Nutrien to occupy tallest tower in province

The world’s largest fertilizer company is set to move into what will become the province’s tallest office building once it’s built on the north edge of Saskatoon’s River Landing.

Nutrien Ltd. on Thursday announced plans to relocate its roughly 300 local employees to the 18-storey steel-and-glass tower, construction of which is set to begin soon.

While the terms of the agreement are confidential, Nutrien president and CEO Chuck Magro described it as a multi-year, multimillion-dollar investment for the company.

“We need the space and we need top talent in this community to help us with our growth platform, because we have big plans to grow Nutrien globally,” Magro told reporters Thursday.

Established on Jan. 1 in the merger between Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. and Agrium Inc., Nutrien owns and operates six of the province’s 10 active potash mines.

During the lead-up to the merger, former premier Brad Wall raised concerns about the possibility of corporate office jobs slipping away to Calgary, where Agrium was headquartered.

While Nutrien cut more than 30 head office jobs following the merger, Magro told reporters the eight floors it expects to occupy will provide room for around 400 positions.

It will be the third building in a $300-million complex under development by Triovest Realtors Advisors Ltd. for owners Victory Majors Development Corp. and Greystone Managed Investments Inc.

The current tallest building in Saskatchewan is the Mosaic Potash Tower in downtown Regina.