Saskatoon | Baydo Towers | 80m - 80m | 25-25 Floors | U/C

[danylo66]

Has anyone been in the Saskatoon Community Services Village next door recently? There are what looked to be serious cracks that have appeared in the floors and walls. It's been suggested that these are because of the construction going on. I wonder if that is playing into the delay in any work happening? There could be some legal action to come.

[roryn1]

Originally Posted by danylo66

Has anyone been in the Saskatoon Community Services Village next door recently? There are what looked to be serious cracks that have appeared in the floors and walls. It's been suggested that these are because of the construction going on. I wonder if that is playing into the delay in any work happening? There could be some legal action to come.

Maybe in the previous weeks of delay but they have been going full steam including weeks for about two weeks now. This area has always been pretty uneven. Our building shifts nonstop near this development from unstable ground before this development - road is also constantly caving in on 25th via water main breaks- i’d be more worried about that. A four floor parkade should stabilize the area once construction is done. They can’t help that all of the neighboring buildings are reaching their 80th anniversary lol. I sometimes question if my condo is the next florida condo collapse.

[Crisis]

I'd forgotten that this is supposed to have 4 levels of underground parking. That makes the sequence of construction to date even more confusing. Scroll back through roryn1's photos and even where they poured the raft slab at the deepest point, prior to filling over top of it(still ???), it doesn't look nearly as deep as the River Landing excavation which also accommodated a 4 level U/G parkade. (edit: Went back to some old RL photos and maybe the central raft slab at Baydo is near the depth of the RL excavation. Just makes it tougher to compare without the full depth excavation throughout the Baydo parkade.)

Hey, if nothing else, this project certainly gives us lots to talk about and speculate on. I, for one, appreciate the entertainment value.

[Crisis]

Photo from the north end of the excavation. Center portion dug out deep - not sure what the yellow cables/conduits are all about. Jacketed tie-back cables? I'm really at a loss as to what's going on down in that hole.

[roryn1]

It seems like they’re really struggling with coordinating limited space. Every day they’re moving dirt back and fourth while those metal bars on the right continue to get drilled into the ground.
All of the equipment was moved to that super low center part yesterday, which is where the initial concrete was poured. I’m really hoping that that means faster looking progress will commence. Come on crane

[roryn1]

Lots of action this week. Still working around the edges putting in framing:

[roryn1]

Construction is at 110% today and went over the entire weekend as well. Exciting to see everything speed up again. I can’t say what stalled the project, nothing special seems to have changed on site.. maybe those other projects in the main thread were stealing labour from this project until now. Will post another pic at the end of the week with some noticeable progress.

I visited a similar style project this past weekend in Calgary downtown. Saskatoon is definitely going to love it more than No 1 River Landing. The condo I was at had the same heated sitting areas, bbq’s, dog park with artificial grass/toys, and gym all on the 2nd level outside. Everyone was so much happier than the people in my downtown condo in Saskatoon. I think i’ll be making the move, or making the move to the one in Calgary haha.

The other perk of this calgary building is that it’s attached to a hotel/marriott long term residence - I wonder if Baydo would consider the 2nd tower to be a longer term hotel. That’s where I stayed while we visited a friend in their condo next door. Super integrated and a fun experience, all while scootering downtown to get to wherever we needed,
Saskatoon sucks lol

[roryn1]

I think they’re now shifting dirt from south to north to replicate the framing they completed on the north end… i assume they’ll be moving a lot of this dirt out soon? maybe not.. either way, things are chugging away very fast now. About time!

[King Ralph]

This entire project so far has been nothing but a amateur hour.

[roryn1]

I see on their website they updated their completion date to 2023. I also think this is a new photo? lots of windows for 25th - exciting! This area needs more food/coffee options so badly. Unfortunately most avoid Circle K due to how unsafe it is a few blocks over. I have yet to walk from here to the Starbucks on 25th/2nd as people will even run across the street to harass you from circle K.


Can’t stress how this development actually has more retail/foot traffic ability than the silly River Landing project that’s given us a new subsidized retail TD branch, Brunch, & Candy Store - tax dollars well spent lol.

[roryn1]

They’re digging a very big hole next to the concrete they poured in the middle… maybe the crane is coming! If it’s near the middle maybe they will have two cranes? wow !!

[roryn1]

Crane is being installed

[Crisis]

Very interesting. Given the state of the excavation, it sure seems early to be erecting a tower crane.

[roryn1]

Kind of strange that our only cranes in the city right now are City Park and Nutana…

[roryn1]

Can downtown’s boundaries be shifted/expanded? for the purposes of planning, curious to know if it would make more sense to include this density downtown vs city park… for example, dtnyxe’s planning and communications really doesn’t focus on residents living in downtown - their whole scope is about businesses since that’s what predominates their mandate..

in fact, our condo reached out to them about cigarette butts/general sidewalk cleanup and they said that they don’t focus on condos - our condo is 100% retail on the main level, along with all of the condos around this area of downtown. They legit don’t realize that.. whacky!

a condo like this being absorbed into downtown that also includes retail would really help amplify the residential voice for dtnyxe. It would also make more sense from a planning standpoint - our city councillor for downtown is a resident of Nutana / nutana is the absolute oxymoron of downtown - both socially and price wise for residents. Nutana’s property has been skyrocketing, downtown’s condo prices have been plummeting. They are regions that aren’t comparable.. City Park’s denser condos on the other hand near this Baydo project are extremely similar to most downtown condos AND aren’t separated by the river. This would also open up downtown’s boundaries to North Downtown, which if I’m correct isn’t actually in the planning boundaries of downtown lol.
Love to hear anyone’s thoughts

Edit: pg 5 of Saskatoon’s poorly followed city centre plan does include a more logical boundary for downtown - would include the two cranes we have in the city right now. https://www.saskatoon.ca/sites/default/f...eighbourhood-planning/citycentreplan.pdf

[The Bess]

thanks for the pics roryn1

[roryn1]

Crane is assembled
the Park Avenue building behind it is 13 floors, so will be jacked up twice as high eventually! Very exciting.

[roryn1]

[Crisis]

Man, there are a lot of narrow shelves and steep banks within that site. Enough to make me question their Safe Work Practices for open excavations. I hope no people or equipment take a tumble.

[riders78]

I can't remember what they said in the press release. Are they going to build the North Tower first?