Taxpayers to lose $4.5 M in sale
U of S buys depreciated Forest Centre complex in Prince Albert
Saskatchewan taxpayers are set to lose $4.5 million when the provincial government sells a controversial Prince Albert building once regarded by some as a “celebration of progress in the forest sector” to the University of Saskatchewan.
The Forest Centre in downtown Prince Albert cost $12.7 million to build and opened in 2005. On Thursday, the provincial Crown corporation that owns the 110,000-square-foot complex confirmed its sale to the university for $8.125 million. The deal closes March 15.
Saskatchewan Opportunities Corp.’s chief executive said the Central Avenue building — which went on the block in April 2015 after the government determined it was not being used for its intended purpose — has depreciated in value and is worth about $6 million.
“We did a valuation on it in 2016 to ascertain what the market value of it was, and so we were quite comfortable with the sale that was entered into with the university,” Van Isman said.
The Forest Centre began attracting controversy years before it was built. Its supporters said it would boost the province’s forestry sector by housing research projects, while its detractors panned it as unnecessary and a re-election ploy.
Crown Investments Corp. Minister Joe Hargrave said the government “would always like more” but is “happy with whatever the current market value is.” Selling the building to the U of S rather than a private firm made the deal more attractive,” he added.
“It was for forestry and the resource sector, so very little of the building is utilized for that part, which was the original intent. It just became a commercial building,” said Hargrave, who is the Saskatchewan Party MLA for Prince Albert Carlton.
Asked if the sale suggests the building failed to live up to expectations, Hargrave responded: “I think maybe the intent was there. The forestry industry is not what it used to be, for sure. Maybe in hindsight it could have been done differently.”
P.A. Mayor Greg Dionne declined to comment on the Forest Centre’s long and contentious history, but said the city considered buying it with the aim of turning it into a police station but backed out once the cost of renovating it became clear.
“It’s going to benefit by revitalizing the downtown, and for the students of P.A. and northern Saskatchewan, they ’re going to be able to stay home and go to university, and that will be quite a bit cheaper for them,” he said of the sale to the UofS.
Former Premier Lorne Calvert’s NDP government decided to build the Forest Centre amid mounting criticism. One critic called it a “legacy building ” for former P.A. Mayor Don Cody and Eldon Lautermilch, who was the NDP MLA for Prince Albert Northcote at the time.
The government elected to proceed with the building even after an independent study it commissioned outlined major problems, including a lack of financial support from the federal government and no meaningful Indigenous involvement.
Some of the Forest Centre’s board members said “the functionality, purpose, and rationale for a building is not clear at this time,” and Weyerhauser Co., which was the province’s largest forestry company, called the decision to build it premature.
The regional director of Western Economic Diversification said at the time that while his organization would be happy to pump $3 million into the Forest Centre’s research projects, a “general purpose office building ” did not fit its mandate.
The NDP, however, argued that the building would help build Saskatchewan’s economy and revitalize P.A.’s downtown. Former Industry Minister Eric Cline said, “Sometimes you have to make decisions, you have to move forward … that’s what we’re doing.”
After the Forest Centre went up for sale in 2015, then-Crown Investments Corp. Minister Don McMorris said it was clear from the beginning that the building would never be used for forestry research, despite the previous government’s insistence that it would.
Isman and Hargrave said the sale of the Forest Centre is “not at all” connected to ongoing talks about the sale of Innovation Place campuses — which SOCO owns and operates — in Saskatoon and Regina to the U of S and the University of Regina. Those discussions are preliminary, and it’s unclear how much the universities would pay for the buildings, which are located on leased land. Hargrave said it’s “too early to tell” what would happen to SOCO should all of its assets be sold.
I think maybe the intent was there. The forestry industry is not what it used to be, for sure. Maybe in hindsight it could have been done differently.