Explainer: Saskatoon’s downtown arena district to date

Article content

City of Saskatoon staff are once again asking to delay their presentation of a funding strategy to build a district around a brand-new arena in the heart of the city’s downtown.

The funding strategy was first expected to be made public in November 2023, but was delayed to early this year, to give planners more time to put together information council will need to make its decision.

Article content

Article content

A report headed to next week’s meeting of council’s governance and priorities committee is calling for the funding plan to be delayed to June or July. This is meant to allow the city to conclude a deal with a potential private partner to invest in construction, in exchange for profits from operating the new facilities.

The funding strategy is an important decision point for city council. Voting in favour will direct city staff to work with the federal and provincial governments and other partners to get the facility built.

While this year has seen discussion intensify around what city planning documents call the ‘Downtown Event and Entertainment District (DEED),’ the discussion of a new arena has been going on for years.

Here’s a look back at a few key dates that got us here:

* April 2016: Then-CEO of SaskTel Centre Will Lofdahl calls for a market analysis to decide what to do with the aging arena, which was built in 1988. The study scope is expanded to include TCU Place, which was built in 1968.

* March 2018: The market analysis by consultants HLT Advisory Inc. finds that the cost of renovating SaskTel Centre would be so high as to make it more sensible to build a new arena instead, and recommends putting it downtown. The report warns both SaskTel Centre and TCU Place are “rapidly” approaching the end of their “useful” life.

Article content

Article content

* November 2018: City council directs city staff to include a future arena and convention centre in planning the city’s downtown. City staff were further directed to seek funding approaches for the proposed district that minimize the use of money collected via property tax.

* April 2019: City staff begin identifying potential downtown sites for a new arena, including having conversations with landowners around potential locations.

* April 2021: A report to the governance and priorities committee outlines some of the non-property tax options that could be used for a downtown arena and convention centre. These include a surcharge on event tickets and the possibility of using tax-increment financing (TIF), wherein the city could borrow against a projected increase in property tax revenue expected from development near the new facilities.

* March 2022: The city establishes an advisory group meant to help guide the DEED proposal. The group includes council members, a representative from the provincial government, representatives from the city’s business improvement districts, Indigenous groups and members drawn from the public.

Article content

* August 2022: City staff reveal the two locations deemed viable for a new arena, with city planners expressing a preference for land currently used as a surface parking lot just north of the Midtown Plaza shopping centre. The other potential site identified is the city yards on the northern edge of the downtown core.

* November 2022: City council votes unanimously in favour of locating a prospective new arena in the parking lot site north of Midtown, and approves spending $25 million to purchase the land.

* February 2023: The city hires engineering and design firm Stantec to act as a technical advisor on the DEED project. Stantec teams up with architecture firms HOK and LMN, which have expertise in arena and convention centre building.

* September 2023: A report from accounting firm KPMG is presented to council members, suggesting the city could raise as much as $21.4 million per year using tools like TIF and ticket surcharges to pay for an arena, rather than property tax increases.

* November 2023: The federal and provincial governments announce funding of $152 million for Saskatoon to develop its bus-rapid transit network, components of which are crucial for the DEED to go ahead.

Article content

* January 2024: Saskatoon city council approves a process to seek a private partner to operate one or both of the new venues in exchange for an investment in construction.

* February 2024: The city unveils the conceptual design for the DEED, including updated artists’ renderings of the proposed new arena and a substantial renovation of TCU Place.

Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know — add The StarPhoenix.com and LeaderPost.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.

Article content