Saskatoon Construction

[Jerry]

I had a chance to watch the proceedings at council last night and was not to surprised at the outcome. I'm very excited about this project but can't help feel that my fingers should still be crossed.

As Country had pointed out they have 15 days to pay the full amount after the closing date of Nov.1 A down payment of $250,000.00 has to be made in 2 days of agreement by city council.

They are allowed to do site prep but no construction till the documents securing the financing are registered against the title.

Report from Administration:







Source

[Wyku]

While I'm happy that it's been approved, I can't help but feel a little angry that they could potentially drag this out a full year past their original "last chance" deadline. And for what? To provide financial documentation saying they can pay for the project? Isn't that what they were supposed to have been doing for months now? I dunno, I just hope that Lobsinger holds his word for once in this whole ordeal and actually gets the ball rolling "ASAP".

[Echoes]

Originally Posted by Jerry

I had a chance to watch the proceedings at council last night and was not to surprised at the outcome. I'm very excited about this project but can't help feel that my fingers should still be crossed.

Jerry, my fingers are going to remain firmly crossed until the day this project is 100% complete. That's looking like 3+ years... so my fingers might very well lock permanently in place before then.

[Morogolus]

Sheesh man the Lake Placid development was first proposed in Sept 2007, and construction likely won't start around Sept 2010 if it ever gets started, three years.

To put that in perspective the Empire State Building was conceived, financed and built in that time and this was during the Great Depression.

Assuming the project actually gets completed in 2013 it will have been six years since it was initially proposed. Hoover Dam and The World Center buildings were completed in five years.

The thing that boggles my mind is that it shouldn't be that hard to secure financing. Billions have been invested in the last 5 years in SK. It shouldn't be considered too much of a risk considering the entire province including the government and the city seem to back the project.

[Wyku]

Originally Posted by Morogolus

Sheesh man the Lake Placid development was first proposed in Sept 2007, and construction likely won't start around Sept 2010 if it ever gets started, three years.

To put that in perspective the Empire State Building was conceived, financed and built in that time and this was during the Great Depression.

Assuming the project actually gets completed in 2013 it will have been six years since it was initially proposed. Hoover Dam and The World Center buildings were completed in five years.

The thing that boggles my mind is that it shouldn't be that hard to secure financing. Billions have been invested in the last 5 years in SK. It shouldn't be considered too much of a risk considering the entire province including the government and the city seem to back the project.

For a more recent example of a building being built during the same time frame as the Lake Placid development has been on the table check out the progress on The Bow (Encana HQ) in Calgary--pretty impressive.

[Echoes]

It looks like The Ivy Dining could be building a small deck on their wedge of property that abuts the corners of 24th and Ontario. It might be just a fence though....

[kgc087]

This isn't really huge construction news, but I've been designing a new gay club that's opening up in 3 weeks I do believe. It's located in the same building as Jax. The entry is on the other side of the building from Jax and leads into the basement. It's called 302 Discotheque and Lounge. It should be pretty swank when it's all done. Some of the finishes aren't the finest but I did my best with the budget I had. This is a REALLY good sign for Saskatoon. Gay bars a good indicator of a thriving night life. As well the bar is not strictly gay but also may be used as an event centre and weekly $ beer nights will make everyone happy! I hope you all check it out when it's done!

[kiwi4life]

Originally Posted by kgc087

Imagine hitting a 40 year old oak tree going 100km/hr, I think the tree would win.

ha yeah i know

[Echoes]

Originally Posted by kgc087

This isn't really huge construction news, but I've been designing a new gay club that's opening up in 3 weeks I do believe. It's located in the same building as Jax. The entry is on the other side of the building from Jax and leads into the basement. It's called 302 Discotheque and Lounge. It should be pretty swank when it's all done. Some of the finishes aren't the finest but I did my best with the budget I had. This is a REALLY good sign for Saskatoon. Gay bars a good indicator of a thriving night life. As well the bar is not strictly gay but also may be used as an event centre and weekly $ beer nights will make everyone happy! I hope you all check it out when it's done!

kgc, is that replacing the Pacific Banquet Hall space in the basement there, or will this bar be located in another portion of it?

Warehouse District rising!

[Chaps]

Originally Posted by kgc087

This isn't really huge construction news, but I've been designing a new gay club that's opening up in 3 weeks I do believe. It's located in the same building as Jax. The entry is on the other side of the building from Jax and leads into the basement. It's called 302 Discotheque and Lounge. It should be pretty swank when it's all done. Some of the finishes aren't the finest but I did my best with the budget I had. This is a REALLY good sign for Saskatoon. Gay bars a good indicator of a thriving night life. As well the bar is not strictly gay but also may be used as an event centre and weekly $ beer nights will make everyone happy! I hope you all check it out when it's done!

Saskatoon doesn't currently have a gay bar?

[drm310]

Diva's, in the Avenue Building on 3rd Ave & 21st St has been the city's gay club for many years. Previously it was called Numbers and moved around a few times before settling in its current location.

Flint on 2nd Ave S is has an openly gay owner and is a kind of "unofficial" gay hangout, although it draws all kinds of people - a good thing.

There were a couple of other short-lived, gay-oriented establishments in the last 10-15 years... the Viper Club on 24th St E (now the Saigon Rose) and Headquarters Pub on 20th St W (beside the Adilman Building).

If you want to go way back in time, the Apollo Room in the now-demolished Ritz Hotel (now the Lululemon building) on 21st St E was the first bar that officially welcomed gay patrons in the early 70s.

Originally Posted by Chaps

Saskatoon doesn't currently have a gay bar?

[kgc087]

Originally Posted by Country

kgc, is that replacing the Pacific Banquet Hall space in the basement there, or will this bar be located in another portion of it?

Warehouse District rising!

It's replacing it! Reno's are in progress and hopefully all the materials we ordered arrive soon. Again the budget was small for the size of the space and for how much had to be done. So a lot is just cosmetic but in a year or so if the place is doing well the owner wants to do some serious renos such as expand and update all the washrooms do structural changes in the main area etc.

[EarlyByrdProductions]

Originally Posted by kgc087

It's replacing it! Reno's are in progress and hopefully all the materials we ordered arrive soon. Again the budget was small for the size of the space and for how much had to be done. So a lot is just cosmetic but in a year or so if the place is doing well the owner wants to do some serious renos such as expand and update all the washrooms do structural changes in the main area etc.

wow. great news kgc.
I didn't know you were into the club design stuff. very cool and great news for the culture of saskatoon.
was it on this site someone posted the correlation between a cities gay index and culture/ nightlife/ restaurant index...

[Echoes]

Originally Posted by EarlyByrdProductions

wow. great news kgc.
I didn't know you were into the club design stuff. very cool and great news for the culture of saskatoon.
was it on this site someone posted the correlation between a cities gay index and culture/ nightlife/ restaurant index...

Quite likely. Urban theorist Richard Florida uses the gay index along with a bohemian index and diversity index to measure a city's ability to attract and retain the "creative class" = economic development, urban regeneration, etc.

[vyllym]

Has anyone else seen the updated document for the Kensington open house? It contains a more detailed map of the updated plan for the Blairmore sector, with potential development going up to Beam Road.

http://www.saskatoon.ca/DEPARTMENTS/Comm...tor%20Plan%20Amendment%20June%202010.pdf

EDIT: page 3 of the document.

[lbird]

Originally Posted by Country

Quite likely. Urban theorist Richard Florida uses the gay index along with a bohemian index and diversity index to measure a city's ability to attract and retain the "creative class" = economic development, urban regeneration, etc.

Florida's work has been proved to be complete bs time and time again, I hope his name isn't used often on this forum. Saskatoon and Saskatchewan are booming because of the developing world's demand for food, oil and other natural resources, mostly produced in this province by blue collar workers in F150's, not because of the 'creative class'.

[Jerry]

I found a number of these "pay by space stations" around the farmer's market. Thought I should make mention of them as they go into use today. Not sure if they are located in other areas of the city or if they are just a test project.

The main parking lot west of the farmer's market is still free I do believe. Most days this lot is fairly full of what I can assume is downtown workers.

I checked the city's website for more information regarding these but had no luck.












^^ Found one that appears to by solar powered.


^^ Solar Panel



While checking out the city's website I did find out that the first time use of a cell phone for parking is free.

Pay-By-Cell Phone At Parking Meters

An option to pay for metered parking with cell phones is available in the Broadway area, the downtown core and all City of Saskatoon metered parking lots. This electronic parking payment system (TM) is provided through a partnership between the City of Saskatoon and New Parking Inc.

Each meter in this program has a sticker with a four-digit meter number and a phone number. To pay by cell phone:

Call 955-9969
Wait for the prompts
Enter the four-digit meter number
Although the meter will not indicate it, the vehicle will be legally parked for the maximum stay. Enforcement Officers carry wireless pocket PCs in order to identify which meters have been paid for by cell phone, and how much time remains.

To stop payment, call the phone number again. Make sure you use the same cell phone you had used to initiate payment. You will be charged for the amount of time used, in 30-minute blocks. If a call isn’t made to stop payment, the maximum time at that meter will be charged.

Charges for parking that are paid by cell phone will be sent in a separate statement from New Parking Inc. No parking charges will be included on cell phone bills and there is no extra charge to your cell phone to use this service.

All cell phones will work, regardless of the mobile provider or the technology it uses.

The first time this service is used, it is free. Shortly after the first use, New Parkng Inc. will contact the cell phone user to register payment options for future use, including credit card, prepayment or PayPal (online payment).

On-line registration for cell phone parking is available through New Parking Inc.

Source

[kgc087]

The club was never posted before. The owner wanted it to be on the d/l until he got all of his licenses etc. I've actually helped with a few design things in the city such as flint, many residential properties some offices. This isn't construction related but HUGELY cultural for Saskatoon. I'm a creative director for the newly formed Saskatoon Fashion Week. We will be having our first week in sept 2011. We are working closely with Canada West Fashion Week and Vancouver Fashion Week which is allowing us to send Saskatoon designers to their shows. As well we have had some HUGE international interest from designers in Italy. I thought you might like to know about this since it will def be a huge deal for that week in Saskatoon. ICR donated office space to us from the building that divas is in. For the actual event I'm hoping to secure just a random warehouse so I can recreate the inside for the entire event.

[ninipanini]

I saw the mysterious add for 302 in the pride guide... glad it's legit! Can't wait to see how it turns out. Good work kcg.

[kgc087]

please let me know about the interiors! We had some huge set back which took away a lot from my budget, so i had to cheap out on things like lighting. The bathrooms are not going to be the best, but like i said cosmetic to hold it over till a major reno can happen. I have already designed the new ones we just need to wait a year or so. The great part about this place is that it's a straight friendly gay discotheque. It will be Saskatoon's first legit dance club! So everyone can really enjoy it.