Sask-Tel, TCU combine on study
A proposed study on a possible downtown arena and entertainment facility will include a look at TCU Place and the possibility of a combined arena and convention centre.
Sask-Tel Centre and TCU Place, two city-owned facilities run by boards, are combining to study the market for a possible new arena and potential sites.
The study will include considering the future of the downtown TCU Place theatre and convention centre, which was built in 1967.
The options to be studied include a downtown arena, a combined or nearby arena and convention centre downtown as well as a renovated or expanded Sask-Tel Centre at its current north Saskatoon location.
“The city’s growing and there’s an opportunity to hold bigger events,” said Bob Korol, chief executive officer of TCU Place.
“As the city grows, the convention business will continue to develop.”
The document outlining the requirements for the study cites two city planning initiatives: The growth plan to guide the city to half a million people and the city centre plan, which focuses on improving the downtown.
While various locations for a possible new arena will be explored, including outside the downtown, the study will only explore downtown sites for the convention centre.
The final report could include numerous options, but at least two must examine expanding TCU Place at its current location on 22nd Street East.
At least one option must look at combining a convention centre with an event facility, either at the current TCU Place location or elsewhere downtown.
The study must include at least two options for a downtown arena and one option for a refurbished Sask-Tel Centre at its current location.
“It’s not something that’s going to happen overnight,” Korol said, adding no study like the one proposed has been done in his seven years as CEO. “It’s going to take some time.”
Sask-Tel Centre CEO Will Lofdahl said a Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority (SREDA) analysis will be incorporated into the study. The SREDA analysis will look at the economic impact of Sask-Tel Centre both past and future and the projected impact if a new arena is built downtown.
“What’s the best future route?” Lofdahl asked in an interview Monday.
He pointed to a Mainstreet Research/Postmedia Network Inc. opinion poll conducted July 27 and 28 that showed 40 per cent of respondents wanted Saskatoon city council to explore a new downtown arena, while 35 per cent favoured a focus on renovations to Sask-Tel Centre.
The telephone poll of 803 people was considered accurate within 3.46 per cent 19 times out of 20.
Lofdahl noted that despite the split, 75 per cent of poll respondents favoured some sort of project.
“If we don’t do something, we’ll become a dinosaur, that’s for sure,” he said.
City of Saskatoon staff will consider proposals from companies interested in doing the study until mid-September. The successful consultant is expected to be chosen by Oct. 4 and the final report is due June 15, 2017. No cost is yet attached to the project.