Saskatoon Construction III

[The S'toon Goon]

I'm still thinking a Pro Hockey Life will eventually open at Preston crossing or maybe the revamped centre mall. It's flies under the same corporate umbrella as Canadian Tire, Marks, Sportchek and Atmosphere so maybe there's an advantage to having the retail stores close together.

Anyways, happy belated new year's everyone. I'm pretty optimistic about the year at hand as well as the decade for our city!

[Echoes]

Construction fencing up around the perimeter of the vacant lot at the NE corner of 2nd Ave & 25th St, with an Atco trailer and shipping container parked on the lot. Anyone have any info?

[prairieguy]

North Prairies' latest tower??? just kidding

[FatBob]

Does anyone know what is being built in the parking lot at Lawson Heights Mall?

[YXE]

Originally Posted by Echoes

Construction fencing up around the perimeter of the vacant lot at the NE corner of 2nd Ave & 25th St, with an Atco trailer and shipping container parked on the lot. Anyone have any info?

Is this the lot that had been used as a parking lot where that old hotel was?

[Arts]

Originally Posted by FatBob

Does anyone know what is being built in the parking lot at Lawson Heights Mall?

Sobeys Liquor store.

https://thestarphoenix.com/news/loca...se-not-renewed

[Echoes]

Originally Posted by YXE

Is this the lot that had been used as a parking lot where that old hotel was?

Kitty corner from that lot: https://www.google.ca/maps/@52.13351...7i13312!8i6656

[905er]

I don't understand why downtown Saskatoon has so much dead space between buildings.. it looks denser from an aerial perspective but on foot there are huge gaps between buildings which makes it appear rather depressing.. it's quite different from it's provincial counterpart Regina in that respect.. Regina appears to be much denser in the core.

[Echoes]

Originally Posted by 905er

I don't understand why downtown Saskatoon has so much dead space between buildings.. it looks denser from an aerial perspective but on foot there are huge gaps between buildings which makes it appear rather depressing.. it's quite different from it's provincial counterpart Regina in that respect.. Regina appears to be much denser in the core.

Yes, Regina's core is denser and more compact, while Saskatoon's downtown is spread over a larger geographic area. Our streets are also wider than Regina's which makes for a different experience. And we have some beautiful surface parking lots scattered throughout.

There are a number of historical reasons why the established downtown ended up being so large, I think the most obvious of which is that the structure of the city established in the early days kind of pre-determined a downtown of this size. The river as a natural boundary on the south and east, 25th St with the University Bridge connection as the logical boundary on the north, and the rail yards (now Midtown Plaza) on the west. When those were removed in the 60s, the new logical western boundary became Idylwyld Drive even further west, a major north-south artery. Planning decisions in the decades since, such as zoning, have been made within those boundaries. I think also that the desire for proximity to the river (rather than organizing around a central nucleus more like Regina's case) has also spread much of out density out along a thin meandering line along the river.

I'm not sure having a downtown this large has served us well given our size. But the upside is that we have a lot of room to grow... for generations. Options for a new downtown arena become viable without necessarily needing to demolish any buildings. Or a new central library.

If you started your street view exploration in the area that my previous link took you to, that is a part of downtown that is particularly unpleasant. But the central part of our downtown, centred on a few blocks of 21st St (east-west) and 2nd Ave (north-south) there are fairly intact streetscapes and more of a feeling of urbanity. I see that area as our true "core".

[roryn1]

I agree. My office moves from the Center of downtown to River landing once Nutrien tower is done, and I’m kind of sad to be so far away from the other side of the downtown. Now that the downtown is shifting south, maybe it’s time to start planning skywalks?

I just walked from 2nd to Midtown and almost died, I skywalk would be amazing in increasing winter traffic from the scotia Center to Midtown, and then Midtown to the theatre, the theatre to river landing’s buildings.

[prairieguy]

Come on Roryn1...suck it up princess! (I am just teasing you)

We are a winter city and we need to start embracing it and encouraging foot traffic at street level 12 months of the year. Maybe that means some innovative heating stalls or something...but on most days, if you dress for the weather it is tolerable.

I just walked 10 blocks for work purposes this morning and I was fine! In fact maybe overdressed!

In all seriousness, I am not a big fan of skywalks....I think they create unhealthy foot traffic patterns in that people tend to use them 12 months of the year once established, and you then loose street level activity. But for sure, that is just a personal opinion.

[roryn1]

Originally Posted by prairieguy

I just walked 10 blocks for work purposes this morning and I was fine! In fact maybe overdressed!

In all seriousness, I am not a big fan of skywalks....I think they create unhealthy foot traffic patterns in that people tend to use them 12 months of the year once established, and you then loose street level activity. But for sure, that is just a personal opinion.

I also walked this morning and almost fell down as my dress shoes have no traction, and even fully bundled was feeling like dying after lol.

I know a lot of people disagree with me on skywalks. My sister office in Calgary brags about their skywalks and it makes me very considerate of transferring. I've also spent time in Winnipeg and coworkers would do the 5km of skywalks in laps at lunch as something healthy to do. I disagree that it creates unhealthy foot traffic - our city is winter 8 months of the year and we have to realize that skywalks make those times tolerable - maybe one day we'll be able to afford heated sidewalks and a retractable dome over downtown, not today.

Winnipeg started planning their skywalks around the same time they were the size of Saskatoon in 1970. I really hope I change some people's minds on here - I am seriously considering moving solely because of the weather.

There's a reason why the majority of our flights to the US are to Palm Springs and Phoenix - retirees with disposable income don't want to spent 8 months of the year here, and that definitely hurts restaurants downtown - if retirees lived in condos downtown attached to skywalks that further connected the downtown to all necessary amenities, maybe they wouldn't want to leave their friends behind as bad. I know we are all going to be couped up in our houses the next two months if last year's winter is a repeat of this year - that insight depresses me as the first few years I moved here we barely had a winter season in 2010/11/12. Maybe my office will transfer me to Calgary for the next 5 months...

[EpicPonyTime]

^ I take it you work for MLT?

Call me crazy, or increadibly young at the time, but didn't Saskatoon have a skywalk back in the 90s? I remember one connecting Midtown to what is now the loft apartments across 22nd. Admittedly not meant for commuters, but it's not a foreign concept to the city.

What I'm curious about is the underground walkway that connects Midtown to the Bessborough. I don't know if it still exists or what shape it might be in, but I wonder if it would be feasible to turn that into some type of underground pathway? Wouldn't be perfect because you couldn't likely connect it to every building downdown, but could help some people avoid the cold using existing infrastructure.

[roryn1]

Here's my initial proposal. With the Scotia Center already being fairy vacant both retail and commercial - having the highest vacancy in the city, renovate the towers in condos targeted towards the retirement community, and add a skywalk to the mall. It also doesn't have to be a skywalk, underground tunnel is fine too - these have done wonders at the U of S. I never went to the health sciences building prior to the tunnel being opened up.

[roryn1]

Originally Posted by EpicPonyTime

^ I take it you work for MLT?

Call me crazy, or increadibly young at the time, but didn't Saskatoon have a skywalk back in the 90s? I remember one connecting Midtown to what is now the loft apartments across 22nd. Admittedly not meant for commuters, but it's not a foreign concept to the city.

What I'm curious about is the underground walkway that connects Midtown to the Bessborough. I don't know if it still exists or what shape it might be in, but I wonder if it would be feasible to turn that into some type of underground pathway? Wouldn't be perfect because you couldn't likely connect it to every building downdown, but could help some people avoid the cold using existing infrastructure.

I didn't know there was an underground walkway all the way to the Bessborough back in the day.. That would be perfect to bring that back to life - even create a bit of an underground city retail space similar to Portage and Main's underground retail scene in Winnipeg. The city already plans to convert Midtown to the Bessborough's streets to more walkable - this would be a perfect idea.

[Arts]

Originally Posted by EpicPonyTime

^ I take it you work for MLT?

Call me crazy, or increadibly young at the time, but didn't Saskatoon have a skywalk back in the 90s? I remember one connecting Midtown to what is now the loft apartments across 22nd. Admittedly not meant for commuters, but it's not a foreign concept to the city.

What I'm curious about is the underground walkway that connects Midtown to the Bessborough. I don't know if it still exists or what shape it might be in, but I wonder if it would be feasible to turn that into some type of underground pathway? Wouldn't be perfect because you couldn't likely connect it to every building downdown, but could help some people avoid the cold using existing infrastructure.

I too am intrigued by the tunnels and really have no idea why they weren't developed...

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/photo+...974/story.html

[The S'toon Goon]

I can't stand when people say we have 8 months of winter or its miserable here for most of the year. I love that we have distinct seasons. We need to take advantage of winter and instead of hiding from it, we should embrace it! We've certainly done some things but there is room for improvement. I think Edmonton has done a great job of this. We could learn something.

That said, I think a few skywalks would be a good idea. Let's not go crazy but I like the idea of connecting Scotia center to midtown. I can picture the river center being connected to a hypothetical river center 2 one day as well.

Revamping tunnels into something safe, vibrant and easily accessible would be awesome. Bringing a little more history to the core is never a bad thing.

I like the underground retail idea as well but I think it's funny that this discussion started by saying how spread out the existing downtown is. Stores underground probably won't help that much!

[EpicPonyTime]

Originally Posted by Arts

I too am intrigued by the tunnels and really have no idea why they weren't developed...

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/photo+...974/story.html

My initial response was going to be that they were probably too basic to be developed into anything meaningful, but those photos are something else. I didn't realize that there were entire rooms and everything down there. Guess I have a new development dream for Saskatoon!

[roryn1]

Originally Posted by The S'toon Goon

I can't stand when people say we have 8 months of winter or its miserable here for most of the year. I love that we have distinct seasons. We need to take advantage of winter and instead of hiding from it, we should embrace it! We've certainly done some things but there is room for improvement. I think Edmonton has done a great job of this. We could learn something.

That said, I think a few skywalks would be a good idea. Let's not go crazy but I like the idea of connecting Scotia center to midtown. I can picture the river center being connected to a hypothetical river center 2 one day as well.

I apologize for saying 8 months, 4 months of absolute awful weather, 4 months of indecisive spring/fall lol. Someone literally died two years ago downtown of freezing to death and it's not the only one. I'm fairly sure I have rosacea because of Saskatoon's winters. This cold weather isn't healthy for anything and we have to stop faking that it's ever going to be pleasant - we'd definitely have tenfold the population we have now if it wasn't for our winters - we also don't have geothermal to tap into like Iceland, so we need skywalks and other indoor locations to "cope" with winter. It will never be enjoyable.

https://globalnews.ca/news/4005465/r...out-saskatoon/

[Crisis]

A couple of clarifications here.

There was a skywalk from the parkade on the east side of 2nd avenue across the street from the Bay building (now the 2nd Avenue Lofts). That skywalk was removed when the parkade was torn down to become a surface parking lot and is now in place at the water treatment plant, crossing Avenue H. I believe that stretch of Avenue H is now closed, though, so I'm not sure if the skywalk is still in use.

As for the "tunnels", they were really just basements that extended beneath the sidewalk along 21st street and which contained purple glass blocks inset into the structural slabs of the sidewalk. Some of them also rounded the corners to run along the adjacent Avenue for the length of the building's basement. To the best of my knowledge, none of them crossed beneath the Avenues to provide an underground connection of 21st street buildings separated by an Avenue. About 10-15 years ago, many of these basement extensions were filled in, so that the building owners would no longer have to maintain the structural sidewalks containing the purple glass blocks. Most of these basement extensions beneath the sidewalks had been long abandoned and left to deteriorate and the cost of remedial work was going to be more than the current building were willing to pay for basement space that generated no revenue. As of a few years ago, there were still some of these in place, but likely in poor condition.