 24 hour flu, it is food poisoning, that may be the only thing i took from my food sciences class. I hope you all have a happy Solstice!
But, I have also heard that we are close to breaking the record for most $$$ generated thru ticket sales (even though Ottawa had a 19,000 seat arena). I guess that emphasizes the fact that the ticket prices here were very expensive, and thus maybe why there are so many empty seats.
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