New hotel called state-of-the-art
By Cassandra Kyle, Saskatchewan News Network; Canwest News Service April 9, 2010 2:04 AM
A $40-million hotel is moving into Saskatoon's accommodation market for a long-term stay, and it's chosen Pacific Avenue as its corner suite.
Eleven storeys high with 179 rooms, Lawrence and Patricia Rychjohn's P.R. Hotels Ltd. has broken ground on a Holiday Inn at Pacific Avenue and 22nd Street, the former site of the Pacific Theatre. The hotel was originally announced in 2007, but the company decided to hold off on construction until the building boom of the late 2000s cooled down.
"It's going to be a state-of-the-art property on what we consider to be the best hotel location in the city," Lawrence Rychjohn said.
Situated across from TCU Place and just up the road from the intersection of Idylwyld Drive and 22nd Street, P.R. Hotels says the project will be the first of its kind downtown since the Radisson Hotel was built in the early 1980s.
Jeff Krivoshen, P.R. Hotels' director of operations, said the company couldn't be happier with the location of the Holiday Inn.
"We're just very excited. It's been a long time in the making and we feel there's no better place that we'd rather be than doing this right here in downtown Saskatoon," he said.
The hotel -- which is expected to be completed in about 18 months -- will include a full-service restaurant and bar, heated parking and penthouse suites featuring 14-foot floor-to-ceiling windows.
P.R. Hotels is also behind the Holiday Inn Express on Idylwyld Drive. The company expects to create 70 to 80 jobs with its new venture. Terry Scaddan, executive director of The Partnership, the downtown area's business improvement district, said the hotel will help house visitors in town for conventions and other events.
"I think it's a good indicator of the general health of downtown and certainly the health of Saskatoon as a destination for conferences and business," he said.
Scaddan explained while parking downtown is always a concern, the loss of the temporary lot at the project site isn't a major worry.
"We're going to lose a surface parking lot that's not particularly pleasurable to look at and replace it with what I think is a rather nice-looking building," he said.
Scaddan said he believes there will be enough business to go around to support the new hotel. The addition of 179 new rooms downtown, he added, won't over-saturate the market.
"I don't think many people build multimillion-dollar buildings on spec. I think they've done their homework," he said.
Tourism Saskatoon's Todd Brandt, president and CEO of the organization, said the city's high hotel occupancy rates will help to keep the project sustainable and profitable.
"I certainly think we're in a position now to be able to absorb new rooms into the marketplace without an adverse effect on the existing properties," Brandt said.
However, he added, with so many new hotels coming on-stream in the next few months, Tourism Saskatoon will have extra work ahead attracting visitors to the city to fill rooms. In addition to the Holiday Inn, a Four Points by Sheraton and a Best Western, plus the Bridgewater Hotel on the 1400 block of 22nd Street, are under construction.
Several other hotel possibilities, including one as part of River Landing, could also come into play during the next few years.
Pacific Avenue will be closed to traffic on the southbound lane of the west side of the street adjacent to the Holiday Inn site through the duration of the hotel's construction, the City of Saskatoon said Thursday.
The sidewalk on 22nd Street westbound adjacent to the construction site will also be closed until the building is complete.
© Copyright (c) The Regina Leader-Post
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I just can't believe it. What shocks me to is the difference between the appraisers is only $12 square foot , was our land so undervalued in 2008 or just overvalued in 2010. How can the price double in 2 years, we are not in Toronto or Vancouver. It will be interesting to see what the Executive Committee comes out with for a final price and the reaction from Lobsinger & Nasser.
wow, what's up with that? I'm not saying that $11 million isn't a fair price, maybe $4 mil and change was too low; what I'm wondering is how they come up with these numbers? Maybe it's a cash grab now that some new deep pockets have come into play? It makes it a little hard to take them seriously when they don't seem to have a clear idea of the fair value of the land 
I'm curious to see the reaction from LP and Dr. Nasser.
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