Quote:
Originally Posted by SaskScraper
^^ you are probably right on all counts. I for one hate when people want to Debbie-downer on Saskatoon, I think the city has a lot going for it.
There is a noticeable palpable difference between S'toon & Regina though. Regina has had by-laws encouraging office space in it's downtown, on the other hand Saskatoon has been doing the opposite for decades, restricting office construction downtown with height restrictions & forcing by-laws for street level conditions to buildings & forcing companies like Cameco to build it's office building in suburb etc.
Even Saskatoon's latest built high rise hotels are esthetically exceptionally ugly ie Holiday Inn downtown & Staybridge Suites on College Dr. Saskatoon is getting easily eclipsed by cities like Kelowna which is building high rises twice the height of anything in Saskatoon.
There's also a lot of nimby's in Saskatoon blocking projects like Market Mall high rise project & the one on University Dr.
Saskatoon has taken a lot of missed steps in its high rise construction. Just the fact alone that people talk about bird hits on glass of highrise buildings in Saskatoon. Saskatoon doesn't really have anything with glass facade highrise so people are scared. People in Calgary, Edmonton & Regina don't mention this with their glass towers.
It's just now that Saskatoon is finally taking baby steps in projects like Riverlanding to make amends of decades of encouraging urban sprawl.
|
While I agree with your desire to see more highrise construction in downtown Saskatoon, I still think the overall driver is the private sector and their desire, or lack thereof, for downtown space. There is no doubt that Saskatoon bylaws and zoning that allow widespread suburban office construction have impacted the development of downtown highrises, but it goes beyond simply that.
Cameco's low profile location out on 11st street was their own desire. It dates back to the days of Eldorado Nuclear before becoming Cameco. At that time, not only nuclear power, but also uranium mining, was very controversial and the company wanted to keep a very low profile and not attract protesters. During subsequent renovations and additions to that building, security concerns even impacted landscaping design with a desire to not have any "hiding places" in the planting near the building. As well, they also had their marshalling yard there for servicing the mines and that location allowed them to consolidate operations in one location.
As for the proposed Market Mall condo development, the lack of progress on that was purely economics. The project simply didn't pencil out. While there were NIMBYs objecting to the development, they didn't factor into the decision. And the University Drive project is proceeding over objections of some local residents.