Saskatoon city staff suggest joint convention centre, arena

SASKATOON The City of Saskatoon administration thinks future downtown planning should consider the possibility of a new combined arena and convention centre.

Now it’s up to the politicians to weigh in on the possibility and figure out how to pay for any new facilities.

Saskatoon city hall called a news conference Wednesday to discuss the city’s review of a consultants’ report that favoured replacing TCU Place, the downtown convention centre, and Sasktel Centre, the arena/concert venue located in the city’s northwest.

The officials who spoke Wednesday said the decision to move forward with any such project rests with city council.

“There’s a lot of big questions out there,” said the city’s director of planning and development, Lesley Anderson. “The ( bus rapid transit) routing is one of those questions that’s still out there.”

Council will consider city reports on the possibility of a new arena/convention centre at its governance and priorities committee meeting on Tuesday.

The consultants’ report estimated the construction cost of a new downtown arena at between $172 million and $178 million and the cost of a combined arena and convention centre at between $330 million and $370 million.

A city report outlines several options for financing, but does not suggest any specific funding strategy.

“It would be a fairly major (project),” chief financial officer Kerry Tarasoff said. “One of our largest projects, no doubt.”

Anderson said the city has not looked at specific sites. The consultants who produced the report were hired by the boards of TCU Place and Sasktel Centre to assess the future of the aging facilities. That study was made public in March.

TCU Place marked 50 years on April 1, while Sasktel Centre reached 30 years earlier this year.