Saskatoon Construction III

[roryn1]

Originally Posted by Wyku

I had the same thought. Even just rotating the photos to be in a more similar orientation and/or cropping might have helped.

Seeing the South bridge in progress in 2010 reminds me of just how long that bridge/project took to open--not until the end of July 2013.

Lol u guys stop being so criticaL! No one pays for newspapers anymore

[NotToScale]

Originally Posted by roryn1

Lol u guys stop being so criticaL! No one pays for newspapers anymore

You have a point haha

[Wyku]

There were similar comments on the Facebook post for this story/video as well--someone posted a link to this video as a comparison. It's obviously just one project, but still cool to see.

https://www.facebook.com/rhenield/po...c_location=ufi

[ninipanini]

Any updates on Escala or Highpoint? It seems like the threads disappeared. I'd love to see a picture

[roryn1]

Another development by North Prairie/Canwest goes on without movement. This company sure likes bad PR. Maybe it’s time to move the company from being run by family members.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saska...vote-1.4997667

[Ricopedra]

edit

[Crisis]

Originally Posted by ninipanini

Any updates on Escala or Highpoint? It seems like the threads disappeared. I'd love to see a picture

The threads on both have simply slipped to page 2 due to no new postings.

Escala is still moving along and is well above ground - just no new pictures posted in nearly 2 months.

As for Highpoint, I feel that one could be awhile before we see any activity on site. I don't think that pre-sales have shot the lights out and I'm sure they have a threshold that needs to be met before we see any equipment mobilized to site. With the apparent lack of demand for living in No.1 River Landing (almost all units sold, but many not occupied and available for rent), people may realize that there's not a good opportunity to flip these units for a profit. And whether or not there's the demand for downtown (Broadway) living at that price point remains to be seen.

[YXE]

Originally Posted by Crisis

The threads on both have simply slipped to page 2 due to no new postings.

Escala is still moving along and is well above ground - just no new pictures posted in nearly 2 months.

As for Highpoint, I feel that one could be awhile before we see any activity on site. I don't think that pre-sales have shot the lights out and I'm sure they have a threshold that needs to be met before we see any equipment mobilized to site. With the apparent lack of demand for living in No.1 River Landing (almost all units sold, but many not occupied and available for rent), people may realize that there's not a good opportunity to flip these units for a profit. And whether or not there's the demand for downtown (Broadway) living at that price point remains to be seen.

Re: River Landing - Units have steadily been renting out the last few weeks, according to a management company that’s involved in quite a few units. I believe it took sometime to get the ball rolling as there was no market precedent for a building such as this. Owners didn’t know how to price units for rent and thus it took a few months to get the pricing right; it appears the right pricing range has been found. Two beds under 800sqft are going for just under $2,000/month. I would expect that once the new Nutrien tower opens that demand will increase in River Landing.

As for Highpoint, it would be great if someone on this forum who lives in the area could drop by the sales office to find out where things are at. As much as it’s fun to speculate, the answers shouldn’t be too hard to find!

[roryn1]

I stole all of these from social media as I haven't been gallivanting around town. I'm hoping to get around this weekend though!

This building being renovated by Strata on 20th downtown. I don't have a mockup of the final photos that are on the street but it's very exciting that this one is getting a face lift so close to The Lighthouse!


Tees and Pers about a week ago - the boiler unit on the top is now there and it's looking very impressive! That will be an exciting rooftop to hang out on - I can see if from my balcony so it will be exciting to see that part of downtown more lit up! I was doing some investigating and there is eventually plans for a building in between this one and the 301 (old EGADZ). Exciting to fill in 1st Ave. City Council needs to put xmas lights on 1st Ave next year!!!


Yes - this is the bus depot! Amazon grocery we're waiting for you to open here! A franchised farmers market (like a Eataly type setup) would be amazing here with all of the parking surrounding it.


Escala is now on the 5th floor, this photo is work on the 4th floor.


And lastly a cute pic of our shifting downtown




HUGE kudos to Meridian and Strata for beautifying our downtown. HUGE. We are so lucky to have these two developers. If we were stuck with North Prairie I would be considering moving from downtown.

There are also quite a few lots being sold downtown from what I'm guessing is sentiment towards prospective builds for the new entertainment district. The more I think about it, I'm hoping the Arena/Convention center is in the parking lot north of Midtown. I'd personally love to have it next to the river like Vancouver, but the area North of Saskatoon is so well set up for a arena - all the historic buildings there will make incredible restaurant and shop spaces. Fingers crossed that and the library start very very soon!

I also think the announcement of H&M will be a major draw to downtown of casual shoppers that would typically have gone to Centre Mall/Lawson/Confed. This is exciting for our coffee shop scene - I just had a coworker from the states come here and was extremely excited for Second Cup - it's great to see so much development happening downtown from all levels. My favorite part about travelling to other cities is finding perfect niche coffee/bubble tea shops, and eateries.

I live and work downtown - one thing I haven't seen in the decade I've been here that I always see in other cities I work out of is construction workers downtown! All of the exciting developments downtown is bringing in a working demographic that we haven't had downtown. These are huge for the restaurants and lunch shops. Exciting to see that new working demographic downtown en masse, and lets cross our fingers we don't ever lose that demographic from now on.

[YXE]

On another note - I’m getting fed up with the state of our economy. I’ve been living out east for over five years now and the degree to complete ambivalence towards the west, and the prairies in particular, is shocking.

Toronto has a problem right now in that they literally cannot build condos fast enough to meet demand. When I first moved here I thought builders were developing on speculation, however this is not the case. The market and overall economy here is robust.

Yet in Saskatchewan obviously things are very, very different. I am of the opinion that with debt as cheap as it’s ever been, the provincial government should be spending moderately to help stimulate the economy. Saskatchewan has among the lowest debt to debt/debt per capita in the country. Our finances are very strong relative to the rest of the country. Im not suggesting to spend into oblivion as we’ve seen in Alberta but I think a little bit more fiscal stimulus could go a long way at this time.

I encourage someone to disagree with me and to share his or her own opinion!

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by roryn1

Would love to see the facade upgraded similar to how 360 main in Winnipeg looked boring like these two towers until a year ago.

Façade upgrades are tough to justify economically unless there is a performance or safety issue with the old building envelope. Also the Saskatoon towers have different owners.

Regina's Delta has identical ugly precast and glazing. All 3 towers were built by Remai.

[roryn1]

Originally Posted by YXE

On another note - I’m getting fed up with the state of our economy. I’ve been living out east for over five years now and the degree to complete ambivalence towards the west, and the prairies in particular, is shocking.

Toronto has a problem right now in that they literally cannot build condos fast enough to meet demand. When I first moved here I thought builders were developing on speculation, however this is not the case. The market and overall economy here is robust.

Yet in Saskatchewan obviously things are very, very different. I am of the opinion that with debt as cheap as it’s ever been, the provincial government should be spending moderately to help stimulate the economy. Saskatchewan has among the lowest debt to debt/debt per capita in the country. Our finances are very strong relative to the rest of the country. Im not suggesting to spend into oblivion as we’ve seen in Alberta but I think a little bit more fiscal stimulus could go a long way at this time.

I encourage someone to disagree with me and to share his or her own opinion!

I personally think the state of Saskatchewan's economy is extremely stable right now - it's where it should be for stability, but isn't like the hay day we saw ten years ago now. I think if we opened the immigration gates more and did more promotion of Canada to developing countries we could get back to those levels. I don't think we'll see interprovincial migration back to Saskatchewan like we did a decade ago - at least not for the next half century while our economy adjusts. Our government hasn't been planning for the future economy - specifically what we could leverage best on - value-added agriculture food and bio product processing, and promotion of metals that will be utilized for batteries and renewable energy. All of our growth going forward will be slow and stable as our government has a very "hands off" approach to controlling the economy which is uncompetitive when our neighboring economies both provincially and nationally are subsidizing the heck out of everything with unsustainable fiscal stimulus debt. I support going into debt though - we can't compete if our neighbors east and west and using debt to get ahead of us. If you can't beat them, join them!

[roryn1]

Originally Posted by Stormer

Façade upgrades are tough to justify economically unless there is a performance or safety issue with the old building envelope. Also the Saskatoon towers have different owners.

Regina's Delta has identical ugly precast and glazing. All 3 towers were built by Remai.

I never recommend people put on events or stay at those towers. I walked by someone on the bridge last fall from out of town that described Saskatoon downtown's look as "similar to communist russia". Let's change that by boycotting towers that need a facade upgrade, I don't think it's too much to ask for after these towers have existed for almost 50 years. Most of these downtown land owners spend a large amount of their wealth they've profitted from these towers not in Saskatoon - let's ensure it stays here more.

[djforsberg]

Originally Posted by YXE

On another note - I’m getting fed up with the state of our economy. I’ve been living out east for over five years now and the degree to complete ambivalence towards the west, and the prairies in particular, is shocking.

Toronto has a problem right now in that they literally cannot build condos fast enough to meet demand. When I first moved here I thought builders were developing on speculation, however this is not the case. The market and overall economy here is robust.

Yet in Saskatchewan obviously things are very, very different. I am of the opinion that with debt as cheap as it’s ever been, the provincial government should be spending moderately to help stimulate the economy. Saskatchewan has among the lowest debt to debt/debt per capita in the country. Our finances are very strong relative to the rest of the country. Im not suggesting to spend into oblivion as we’ve seen in Alberta but I think a little bit more fiscal stimulus could go a long way at this time.

I encourage someone to disagree with me and to share his or her own opinion!

The conservative Sask Party doesn't believe in proven things like "spending when the economy is weak". Instead they will just continue blaming the East for problems of our own doing while hoping the oil boom will magically return (it never will, thanks to technology making shale oil extraction more economical). Also, look at the UCP in Alberta: they cut corporate taxes and ended diversification subsidies, doubling down on the waning oil industry. We are absolutely fucked as long as conservatives rule our provinces.

[Echoes]

That office building reno on 20th is a great little project. Breathing new life into a forlorn building on a completely forgotten block of downtown.

[roryn1]

Originally Posted by Echoes

That office building reno on 20th is a great little project. Breathing new life into a forlorn building on a completely forgotten block of downtown.

If I remember right - prior to the renovations the building had "Free rent for a year" or something on it lol. Having a higher vacancy rate is good for these buildings downtown - forces these rich folk who don't even live in Saskatchewan to renovate their buildings.

I saw quite a few articles from Colliers and ICR pushing to get developers to convert their old commercial buildings into condos - we still haven't seen much of that downtown yet... fingers crossed that still happens - lets get to 10,000 residents in a decade!

[Ricopedra]

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[roryn1]

Escala work on the 5th floor

[Echoes]

Great view.

[roryn1]

This massive thing on 8th street that should be downtown