City pegs next land sale at $10.5M
Report headed to council says time is right to sell the site known as Parcel D
As towers rise and the future takes shape along Saskatoon’s River Landing, the next phase of development could start next year.
Saskatoon city hall administration is recommending the next parcel of land be put up for sale next spring or summer with an asking price of $10.5 million.
The 1.67-acre riverfront site known as Parcel D is bordered by Idylwyld Drive and Avenue A South, just west of the Remai Modern art gallery.
A report to be considered by city council’s finance committee on Monday says the time is right to consider selling the prime cityowned land.
“The City has created strong conditions for favourable private investment by improving the public realm of the area to a high standard,” the city report says.
The city is taking a methodical approach to the sale of its land in the River Landing area after the much-delayed project on Parcel Y, west of the Remai Modern.
On that prime location, a 20-storey condominium tower and hotel are expected to be completed next year with the first of two office towers starting to rise from the ground. Work began on that project in 2016, six years after a deal was struck with Victory Majors Development Corp. to build a hotel-office-condo project on the site. The first proposal for a big project on Parcel Y came in 2005, when a hotel and spa were proposed.
Parcel Y was sold by the city for $5.24 million, although an independent assessment of the land at the time suggested it was worth $11 million.
The delays in the Parcel Y project pushed back the city ’s plans to sell the rest of the River Landing parcels by years. The city report notes the Remai Modern is now open and the final Parcel Y tower is set for completion in 2020 or 2021.
The last plot of land at River Landing, known as Parcel BB, would be offered for sale at least two years after the sale of Parcel D, the report says. A building as tall as 95 metres could be built on Parcel D, which would dwarf Saskatoon’s current tallest building, the 79.3-metre La Renaissance apartments.
Parcel BB, which lies directly south of the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market building, boasts an interesting history. The A.L. Cole power plant was once located there and a downtown arena that never materialized was proposed for the site in the 1980s.
City administration is also recommending converting Morse Road, a short strip of gravel road that runs parallel to 19th Street, into a land parcel and selling it.
The city plans to review the overall plan for River Landing next year. That review could clarify the future of the riverside A.L. Cole pump house, which has been touted as a lease opportunity for a restaurant, and plans for a “feature building ” next to the rebuilt Traffic Bridge.
Starting in 2004, a massive effort to rehabilitate the stretch of riverfront land now known as River Landing began. The city, province and federal government spent $82 million to remediate contaminated land and build the promenade that exists today.
The city spent $31.6 million to build the infrastructure and expected to get $28.1 million from land sales.