AVENUE B: BUILDING WHERE OTHERS FEAR TO TREAD

On a busy morning at Saskatoon’s River Landing, at the foot of avenues B and C, the faint echo of a hammer is audible against the sound of cars rolling by.

The Banks has taken shape. The four-building complex will have 134 units and commercial space, and when the project is completed — which is expected to happen in June — a new, modern structure will sit in a sea of early-20th Century homes by the South Saskatchewan River.

Vancouver-based developer Chris LeFevre, president of LeFevre and Company, says he has done a fair bit of “urban renewal development” in his career.

“One thing that always excites me is to go to areas where other people fear to tread,” he says.

“When I started wandering around (the) downtown and peripheral zones, and it was in the Riversdale and River Landing precinct, I felt that there was an immediate possibility to create housing that nobody else was creating on the edge of downtown.”

The project will bring a different look to the area, with courtyards between each of the four buildings, thematically named Riverbend, Current, Bridge and Edgewater. But LeFevre insists it will respect the neighbourhood by not being too tall.

It’s a new build in an area that has seen significant projects that involve retrofitting existing buildings. LeFevre says he’s not just a “new-build guy” — much of his work has been to regenerate “heritage” buildings.

In this case, it wasn’t possible because the stock of older buildings for residential conversion is limited in Saskatoon.

“They’re two very different things, but I didn’t knock a building down to put these buildings up, so I think that’s important,” LeFevre said.

The project hasn’t been without its challenges, in the form of strains on labour and the high cost of building materials, concrete in particular.

“Costs in (Saskatoon) are high, well above the national average to build. In that regard, it’s not been an easy journey that I’ve been on in terms of getting those buildings constructed,” he said.

Although now mindful of building costs, he has another project slated for the Pleasant Hill area, which he describes as “low-income housing.”

However, he warns that construction costs could slow the momentum of growth in Saskatoon.

It hasn’t set back The Banks, but he points to the high costs faced by another riverfront project, the Remai Modern Art Gallery.

“I still like the challenge, I still love your city and I’m still privileged to work there, but I’m a guy that tells the truth,” he says.