Saskatoon Construction

[macca]

Looks like Ashely Furniture will be making its triumphant return to the city.

At Stonegate. Still no retailers listed for Blairmore.

http://www.smartcentres.com/

[ninipanini]

Making 21st street a pedestrian mall would be fantastic. Getting some patios and more interesting street scape features (I love the idea of refurbishing the purple glass blocks) would really make that street something special.

Does anyone remember that proposal to put a dome over 21st street? It must have been 10-15 years ago.

[socialisthorde]

Originally Posted by macca

Looks like Ashely Furniture will be making its triumphant return to the city.

At Stonegate. Still no retailers listed for Blairmore.

http://www.smartcentres.com/

Its a shame they died downtown and were resurected in a suburban power centre, but I guess that is the way it works. It's not nearly as ironic as Urban Barn being in Stonegate.

WRT the pedestrian mall, I wonder if some sort of arangement allowing cars but subjugating them to pedestrians might work. For example, there is car access and parking at Granville Island in Vancouver, but pedestrians have the right-of-way even on the roadways. As strange and impossible as it sounds, people and cars and even the occassional cement truck intermingle reasonably peacefully. The drivers are aware that pedestrians might dart out any moment and so they drive much more carefully and slowly than they would otherwise. I have seen something similar in plazas in older areas of European cities, where people tend to drive, park and walk wherever they see fit. You see cars parked on the sidewalk and pedestrians crossing or standing on the road wherever they might. It is anarchic, but it somehow works. Come to think of it, we might benefit from a less structured approach to planning in general. I haven't read her thoroughly, but isn't that what Jane Jacobs was all about?

[swilley]

Edgar properties has updated their website, http://www.edgarproperties.ca/

[midnightrambler]

Originally Posted by swilley

Edgar properties has updated their website, http://www.edgarproperties.ca/

"On the behalf of Edgar Properties II Ltd., Colliers McClocklin Real Estate Corp. is excited to announce 275 Second, which will be the largest office building constructed in downtown Saskatoon since 1979. Plans are to begin construction in Summer 2009."

Awesome!

We're gonna lead the country in growth again.

[joelpiecowye]

the ped mall sounds great, mabey traffic could be allowed at 6 or 8 at night to 9 or so in the morning and traffic could also be allowed in the winter, i think that making the first half as a ped only street would be a good experiment for the city to try for a summer or so

[kgc087]

the ped. mall idea would be a VERY positive move for the downtown and the city as a whole, to help reinforce the sense of pedestrianism. As for furniture stores moving out of the downtown, I'm proud to say the one I work at is relocating to the downtown, not quite in the heart but along the fringes. Were going into where Konto used to be, dot's has the street front and we will be behind them (Sew & Home is the name).

[Sask]

Originally Posted by swilley

Edgar properties has updated their website, http://www.edgarproperties.ca/

I was wishing for a 20 story tower, but a 12 story building is better than nothing. Especially if it has lots of glass, and looks good.

[craneSpotter]

Originally Posted by swilley

Edgar properties has updated their website, http://www.edgarproperties.ca/

If the rendering is close to what gets built, this project looks to have good potential. With decent glazing it could be the nicest offer tower in Saskatchewan.

This building would of course be better at 20 floors - but hey quality can trump height

Hope it gets built for you guys

[newflyer]

275 Second looks like it will be a handsome addition to the Saskatoon skyline.

Congrats on this very nice design... I look forward to seeing it finished.

[Sask]

Originally Posted by newflyer

275 Second looks like it will be a handsome addition to the Saskatoon skyline.

Congrats on this very nice design... I look forward to seeing it finished.

They should really name it "275 on Second Ave", "275 Second" sounds strange.

On another note, does anyone know why there is no work being done on the Luxe on Broadway? Seems there hasn't been anything happening for a few months now.

[circle33]

As mentioned earlier, construction was suspended pending an investigation of the on site fatality. They are back to work now. The crane was swinging out over the street yesterday.

[The Bess]

It will be interesting to see how Lake Placid and 275 second compliment each other with the glazing.

[Ruckus]

I updated the first page of the Saskatoon Construction Thread. I've added recently proposed projects, edited the details for existing projects, and created a potential development site map.

Let me know if there is any other useful information/maps/data worth adding.

[kgc087]

For #29 on the construction map, have they actually been renovating the building? As well #45 is a condo tower, which one is this?

[Ruckus]

Originally Posted by kgc087

For #29 on the construction map, have they actually been renovating the building? As well #45 is a condo tower, which one is this?

I have seen a large Loraas disposal bin parked on the street in front, and the occasional laborer's truck.

The rumored condo tower was mentioned in this thread some time ago, I can't remember by whom, but they said the current property owners were contacted by some people who were interested in buying it to build a condo tower. No names, details were skimpy, they mentioned 20 or so storeys. I think it was posted back in spring/summer of 2008, during the height of all the hype.

Again, it was a rumor, but it seems plausible. The site is begging for redevelopment.

[Echoes]

In the sports section of the Saturday SP, there's an article on former Roughrider Wayne Shaw who is closing his Broadway area store, "A Book Hunter" (626 Main Street) as his landlord has "other plans for the Main Street property."

The store is next door to that car wash and IIRC that property was listed a few months ago by Colliers or ICR (?) as a potential redevelopment property. Let the speculation begin!

Source

[Ruckus]

Okay, I've been doing some thinking and number crunching related to people living in the downtown. We all know Mayor Atchison has a goal of getting 10% of Saskatoon's population living in the downtown core, “Everyone now is talking about having 10,000 people living in the downtown core, and I think we need to shift our goals now to 25,000 people living in the downtown core,”.

So with that goal in mind, where and how should we distribute our future downtown residents?

Using the 25,000 population figure, and an average household size of 2.2, we will need 11,363 units constructed in the next decade or so (I can't remember the timeline). 11,363 units is a lot. How many units does a typical downtown hi-rise residential development have? Probably somewhere between 150-250, River Landing Village has around 190 residential units.

Let's use 190 units/bldg for our scenario. So 11,363/190=59.8...60 hi-rises with an average of 190 units/bldg. That's a lot.

Why did I begin thinking about all of this? Well, it began with the creation of a map of potential development sites in Regina. After that, I was anxious to do one for Saskatoon.

I identified 64 vacant/underutilized sites. The list included gravel and paved parking lots, single storey buildings, gas stations, automotive shops, funeral chapels...things that don't belong in a vibrant and livable downtown. I did not include all parking lots/single storey sites as some will likely remain so for unknown reasons.

Of course, those 64 sites were not identical in area, so floorplate sizes/heights can be quite variable.

64 hi-rises, or 12,169 units, and 26,752 residents.

But, let's say half of those sites become developments, so 32 hi-rises, or 6,080 units, and 13,376 residents. How about 25% of those 64 sites, 16 hi-rises? At 190 units/bldg=3,040 units, 2.2 avg. household size, that's 4,000 people. 4,000 is roughly equivalent to our current downtown population, or you could say 16 hi-rises would double our downtown population.

How many do we have in the works? 3 towers, and 3 mid-rise conversions. So maybe 760 units? 1,672 residents.

Lets use the estimated 760 units currently proposed/under construction to project future development within 10 years, and 20 years. 760 units X 10 years =7600 units, or 16,720 residents, and 40 hi-rises. How about 760 over 20 years? 760 X 20=15,200 units, or 33,440 residents, and 80 hi-rises (we must go higher, wider, further, or a combination of all three).

We have a long road ahead of us

We're definitely going to see streetcars, and LRT systems sooner rather than later if we maintain a steady growth trajectory (optimism ).




Source Link

[circle33]

Originally Posted by Country

In the sports section of the Saturday SP, there's an article on former Roughrider Wayne Shaw who is closing his Broadway area store, "A Book Hunter" (626 Main Street) as his landlord has "other plans for the Main Street property."

The store is next door to that car wash and IIRC that property was listed a few months ago by Colliers or ICR (?) as a potential redevelopment property. Let the speculation begin!

Source

It's all here: http://www.colliersmn.com/prod/cclod.nsf.../620,+622,+626+Main+Street+New+Style.pdf. The shading in the aerial photo is off a bit, but you can get the gist of it.

[kgc087]

So to achieve the goal of 20 000 people we need some major densification and redevelopment of the downtown. Perhaps if those figures were presented to council they may consider raising the d/t height restrictions to 40 stories. Some great mixed use possibilites come along with that height.