Saskatoon Core Living vs the Suburbs

[saskatoonborn]

The rent or buy thing is complex. renting is cheaper overall. generally you arnt on the hook for general maintenace ane upkeep. If the furnace goes or the roof needs a repair thats not money out or your pocket. you do feel however you are at someone elses mercy. if you want to landscape or replace a light fixture to something more asthetic, paint the walls or really anything to do with the property you need permission. you also need to find people who are willing to let you have pets (if thats importnant to you like it was us) which limits your options significantly.

Buying is expensive its a huge long term finachial commitment. you are on the hook for any emergency upkeep or repairs. but it comes with significant freedoms. the bank generally is the true owner of the house but really they dont care what you do as long as they keep getting their money. you do need permission to major improvements like adding a room or building a garage on your property.

a 600 ft condo DT for just under 300000 in saskatoon isnt great value for money though in my opinion. as a condo owner you do have more freedoms in terms of upgrades and changes you can make but you still also have to pay condo fees on top of a mortgage, furthermore. Take the Mount Royal area for example. double lot 800 to 1000 sqft slab bungalo style home. between 200,000 and 250,000. moving into an older area so not adding to outward expansion its stll within the confines of circle drive. There are grocery stores within a quick bus or walking distance. many of these homes also have garages. when there are still good options like that here in saskatoon a 600sqft condo just doent seem worth it unless you are just out of universary or all your kids are gone and you wanna downgrade. or perhaps you never want to have kids but even then maybe you still want pets or a garden.

people buy small condos in Toronto and Vancouver becauae they lack comparably reasonable options finacially to have a home with a yard. That being said I have friends and family who dont wanna waste time and energy on yard work its not space they want or need. They live in a condo for that reason. i also have friends and family that make 2 or 3 times the candadian average family take home and they rent because they know its cheaper for them overall and they can save the extra money away for travel or retirement. That being said they arnt living in the basement of a junk house like my wife and i did when we first moved in together haha.

The decision to buy or rent is so complex and personal it that there is no wrong choice in the end. As long as you can afford your chosen option.

[Ricopedra]

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[Ricopedra]

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[Sask.ks]

Originally Posted by Ricopedra

BTW: Whats the best burb for a Christmas light tour? Any pics for the holidays? Does city hall put up a big tree anywhere?

Here’s a Christmas light tour my S.O. and I did last weekend:

https://www.reddit.com/r/saskatoon/c...tm_name=iossmf

It’s spread out over a few of the older east side neighbourhoods.

Happy holidays!

[Ricopedra]

^^^Nice, thanks, Sask.ks!

I found this recent post by Mike Canadian Explorer where he walks around the core hoods of Nutana and Downtown, crossing back and forth over the Broadway Bridge. You can really see the progress of new developments at River Landing and 880 Broadway. Enjoy; click through to advance; whatever. Cheers and Happy New Year!

https://youtu.be/F7BgU9TJPRA

[Ricopedra]

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[phone]

Originally Posted by Ricopedra

https://blog.remax.ca/best-places-to-live-saskatoon/

You can tell this was thrown together without much editing because it lists Riversdale as "Riverside". I also can't fathom how anyone who has taken even a cursory look at Saskatoon on Google Maps would put Kelsey-Woodlawn as the second most liveable neighbourhood in Saskatoon, and leave Nutana altogether absent on the list. My guess is that some GIS tech did some multi-factor analysis and the Remax blogger took the results that were spat out wholesale without any second guess. Almost worthless clickbait list.

[roryn1]

Why is Saskatoon’s downtown called Central Business District? What a boring name.

[phone]

Originally Posted by roryn1

Why is Saskatoon’s downtown called Central Business District? What a boring name.

That was the official name of the neighbourhood until recently (sometime in the last 5 years). My understanding is that CBD is a British-ism, compared to the Manhattan-originated "Downtown". But I guess City Hall agreed with you and decided to change the official name to "Downtown" -- see the city neighbourhoods map: https://www.saskatoon.ca/sites/defau...ds_key_map.pdf

Maybe "Downtown" is particularly apt in Saskatoon though, given that the area is at the lowest elevation in the city!

[roryn1]

Interesting. I’d love it if they separated north downtown with south downtown. My area of 25th and 5th that has most of the people downtown doesn’t connect to south downtown, and we even get less service from DTNYXE’s district since we’re less active restaurant / retail looking, so people tend to forget about us I guess ha. It would be nice to legally break out the districts to get a better understanding of each one’s issues. It also makes sense to incorporate Baydo Towers and neighbouring builds into downtown instead of City Park. Look at this new map made by the city - my area is considered “downtown” (pink shade) but “downtown” is 3 different districts

[phone]

Originally Posted by roryn1

Interesting. I’d love it if they separated north downtown with south downtown. My area of 25th and 5th that has most of the people downtown doesn’t connect to south downtown, and we even get less service from DTNYXE’s district since we’re less active restaurant / retail looking, so people tend to forget about us I guess ha. It would be nice to legally break out the districts to get a better understanding of each one’s issues. It also makes sense to incorporate Baydo Towers and neighbouring builds into downtown instead of City Park. Look at this new map made by the city - my area is considered “downtown” (pink shade) but “downtown” is 3 different districts

My impression is that in the past north Downtown was more of its own neighbourhood, and blended in more with City Park south of Queen St. This would have been many decades ago before the residential towers were constructed and some of the city's finest Victorian and Edwardian homes were there, a select few of which remain. King Edward School (doppelganger of the Albert Community Centre) was the anchor for this area, located on the north side of 25th right where the King Edward Tower/YWCA is now, which must have given it its own discrete feel independent from both Downtown and City Park.

[Ricopedra]

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[roryn1]

The mall tenants themselves have been surprisingly doing good - but I think it’s based on renegotiated leases. Apparently a lot of the bigger stores don’t pay rent unless they make sales there. Great deal for the stores, can’t be great business for the mall, desperate for tenants.

That mall hasn’t actually renovated to increase psf size since what... saskatoon was at 150,000 people? I think not expanding is strategic, but then also to stay competitive with online smaller stores need more square footage to offer more selection, but psf pricing hasn’t gone down to allow businesses downtown to keep up with that competitiveness in price the suburban strip malls offer.

[roryn1]

More city centre / downtown school discussion, not actually happening downtown where the majority of tenants live lol. Our building at 25th and 5th actually has a lot of kids in it. I love it when the school bus comes here to a big building it’s quite nice to see all demographics in our large building. It would be even nicer to be able to see them walk to the new library that could have been conjoined into this newly planned school.. https://thestarphoenix.com/news/loca...school-project

[roryn1]

Interesting article on skywalks in Calgary. I’m hoping with the Scotia Center pretty much empty - both empty retail and commercial, maybe there’s an opportunity to start our own skywalk system there. Integrating some condos and more commercial to our mall could really rejuvenate it in the winter: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...date-1.5975488

[Ricopedra]

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[Ricopedra]

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[FarmerHaight]

Originally Posted by Ricopedra

Some dumb folks here say skywalks kill street life - In winter in downtown Saskatoon street life is a Northern wall. Winter is always coming. Nuff said. Obviously they'll only enhance life here. Cheers, when they're built.

I don't think those folks are dumb when they reference specific examples (Minneapolis) while you are speaking anecdotally.

If you had listened to the podcast referenced in this thread (it's quite good and I am now a subscriber) or read any of the criticisms of skywalks on the internet, there are a number of reasons why they may be undesirable.

1. What happens to the existing retail, especially stores that won't be included in the skywalk network?

2. In order to fully capitalize on skywalk patrons, a number of buildings would likely be redeveloped to include second floor retail. I don't know if the demand for all that extra retail space exists so would building developers be able to charge enough PSF to justify the redevelopment costs?

3. Will the skywalk system be public or private? In Minneapolis, anyone who is undesirable (homeless, minorities, youth, etc.) are essentially banned from the skywalks because private security guards keep them out. Is a downtown where the wealthy can walk around free of 'hassles' while the poor are left to freeze on the barren street scapes a healthy downtown?

I think skywalks would make sense in certain circumstances such as between a downtown arena and conference centre, but I'm not convinced they would be some sort of boon to winter shopping if they criss-crossed the entire downtown. If it was such benefit to be in a climate-controlled environment year-round, why aren't more locally-owned businesses located in Midtown?

[Ricopedra]

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[Roquentin]

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

I don't think those folks are dumb when they reference specific examples (Minneapolis) while you are speaking anecdotally.

If you had listened to the podcast referenced in this thread (it's quite good and I am now a subscriber) or read any of the criticisms of skywalks on the internet, there are a number of reasons why they may be undesirable.

1. What happens to the existing retail, especially stores that won't be included in the skywalk network?

2. In order to fully capitalize on skywalk patrons, a number of buildings would likely be redeveloped to include second floor retail. I don't know if the demand for all that extra retail space exists so would building developers be able to charge enough PSF to justify the redevelopment costs?

3. Will the skywalk system be public or private? In Minneapolis, anyone who is undesirable (homeless, minorities, youth, etc.) are essentially banned from the skywalks because private security guards keep them out. Is a downtown where the wealthy can walk around free of 'hassles' while the poor are left to freeze on the barren street scapes a healthy downtown?

I think skywalks would make sense in certain circumstances such as between a downtown arena and conference centre, but I'm not convinced they would be some sort of boon to winter shopping if they criss-crossed the entire downtown. If it was such benefit to be in a climate-controlled environment year-round, why aren't more locally-owned businesses located in Midtown?

These are all great points, and I'll add another. Saskatoon's downtown lacks the required density. I think that comparing Saskatoon to Winnipeg or Edmonton in this respect is absurd, but look at Regina. Regina's walkway system spans a few short blocks and connects a mall, a casino, hotels, and a dozen office buildings. Saskatoon's downtown has nowhere near that kind of critical mass to justify pedway/underground connections. If a pedway system started at River Landing, what would it even connect to? Cities that have successful pedway systems all have block after block of offices, malls, and hotels. Saskatoon does not have that.

That said, I would expect a new arena to have a connection or two like this, especially if it's built alongside a new hotel or conference centre. But the thought of a system connecting Midtown, City Hall, the Bess, River Landing, etc. is a pipe dream given all of the gaps and small-scale development in the core. If the downtown were to magically double in size, or if the city lost its mind and decided to dump tens of millions of dollars into a network of tunnels (lol), then sure. In the real world, today, no.