Downtown event centre and entertainment district a 'legacy project' for Saskatoon

The idea of an arena in Saskatoon's downtown area has a lot of people in the city excited.

City council is seeking public engagement on the project, and many see it as a way to make the city more attractive.

“I think the biggest thing right now is for the city to rally together to make this happen,” said CEO of TCU Place Tammy Sweeney.

“We need to rally and attract government funding and private funding. This is a legacy project for Saskatoon; it's not just about the downtown, it's about really building this legacy project to make Saskatoon a more livable, better place, to attract and hold on to people that live here and attract visitors to the region.”

A convention centre is part of the plans for the entertainment district, and Sweeney said that potentially means renovations on TCU Place, which opened in 1968.

“We've certainly produced and created our needs and wants and our wish list and what would make sense both from a technical perspective as well as just allocation of space, better flow,” she said.

“Our kitchen right now is at one end of the building and most of our conference services are on the upper floor of the opposite end of the building. All of our systems are 54 years old. It's time.”

Sweeney says the theatre is also in need of upgrades.

Out of five initial sites, the two which were deemed most viable were the Midtown shopping centre north parking lot and the City Yards located in north downtown.

A new arena and event centre would be the centrepiece of the entertainment district, replacing the 34-year-old Sasktel Centre.

“We do a lot with a little and still have managed to pull off world-class events,” said SaskTel Centre vice-chair of the board of directors Bryan McCrea.

“However, that's becoming less and less likely for us as acts and the way they present and put on shows is changing. Some of the entertainers are looking at our facility and they're unable to actually adapt their sets and how they perform and entertain in this facility, so if we don't adapt and grow with the changing times of the entertainment industry, we will be overlooked.”

McCrea says the opportunity to move from the northwest area of the city to the downtown core would provide a boost to the city’s economy, and give patrons more choices for a night out.

“If you've ever been to a concert or a show or a Rush game, a Blades’ game it's hard to go for dinner before and it's certainly hard to do anything afterwards,” he said.

“If you want to make a night out of it with some friends or your wife, it's a hard thing to do to go for dinner before, take in a nice event and then keep going out afterwards. I think the downtown element really helps sort of creating that spillway of people coming out of an event after, then going out for dinner and drinks and having a fun safe night that’s good for businesses.”

The Saskatoon Entertainment Group (SEG) co-manages Sasktel Centre along with operating the Saskatchewan Rush and Saskatoon Blades, the anchor tenants for the building.

“We want to make this reality. This arena needs to happen,” said Colin Priestner, President of the Rush and President and general manager of the Blades.

Priestner said there haven’t been formal conversations with the city, but SEG would like to have a stake in the new arena.

“A lot of the cities that have had these big projects with arena districts and arenas have had the major anchor tenant be a part of the building of the facility and the construction of it, providing capital and providing infrastructure and resources to do that. And I think it's something that we're certainly interested in if it makes sense for both parties.”

Sweeney said it’s funding from private entities and different levels of government that will see the project completed.

“People need to realize and understand that the goal with this project is that there will be no tax increase,” she said.

Parking has been the biggest sticking point in feedback.

“It will change the way people park and the way that they look at where they park for an event,” said Sweeney.

“I think the introduction of the [bus rapid transit] so that people can maybe park on the other side of the bridge, take rapid transit for the last few blocks, get down here, go for dinner, go for drinks, go to a show, and then Rapid Transit back out again. So it's going to change people's transportation habits, but I think there will be lots of opportunities for both people to drive and take public transit.”