A proposed $1-billion-plus Saskatoon Downtown Event and Entertainment District project - described by industry leaders as transformational for the city’s core - faces a pivotal moment this week.

City council will vote Wednesday on a revised Private Partner Agreement Framework with Oak View Group (OVG), a step that could determine whether the long-paused development moves ahead. The project was highlighted at the recent Saskatchewan Real Estate Forum in Saskatoon as a potential major catalyst for downtown economic growth and urban renewal.

In an interview at the forum following a downtown revitalization presentation, Jason Aebig, CEO, Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce, said Denver-based Oak View Group is an experienced arena/facility owner and manager in the U.S. 

“It will be up to our city council to make the decision on whether that’s the right private partner for us or not,” he said, adding he expects that eventually the project will move forward, because there’s no other alternative. “I don’t think a city and market like Saskatoon can afford not to look at some sort of large catalytic, economic development project like this. If we do, we run the risk of completely falling off the radar in Canada.

"We have wonderful people. We have beautiful public spaces. We have incredible businesses. That will not be enough, though, to attract the level of economic activity that we need to grow and certainly not enough to sustain that growth into the future without a project like this . . . To this point, I haven’t heard of a plan, an initiative or a strategy that would deliver the economic benefit that this project seems to promise.”

Billion-dollar "boost" for downtown Saskatoon

Aebig said the city has the opportunity, despite the significant risk that comes with it.

“How can we deliver a billion-dollar boost in terms of GDP and economic activity in this downtown through any other means? I don’t think we can afford to do nothing. I think we have to get very serious about our own destiny and our own economic future and that means owning this opportunity and all the risks that come with it and doing our best to manage them.”

Terms of the agreement with Oak View have been adjusted from 25 years to 15 years with an option to extend an additional 15 years. The OVG capital contribution has been adjusted from $20 million to $15 million.

The report to council has a restructured financing incentive fee for dividing profits between OVG and the city. Administration’s “conservative” financial analysis forecasts event profits of over $6 million in the first year of operation, with the expectation of growth over time.

The project would include an arena/event centre with a capacity of about 16,000 people, a convention centre, a parkade, a theatre and public spaces.

In an interview at the forum, Saskatoon Mayor Cynthia Block said council had moved forward with a plan in 2018 to create this intergenerational project.

“Since that time we have been working aggressively to try to figure out how you put all those pieces together. We know as municipalities that we stand in the front lines of that city building initiative, but without the support of other orders of government and the private sector it can’t be successful,” Block said.

“So over the course of many years we have been assembling land. We have been negotiating what this place is going to look like and have also been creating a funding formula. All of that was sort of eventually packaged up in a bow by the end of the last term and then it’s been, I won’t say a hiatus, but we have now done all the work that we need to do to move forward to building.”

What's needed to make it happen

But the project can’t move forward without those other orders of government and the private investors.

“We have a private investor waiting. Oak View Group is making a solid effort to be our private partner on this project, which is sort of the seed money, if you will, to start leveraging that now with other orders of government,” Block said.

“The province has made clear that it is also ready to make that investment as long as there is also investment from the federal government. This is Saskatoon’s project. We know this is our next big thing.

“I hope the federal government is listening. This is urgently needed if we are trying to build more housing more quickly.”

Block said the proposed district is to be a people-focused area. 

“That district is so important from a financial standpoint but also important to the quality of life of our residents and the people that will visit here. From people who have lived in Saskatchewan for a long time, we get a little tired of people travelling to other cities to go to big concerts as an example and we should be able to have them here,” she said.

Block noted the downtown Midtown Plaza mall has made significant recent investments because Saskatoon is a region that pulls people in it from all parts of the province. The entertainment district, across from a new trade and convention centre, would be an important addition.

“We absolutely need to move forward and expand. If we want Saskatoon to be successful we need those kinds of investments.”