Saskatoon Construction III

[Roquentin]

Originally Posted by Ricopedra

Any news on that little 2-story building at the foot of the Broadway Bridge that they wanted to redevelop and make into a 5-story office-looking 'parking lot'? At least the top floor would have a great view.

It would actually help to add a little height and depth to our skyline, and it's not that bad, really.

What makes Regina's skyline seem so much bigger is - they have fewer holes in it. A lot of little 5 and diming.

Baydo's coming...and maybe this. Then Highpoint.

In all seriousness, it seems we're making up for lost time. The shift is coming to downtown relevance.

I wandered past this building the other night, and it had "For Sale" signs on it. I (optimistically) took that to mean that they're still actively selling the building's commercial condos, which I believe was part of the original plan (???), but for all I know the building itself might be for sale as a whole. In any case, it seems like it might be a while before anything happens here. It would be nice to see the expansion occur, aesthetics aside (I'm a broken record!). If this renovation/expansion happened AND something went up kitty-corner to it, that intersection would become a pretty dense, busy slice of urbanity!

I also noticed For Sale signs on the parking lot between the Broadway Bridge and the hotel/condo block. I don't know the history of that lot --- maybe it's been for sale for a while. What would work best there, I wonder? In a perfect world, maybe high-end condos or a hotel?

The parking lot across from The Bessborough is still my top-pick for parking lots I'd like to see developed, though. Thoughts? What parking lot downtown would you most like to see bite the dust?

[roryn1]

I agree - the parking lot in front of the Bess - and the parking surrounding the bess is the most needed for development. A parkade with ground level retail in that area would be fine with me honestly. Let’s worry about the parkades later, but get these surface lots populated with any sort of buildings - way too many of them!

I live on 5th Ave next to one owned by Remai/Concorde that will never get developed. They don’t even maintain the surrounding of it. They truely are a burden to the future of our downtown and people wanting live downtown.

[YXE]

In no particular order:

1. Parking lot in front of the Bes
2. Parking lot next to the Theatre that was supposed to be the site for River City #2.
3. The parking spaces to the north (?) of the theatre. One of those two sites I believe still has a sign up for a proposed (and cancelled) office tower.
4. Midtown parking lot, obviously.
5. Toys R Us lot and just everything about it.
6. Next River Landing parcels

... I think I took this a bit far haha

[roryn1]

I’ve been thinking a lot about these surface lots lately (yea there’s definitely something wrong with me if I think this much about surface lots). Our city is never going to add regulations on the lots - bike lane charlie won’t even do bike lanes - North Prairie and other bullies that own these lots are too strong. Our only solution that i’ll be advocating for, is a couple of elevated parking lots with retail on the main level. This is what Regina has that we don’t and it’s time we got a couple more. I’ve seen the financials of a few of the lots downtown and they are making some mad stacks in parking rent.

Edit: Scotia centre’s parkade has a 8 year wait list to get in - with Nutrien leaving that opens up a lot more spots, and river landing opens a lot more spots underground, but we still need more in the northeast (my building on 5th ave is a couple years wait list - owning a parking lot in it is like owning lots of gold), and east downtown (bessborough area drastically needs non surface parking spots). Two buildings with main level retail and 4-5 above ground levels of parking - one at 24th and 5th using the city leased surface parking lot by Starphoenix owned by concorde, and the other in between hudsons/first nations bank probably also owned by concorde lol.

I won’t be accepting any lesser offers, and will not be debating how ugly above ground parking lots are haha. it has to be done.

[YXE]

On another note, is River Quarry still unoccupied?

[roryn1]

Doesn't look like River Quarry has a tenant yet :/ They're still posting a $27.50psf lease rate and most other comparable buildings downtown are $25psf on the websites so maybe they aren't in a rush to give it up in chunks. I really hope they find a good tenant soon. BHP would be a good tenant there and then they could vacate their mediocre building built by North Prairie.



Here's the available spots in Scotia Center. Who owns this building? Like come on lower your lease rates to at least get some sort of a return haha. It's a retail ghost town... I wonder if they'd turn the entire development into condos...

[roryn1]

Now this would be a beautiful spot for a 30 story condo.

https://sl2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/us...pdf?1583964104

[roryn1]

I worked out of Toronto for a bit once and was right next to Dream's office downtown. If they're so proud about being Saskatchewan's largest developer lets see a skyrise that people will notice. Come on guys! Scrap this! https://sl2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/us...pdf?1590083504

The unmaintained grass full of dandelions in this picture is exactly how I feel about this lol.

[YXE]

Originally Posted by roryn1

Now this would be a beautiful spot for a 30 story condo.

https://sl2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/us...pdf?1583964104

This is an outstanding location and I'm very curious to see who is going to buy this. Anything under 50m here would be a disappointment, IMO.

On another note, I'm worried that the reason the city hasn't sold the next River Landing parcel is because they're going to announce that as the location for the arena/convention center. I feel that this prime river-front location should only be used for mixed-use towers and I think it would be a huge miss for the city.

[mitchellk12]

Originally Posted by YXE

In no particular order:

1. Parking lot in front of the Bes
2. Parking lot next to the Theatre that was supposed to be the site for River City #2.
3. The parking spaces to the north (?) of the theatre. One of those two sites I believe still has a sign up for a proposed (and cancelled) office tower.
4. Midtown parking lot, obviously.
5. Toys R Us lot and just everything about it.
6. Next River Landing parcels

... I think I took this a bit far haha

22nd-idylwyld across from Chianti's would be a prime spot for a behemoth development.

[mitchellk12]

[QUOTE=roryn1;8939155]I worked out of Toronto for a bit once and was right next to Dream's office downtown. If they're so proud about being Saskatchewan's largest developer lets see a skyrise that people will notice. Come on guys! Scrap this! https://sl2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/us...pdf?1590083504

The unmaintained grass full of dandelions in this picture is exactly how I feel about this

275 2nd ave south has a rendering of some office development by DREAM. I remember asking about it years ago and got shut down lol

[roryn1]

Re: downtown arena - i think you’re right, the announcement was supposed to be in Q1 and midtown seems to be very resistant to giving away any of their nearby land on the north and south ends.

[djforsberg]

Originally Posted by roryn1

I worked out of Toronto for a bit once and was right next to Dream's office downtown. If they're so proud about being Saskatchewan's largest developer lets see a skyrise that people will notice. Come on guys! Scrap this! https://sl2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/us...pdf?1590083504

The unmaintained grass full of dandelions in this picture is exactly how I feel about this lol.

Saskatoon sure loves their suburban office buildings . Sadly, Regina has been starting to see more of these type developments in the past 5-10 years as well, despite many empty lots downtown.

[YXE]

Originally Posted by prairieguy

Meridian owns a parking lot immediately behind the Knox United Church. It is just off of Spadina on 24th Street across from Riverfront Condo tower. This was in the plans for what I believe was to be an 8 to 10 floor condo building.

Anyone have any more information on this?

[alt_center]

I could be mistaken but I seem to recall that North Prairie announced a 4 or 5 floor condo on the SW corner of Queen & 4th (across from Shangri-La). But I noticed the other day that a For Sale sign has recently gone up on that lot.

[ToonTownRob]

Originally Posted by YXE

This is an outstanding location and I'm very curious to see who is going to buy this. Anything under 50m here would be a disappointment, IMO.

Interesting that the offer includes the Ukrainian museum. Are they planning on moving, or just shutting down?

[roryn1]

Originally Posted by alt_center

I could be mistaken but I seem to recall that North Prairie announced a 4 or 5 floor condo on the SW corner of Queen & 4th (across from Shangri-La). But I noticed the other day that a For Sale sign has recently gone up on that lot.

You are correct. Some of their strangely big PR moments:

https://thestarphoenix.com/news/loca...-for-city-park

https://thestarphoenix.com/news/loca...-vacancy-rates
Proposed downtown:


Reality next to a 80km/hr railway on the southern border of the city. You'd get more work done if your business was working from home - imagine trying to hire someone living on the north end of the city!


https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saska...oval-1.2874348
Proposed:
Reality: One of the few empty buildings of downtown Saskatoon

[mitchellk12]

Originally Posted by roryn1

You are correct. Some of their strangely big PR moments:

https://thestarphoenix.com/news/loca...-for-city-park

https://thestarphoenix.com/news/loca...-vacancy-rates
Proposed downtown:


Reality next to a 80km/hr railway on the southern border of the city. You'd get more work done if your business was working from home - imagine trying to hire someone living on the north end of the city!


https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saska...oval-1.2874348
Proposed:
Reality: One of the few empty buildings of downtown Saskatoon

The WTC was a dumb proposal to begin with. One downtown development that im glad didnt happen.

As for the previous project with the 30 storey - 18 storey NPD proposal, that one would be more ideal for that specific lot downtown.

[YXE]

What properties does North Prairie own downtown... that we know of? It would be interesting to find out who owns, say, ten of downtown's prime parking lots, for instance. I would not be surprised to find out it's mostly comprised of local developers who have lobbied the city against imposing taxes/fees for not developing land.

[roryn1]

Here's some of the most notable surface lots according to the ISC website.

24th and 5th - P.R. Developments

The lot ukrainian museum and lot next to park town hotel that's for sale - owned by Ukrainian Museum of Canada

The surface parking lot in front of the Bess which is also attached to the courthouse - SASKATCHEWAN PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CORPORATION (what is that)

The sliver of a lot for sale next to Renaissance Tower and broadway bridge - ICR Investments

The abandoned building that maybe used to be a hotel that's in the same square as The Lighthouse - Bobyn, Mark Franklin

The surface lot just south of that building and the lighthouse along 2nd - 620516 Saskatchewan Ltd.

The surface lot south of the Cineplex - TRIOGREEN WEST GP INC.

The TOys R Us Lot and surface lot north of midtown - Midtown Plaza

22nd and Idywild parking lots all the way from Cactus club and north - CITY OF SASKATOON

3rd and 23rd surface lot near Bus depot - CITY OF SASKATOON

2nd and 22nd (old McDs?) - NEXUS HOLDINGS INC.

3rd and 22nd near 2nd ave Starbucks - 620516 SASKATCHEWAN LTD.

2nd and 24th surface lot next to Vecima Networks - HFT Parkades Limited